The light so thick nothing’s visible, cognoscenti
I knew them, stupid apes. Real apes know more
Before we said apes. I know how to be you bet-
ter?—?a stupid voice. You must find a mind
to respect?—?why? There was someone with ear
buds, speaking gibberish who wouldn’t
stop walking beside me; freckle-spattered. I
had to ask the métro attendant for help;
she extricated him from me … I respect his chaotic
speech, mild adhesive force because it makes no sense.
I am back on the alley, discovering adults are un-
trustworthy: someone’s lying … about a
fight between a teenage girl and boy?—?he pushed
her hard?—?first she badly scratched him, she’s worse, his
mother says. I’m back at pre-beginning, I don’t
want to go through that again. There is no
sexuality in chaos, there’s no style, nor
hope. I want style?—?apes have style, people
have machines. Show me something to respect
This bleuet growing out of a wall on rue d’Hauteville.
I picked it and pressed it in a diary. Every once
in a while I respect a moment. I am back at
pre-beginning: I don’t want to care beyond
this … sudden hue in the sand, yellow or spotted with an
hallucinated iridescence. The one who is
stalking me … there has often been someone stalk-
ing me. My destiny. He’s gone, stay here
in this, I can’t be harmed if I’m the only one who’s
thought of being here. Aren’t you lonely? I don’t know.
Copyright ©:
Alice Notley

A few random poems:
- Sidelined by Satish Verma
- Down on the Shore by William Allingham
- Владимир Степанов – Гусь и цыплёнок
- Жан Расин – Решенье принято, час перемены пробил
- Midsummer Mobile by Sylvia Plath
- Владимир Британишский – В Емуртлинском форпосте сибирских драгун
- Nick And The Candlestick by Sylvia Plath
- Наум Коржавин – Меня, как видно, Бог не звал
- Николай Некрасов – Вчера, сегодня
- Николай Карамзин – Триолет Алете в тот день, как ей исполнилось 14 лет
- Westgate-On-Sea poem – John Betjeman poems
- “For where, beneath one’s parent sky” poem – Alfred Austin
- Love Preparing to Fly poem – Gerard Manley Hopkins poems
- Владимир Маяковский – За женщиной
- Карл Сэндберг – Три слова
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
- Владимир Высоцкий – Вот и настал этот час опять
- Владимир Высоцкий – Вот, главный вход
- Владимир Высоцкий – Войны и голодухи натерпелися мы всласть
- Владимир Высоцкий – Водой наполненные горсти
- Владимир Высоцкий – Веселая покойницкая
- Владимир Высоцкий – Побег на рывок
- Владимир Высоцкий – В холода, в холода
- Владимир Высоцкий – В тюрьме Таганской нас стало мало
- Владимир Высоцкий – В тайгу
- Владимир Высоцкий – В Средней Азии безобразие
- Владислав Ходасевич – Опять во тьме. У наших ног
- Владислав Ходасевич – Окна во двор
- Владислав Ходасевич – Обо всем в одних стихах не скажешь
- Владислав Ходасевич – О, если б в этот час желанного покоя
- Владислав Ходасевич – Новый год
- Владислав Ходасевич – Ночь
- Владислав Ходасевич – Ни розового сада
- Владислав Ходасевич – Нет, не шотландской королевой
- Владислав Ходасевич – Нет, молодость, ты мне была верна
- Яков Полонский – Диссонанс
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