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:
- Daybreak In A Garden by Siegfried Sassoon
- Наталья Шевченко – Привилегия
- The Road That Runs Beside The River by Thomas Lux
- Robert Burns: In The Prospect Of Death:
- Comments: How to Write a Critical Appreciation of a Poem
- Nimrod in September by Siegfried Sassoon
- The Unheeded Pageant by Rabindranath Tagore
- Толстой Алексей Николаевич стихи: Читать стихотворения Алексея Толстого – Список произведений, стихов поэта на Poetry Monster
- The Sun Was Slumbering in the West by Thomas Hood
- Шекспир – Я не хочу хвалить любовь мою – Сонет 21
- Marks Of Disrespect by Graham Rowlands
- September 1, 1939 by W. H. Auden
- Sheppard’s Quest by Shawn Ervin
- Lines on the Fall of Fyers by Robert Burns
- Innermost One by Rabindranath Tagore
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
- Makers And Creatures by Vernon Scannell
- Love thy Country and Do a useful Act – Gurazada by Vijay Narayana Chilaka
- Lesson In Grammar by Vernon Scannell
- Juan In Middle Age by Vernon Scannell
- Incendiary by Vernon Scannell
- Human Instrument by Victoria Bukofske
- Early Morning by Victoria Bukofske
- Death In The Lounge Bar by Vernon Scannell
- Ageing Schoolmaster by Vernon Scannell
- A sinners prayer by Victoria Rose
- A quiet storm by Victor A. Bueno M.
- A poodle and a hound by Victoria Rose
- A kiss to the ground by Victoria Rose
- A City Remembered by Vernon Scannell
- A Case Of Murder by Vernon Scannell
- Song IX: Ho Ye Who Seek Saving by William Morris
- Song IV: Draw Near and Behold Me by William Morris
- Song III: It Grew Up Without Heeding by William Morris
- Song II: Have No Thought for Tomorrow by William Morris
- Song I: Though the World Be A-Waning by William Morris
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.