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:
- Sex Without Love by Sharon Olds
- Ode To A Loved One by Sappho
- Михаил Кузмин – Второй свидетель
- Heaven–Haven: A Nun Takes The Veil poem – Gerard Manley Hopkins poems
- Invitation
- Deep In The Night by Sara Teasdale
- Стефан Малларме – Дар поэмы
- As I Walk These Broad, Majestic Days. by Walt Whitman
- Иван Коневской – Воскресение
- Юргис Балтрушайтис – Чем больше в мире я живу
- The Undeniable Pressure of Existence by Patricia Fargnoli
- The Death of Lincoln by William Cullen Bryant
- Exposed On The Cliffs Of The Heart by Rainer Maria Rilke
- Epitaph on William Hood, Senior by Robert Burns
- Николай Заболоцкий – Пекарня
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
- Николай Рубцов – Зимняя песня
- Николай Рубцов – Жеребенок
- Николай Рубцов – Загородил мою дорогу
- Николай Рубцов – Я тебя целовал
- Николай Рубцов – Хороший улов
- Николай Рубцов – Возвращение из рейса
- Николай Рубцов – Воробей
- Николай Рубцов – Ветер всхлипывал, словно дитя
- Николай Рубцов – Весна на берегу Бии
- Николай Огарев – Я сорвал ветку кипариса
- Николай Огарев – Хандра
- Николай Огарев – Выпьем, что ли, Ваня
- Николай Огарев – В прогулке поздней видел я
- Николай Огарев – Тебе я счастья не давал довольно
- Николай Огарев – Свисти ты, о ветер, с бессонною силой
- Николай Огарев – Смутные мгновенья
- Николай Огарев – С полуночи ветер холодный подул
- Николай Огарев – Расстались мы
- Николай Огарев – Прощанье с краем, откуда не уезжал
- Николай Огарев – Предисловие к колоколу
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.