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:
- PURE STEEL by Satish Verma
- Владимир Бенедиктов – Чёрный цвет
- The Bald-Pated Welshman and the Fly by William Somervile
- Occasioned By Some Verses of His Grace the Duke of Buckingham poem – Alexander Pope poems | Poetry Monster
- Наум Коржавин – Нелепые ваши затеи
- from In Time of War by W H Auden
- Whisper of the Star
- Наум Коржавин – Есть у тех, кому нету места
- Джон Китс – Чаттертону
- Stir in Stillness by Shruti Talnikar
- Михаил Лермонтов – Забудь опять свои надежды
- Шекспир – Про черный день – Сонет 63
- The Waters by W H Auden
- THE MOSAIC by Satish Verma
- Shadow Of Liberty by Vattacharja Chandan
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
- New Year’s Dawn – Broadway by Sara Teasdale
- In Memoriam F.O.S. by Sara Teasdale
- Madeira From The Sea by Sara Teasdale
- In David’s “Child’s Garden Of Verses” by Sara Teasdale
- Love In Autumn by Sara Teasdale
- In a Subway Station by Sara Teasdale
- Less Than The Cloud To The Wind by Sara Teasdale
- In A Restaurant by Sara Teasdale
- Interlude: Songs Out Of Sorrow by Sara Teasdale
- In A Railroad Station by Sara Teasdale
- In The Train by Sara Teasdale
- In A Garden by Sara Teasdale
- In The Metropolitan Museum by Sara Teasdale
- In A Cuban Garden by Sara Teasdale
- In The End by Sara Teasdale
- In the Carpenter’s Shop by Sara Teasdale
- In Spring, Santa Barbara by Sara Teasdale
- In Memoriam F.O.S. by Sara Teasdale
- In David’s “Child’s Garden Of Verses” by Sara Teasdale
- In a Subway Station by Sara Teasdale
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.