A poem by Adrienne Cecile Rich (1929 – 2012)
When the ice starts to shiver
all across the reflecting basin
or water-lily leaves
dissect a simple surface
the word ‘drowning’ flows through me.
You built a glassy floor
that held me
as I leaned to fish for old
hooks and toothed tin cans,
stems lashing out like ties of
silk dressing-gowns
archangels of lake-light
gripped in mud.
Now you hand me a torn letter.
On my knees, in the ashes, I could never
fit these ripped-up flakes together.
In the taxi I am still piecing
what syllables I can
translating at top speed like a thinking machine
that types out ‘useless’ as ‘monster’
and ‘history’ as ‘lampshade’.
Crossing the bridge I need all my nerve
to trust to the man-made cables.
The blades on that machine
could cut you to ribbons
but its function is humane.
Is this all I can say of these
delicate books, scythe-curved intentions
you and I handle? I’d rather
taste blood, yours or mine, flowing
from a sudden slash, than cut all day
with blunt scissors on dotted lines
like the teacher told.
A few random poems:
- Fringed Gentian poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- AN EPITAPH UPON A CHILD by Robert Herrick
- An Invitation
- On An Ugly Fellow (From The Greek) by William Cowper
- Николай Гербель – Ура, объявлена война
- Pity For Poor Africans by William Cowper
- Владимир Высоцкий – Нынче мне не до улыбок
- Robert Burns: Versicles On Sign-Posts :
- The Princess (prologue) poem – Lord Alfred Tennyson poems
- Николай Глазков – Чингисхан, Батый, Аттила
- Владимир Маяковский – Что значило “празднование новогоднее”?.. (РОСТА №672)
- A Song of the English by Rudyard Kipling
- Ask Me by William Stafford
- hoppity.html
- Владимир Британишский – Иван Долгорукой
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
- Tip-Toe-ing by Mahak Raithatha S
- They Would Love To See Me Dead by Mahmoud Darwish
- These nights by Manushya Puthiran
- The Sound Of Your Breathing by Mac McGovern
- The Pigeons Fly by Mahmoud Darwish
- The Mouse by Mac McGovern
- The Most Exquisite Creature Of My Dreams by Mac McGovern
- The Husband’s Black Hands by Mallika Sengupta
- The Frivolity of Dreaming by Mahi Chauhan
- The Eve of Saint Agnes by Malcolm Massiah
- The end by Mahak Raithatha S
- The cake by Mahak Raithatha S
- Thanksgiving by Mac Hammond
- State of Siege by Mahmoud Darwish
- Southern Song by Margaret Walker
- Soul by Malkia Charlee NoCry
- Sonnet V by Mahmoud Darwish
- She’s Flawless by Mandy Williams
- She Looks by Mac McGovern
- She got her wings by Mahak Raithatha S
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
Adrienne Cecile Rich (1929 – 2012) was an American poet, essayist, and feminist.