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:
- In Effigiem Oliveri Cromwell poem – Andrew Marvell poems
- Sport
- Oh You Are Coming by Sara Teasdale
- Let Me Die a Youngman’s Death by Roger McGough
- hai_kou.html
- Elegy V. Anno Aet. 20. On The Approach Of Spring (Translated From Milton) by William Cowper
- Respondez! by Walt Whitman
- Eclogue:–Two Farms In Woone by William Barnes
- The Letters poem – Lord Alfred Tennyson poems
- Юлиан Анисимов – Весенний дождь
- Николай Карамзин – Илья Муромец
- Two Hundred Years After by Siegfried Sassoon
- Death Divine by Nithin Purple
- Robert Burns: Sonnet On The Death Of Robert Riddell: Of Glenriddell and Friars’ Carse.
- An Horatian Ode Upon Cromwell’s Return from Ireland poem – Andrew Marvell 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
- Spring Rain by Sara Teasdale
- Sleepless by Sara Teasdale
- On A March Day by Sara Teasdale
- Oh You Are Coming by Sara Teasdale
- My Heart Is Heavy by Sara Teasdale
- Love And Death by Sara Teasdale
- Longing by Sara Teasdale
- Like Barley Bending by Sara Teasdale
- Let It Be Forgotten by Sara Teasdale
- Jewels by Sara Teasdale
- It Will Not Change by Sara Teasdale
- It Is Not A Word by Sara Teasdale
- In The End by Sara Teasdale
- If Death Is Kind by Sara Teasdale
- I Thought Of You by Sara Teasdale
- I Remembered by Sara Teasdale
- I Have Loved Hours At Sea by Sara Teasdale
- Houses Of Dreams by Sara Teasdale
- Guenevere by Sara Teasdale
- Gray Eyes 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.