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:
- An Ode, On Reading Mr. Richardson’s History Of Sir Charles Grandison by William Cowper
- The Evenèn Star O’ Zummer by William Barnes
- London Roses by Willa Cather
- softly… in wingless dream by Steve Troyanovich
- English Poetry. George Eliot. How Lisa Loved the King. Джордж Элиот.
- A Token by Robert Creeley
- Владимир Маяковский – Раек (РОСТА №8)
- Николай Заболоцкий – Вопросы к морю
- Владимир Высоцкий – Свадебная
- The Carnival by Robert Creeley
- Laodamia by William Wordsworth
- Ianthe’s Question by Walter Savage Landor
- Sonnet 23: As an unperfect actor on the stage by William Shakespeare
- Your Dream
- THE ROAD OF ANGEL poem – kapardeli eftichia poems | Poems and Poetry
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
- Central Park At Dusk by Sara Teasdale
- At Sea by Sara Teasdale
- At Night by Sara Teasdale
- Alchemy by Sara Teasdale
- Advice To A Girl by Sara Teasdale
- A Winter Night by Sara Teasdale
- A Winter Bluejay by Sara Teasdale
- A Song Of The Princess by Sara Teasdale
- A Prayer by Sara Teasdale
- A Minuet Of Mozart’s by Sara Teasdale
- A Maiden by Sara Teasdale
- A Little While by Sara Teasdale
- A Fantasy by Sara Teasdale
- A Boy by Sara Teasdale
- A Ballad Of The Two Knights by Sara Teasdale
- Tides by Sara Teasdale
- The Years by Sara Teasdale
- The Mystery by Sara Teasdale
- The Ghost by Sara Teasdale
- The Fountain by Sara Teasdale
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.