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the soothseekers have withdrawn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?
A few random poems:
- On the edge of time by Shailendra Chauhan
- Sonnet VI. To G. A. W. poem – John Keats poems
- In a Sombre Mood by Satish Verma
- On Invalids (From The Greek) by William Cowper
- Sketch—New Year’s Day, 1790 by Robert Burns
- Prison Souvenirs, Translation of Paul Verlaine’s poem: Prière by T. Wignesan.
- Untitled IX by Yunus Emre
- Robert Burns: Sketch -New Year’s Day [1790]: To Mrs. Dunlop.
- Оливер Голдсмит – Подношение
- Ars Poetica
- Barren Woman by Sylvia Plath
- The Chant of the Indignant of the World by Sunil Sharma
- Did I Not Say To You by Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi
- Full Moon and Little Frieda by Ted Hughes
- Владимир Высоцкий – Песня микрофона
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
- Олег Чупров – Подушка
- Олег Чупров – Он впадает в смятенье
- Олег Чупров – Не хочется мне славы громкой
- Олег Чупров – На предназначенной орбите
- Олег Чупров – Мама
- Олег Чупров – Комар
- Олег Чупров – Душа
- Олег Чупров – Богатство
- Олег Бундур – Зимнее утро
- Олег Бундур – Жёлудь
- Олег Бундур – Женские хитрости
- Олег Бундур – Железное здоровье
- Олег Бундур – Засыпаю
- Олег Бундур – Заповедная жизнь
- Олег Бундур – Запахи дня
- Олег Бундур – Заботливая бабушка
- Олег Бундур – Яблоко
- Олег Бундур – Я вырасту, мама
- Олег Бундур – Я сильнее
- Олег Бундур – Я рисую картину
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

Adrienne Cecile Rich (1929 – 2012) was an American poet, essayist, and feminist.