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:
- Robert Burns: Elegy On The Death Of Robert Ruisseaux:
- Morning Poem #39 by Wanda Phipps
- Magdalen poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
- An Extempore poem – John Keats poems
- Ольга Седакова – Болезнь
- Man’s Knowledge – Ingorance in the Mysteries of God by William Drummond
- Федор Тютчев – Князю Суворову
- Invitation
- Love’s Unity poem – Alfred Austin
- The Key Note poem – Ambrose Bierce poems | Poems and Poetry
- Василий Тредиаковский – Мое сердце все было в страсти
- The Times Are Nightfall poem – Gerard Manley Hopkins poems
- E.A. Nov. 6, 1900 by John Oxenham
- No Rival Like The Past
- The Allies poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
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
- Ольга Берггольц – Бабье лето (надо любить, жалеть, прощать)
- Ольга Берггольц – Анна Ахматова в 1941 году в Ленинграде
- Ольга Берггольц – А помнишь
- Ольга Берггольц – 27 января 1945 года
- Олег Широв – Она бесценна, просто ангел
- Олег Сердобольский – Зимний кот
- Олег Сердобольский – Задумал слово я такое
- Олег Сердобольский – Храбрый червячок
- Олег Сердобольский – Воробышек и крошки
- Олег Сердобольский – Во дворе
- Олег Сердобольский – Угадай, в какой руке
- Олег Сердобольский – У сосульки льет из носа
- Олег Сердобольский – Стой, кто идет
- Олег Сердобольский – Птенчик
- Олег Сердобольский – Пришли цыплята в первый класс
- Олег Сердобольский – Перемена
- Олег Сердобольский – Облачко
- Олег Сердобольский – Мошка Машка
- Олег Сердобольский – Кузнечик
- Олег Сердобольский – Корова и божья коровка
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.