Rogue Elephant poem – A. R. Ammons poems | Poetry Monster

The reason to be autonomous is to stand there,
a cleared instrument, ready to act, to search

the moral realm and actual conditions for what
needs to be done and to do it: fine, the

best, if it works out, but if, like a gun, it
comes in handy to the wrong choice, why then

you see the danger in the effective: better
then an autonomy that stands and looks about,

negotiating nothing, the supreme indifferences:
is anything to be gained where as much is lost:

and if for every action there is an equal and
opposite reaction has the loss been researched

equally with the gain: you can see how the
milling actions of millions could come to a

buzzard-like glide as from a coincidental,
warm bottom of water stuck between chilled

peaks: it is not so easy to say, OK, go on
out and act: who, doing what, to what or

whom: just a minute: should the bunker be
bombed (if it stores gas): should all the

rattlers die just because they rattle: if I
hear the young gentleman vomiter roaring down

the hall in the men’s room, should I go and
inquire of him, reducing him to my care: no

wonder the great sayers (who say nothing) sit
about in inaccessible states of mind: no

wonder still wisdom and catatonia appear to
exchange places occasionally: but if anything

were easy, our easy choices soon would carry
away our ignorance with the world-better

let the mixed-up mix and let the surface shine
with all the possibilities, each in itself.

Poetry Monster – Home

A few random poems:

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 

• Наум Коржавин – Генерал by Поэзия На Русском
• Наум Коржавин – Гамлет by Поэзия На Русском
• Наум Коржавин – Еж и Заяц by Поэзия На Русском
• Наум Коржавин – Есть у тех, кому нету места by Поэзия На Русском
• Наум Коржавин – Еще в мальчишеские годы by Поэзия На Русском
• Наум Коржавин – Двадцатые годы by Поэзия На Русском
• Наум Коржавин – Друзьям by Поэзия На Русском
• Наталья Хрущева – Дождик и художник by Поэзия На Русском
• Наталья Хрущева – Большой и маленький by Поэзия На Русском
• Наталья Хрущева – Бабушка рыцаря by Поэзия На Русском
• Наталья Шевченко – Самолёт by Поэзия На Русском
• Наталья Шевченко – Прости прости Меня Отец by Поэзия На Русском
• Наталья Шевченко – Привилегия by Поэзия На Русском
• Наталья Шевченко – Он не в себе by Поэзия На Русском
• Михаил Ломоносов – Надпись на иллюминацию, представленную ее императорскому Величеству от их императорских высочеств в Ораниенбауме 1750 года июля 31 дня by Михаил Ломоносов
• Михаил Ломоносов – Надпись на иллюминацию 1747 года перед зимним домом by Михаил Ломоносов
• Михаил Ломоносов – Надпись на день восшествия на престол Ее Величества 1753 года by Михаил Ломоносов
• Михаил Ломоносов – Надпись на день рождения Ее Величества by Михаил Ломоносов
• Михаил Ломоносов – Надпись благоверному и Великому князю Александру Невскому by Михаил Ломоносов
• Михаил Ломоносов – Надпись 5 к статуе Петра Великого by Михаил Ломоносов

More external links (open in a new tab):

Russian Commerce Agency

Dealing Monster

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

Poems by Author and Category

The Poetry Repository – an online library of poems, poetry, verse and poetic works