Shattered Head

A poem by Adrienne Cecile Rich (1929 – 2012)

A life hauls itself uphill

through hoar-mist steaming

the sun’s tongue licking

leaf upon leaf into stricken liquid

When? When? cry the soothseekers

but time is a bloodshot eye

seeing its last of beauty its own

foreclosure

a bloodshot mind

finding itself unspeakable

What is the last thought?

Now I will let you know?

or, Now I know?

(porridge of skull-splinters, brain tissue

mouth and throat membrane, cranial fluid)

Shattered head on the breast

of a wooded hill

Laid down there endlessly so

tendrils soaked into matted compose

became a root

torqued over the faint springhead

groin whence illegible

matter leaches: worm-borings, spurts of silt

volumes of sporic changes

hair long blown into far follicles

blasted into a chosen place

Revenge on the head (genitals, breast, untouched)

revenge on the mouth

packed with its inarticulate confessions

revenge on the eyes

green-gray and restless

revenge on the big and searching lips

the tender tongue

revenge on the sensual, on the nose the

carrier of history

revenge on the life devoured

in another incineration

You can walk by such a place, the earth is

made of them

where the stretched tissue of a field or woods

is humid

with beloved matter

the soothseekers have withdrawn

you feel no ghost, only a sporic chorus

when that place utters its worn sigh

let us have peace

And the shattered head answers back

And I believed I was loved, I believed I loved

Who did this to us?

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 

• Commemoration of Rodney’s Victory by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Coming Through The Rye by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Caledonia: A Ballad by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Burlesque Lament fo Wm. Creech’s Absence by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Bonnie Lesley by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Bonie Jean: A Ballad by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Boat Song—Hey, Ca’ Thro’ by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Birthday Ode for 31st December, 1787 by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Ballad on the American War by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Ballad on Mr. Heron’s Election—No. 4 by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Ballad on Mr. Heron’s Election—No. 3 by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Ballad on Mr. Heron’s Election—No. 2 by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Ballad on Mr. Heron’s Election—No. 1 by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Auld Lang Syne by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Apology to Mr. Syme for not dining with him by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Another on the said Occasion by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Ah, woe is me, my Mother dear by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Ae Fond Kiss, And Then We Sever by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Address to Wm. Tytler, Esq., of Woodhouselee by Robert Burns by Robert Burns
• Address to the Unco Guid by Robert Burns by Robert Burns

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