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:
- Ma Wonders by Miraj Patel
- Василий Курочкин – Ни в мать, ни в отца
- Владимир Высоцкий – На острове необитаемом
- Galahad In The Castle Of The Maidens by Sara Teasdale
- Robert Burns: Man Was Made To Mourn: A Dirge:
- Оливер Голдсмит – Подношение
- Apologize by Miraj Patel
- Rimini by Rudyard Kipling
- Владимир Высоцкий – Говорят, лезу прямо под нож
- Asleep! O Sleep A Little While, White Pearl! poem – John Keats poems
- Федор Тютчев – А. Н. М.
- The Temple Dancing Girl
- Николай Заболоцкий – Это было давно
- Nell Barnes by William Henry Davies
- M. Degas Teaches Art & Science At Durfee Intermediate School–Detroit, 1942 by Philip Levine
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
- France, the 18th year of These States. by Walt Whitman
- For Him I Sing. by Walt Whitman
- Fast Anchor’d, Eternal, O Love. by Walt Whitman
- Facing West from California’s Shores. by Walt Whitman
- Faces. by Walt Whitman
- Excelsior. by Walt Whitman
- Europe, the 72d and 73d years of These States. by Walt Whitman
- Ethiopia Saluting the Colors. by Walt Whitman
- Elemental Drifts. by Walt Whitman
- Eidólons. by Walt Whitman
- Earth! my Likeness! by Walt Whitman
- Drum-Taps. by Walt Whitman
- Dresser, The. by Walt Whitman
- Dirge for Two Veterans. by Walt Whitman
- Despairing Cries. by Walt Whitman
- Delicate Cluster. by Walt Whitman
- Debris. by Walt Whitman
- Darest Thou Now, O Soul. by Walt Whitman
- Dalliance of the Eagles, The. by Walt Whitman
- Crossing Brooklyn Ferry. 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.