A poem by Alec Derwent-Hope (1907–2000)
by Alec Derwent Hope
Reading the menu at the morning service:
– Iced Venusberg perhaps, or buttered bum;
Orders the usual sex-ersatz, and, nervous,
Glances around; Will she or won’t she come?
The congregation dissected into pews
Gulping their strip teas in the luminous cavern
Agape’s sacamental berry stews;
The nickel-plated light and clatter of heaven
Receive him, temporary Tantalus
Into the Lookingglassland’s firescape.
Suckled on Jungfraumilch his eyes discuss,
The werwolf twins, their mock Sabellian rape.
This is their time to reap the standing scorn,
Blonde Rumina’s crop. Beneath her leafless tree
Ripe-rumped she lolls and clasps the plenteous horn.
Cool customers who defy his Trinity
Feel none the less, and thrill, ur-vater Fear
Caged in the son. For, though this ghost behave
Experienced daughters recognize King Leer:
Lot also had his daughters in a cave.
Full sail the proud three-decker sandwiches
With the eye-fumbled priestesses repass;
On their swan lake the enchanted icecreams freeze,
The amorous fountain prickles in the glass
And at the introit of this mass emotion
She comes, she comes, a balanced pillar of blood,
Guides through the desert, divides the sterile ocean,
Brings sceptic Didymus his berserk food,
Sits deftly, folding elegant thighs, and takes
Her time. She skins her little leather hands,
Conscious that wavering towards her like tame snakes
The polyp eyes converge…. The prophet stands
Dreading the answer from her burning bush:
This unconsuming flame, the outlaw’s blow,
Plague, exodus, Sinai, ruptured stones that gush,
God’s telegram: Dare Now! Let this people go!
A few random poems:
- Medallion poem – Ezra Pound poems
- Life of Paradoxes by Mike Yuan
- Владимир Степанов – Как живете? Что жуете?
- To A Child Dancing In The Wind by William Butler Yeats
- Владимир Маяковский – Совет Труда и Обороны сделал ассигнование миллионное… ( Главполитпросвет №64)
- Old Times by Rixa white
- Олег Бундур – Ранним утром
- Chi È? poem – Alfred Austin
- The Leaden Echo And The Golden Echo poem – Gerard Manley Hopkins poems
- Farmers Market by Mary TallMountain
- Conversation 23: On Cause by Rosmarie Waldrop
- Иосиф Бродский – Буров тракторист
- My Invisible Valentine by Nin Andrews
- What Work Is by Philip Levine
- Another on the said Occasion by Robert Burns
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
- Poor Mailie’s Elegy by Robert Burns
- Poem on Sensibility by Robert Burns
- Pegasus at Wanlockhead by Robert Burns
- Paraphrase of the First Psalm by Robert Burns
- One Night as I did Wander by Robert Burns
- On the late Captain Grose’s Peregrinations by Robert Burns
- On the Death of Robert Dundas, Esq., of Arniston by Robert Burns
- On the Death of John M’Leod, Esq. by Robert Burns
- On the Birth of a Posthumous Child by Robert Burns
- On Tam the Chapman by Robert Burns
- On seeing Mrs. Kemble in Yarico by Robert Burns
- On Scaring some Water-Fowl in Lock Turit by Robert Burns
- On Glenriddell’s Fox breaking his chain: A Fragment by Robert Burns
- On Elphinstone’s Translation of Martial’s Epigrams by Robert Burns
- On Chloris requesting a sprig of blossom’d thorn by Robert Burns
- Oh Wert Thou In The Cauld Blast by Robert Burns
- Ode, Sacred to the Memory of Mrs. Oswald of Auchencruive by Robert Burns
- Ode on the Departed Regency Bill by Robert Burns
- Ode for General Washington’s Birthday by Robert Burns
- Note to Mr. Renton of Lamerton by Robert Burns
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

Alec Derwent-Hope (1907–2000) was an Australian poet and essayist known for his satirical slant. He was also a critic, teacher and academic.