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:
- Олег Сердобольский – Облачко
 - Нина Воронель – Вечная мерзлота
 - Михаил Лермонтов – Хаджи Абрек
 - Dignissimo Suo Amico Doctori Wittie. De Translatione Vulgi poem – Andrew Marvell poems
 - NO SE VIVIR ASI by victoria luisa mora paoli
 - Владимир Маяковский – Спросили раз меня: “Вы любите ли НЭП?”
 - Enigma of A Phoenix by Neelam Dadhwal
 - The Waggon A-Stooded by William Barnes
 - Николай Заболоцкий – Весна в лесу
 - Владимир Бенедиктов – Могила в мансарде
 - A Sure Sign by Georgi Ladonshchikov
 - In Between The Strophes
 - Sonnet XIV. Addressed To The Same (Haydon) poem – John Keats poems
 - Malmaison poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
 - I Once Knew A Woman by Shel Silverstein
 
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
- A Lover poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
 - In Excelsis poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
 - In A Time Of Dearth poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
 - Granadilla poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
 - Free Fantasia On Japanese Themes poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
 - Flute-Priest Song For Rain poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
 - Aliens poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
 - A Lover poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
 - Autum by T.S. Hulme
 - America
 - The Hanging Tree
 - Wolves by Mary Bone
 - Wind poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
 - White and Green poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
 - Vintage poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
 - Venus Transiens poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
 - Venetian Glass poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
 - Two Travellers in the Place Vendome poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
 - To John Keats poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
 - To Elizabeth Ward Perkins poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
 
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.