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:
- Where’s the Poet? poem – John Keats poems
- The Poetical Works of Tiruloka Sitaram With Translation and Notes – Part II
- A Question poem – Alfred Austin
- Владимир Маяковский – Рассказ про то, как узнал Фадей закон
- As Through the Wild Green Hills of Wyre poem – A. E. Housman
- Robert Burns: My Spouse Nancy:
- Hohenlinden by Thomas Campbell
- gesture_theory_a_villanelle.html
- Robert Burns: To Mary In Heaven:
- Please Don’t Judas Me by Mark Miller
- The Remains by Mark Strand
- Women’s Harvest Song poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- Николай Рубцов – Загородил мою дорогу
- What Shall I Do For the Land that Bred Me poem – Gerard Manley Hopkins poems
- Vaulting by Satish Verma
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
- Федор Сваровский – Путешественники во времени — копенгаген 1969
- Федор Сваровский – Путешественники во времени 9
- Федор Сваровский – Путешественники во времени 7
- Федор Сваровский – Простая история
- Федор Сваровский – Пришельцы убили всех
- Федор Сваровский – Погребение мехоса
- Федор Сваровский – Пилот и Биби Хлотрос
- Федор Сваровский – Об удивительном
- Федор Сваровский – Небесный гость в четыре лепестка
- Федор Сваровский – Насрулло и Курбон
- Федор Сологуб – Золушка
- Федор Сологуб – Знаю знанием последним
- Федор Сологуб – Зальдивши тайный зной страстей, Валерий
- Федор Сологуб – Займитесь чтением в вагоне
- Федор Сологуб – Зачем жемчуг-роса в траве
- Федор Сологуб – Зачем, скажи
- Федор Сологуб – Забыв о счастьи, о весельи
- Федор Сологуб – Я люблю мою темную землю
- Федор Сологуб – Я иду путём опасным
- Федор Сологуб – Я иду от дома к дому
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.