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:
- Forget-me-nots by Vishü Rita Krocha
- Walls at Drogheda by Tomás Ó Cárthaigh
- THE MOSAIC by Satish Verma
- In The Metropolitan Museum by Sara Teasdale
- The Gardener XIX: You Walked by Rabindranath Tagore
- The Castle Ruins by William Barnes
- Orlando Furioso Canto 19 by Ludovico Ariosto
- John Keats – John Keats Poems
- Sonnet 129: Th’ expense of spirit in a waste of shame by William Shakespeare
- The Swans poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- Владимир Орлов – Кому что снится?
- A Spot by Thomas Hardy
- My Miracle Valentine by Tirtha Raj Baral (Sanu Punatare)
- How I Walked Alone in the Jungles of Heaven by Vachel Lindsay
- Николай Тихонов – Когда уйду
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
- Георгий Иванов – То, о чем искусство лжет
- Георгий Иванов – Теплятся жаркие свечи
- Георгий Иванов – Теперь тебя не уничтожат
- Георгий Иванов – Теперь, когда быстрее лавы
- Георгий Иванов – Танцуй, монах, танцуй, поэт
- Георгий Иванов – Там, над Невой зеленоватой
- Георгий Иванов – Так тихо гаснул этот день
- Георгий Иванов – Балтийское море дымилось
- Георгий Иванов – Аспазия, всегда Аспазия
- Георгий Иванов – Альбомный сонет
- Георгий Иванов – А может быть, еще и не конец
- Геннадий Айги – Два эпилога
- Геннадий Айги – Дом в поле
- Геннадий Айги – ДЕВОЧКА В ДЕТСТВЕ
- Геннадий Айги – ЧИТАЯ НОРВИДА
- Геннадий Айги – БЕЗ НАЗВАНИЯ
- Гавриил Державин – На Новый год
- Гавриил Державин – Модное остроумие
- Гавриил Державин – К первому соседу
- Гавриил Державин – К Анжелике Кауфман
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.