by Ai
We smile at each other
and I lean back against the wicker couch.
How does it feel to be dead? I say.
You touch my knees with your blue fingers.
And when you open your mouth,
a ball of yellow light falls to the floor
and burns a hole through it.
Don’t tell me, I say. I don’t want to hear.
Did you ever, you start,
wear a certain kind of dress
and just by accident,
so inconsequential you barely notice it,
your fingers graze that dress
and you hear the sound of a knife cutting paper,
you see it too
and you realize how that image
is simply the extension of another image,
that your own life
is a chain of words
that one day will snap.
Words, you say, young girls in a circle, holding hands,
and beginning to rise heavenward
in their confirmation dresses,
like white helium balloons,
the wreathes of flowers on their heads spinning,
and above all that,
that’s where I’m floating,
and that’s what it’s like
only ten times clearer,
ten times more horrible.
Could anyone alive survive it?

A few random poems:
- I Know From my Bed by Michael Lee Johnson
- Evenén in the Village by William Barnes
- Composed After A Journey Across The Hambleton Hills, Yorkshire by William Wordsworth
- Jerusalem Delivered – Book 06 – part 05 by Torquato Tasso
- Epitaph On An Army of Mercenaries poem – A. E. Housman
- Ольга Берггольц – 27 января 1945 года
- Of Wit
- Ольга Седакова – Все труды
- Book Review: A Dictionary Of Indian English Litterateurs: 1794-2010
- Юргис Балтрушайтис – Утренние песни
- A Cradle Song by William Blake
- Вера Павлова – Попытка не пытка
- how far are you? by Raj Arumugam
- Dark Room( qua vadis) by Muralidharan Mudaliar
- Snakecharmer by Sylvia Plath
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
- Epistle to Mrs. Scott of Wauchope House by Robert Burns
- Epistle to Major Logan by Robert Burns
- Epistle to John Rankine by Robert Burns
- Epistle to John Maxwell, Esq., of Terraughty by Robert Burns
- Epistle to John Goldie, in Kilmarnock by Robert Burns
- Epistle to James Tennant of Glenconner by Robert Burns
- Epistle to James Smith by Robert Burns
- Epistle to Hugh Parker by Robert Burns
- Epistle to Dr. Blacklock by Robert Burns
- Epistle to Davie, A Brother Poet by Robert Burns
- Epistle to Colonel de Peyster by Robert Burns
- Epistle to a Young Friend by Robert Burns
- Epistle on J. Lapraik by Robert Burns
- Epistle from Esopus to Maria by Robert Burns
- Epigrams against the Earl of Galloway by Robert Burns
- Epigram to Miss Jean Scott by Robert Burns
- Epigram to Miss Ainslie in Church by Robert Burns
- Epigram—The True Loyal Natives by Robert Burns
- Epigram—The Toad-eater by Robert Burns
- Epigram—The Raptures of Folly by Robert Burns
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