A poem by Adrienne Cecile Rich (1929 – 2012)
Far back when I went zig-zagging
through tamarack pastures
you were my genius, you
my cast-iron Viking, my helmed
lion-heart king in prison.
Years later now you’re young
my fierce half-brother, staring
down from that simplified west
your breast open, your belt dragged down
by an oldfashioned thing, a sword
the last bravado you won’t give over
though it weighs you down as you stride
and the stars in it are dim
and maybe have stopped burning.
But you burn, and I know it;
as I throw back my head to take you in
and old transfusion happens again:
divine astronomy is nothing to it.
Indoors I bruise and blunder
break faith, leave ill enough
alone, a dead child born in the dark.
Night cracks up over the chimney,
pieces of time, frozen geodes
come showering down in the grate.
A man reaches behind my eyes
and finds them empty
a woman’s head turns away
from my head in the mirror
children are dying my death
and eating crumbs of my life.
Pity is not your forte.
Calmly you ache up there
pinned aloft in your crow’s nest,
my speechless pirate!
You take it all for granted
and when I look you back
it’s with a starlike eye
shooting its cold and egotistical spear
where it can do least damage.
Breath deep! No hurt, no pardon
out here in the cold with you
you with your back to the wall.
A few random poems:
- The Other by Sylvia Plath
- Stravinsky’s Three Pieces poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- His Phoenix by William Butler Yeats
- The Life Theoretic poem – Aldous Huxley poems | Poetry Monster
- Neither Out Far Nor In Deep by Robert Frost
- Виктор Шамонин-Версенев – Весёлый воробей
- A Hairline Fracture poem – Amy Clampitt poems | Poems and Poetry
- Николай Карамзин – Господину Дмитриеву на болезнь его (Болезнь есть часть живущих в мире)
- Après le Bain by William Carlos Williams
- Федор Сологуб – Тепло мне потому, что мой уютный дом
- least_in_a_list.html
- Maudlin by Sylvia Plath
- Владимир Степанов – Праздник сентября
- Ольга Берггольц – Разведчик
- I Am Just Saying! by Luis Estable
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 Farewell To Youth poem – Alfred Austin
- A Dream Of England poem – Alfred Austin
- A Dialogue At Fiesole poem – Alfred Austin
- A Defence Of English Spring poem – Alfred Austin
- A Country Nosegay poem – Alfred Austin
- A Christmas Carol poem – Alfred Austin
- A Captive Throstle poem – Alfred Austin
- A Border Burn poem – Alfred Austin
- A Birthday Present poem – Alfred Austin
- You Smile Upon Your Friend To-Day poem – A. E. Housman
- White in the Moon the Long Road Lies poem – A. E. Housman
- When the Lad for Longing Sigh poem – A. E. Housman
- When the Lad for Longing Sigh poem – A. E. Housman
- When Smoke Stood Up From Ludlow poem – A. E. Housman
- When Smoke Stood Up From Ludlow poem – A. E. Housman
- When I Watch the Living Meet poem – Alfred Edward Housman
- When I Watch the Living Meet poem – Alfred Edward Housman
- When I Came Last to Ludlow poem – A. E. Housman
- When I Came Last to Ludlow poem – A. E. Housman
- Westward on the High-Hilled Plains poem – A. E. Housman
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.