Speaking To You (From Rock Bottom)
by Michael Ondaatje
Speaking to you
this hour
these days when
I have lost the feather of poetry
and the rains
of separation
surround us tock
tock like Go tablets
Everyone has learned
to move carefully
‘Dancing’ ‘laughing’ ‘bad taste’
is a memory
a tableau behind trees of law
In the midst of love for you
my wife’s suffering
anger in every direction
and the children wise
as tough shrubs
but they are not tough
–so I fear
how anything can grow from this
all the wise blood
poured from little cuts
down into the sink
this hour it is not
your body I want
but your quiet company
End of the poem
15 random poems
- To You. by Walt Whitman
- The Hwomestead A-Vell Into Hand by William Barnes
- Ольга Берггольц – Стихи о себе
- To the author(s) of Manimekalai by T. Wignesan
- A Soft Day by Winifred Mary Letts
- Picture by Nijole Miliauskaite
- Владимир Гиляровский – Нива
- In Imitation of Chaucer poem – Alexander Pope
- The Gamblers by Vachel Lindsay
- From Milton: And did those feet by William Blake
- Владимир Бенедиктов – Я. П. Полонскому
- The Road To Ruin by Siegfried Sassoon
- Иван Бунин – Безнадежность
- Альфред де Мюссе – Все мною предано забвенью
- They Wondered Why the Fruit had Been Forbidden by W H Auden
Some external links:
Duckduckgo.com – the alternative in the US
Quant.com – a search engine from France, and also an alternative, at least for Europe
Yandex – the Russian search engine (it’s probably the best search engine for image searches).
Michael Ondaatje (b. 1943) is a renowned Canadian author and poet. He is best known for his novel “The English Patient,” which won the Booker Prize and was later adapted into an Academy Award-winning film. Ondaatje’s works often explore themes of identity, memory, and the impact of war. He has received numerous accolades for his contributions to literature and is considered a significant figure in contemporary Canadian literature.