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:
- Константин Бальмонт – Цветок (Я цветок, и счастье аромата)
- How Samson Bore Away the Gates of Gaza by Vachel Lindsay
- Debt by Sara Teasdale
- Old Ladies’ Home by Sylvia Plath
- Вера Павлова – Подарил мне жизнь
- Ballade Of The Summer Term poem – Andrew Lang poems
- Destiny Far Away
- A Tulip Garden poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- An Address to the Rev. George Gilfillan by William Topaz McGonagall
- Far In a Western Brookland poem – Alfred Edward Housman
- Fairy Tale by Robert Desnos
- Poem
- Childhood Memories by Preethi Saravanakumar
- Come, Send Round the Wine by Thomas Moore
- Владимир Маяковский – В России голод… (Главполитпросвет № 236)
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
- Алексей Плещеев – Твоя любовь мне утешенье
- Алексей Плещеев – Тобой лишь ясны дни мои
- Алексей Плещеев – Сон
- Алексей Плещеев – Смотрю на нее и любуюсь
- Алексей Плещеев – Сердцу
- Алексей Плещеев – Прости
- Алексей Плещеев – По чувствам братья мы с тобой
- Алексей Плещеев – Песня
- Алексей Плещеев – Ответ
- Алексей Плещеев – Она и он
- Алексей Плещеев – Ноктюрн
- Алексей Плещеев – На память
- Алексей Плещеев – Молчание
- Алексей Плещеев – Мною злых и глупых шуток
- Алексей Плещеев – Лучше гибель без возврата
- Алексей Плещеев – Когда твой кроткий, ясный взор
- Алексей Плещеев – Как солнце блещет ярко
- Алексей Плещеев – Есть дни, ни злоба, ни любовь
- Алексей Плещеев – Ее мне жаль
- Алексей Плещеев – Дети века все больные
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.