Meeting
by A. S. J. Tessimond
Dogs take new friends abruptly and by smell,
Cats’ meetings are neat, tactual, caressive.
Monkeys exchange their fleas before they speak.
Snakes, no doubt, coil by coil reach mutual knowledge.
We then, at first encounter, should be silent;
Not court the cortex but the epidermis;
Not work from inside out but outside in;
Discover each other’s flesh, its scent and texture;
Familiarize the sinews and the nerve-ends,
The hands, the hair; before the inept lips open.
Instead of which we are resonant, explicit.
Our words like windows intercept our meaning.
Our four eyes fence and flinch and awkwardly
Wince into shadow, slide oblique to ambush.
Hands stir, retract. The pulse is insulated.
Blood is turned inwards, lonely; skin unhappy …
While always under all, but interrupted,
Antennae stretch … waver … and almost … touch.

A few random poems:
- On The High Pedestal by Shahida Latif
- Which way does the wind blow? by Thomas J Camp
- Владимир Бенедиктов – Распутие
- Hunting Song by William Somervile
- After Yesterday poem – A. R. Ammons poems | Poetry Monster
- a-tempest-in-a-teacup.html
- Instead of farewell by Vinko Kalinić
- Flowers notebook
- When the Lad for Longing Sigh poem – A. E. Housman
- Николай Языков – Д. Н. Свербееву (Во имя Руси, милый брат)
- Owl by Sylvia Plath
- Robert Burns: Delia, An Ode : “To the Editor of The Star.-Mr. Printer-If the productions of a simple ploughman can merit a place in the same paper with Sylvester Otway, and the other favourites of the Muses who illuminate the Star with the lustre of genius, your insertion of the enclosed trifle will be succeeded by future communications from-Yours, &c., R. Burns. Ellisland, near Dumfries, 18th May, 1789.”
- Владимир Высоцкий – Всё с себя снимаю, слишком душно
- Flowers By The Sea by William Carlos Williams
- Robert Burns: The Poet’s Reply To The Threat Of A Censorious Critic: My imprudent lines were answered, very petulantly, by somebody, I believe, a Rev. Mr. Hamilton. In a MS., where I met the answer, I wrote below:-
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
- The Incurious Bencher by William Somervile
- The Hip by William Somervile
- The Happy Lunatic by William Somervile
- The Frog’s Choice by William Somervile
- The Dog and the Bear by William Somervile
- The Devil Outwitted by William Somervile
- The Coquette by William Somervile
- The Captive Trumpeter by William Somervile
- The Busy Indolent by William Somervile
- The Bowling-Green by William Somervile
- The Bald-Pated Welshman and the Fly by William Somervile
- Song by William Somervile
- On Presenting to a Lady a White Rose and a Red on the Tenth of June by William Somervile
- On Miranda’s Leaving the Country by William Somervile
- Mahomet Ali Beg; Or, the Faithful Minister of State by William Somervile
- Liberty, and Love; or, the Two Sparrows by William Somervile
- Hunting Song by William Somervile
- Hudibras and Milton Reconciled by William Somervile
- Hobbinol; or The Rural Games by William Somervile
- Hobbinol; or The Rural Games – Canto 3 by William Somervile
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