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:
- English Poetry. John Townsend Trowbridge. Midwinter. Джон Таунсенд Троубридж.
- Алексей Николаевич Толстой – Талисман
- Robert Burns: The Twa Herds; Or, The Holy Tulyie: An Unco Mournfu’ Tale
- A Lover poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- Epigram on a Suicide by Robert Burns
- Владимир Орлов – Что нельзя купить
- The Gardener LXXIX: I Often Wonder by Rabindranath Tagore
- from The Tenth Elegy by Rainer Maria Rilke
- Turns by Tony Harrison
- Gratitude To The Unknown Instructors by William Butler Yeats
- I have no complaint by Sappho
- From The North by Sara Teasdale
- Book Thirteenth [Imagination And Taste, How Impaired And Restored Concluded] by William Wordsworth
- Владимир Костров – Выходец из волости лесистой
- Poem of Joys. by Walt Whitman
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
- I Shout Love by Milton Acorn
- I know our friendship wil never end by Miraj Patel
- I Just Wanna Make You Mine Girl by Miraj Patel
- I Just Wanna Be Your Number One by Miraj Patel
- I Have A Friend I Can Proudly Say by Miraj Patel
- I Just Wanna Be Your Valentine by Miraj Patel
- I Can Feel The Same by Miraj Patel
- Househunting by Mike Yuan
- Hiking by Mike Yuan
- Growth: for Allen Qing Yuan by Mike Yuan
- Global Warning by Mike Yuan
- Four Corners by Michelle Bonczek Evory
- Forever Ya by Miraj Patel
- Far Pitched Tents: Poems of War by Michael Nikoletseas
- Entering the Body by Michelle Bonczek Evory
- Elizabeth by Michael Ondaatje
- East Idioms (1): A Fable by Mike Yuan
- Don’t Hang Up The Phone by Miraj Patel
- Christmas Dance of the Hours by Michael T. Bee
- Change of Climate by Michael S Wilson
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.