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:
- Memorials of A Tour In Scotland, 1803 I. Departure From The Vale Of Grasmere, August 1803 by William Wordsworth
- 1914 by Wilfred Owen
- One Hour to Madness and Joy. by Walt Whitman
- A Song To Eleonora Duse In “Francesca da Rimini ” by Sara Teasdale
- Epigram at RoslinInn by Robert Burns
- Robert Burns: Farewell Thou Stream:
- Николай Огарев – Отцу
- When Love Is Over
- March on, Yes! by Miles
- To The Nile poem – John Keats poems
- Enter This Deserted House by Shel Silverstein
- Владимир Степанов – Почему не спят котята?
- Requests for Toy Piano by Tony Hoagland
- An Evening in the Mountains by Wang Wei
- different lovers by Raj Arumugam
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
- Says. by Walt Whitman
- Savantism. by Walt Whitman
- Salut au Monde. by Walt Whitman
- Runner, The. by Walt Whitman
- Roots and Leaves Themselves Alone. by Walt Whitman
- Roaming in Thought. by Walt Whitman
- Rise, O Days. by Walt Whitman
- Respondez! by Walt Whitman
- Recorders Ages Hence. by Walt Whitman
- Reconciliation. by Walt Whitman
- Race of Veterans. by Walt Whitman
- Quicksand Years. by Walt Whitman
- Proud Music of The Storm by Walt Whitman
- Primeval my Love for the Woman I Love. by Walt Whitman
- Prayer of Columbus. by Walt Whitman
- Prairie States, The. by Walt Whitman
- Prairie-Grass Dividing, The. by Walt Whitman
- Portals. by Walt Whitman
- Poets to Come. by Walt Whitman
- Poem of Remembrance for a Girl or a Boy. by Walt Whitman
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.