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:
- Стефан Малларме – В альбом
- Walking The Marshland by Stephen Dunn
- Robert Burns: Ah, Woe Is Me, My Mother Dear: Paraphrase of Jeremiah, 15th Chap., 10th verse
- Notice by Steve Kowit
- I know our friendship wil never end by Miraj Patel
- Inscription on a Grotto, the Work of Nine Ladies. poem – Alexander Pope poems | Poetry Monster
- Follower by Seamus Heaney
- Владимир Маяковский – Помогите цинготным детям (Главполитпросвет №274)
- Now What Is Love by Sir Walter Raleigh
- Jessie by Thomas Edward Brown
- Book Ends by Tony Harrison
- The Odyssey poem – Andrew Lang poems
- Кондратий Рылеев – Н. М. Тевяшовой на предложение ее, дабы я написал стихи на Надежду
- Владимир Высоцкий – Я стою, стою спиною к строю
- Negligence
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
- Says. by Walt Whitman
- Savantism. by Walt Whitman
- Salut au Monde. by Walt Whitman
- Runner, The. by Walt Whitman
- Roots and Leaves Themselves Alone. by Walt Whitman
- Roaming in Thought. by Walt Whitman
- Rise, O Days. by Walt Whitman
- Respondez! by Walt Whitman
- Recorders Ages Hence. by Walt Whitman
- Reconciliation. by Walt Whitman
- Race of Veterans. by Walt Whitman
- Quicksand Years. by Walt Whitman
- Proud Music of The Storm by Walt Whitman
- Primeval my Love for the Woman I Love. by Walt Whitman
- Prayer of Columbus. by Walt Whitman
- Prairie States, The. by Walt Whitman
- Prairie-Grass Dividing, The. by Walt Whitman
- Portals. by Walt Whitman
- Poets to Come. by Walt Whitman
- Poem of Remembrance for a Girl or a Boy. by Walt Whitman
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.