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:
- Владимир Маяковский – Земля наша обильна
- Players Ask For A Blessing On The Psalteries And On Themselves by William Butler Yeats
- Ярослав Смеляков – Стихи, написанные в псковской гостинице
- Ольга Ермолаева – Я так же, как ты, от стыда опускаю ресницы
- The Ancient Deception by Rixa White
- Edmundi Trotii Epitaphium poem – Andrew Marvell poems
- zen: a very short history by Raj Arumugam
- Sonet 43 by William Alexander
- Федор Тютчев – К Н.
- Once Was A Singer For God Remembering Nekia
- Notes To A Neophyte by Sylvia Plath
- Upon Appleton House, to My Lord Fairfax poem – Andrew Marvell poems
- I Once Knew A Woman by Shel Silverstein
- It Takes a While to Disappear by Ralph Angel
- Sonnet 48: How careful was I, when I took my way by William Shakespeare
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
- Hope by Swaraj Prasad
- Ematiated Souls by Suuk Simon Subinimah
- Curtis by Susan King Saunders
- Caught by Susan Adams
- A soldier’s Pledge by Sylvan Lightbourne
- A character of it’s own by Sylvan Lightbourne
- Zoo-Keeper’s Wife by Sylvia Plath
- You’re by Sylvia Plath
- Yadwigha, On A Red Couch, Among Lillies by Sylvia Plath
- Yaddo : The Grand Manor by Sylvia Plath
- Wreath For A Bridal by Sylvia Plath
- Words Heard, By Accident, Over The Phone by Sylvia Plath
- A Winter’s Tale by Sylvia Plath
- Winter Landscape, With Rooks by Sylvia Plath
- Watercolor Of Grantchester Meadows by Sylvia Plath
- Waking In Winter by Sylvia Plath
- Virgin In A Tree by Sylvia Plath
- Two Views Of Withens by Sylvia Plath
- Two Views Of A Cadaver Room by Sylvia Plath
- Two Sisters Of Persephone by Sylvia Plath
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.