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:
- Monologue At 3 AM by Sylvia Plath
- Portrait of a Boy by Stephen Vincent Benet
- Choriambics — I by Rupert Brooke
- Now Hollow Fires Burn Out to Black poem – Alfred Edward Housman
- Федор Сологуб – Я люблю мою темную землю
- Николай Рубцов – Жеребенок
- On the Danger of Procrastination by Abraham Cowley
- Broceliande
- The Travelling Bear poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- A Prayer in the Prospect of Death by Robert Burns
- Rutland Gate
- Morning Song by Sylvia Plath
- Anti-Thelyphthora. A Tale In Verse by William Cowper
- Pied Beauty by Ted Hughes
- divided_passion.html
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
- The Rowing Song by Roald Dahl
- The Crocodile by Roald Dahl
- St Ives by Roald Dahl
- Violet Beauregarde… by Roald Dahl
- “Veruca Salt…” by Roald Dahl
- My teacher wasn’t half as nice as yours seems to be by Roald Dahl
- “Mike Teavee…” by Roald Dahl
- Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf by Roald Dahl
- I’ve Got a Golden Ticket by Roald Dahl
- I had a little nut-tree, by Roald Dahl
- Hot and Cold by Roald Dahl
- “Goldie Pinklesweet…” by Roald Dahl
- Excerpt – “Goldilocks and the Three Bears” by Roald Dahl
- Augustus Gloop… by Roald Dahl
- Of Myself – the Essay and Poems on Myself by Abraham Cowley
- Poets
- On the Danger of Procrastination by Abraham Cowley
- ON THE SHORTNESS OF LIFE AND UNCERTAINTY OF RICHES by Abraham Cowley
- CLAUDIAN’S OLD MAN OF VERONA by Abraham Cowley
- THE DANGERS OF AN HONEST MAN IN MUCH COMPANY by Abraham Cowley
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.