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:
- Three Songs Of Zahir U Din
- Robert Burns: The Auld Farmer’s New-Year-Morning Salutation To His Auld Mare, Maggie: On giving her the accustomed ripp of corn to hansel in the New Year.
- Never Try To Trick Me With A Kiss by Sylvia Plath
- I Remember by Stevie Smith
- Shelley’s Death poem – Alfred Austin
- The Other Side of Panic by Martina Reisz Newberry
- Not Heat Flames up and Consumes. by Walt Whitman
- Hope for a New World by Raj Napal
- Buddha by Vachel Lindsay
- Sonnet 87: Farewell! Thou art too dear for my possessing by William Shakespeare
- Федор Сологуб – Ландыш пленительный
- Sonnet 4: Unthrifty loveliness, why dost thou spend by William Shakespeare
- Нина Воронель – Суета
- A Night In June poem – Alfred Austin
- Кондратий Рылеев – Любовь к отчизне
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
- Ольга Берггольц – Бабье лето (надо любить, жалеть, прощать)
- Ольга Берггольц – Анна Ахматова в 1941 году в Ленинграде
- Ольга Берггольц – А помнишь
- Ольга Берггольц – 27 января 1945 года
- Олег Широв – Она бесценна, просто ангел
- Олег Сердобольский – Зимний кот
- Олег Сердобольский – Задумал слово я такое
- Олег Сердобольский – Храбрый червячок
- Олег Сердобольский – Воробышек и крошки
- Олег Сердобольский – Во дворе
- Олег Сердобольский – Угадай, в какой руке
- Олег Сердобольский – У сосульки льет из носа
- Олег Сердобольский – Стой, кто идет
- Олег Сердобольский – Птенчик
- Олег Сердобольский – Пришли цыплята в первый класс
- Олег Сердобольский – Перемена
- Олег Сердобольский – Облачко
- Олег Сердобольский – Мошка Машка
- Олег Сердобольский – Кузнечик
- Олег Сердобольский – Корова и божья коровка
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.