A poem by Alan Dugan
As an American traveler I have
to remember not to get actionably mad
about the way things are around here.
Tomorrow I’ll be a thousand miles away
from the way it is around here. I will
keep my temper, I will not kill the dog
next door, nor will I kill the next-door wife,
both of whom are crazy and aggressive
and think they live at the center of culture
like everyone else in this college town.
This is because I’m leaving, I’m taking off
by car, by light plane, by jet, by taxicab,
for some place else a thousand miles away,
so I caution myself: control your rage,
even if it causes a slight heart attack.
Stay out of jail tonight before you leave,
and don’t get obstreperous in transit tomorrow
so as to stay out of jail on arrival tomorrow night.
Think: the new handcuffs are sharp inside
and meant to cut the wrists. You’re not too old
to be raped in their filthy overcrowded jails
and you’ll lose your glasses and false teeth.
How would you eat, study and be
a traveling lecturer if you got out alive and sane?
So remember to leave this place peacefully,
it’s only Asshole State University at Nowheresville,
and remember to get to the next place peacefully,
it’s only Nowhere State University at Assholesville
and you must travel from place to place for food and shelter.
A few random poems:
- Purgatory by Maxine Kumin
- Little Of Me by Rabindranath Tagore
- To John Keats poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- Robert Burns: Lines To Mr. John Kennedy:
- Шекспир – Мои глаза в тебя не влюблены – Сонет 141
- Владимир Маяковский – Близится сушь… (Главполитпросвет №184)
- five moons for earth by Raj Arumugam
- Dedication To A Book Of Stories Selected From The Irish Novelists by William Butler Yeats
- The Lover Asks Forgiveness Because Of His Many Moods by William Butler Yeats
- Robert Burns: My Nanie, O:
- Beauty by Tony Hoagland
- The blanket is same always by Neelam Sinha
- Olney Hymn 32: The Shining Light by William Cowper
- Юргис Балтрушайтис – Молись в ночи без плача о заре
- The Bachelor by William Barnes
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
- Roar Shack poem – Alice Fulton
- Physically Hearted
- On The Conduct Of The World Seeking Beauty Against Government poem – Allen Ginsberg
- Not my poem
- My Sad Self poem – Allen Ginsberg
- Mugging (I) poem – Allen Ginsberg
- Millions of Us poem – Alice Notley
- Meaning of silence-ness.
- Making The Lion For All It’s Got — A Ballad poem – Allen Ginsberg
- Kraj Majales (King Of May) poem – Allen Ginsberg
- Kraj Majales (King Of May) poem – Allen Ginsberg
- It Would poem – Alice Notley
- Industrial Lace poem – Alice Fulton
- I the People poem – Alice Notley
- Human Tendency
- Gift poem – Alice Notley
- Feast of the Eyes
- City of My Childhood
- Cezanne’s Ports poem – Allen Ginsberg
- Borow
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
Alan Dugan (1923 – 2003) an American poet, a contemporary classic of American poetry.