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:
- Владимир Бенедиктов – Звездочет
- The Columbian Exchange Beginning With Spanish Colonization
- Pity For Poor Africans by William Cowper
- The Crazed Moon by William Butler Yeats
- Вера Павлова – У святителя вместо спины
- Robert Burns: I Gaed A Waefu’ Gate Yestreen:
- Владимир Высоцкий – Переворот в мозгах из края в край
- African Artists’ Painting Inspiration
- In Memoriam A. H. H. Obiit MDCCCXXXIII: 3. O Sorrow, cruel poem – Lord Alfred Tennyson poems
- Telescopes In The Square by Graham Rowlands
- When She Cries by Shel Silverstein
- Lyric written in 1830 poem – Alexander Pushkin
- Жан де Лафонтен – Лисица, Мухи и Еж
- Who Knows? by Vachel Lindsay
- Notes For The Legend Of Salad Woman by Michael Ondaatje
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
- WHAT ASYLUM! by Satish Verma
- WARMING UP by Satish Verma
- WALKING TOELESS by Satish Verma
- WALKING INTO YOU by Satish Verma
- VOICES by Satish Verma
- VERY DISTURBING by Satish Verma
- Vaulting by Satish Verma
- Unsung Hands by Satish Verma
- Unstitching by Satish Verma
- Unspoken by Satish Verma
- Unruffled by Satish Verma
- UNREADABLE by Satish Verma
- Unphrasing by Satish Verma
- Unforgetting by Satish Verma
- UNEVEN PATH by Satish Verma
- UNDECIPHERABLE by Satish Verma
- TURNING GRAY by Satish Verma
- TRUNCATED by Satish Verma
- TRANSPARENCY by Satish Verma
- TOELESS JOURNEY by Satish Verma
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.