A poem by Alan Dugan
Who knows whether the sea heals or corrodes?
The wading, wintered pack-beasts of the feet
slough off, in spring, the dead rind of the shoes’
leather detention, the big toe’s yellow horn
shines with a natural polish, and the whole
person seems to profit. The opposite appears
when dead sharks wash up along the beach
for no known reason. What is more built
for winning than the swept-back teeth,
water-finished fins, and pure bad eyes
these old, efficient forms of appetite
are dressed in? Yet it looks as if the sea
digested what it wished of them with viral ease
and threw up what was left to stink and dry.
If this shows how the sea approaches life
in its propensity to feed as animal entire,
then sharks are comforts, feet are terrified,
but they vacation in the mystery and why not?
Who knows whether the sea heals or corrodes?:
what the sun burns up of it, the moon puts back.
A few random poems:
- Elegy III. Anno Aet. 17. On The Death Of The Bishop Of Winchester (Translated From Milton) by William Cowper
- Владимир Корнилов – Муки свободы
- To England At The Outbreak Of The Balkan War
- Indignation Of A High-Minded Spaniard by William Wordsworth
- Feeling Lazy poem – Yang Wan-Li poems | Poetry Monster
- Psalm 02 poem – John Milton poems
- Though In My Firmament Thou Wilt Not Shine
- Faces. by Walt Whitman
- An Essay On Criticism poem – Alexander Pope poems | Poetry Monster
- Владимир Высоцкий – В тайгу
- Robert Burns: Epistle To John Maxwell, ESQ., Of Terraughty : On His Birthday.
- Tonic For Victory
- Олег Чупров – Шаньги
- A Song of the White Men by Rudyard Kipling
- The Lover’s Song poem – Alfred Austin
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
- Mule Song poem – A. R. Ammons poems | Poetry Monster
- In Memoriam Mae Noblitt poem – A. R. Ammons poems | Poetry Monster
- Identity poem – A. R. Ammons poems | Poetry Monster
- Hymn poem – A. R. Ammons poems | Poetry Monster
- Gravelly Run poem – A. R. Ammons poems | Poetry Monster
- Eyesight poem – A. R. Ammons poems | Poetry Monster
- Design poem – A. R. Ammons poems | Poetry Monster
- Crowride poem – A. R. Ammons poems | Poetry Monster
- Called Into Play poem – A. R. Ammons poems | Poetry Monster
- An Improvisation For Angular Momentum poem – A. R. Ammons poems | Poetry Monster
- After Yesterday poem – A. R. Ammons poems | Poetry Monster
- Sunday Morning Blues poem – A. D. Winans poems | Poetry Monster
- I Kiss the Feet of Angels poem – A. D. Winans poems | Poetry Monster
- Grand Slam Night poem – A. D. Winans poems | Poetry Monster
- Father Divine poem – A. D. Winans poems | Poetry Monster
- Sunday Morning Blues poem – A. D. Winans poems | Poetry Monster
- I Kiss the Feet of Angels poem – A. D. Winans poems | Poetry Monster
- Grand Slam Night poem – A. D. Winans poems | Poetry Monster
- Father Divine poem – A. D. Winans poems | Poetry Monster
- Was Then by AC Zenner
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

Alan Dugan (1923 – 2003) an American poet, a contemporary classic of American poetry.