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:
- Red Hanrahan’s Song About Ireland by William Butler Yeats
- Landscape At The End Of The Century by Stephen Dunn
- Human Joys
- Immoral Laboratories
- To a Historian. by Walt Whitman
- Second Poem by Peter Orlovsky
- Never Again by Stevie Smith
- For Life and Death of a Poet by Marcin Malek
- Ок Мельникова – Всё будет
- In Defense of Santa Claus
- Омар Хайям – Куда уйти от пламенных страстей
- Владимир Британишский – Фет в кирасирском полку
- Ок Мельникова – Sha man
- At Applewaite, Near Keswick 1804 by William Wordsworth
- Covering Two Years by Weldon Kees
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
- Doomes-Day: The Fourth Houre by William Alexander
- Doomes-Day: The First Houre by William Alexander
- Doomes-Day: The Fifth Houre by William Alexander
- Doomes-Day: The Eleventh Houre by William Alexander
- Doomes-Day: The Eighth Houre by William Alexander
- Doomes-Day: The Second Houre by William Alexander
- An Eccho by William Alexander
- A Short View Of: The State Of Man by William Alexander
- A Parænesis To Prince Henry by William Alexander
- Written In A Quarrel by William Cowper
- Written In A Fit Of Illness. R. S. S. by William Cowper
- Written After Leaving Her At New Burns by William Cowper
- Watching Unto God In The Night Season by William Cowper
- Watching Unto God In The Night Season (3) by William Cowper
- Watching Unto God In The Night Season (2) by William Cowper
- Verses Written At Bath, On Finding The Heel Of A Shoe by William Cowper
- Verses Printed By Himself On A Flood At Olney by William Cowper
- To The Rev. Mr. Newton, On His Return From Ramsgate by William Cowper
- To The Rev. Mr. Newton : An Invitation Into The Country by William Cowper
- To Mary by William Cowper
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.