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:
- Consumption by William Cullen Bryant
- SOMALIA CALLING by Satish Verma
- The Grauballe Man by Seamus Heaney
- Cradle Song by Sarojini Naidu
- Николай Заболоцкий – Болезнь
- Robert Burns: Ode On The Departed Regency Bill:
- Геннадий Айги – ДЕВОЧКА В ДЕТСТВЕ
- Portrait of Rage and Age poem – Amy Cavanaugh poems | Poems and Poetry
- Аля Кудряшева – Двадцать перышек за плечами
- Олег Григорьев – Драка
- On The Death Of A Favourite Cat, Drowned In A Tub Of Gold Fishes by Thomas Gray
- In A Restaurant by Sara Teasdale
- Алексей Николаевич Толстой – Егорий, волчий пастырь
- Better Not Ask Me by Shel Silverstein
- Владимир Луговской – Та, которую я знал
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
- Наум Коржавин – Неужели птицы пели
- Наум Коржавин – Нет! Так я просто не уйду во мглу
- Наум Коржавин – Нелепые ваши затеи
- Наум Коржавин – Не верь, что ты поэта шире
- Наум Коржавин – Наверно, я не так на свете жил
- Наум Коржавин – На побывке
- Наум Коржавин – На друга-поэта
- Наум Коржавин – Мой ритм заглох
- Наум Коржавин – Мне без тебя так трудно жить
- Наум Коржавин – Меня, как видно, Бог не звал
- Наум Коржавин – Люди пашут каждый раз опять
- Наум Коржавин – Ленинград
- Наум Коржавин – Легкость
- Наум Коржавин – Комиссары
- Наум Коржавин – Кое-кому
- Наум Коржавин – Как ты мне изменяла
- Наум Коржавин – К моему двадцатипятилетию
- Наум Коржавин – Иван Калита
- Наум Коржавин – Иль впрямь я разлюбил свою страну?
- Наум Коржавин – Грустная самопародия
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.