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:
- Василий Курочкин – Казацкие стихотворения
- Address to His Elbow-Chair, New Cloath’d, An by William Somervile
- Аля Кудряшева – И кстати, еще бывает уездный гор
- Start Growing by Rixa White
- Николай Языков – Вот яблоки так яблоки, на славу
- Put Something In by Shel Silverstein
- The Dream by W H Auden
- Михаил Лермонтов – Время сердцу быть в покое
- If By Dull Rhymes Our English Must Be Chain’d poem – John Keats poems
- Is Life Worth Living? poem – Alfred Austin
- Passing Time by Maya Angelou
- But Not To Me by Sara Teasdale
- Fleckno, an English Priest at Rome poem – Andrew Marvell poems
- Doom’s Day by Satish Verma
- Robert Burns: Complimentary Epigram On Maria Riddell:
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
- Is There A Power That Can Sustain And Cheer by William Wordsworth
- Invocation To The Earth, February 1816 by William Wordsworth
- Inside of King’s College Chapel, Cambridge by William Wordsworth
- Inscriptions Written with a Slate Pencil upon a Stone by William Wordsworth
- Inscriptions In The Ground Of Coleorton, The Seat Of Sir George Beaumont, Bart., Leicestershire by William Wordsworth
- Inscriptions For A Seat In The Groves Of Coleorton by William Wordsworth
- Influence of Natural Objects by William Wordsworth
- Indignation Of A High-Minded Spaniard by William Wordsworth
- Incident Characteristic Of A Favorite Dog by William Wordsworth
- In The Pass Of Killicranky by William Wordsworth
- In Due Observance Of An Ancient Rite by William Wordsworth
- I Travelled among Unknown Men by William Wordsworth
- I Know an Aged Man Constrained to Dwell by William Wordsworth
- I Grieved For Buonaparte by William Wordsworth
- How Sweet It Is, When Mother Fancy Rocks by William Wordsworth
- Hoffer by William Wordsworth
- Hint From The Mountains For Certain Political Pretenders by William Wordsworth
- Here Pause: The Poet Claims At Least This Praise by William Wordsworth
- Her Eyes Are Wild by William Wordsworth
- Hart-Leap Well by William Wordsworth
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.