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:
- Sonnet To George Keats: Written In Sickness poem – John Keats poems
- Robert Burns: Reply To An Announcement By J. Rankine: On His Writing To The Poet, That A Girl In That Part Of The Country Was With A Child To Him.
- Вергилий – Скопа
- This Morning by Raymond Carver
- For What She Had Done by Shel Silverstein
- Eddi’s Service by Rudyard Kipling
- Verses
- Harry Ploughman poem – Gerard Manley Hopkins poems
- The Broken Field by Sara Teasdale
- Three Portraits Of Prince Charles poem – Andrew Lang poems
- 1991-II by Wendell Berry
- Sonnet 37: As a decrepit father takes delight by William Shakespeare
- If you should tire of loving me by Margaret Widdemer
- Sonnet VII. To Solitude poem – John Keats poems
- Live for the moment, be in the present by Ramesh V Deshpande
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
- A little ink more or less! by Stephen Crane
- A god in wrath by Stephen Crane
- Do not weep, maiden, for war is kind by Stephen Crane
- Charity thou art a lie, by Stephen Crane
- Blustering God by Stephen Crane
- Black riders came from the sea. by Stephen Crane
- Behold, the grave of a wicked man by Stephen Crane
- Behold, from the land of the farther suns by Stephen Crane
- Ay, workman, make me a dream, by Stephen Crane
- And you love me by Stephen Crane
- A youth in apparel that glittered by Stephen Crane
- A spirit sped by Stephen Crane
- A slant of sun on dull brown walls, by Stephen Crane
- A newspaper is a collection of half-injustices by Stephen Crane
- With No Experience In Such Matters by Stephen Dunn
- Welcome by Stephen Dunn
- Walking The Marshland by Stephen Dunn
- The Sudden Light And The Trees by Stephen Dunn
- The Routine Things Around The House by Stephen Dunn
- Story by Stephen Dunn
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.