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:
- Key and Knife (Two Haiku) by Mike Yuan
- Ольга Берггольц – Какая тёмная зима
- Владимир Корнилов – Кривая
- Николай Заболоцкий – Голубиная книга
- Absence poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- Юрий Галансков стихи: читать все стихотворения, поэмы поэта Юрий Галансков – Поэзия на Poetry Monster
- 9 Types of Lovers – The Twisted Version
- Такахама Кёси – Давнишний приятель
- Анатолий Жигулин – О, Родина, в неярком блеске
- I Know From my Bed by Michael Lee Johnson
- At San Giovanni Del Lago poem – Alfred Austin
- The Dawn by William Butler Yeats
- Eternal Existence by Mark Miller
- Шекспир – Я так тебя люблю – Сонет 36
- Валерий Брюсов – Италия
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
- How To Raise Money For Your High School Study Abroad Experience
- Computer Cookies: Are They Good or Bad?
- The Best Blues Songs Ever
- The Effects of Chess on Leadership
- Holiday & Travel Guide For Paphos, Cyprus
- Will the SEZ Act Boost Exports?
- Art Therapy and Loss
- Fiction Tips – The Snare of Coincidence
- Interview With Joseph D’Agnese, Author Of Jersey Heat
- Top 5 Furniture Buying Tactics For the Best Purchase
- Chinese Zodiac Signs
- A Brief History of Special Education
- Priorities of Life and Death
- Goals – How to Get Everything You Want by Brian Tracy – Review
- How to Increase Your Faith
- Top Benefits of Wearing Peridot Birthstone
- How to Locate, Hire, and Work With an Article Writer
- Companies See Mobile Games Development As a Profitable Business Option
- Empowering Women in Gambia
- Is Hiring a Resume Writer Really Worth It?
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.