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:
- Epigramma in Duos montes Amosclivum Et Bilboreum poem – Andrew Marvell poems
- Words Of Advice by Ronald G. Auguste
- Easter Snow by Winifred Mary Letts
- Юлия Друнина – Старая лента, обугленный лес
- What We Need Is Here by Wendell Berry
- Solitude poem – Alexander Pope
- To A Soldier In Hospital by Winifred Mary Letts
- Владимир Маяковский – Военно-морская любовь
- Out Of The Window
- It was an April morning: fresh and clear by William Wordsworth
- To a friend by Vinko Kalinić
- Tonight she remembers by Rita Odessa Villaruel
- Xai Kou1
- The Otter by Seamus Heaney
- Вера Полозкова – Это не прихоть, это не блажь
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
- Forex Trading Strategies – Divining the Mysteries of Candlestick Charts and Patterns
- Numbers and the Bible
- Quality Customer Service – How to Measure Customer Satisfaction
- Ethiopia – Lalibela
- Different World Views of Art
- Distributive Trade II – The Wholesaler
- 12 Surefire Brainstorming Techniques
- Factors Affecting the Labor Market – Determination of Wages and The Activities of Trade Unions
- How To Achieve Self-Realization, The Mother of All Knowledge?
- The Cosmic Eggs
- What Are Solar Roofing Shingles?
- Howard Stern’s Wine
- Style Ideas For Vests For Women
- A Life Of Lorenzo Da Ponte:Talent Flies; Practical Reason Walks
- How to Make Money Online Writing and Selling eBooks
- Cinema Therapy and The MovieMaking Process
- God’s Work Ethics
- Article Writing – Revealed – 4 Priceless Methods to Make Money Through Article Writing
- 71 Ways For A Writer To Make Money
- Secrets of Academic Success: Passion
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.