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:
- Recantation by Sylvia Plath
- Владимир Корнилов – Жара
- Pity For Poor Africans by William Cowper
- Mary, Pity Women! by Rudyard Kipling
- Poppies on Ludlow Castle by Willa Cather
- Orlando Furioso Canto 4 by Ludovico Ariosto
- Олег Григорьев – Тонет муха в сладости
- Олег Бундур – Вид с задней парты
- Civil War Songs
- Antimatter by Russell Edson
- Diary of a Church Mouse poem – John Betjeman poems | Poems and Poetry
- Владимир Британишский – Паллас
- Schlummerland – Slumberland / CD by Roland Zoss
- Make Love and War by Michael O’Leary
- INTO THE LAIR by Satish Verma
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
- Николай Огарев – Отцу
- Николай Огарев – Осеннее чувство
- Николай Огарев – Она никогда его не любила
- Николай Некрасов – Я посягну на неприличность
- Николай Некрасов – Я не люблю иронии твоей
- Николай Некрасов – Не рыдай так безумно над ним
- Николай Некрасов – Взирает он на жизнь сурово, строго
- Николай Некрасов – Вступление к песням 1876-77 годов
- Николай Некрасов – Встреча душ
- Николай Некрасов – Возвращение
- Николай Некрасов – Вор
- Николай Некрасов – Во вражде неостывающей
- Николай Некрасов – Внимая ужасам войны
- Николай Некрасов – Влас
- Николай Некрасов – Весна
- Николай Некрасов – Великодушный поступок
- Николай Некрасов – Вчера, сегодня
- Николай Некрасов – В тоске по юности моей
- Николай Некрасов – В полном разгаре страда деревенская
- Николай Некрасов – Дни идут… всё так же воздух душен
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.