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 Бундур – Сухари
- Robert Burns: Scots’ Prologue For Mr. Sutherland: On his Benefit-Night, at the Theatre, Dumfries.
- Fairy Land v by William Shakespeare
- The Dream by W H Auden
- The Countess Cathleen In Paradise by William Butler Yeats
- The Masks of Love
- Thalidomide by Sylvia Plath
- Sonnet 130: My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun by William Shakespeare
- Владимир Корнилов – Прежнее слово
- Keepe On Your Maske And Hide Your Eye by William Strode
- Владимир Британишский – В чащобах памяти кого не встретишь вдруг
- A REQUEST TO THE GRACES by Robert Herrick
- In Memoriam F.O.S. by Sara Teasdale
- Hospital Barge At Cerisy by Wilfred Owen
- Robert Burns: Epitaph On A Lap-Dog Named Echo:
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
- Михаил Лермонтов – Я не хочу, чтоб свет узнал
- Михаил Лермонтов – Я не люблю тебя
- Михаил Лермонтов – Я не для ангелов и рая
- Михаил Лермонтов – Хоть давно изменила мне радость
- Михаил Лермонтов – Хаджи Абрек
- Выхожу один я на дорогу – Лермонтов: Стихотворение, читать текст стиха Михаила Лермонтова – Poetry Monster
- Михаил Лермонтов – Всевышний произнес свой приговор
- Михаил Лермонтов – Время сердцу быть в покое
- Михаил Лермонтов – Воля
- Михаил Лермонтов – Война
- Михаил Лермонтов – Вид гор из степей Козлова
- Михаил Лермонтов – Весна
- Михаил Лермонтов – Венеция
- Михаил Лермонтов – Вечер после дождя
- Михаил Лермонтов – Валерик
- Михаил Лермонтов – В рядах стояли безмолвной толпой
- Михаил Лермонтов – Чума в Саратове
- Михаил Лермонтов – Что толку жить!.. Без приключений
- Михаил Лермонтов – Черкесы
- Михаил Лермонтов – Челнок (Воет ветр и свистит пред недальной грозой)
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.