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:
- Promise Me Rain Retold by Roberto Cocina
- Владимир Маяковский – Письмо Татьяне Яковлевой
- Light and Darkness
- Earth the Healer, Earth the Keeper by William Morris
- Ольга Берггольц – Два стихотворения дочерям
- Turn, O Libertad. by Walt Whitman
- Calligraphy of geese by Yosa Buson
- To the Author of a Poem Entitled Succession poem – Alexander Pope
- Paradox by Willa Cather
- Федор Тютчев – А. Н. М.
- Стефан Малларме – Весеннее обновление
- on the edge of the seat by Raj Arumugam
- To The Ladies Who Saw Me Crowned poem – John Keats poems
- Catharina : The Second Part. On Her Marriage To George Courtenay, Esq. by William Cowper
- A Witch by William Barnes
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
- On Hermocratia (From The Greek) by William Cowper
- On Flaxman’s Penelope by William Cowper
- On Flatteries (From The Greek) by William Cowper
- On Female Inconstancy (From The Greek) by William Cowper
- On Envy (From The Greek) by William Cowper
- On Delia (Bid Adieu, My Sad Heart) by William Cowper
- On An Ugly Fellow (From The Greek) by William Cowper
- On An Old Woman (From The Greek) by William Cowper
- On An Infant (From The Greek) by William Cowper
- On A True Friend (From The Greek) by William Cowper
- On A Thief (From The Greek) by William Cowper
- On A Spaniel, Called Beau, Killing A Young Bird by William Cowper
- On A Similar Character (From The Greek) by William Cowper
- On A Plant Of Virgin’s-Bower, Designed To Cover A Garden-seat by William Cowper
- On A Mistake In His Translation Of Homer by William Cowper
- On A Miser (From The Greek) by William Cowper
- On A Miser, 3 (From The Greek) by William Cowper
- On A Miser, 2 (From The Greek) by William Cowper
- On A Mischievous Bull, Which The Owner Him Sold At The Author’s Instance by William Cowper
- On A Good Man (From The Greek) by William Cowper
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.