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:
- Алексей Толстой – Ты жертва жизненных тревог
- The Sacrifice of Er-Heb by Rudyard Kipling
- mark.html
- Вера Павлова – У святителя вместо спины
- The January Birds by Maurice Riordan
- Earthy Anecdote by Wallace Stevens
- In Adoration by Sappho
- Ambrose Bierce – Ambrose Bierce Poems | Poems and Poetry
- Fish in the Unruffled Lakes by W H Auden
- A Piece Of The Storm by Mark Strand
- Владимир Маяковский – Первомайское поздравление
- The King Of Sweden by William Wordsworth
- The Waggon A-Stooded by William Barnes
- To Independence by Tobias Smollett
- Sonnet XIII. Addressed To Haydon poem – John Keats poems
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
- Sonnet CXLIV by William Shakespeare
- Sonnet CXLIII by William Shakespeare
- Sonnet CXLII by William Shakespeare
- Sonnet CXLI by William Shakespeare
- Sonnet CXL by William Shakespeare
- Sonnet CXIX by William Shakespeare
- Sonnet CXIV by William Shakespeare
- Sonnet CXIII by William Shakespeare
- Sonnet CXII by William Shakespeare
- Sonnet CXI: O, for my sake do you with Fortune chide by William Shakespeare
- Sonnet CXI by William Shakespeare
- Sonnet CX by William Shakespeare
- Sonnet LX by William Shakespeare
- Sonnet LVIII by William Shakespeare
- Sonnet LVII by William Shakespeare
- Sonnet LVI by William Shakespeare
- Sonnet LV by William Shakespeare
- Sonnet LIX by William Shakespeare
- Sonnet LIII by William Shakespeare
- Sonnet LII by William Shakespeare
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.