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:
- For K. J., Leaving and Coming Back by Marilyn Hacker
- To Dorothy Wellesley by William Butler Yeats
- Immortal Indian Legend by Vasishta Sharma Gudi
- The Only One I Can’t Live Without, Its You by Miraj Patel
- Николай Языков – Поэт (Радушно рабствует поэту)
- The Space Heater by Sharon Olds
- Владимир Маяковский – Чем отличается Красная Армия от царской?.. (РОСТА №559)
- Mirage poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- At Oxford by William Lisle Bowles
- Николай Языков – А. С. Дириной
- The Gardener XXIV: Do Not Keep to Yourself by Rabindranath Tagore
- Upper Lambourne poem – John Betjeman poems
- Paradise Lost: Book 11 poem – John Milton poems
- The Owners Of The Little Box by Vasko Popa
- Dear Traffic Signal by Vinaya Kumar Hanumanthappa
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
- Streets Of Teal by Vaishnavi Prakash
- Shining Armour by Vaishnavi Prakash
- Shallow Valley by Vaishnavi Prakash
- Shadow Overhead by Vaishnavi Prakash
- Rusty Folks by Vaishnavi Prakash
- Quest for Thee by Vanessa Perkins
- Precious Pearl by Vaishnavi Prakash
- Power Of Love by Valentine Mbagu
- Parallel Lies by Vaishnavi Prakash
- Mauve Mittens by Vaishnavi Prakash
- Innocent Steps by Vaishnavi Prakash
- Vaishnavi Prakash – Vaishnavi Prakash
- Gimmick In A Geisha by Vaishnavi Prakash
- False Intimacy by Vaishnavi Prakash
- Eternal Love by Vaishnavi Prakash
- Esteemed Bliss by Vaishnavi Prakash
- Empty Pages by Vaishnavi Prakash
- Daffodil Dreams by Vaishnavi Prakash
- Curse of Righteousness by Vaishnavi Prakash
- Crawling At Sea by Vaishnavi Prakash
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.