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:
- The One Night Stand : An Approach to the Bridge by Paul Blackburn
- Reading Moby-Dick at 30,000 Feet by Tony Hoagland
- Requiescat poem – Lord Alfred Tennyson poems
- The Courage Of Shutting-Up by Sylvia Plath
- Thinking For Berky by William Stafford
- 致老鼠的铅笔
- Coming Close by Philip Levine
- Альфред де Мюссе – Прости
- Ode to Beer, an Irish Song
- Владимир Высоцкий – Не отдавайте в физики детей
- The City That Will Not Repent by Vachel Lindsay
- The Bridge by Shel Silverstein
- Sonnet 77: Thy glass will show thee how thy beauties wear by William Shakespeare
- Flying Home by Sudeep Sen
- Жан де Лафонтен – Старый Кот и Мышонок
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
- Epitaph on my Ever Honoured Father by Robert Burns
- Epitaph on John Rankine by Robert Burns
- Epitaph on John Dove, Innkeeper by Robert Burns
- Epitaph on John Busby, Esq., Tinwald Downs by Robert Burns
- Epitaph on James Grieve by Robert Burns
- Epitaph on Holy Willie by Robert Burns
- Epitaph on Captain Lascelles by Robert Burns
- Epitaph on a noted coxcomb by Robert Burns
- Epitaph on a Noisy Polemic by Robert Burns
- Epitaph on a Henpecked Squire by Robert Burns
- Epitaph for William Nicol, High School, Edinburgh by Robert Burns
- Epitaph for Mr. William Michie, Schoolmaster by Robert Burns
- Epitaph for Mr. Walter Riddell by Robert Burns
- Epitaph for Mr. W. Cruickshank by Robert Burns
- Epitaph for Mr. Gabriel Richardson, Brewer by Robert Burns
- Epitaph for James Smith by Robert Burns
- Epitaph for Gavin Hamilton, Esq. by Robert Burns
- Epistle to William Simson by Robert Burns
- Epistle to the Rev. John M’Math by Robert Burns
- Epistle to Robert Graham, Esq., of Fintry 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
Adrienne Cecile Rich (1929 – 2012) was an American poet, essayist, and feminist.