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:
- Юлия Жадовская – Возврат весны
- They Wondered Why the Fruit had Been Forbidden by W H Auden
- The Clime Of My Birth by Timothy Thomas Fortune
- This we Have Now by Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi
- Вера Полозкова – Францу Кафке
- What Semiramis Said by Vachel Lindsay
- Others may Praise what They Like. by Walt Whitman
- Yaddo : The Grand Manor by Sylvia Plath
- By The Fates poem – Alfred Austin
- Hyperion. Book II poem – John Keats poems
- St. Alphonsus Rodriguez poem – Gerard Manley Hopkins poems
- Владимир Вишневский – Стада уж боле не пасутся мирно
- What the Rattlesnake Said by Vachel Lindsay
- Dion [See Plutarch] by William Wordsworth
- A Slight Change by Rixa White
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
- Николай Некрасов – Детство
- Николай Некрасов – Деревенские новости
- Николай Некрасов – Демону
- Николай Карамзин – Триолет Алете в тот день, как ей исполнилось 14 лет
- Николай Карамзин – Там всё велико, всё прелестно
- Николай Карамзин – Тацит
- Николай Карамзин – Странные люди
- Николай Карамзин – Стихи с поднесением выписок
- Николай Карамзин – Стихи на слова, заданные мне Хлoeю: миг, картина и дверь
- Николай Карамзин – Стихи на день рождения А. А. Плещеевой 14 октября
- Николай Карамзин – Стихи к портрету И.И. Дмитриева (Министр, поэт и друг)
- Николай Карамзин – Соловей, галки и вороны
- Николай Карамзин – Соломонова мудрость, или мысли, выбранные из Экклезиаста
- Николай Карамзин – Сильфида
- Николай Карамзин – Рогатому человеку
- Николай Карамзин – Раиса (Древняя баллада)
- Николай Карамзин – Прости
- Николай Карамзин – Пророчество на 1799 год, найденное в бумагах Нострадамуса
- Николай Карамзин – Приношение грациям
- Николай Карамзин – Посвящение к «Аглае»
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.