A poem by Adrienne Cecile Rich (1929 – 2012)
If I’ve reached for your lines (I have)
like letters from the dead that stir the nerves
dowsed you for a springhead
to water my thirst
dug into my compost skeletons and petals
you surely meant to catch the light:
-at work in my wormeaten wormwood-raftered
stateless underground
have I a plea?
If I’ve touched your finger
with a ravenous tongue
licked from your palm a rift of salt
if I’ve dreamt or thought you
a pack of blood fresh-drawn
hanging darkred from a hook
higher than my heart
(you who understand transfusion)
where else should I appeal?
A pilot light lies low
while the gas jets sleep
(a cat getting toed from stove
into nocturnal ice)
language uncommon and agile as truth
melts down the most intractable silence
A lighthouse keeper’s ethics:
you tend for all or none
for this you might set your furniture on fire
A this we have blundered over
as if the lamp could be shut off at will
rescue denied for some
and still a lighthouse be
A few random poems:
- Tiger Drinking at Forest Pool by Ruth Padel
- Юнна Мориц – Разноцветные котята
- He Wishes His Beloved Were Dead by William Butler Yeats
- On Beer
- Василий Жуковский – Эолова арфа
- Daniel Dwithen, The Wise Chap by William Barnes
- The Boy by William Allingham
- In Memoriam A. H. H.: The Prelude poem – Lord Alfred Tennyson poems
- The Human Tragedy ACT II poem – Alfred Austin
- The Beäten Path by William Barnes
- don_juan.html
- Владимир Британишский – Смешанный брак
- Past and Future by Sarojini Naidu
- Drapple-thorned Aphrodite, by Sappho
- The Rising and Falling of Trees by Patricia Fargnoli
External links
Bat’s Poetry Page – more poetry by Fledermaus
Talking Writing Monster’s Page –
Batty Writing – the bat’s idle chatter, thoughts, ideas and observations, all original, all fresh
Poems in English
- Lines on the Fall of Fyers by Robert Burns
- Lines on the Author’s Death by Robert Burns
- Lines on Meeting with Lord Daer by Robert Burns
- Lines on Fergusson, the Poet by Robert Burns
- Lines Inscribed under Fergusson’s Portrait by Robert Burns
- Lines Inscribed in a Lady’s Pocket Almanack by Robert Burns
- Lament For Culloden by Robert Burns
- John Barleycorn: A Ballad by Robert Burns
- John Barleycorn by Robert Burns
- John Anderson by Robert Burns
- Inscription to Miss Graham of Fintry by Robert Burns
- Inscription to Jessie Lewars by Robert Burns
- Inscription to Chloris by Robert Burns
- inscription on Mr. Syme’s crystal goblet by Robert Burns
- Inscription for the Headstone of Fergusson the Poet by Robert Burns
- Inscription at Friars’ Carse Hermitage by Robert Burns
- Inscribed on a Work of Hannah More’s by Robert Burns
- Impromptu on Mrs. Riddell’s Birthday by Robert Burns
- Impromptu on Carron Iron Works by Robert Burns
- Impromptu Lines to Captain Riddell by Robert Burns
More external links (open in a new tab):
Doska or the Board – write anything
Search engines:
Yandex – the best search engine for searches in Russian (and the best overall image search engine, in any language, anywhere)
Qwant – the best search engine for searches in French, German as well as Romance and Germanic languages.
Ecosia – a search engine that supposedly… plants trees
Duckduckgo – the real alternative and a search engine that actually works. Without much censorship or partisan politics.
Yahoo– yes, it’s still around, amazingly, miraculously, incredibly, but now it seems to be powered by Bing.
Parallel Translations of Poetry
The Poetry Repository – an online library of poems, poetry, verse and poetic works
Adrienne Cecile Rich (1929 – 2012) was an American poet, essayist, and feminist.