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:
- Demon by Vladimir Marku
- Wraiths by Siegfried Sassoon
- Владимир Маяковский – Смотри, крестьянин (РОСТА №463)
- Eyes And Tears poem – Andrew Marvell poems
- Владимир Вишневский – Звучит воинственно: “носки”
- A Poetical Epistle To Lady Austen by William Cowper
- My Words Embrace by Mary Etta Metcalf
- A Man (In Memory of H. of M.) by Thomas Hardy
- Михаил Лермонтов – Хоть давно изменила мне радость
- Where Shall We Go? by Vernon Scannell
- On The Author Of Letters On Literature by William Cowper
- Ancient pornography before pornography. 10 Most Shocking Sex Artifacts From The Ancient World. Amazing works of erotic art of the ancient world.
- The Example by William Henry Davies
- I Sit and Look Out. by Walt Whitman
- The Chinese Nightingale by Vachel Lindsay
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 Consolation to Cuckholds by William Wycherley poems
- A Soft Day by Winifred Mary Letts
- What Reward? by Winifred Mary Letts
- To A Soldier In Hospital by Winifred Mary Letts
- To A May Baby by Winifred Mary Letts
- Tim, An Irish Terrier by Winifred Mary Letts
- The Spires Of Oxford by Winifred Mary Letts
- The Kerry Cow by Winifred Mary Letts
- The Harbour by Winifred Mary Letts
- The Deserter by Winifred Mary Letts
- The Connaught Rangers by Winifred Mary Letts
- The Call To Arms In Our Street by Winifred Mary Letts
- Synge’s Grave by Winifred Mary Letts
- Screens (In a Hospital) by Winifred Mary Letts
- Easter Snow by Winifred Mary Letts
- Chaplain To The Forces by Winifred Mary Letts
- Casualty by Winifred Mary Letts
- And She is Spoke by Winifred Mary Letts
- A Dog’s Grave by Winifred Mary Letts
- Love Sonnet XXV poem – Zora Bernice May Cross poems
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.