A poem by Adrienne Cecile Rich (1929 – 2012)
1.
Sex, as they harshly call it,
I fell into this morning
at ten o’clock, a drizzling hour
of traffic and wet newspapers.
I thought of him who yesterday
clearly didn’t
turn me to a hot field
ready for plowing,
and longing for that young man
pierced me to the roots
bathing every vein, etc.
All day he appears to me
touchingly desirable,
a prize one could wreck one’s peace for.
I’d call it love if love
didn’t take so many years
but lust too is a jewel
a sweet flower and what
pure happiness to know
all our high-toned questions
breed in a lively animal.
2.
That “old last act”!
And yet sometimes
all seems post coitum triste
and I a mere bystander.
Somebody else is going off,
getting shot to the moon.
Or a moon-race!
Split seconds after
my opposite number lands
I make it–
we lie fainting together
at a crater-edge
heavy as mercury in our moonsuits
till he speaks–
in a different language
yet one I’ve picked up
through cultural exchanges…
we murmur the first moonwords:
Spasibo. Thanks. O.K.
A few random poems:
- Address to the shade of Thomson by Robert Burns
- Answer Copy Verses Sent Me Jersey
- Morning News by Marilyn Hacker
- Николай Языков – А. Н. Татаринову (Здорово, брат! Поставь сюда две чаши)
- Николай Карамзин – Приношение грациям
- Sonnet 103: Alack, what poverty my Muse brings forth by William Shakespeare
- Владимир Маяковский – За четыре года советской власти… (Главполитпросвет №248)
- The Gardener XXIX: Speak To Me My Love by Rabindranath Tagore
- Владислав Крапивин – Когда тебя замучил враг
- Among the Rocks by Robert Browning
- A Dream by William Allingham
- 致老鼠的铅笔
- Зинаида Александрова – Большая ложка
- Creativity: The Top 10 Ways to Increase Your Creativity
- The River Has Its Memories by Mary Etta Metcalf
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
- Malay Song
- Malaria
- Mahomed Akrams Appeal To The Stars
- Love Lightly
- Lost Delight
- Listen Beloved
- Lines By Taj Mahomed
- Less Than The Dust
- Lallji My Desire
- Lalila To The Ferengi Lover
- Kotri By The River
- Khristna And His Flute
- Khan Zadas Song On The Hillside
- Kashmiri Song
- Kashmiri Song By Juma
- In The Early Pearly Morning
- Illusion
- I Shall Forget
- I Arise And Go Down To The River
- Hira Singhs Farewell To Burmah
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.