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:
- still the leaves fall… and dream by Steve Troyanovich
- In A Cuban Garden by Sara Teasdale
- Анатолий Жигулин – Цветы сажают в торф
- Владимир Маяковский – Богомольное
- Юлия Друнина – Зной
- The Welshnut Tree by William Barnes
- Who Fancied What A Pretty Sight by William Wordsworth
- Don’t Worry by John Oxenham
- Robert Burns: Ca’ The Yowes To The Knowes: Second Version
- Жан Расин – Гофолия
- The face wanted by Vinko Kalinić
- O’erweening Statesmen Have Full Long Relied by William Wordsworth
- Myself and Mine. by Walt Whitman
- The Seven Of Pentacles by Marge Piercy
- Николай Языков – Вот яблоки так яблоки, на славу
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
- Morning Poem #6 by Wanda Phipps
- Morning Poem #59 by Wanda Phipps
- Morning Poem #43 by Wanda Phipps
- Morning Poem #40 by Wanda Phipps
- Morning Poem #39 by Wanda Phipps
- Morning Poem #39 by Wanda Phipps
- Morning Poem #1 by Wanda Phipps
- Your Voice by Walter William Safar
- The Land Beyond the Rainbow by Walter William Safar
- Old Homeless Man by Walter William Safar
- Ode to Poetry by Walter William Safar
- Ode to Mother Nature by Walter William Safar
- Mother Nature by Walter William Safar
- Me, The Wind and the Old Shadow by Walter William Safar
- Lonely Nights by Walter William Safar
- Life by Walter William Safar
- It’s Beautiful to See Through the Eyes of the Sky by Walter William Safar
- In The Name of Eternal Love by Walter William Safar
- In the Name of Eternal Love by Walter William Safar
- Immigrant by Walter William Safar
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.