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 Thorn by William Wordsworth
- NOCTURNAL EMBERS AND LOST LIPS by Steve Troyanovich
- To a Commencement of Scoundrels by Samuel Hazo
- Омар Хайям – Чем пустыми мечтами себя донимать
- Primrose Rose by Rainbow Reed
- Composed In The Valley Near Dover, On The Day Of Landing by William Wordsworth
- Robert Burns: Auld Lang Syne:
- Shaftesbury Feäir by William Barnes
- On The Same Occasion by William Wordsworth
- Константин Бальмонт – Можно жить с закрытыми глазами
- Константин Бальмонт – Море – вечное стремленье, горы – царственный покой
- Follies of War by Michael Levy
- Sweetheart by M. T. Metutera
- Portrait of Rage and Age poem – Amy Cavanaugh poems | Poems and Poetry
- August 1968 by W H Auden
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
- Jerusalem Delivered – Book 02 – part 07 by Torquato Tasso
- Jerusalem Delivered – Book 02 – part 06 by Torquato Tasso
- Jerusalem Delivered – Book 02 – part 05 by Torquato Tasso
- Jerusalem Delivered – Book 02 – part 04 by Torquato Tasso
- Jerusalem Delivered – Book 02 – part 03 by Torquato Tasso
- Jerusalem Delivered – Book 02 – part 02 by Torquato Tasso
- Jerusalem Delivered – Book 02 – part 01 by Torquato Tasso
- Jerusalem Delivered – Book 01 – part 07 by Torquato Tasso
- Jerusalem Delivered – Book 01 – part 06 by Torquato Tasso
- Jerusalem Delivered – Book 01 – part 03 by Torquato Tasso
- Jerusalem Delivered – Book 01 – part 01 by Torquato Tasso
- Io v’amo sol perche (I Love You Simply Because) by Torquato Tasso
- Io v’amo sol perche (I Love You Simply Because) by Torquato Tasso
- Ecco Mormorar L’onde (Now The Waves Murmur) by Torquato Tasso
- Vegetable Swallow by Tristan Tzara
- To Make A Dadist Poem by Tristan Tzara
- The Last Breath of a Ship by Tri Tran
- The Great Lament Of My Obscurity Three by Tristan Tzara
- Proclamation Without Pretension by Tristan Tzara
- Cinema Calendar Of The Abstract Heart; 09 by Tristan Tzara
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.