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:
- Владимир Бенедиктов – Она была добра
- Blithe Dreams Arise To Greet Us by William Ernest Henley
- Absolution by Siegfried Sassoon
- the_emigrant.html
- A Woman’s Apology poem – Alfred Austin
- Kadambari by Raj Arumugam
- In A Restaurant by Sara Teasdale
- Blow, Blow, Thou Winter Wind by William Shakespeare
- Ольга Высотская – Первые заморозки
- A Spot by Thomas Hardy
- Prospective Immigrants Please Note
- Spring Day poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- George and Sarah Green by William Wordsworth
- The Gardener XXIV: Do Not Keep to Yourself by Rabindranath Tagore
- Robert Burns: Ballads on Mr. Heron’s Election, 1795: Ballad Third – John Bushby’s Lamentation.
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
- Владимир Вишневский – В Мисхоре
- Владимир Вишневский – Тем, что в женщине разбудишь
- Владимир Вишневский – Стада уж боле не пасутся мирно
- Владимир Вишневский – Пассажирский поезд
- Владимир Вишневский – Она идёт – как Восток алеет
- Владимир Вишневский – Незаконная гордость
- Владимир Вишневский – Нервическая песнь
- Владимир Вишневский – На исходе двадцатого века
- Владимир Вишневский – Мой брат на много лет вперёд
- Владимир Вишневский – Кто-то тянется к водному поло
- Владимир Вишневский – Как некстати или срыв спецоперации
- Владимир Вишневский – Из дневника читателя
- Владимир Вишневский – Долго же мы друг друга откладывали
- Владимир Вишневский – Что хочешь ты – желанье изъяви
- Владимир Степанов – Зима
- Владимир Степанов – Жучка и тучка
- Владимир Степанов – Юрий Гагарин
- Владимир Степанов – Ёжик и дождик
- Владимир Степанов – Яхта (Буква Я)
- Владимир Степанов – Хрюшка
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.