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:
- Year O’ year by Nikunj Sharma
- Владимир Высоцкий – Вот Вы докатились до сороковых
- Ethiopia – Lalibela
- Jerusalem Delivered – Book 02 – part 04 by Torquato Tasso
- Like the gods. . . by Sappho
- Two Sonnets On Fame poem – John Keats poems
- Владимир Британишский – Не избранностью, не особенностью
- Reply to the Threat of a Censorious Critic by Robert Burns
- Sing Me A Rainbow by Shel Silverstein
- The Spring
- Sonnet Xvi Who Shall Invoke Her
- Valhalla
- The place that is dark without space and the moonlight off the pond (The Gray) by Olivia Lewis
- Владимир Орлов – Цветное молоко
- Наум Коржавин – Еж и Заяц
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
- Psalm 08 poem – John Milton poems
- Psalm 07 poem – John Milton poems
- Psalm 06 poem – John Milton poems
- Psalm 05 poem – John Milton poems
- Psalm 04 poem – John Milton poems
- Psalm 03 poem – John Milton poems
- Psalm 02 poem – John Milton poems
- Psalm 01 poem – John Milton poems
- Paradise Regained: The Third Book poem – John Milton poems
- Paradise Regained: The Second Book poem – John Milton poems
- Paradise Regained: The Fourth Book poem – John Milton poems
- Paradise Regained: The First Book poem – John Milton poems
- Paradise Lost: Book 12 poem – John Milton poems
- Paradise Lost: Book 11 poem – John Milton poems
- Paradise Lost: Book 10 poem – John Milton poems
- Paradise Lost: Book 09 poem – John Milton poems
- Paradise Lost: Book 08 poem – John Milton poems
- Paradise Lost: Book 07 poem – John Milton poems
- Paradise Lost: Book 06 poem – John Milton poems
- Paradise Lost: Book 05 poem – John Milton poems
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.