Because a razor cuts across a frame of film,
I wince, squinting my eye,
and because my day needs assembly
to make sense of the scenes anyway,
making a story from some pieces of truth, I go
outside to gather those pieces.
Thousands of moments spooling out
frames of mistakes in my day.
As if anyone’s to blame,
as if anyone could interpret the colliding
images, again and again, dragging
my imagination behind me,
I begin assembling.
I don’t know anything, so I seek
directions, following the path
of ants from your palm, out
the apartment door to
a beach. Is this where I’m
supposed to ask if my hands on you
bend some light around shade? Maybe
I’m not ready for the answer. They say
art imitates what we can sculpt or write
or just see when we turn ourselves
inside out. I can’t turn my eye away
from the sight of failure. The rain pelts rooftops.
I listen to the song, thinking
when the sun comes back,
beating down the door
in my head, I’ll salvage whatever sits
still long enough for me to render,
before anyone knows what really happened.
A few random poems:
- The AntiWorlds poem – Andrei Voznesensky poems
- Private Ground by Sylvia Plath
- The Melancholy of Birth
- To Independence by Tobias Smollett
- On Being Brought from Africa to America by Phillis Wheatley
- From Far, From Eve and Morning poem – A. E. Housman
- Leopard by Stanley Wilkin
- How to Survive After Losing a Loved One
- Farewell to the Court by Sir Walter Raleigh
- I Said Coffee by Sharmagne Leland-St. John
- Ольга Седакова – Элегия осенней воды
- Жан де Лафонтен – Осел и Собака
- Жан де Лафонтен – Лисица и Аист
- English Poetry. Madison Julius Cawein. He Who Loves. Мэдисон Джулиус Кавейн.
- Ars Poetica
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
- Robert Burns: There Was A Bonie Lass:
- Robert Burns: Inscription At Friars’ Carse Hermitage: To the Memory of Robert Riddell.
- Robert Burns: Bonie Peg-a-Ramsay:
- Robert Burns: Epigram On Mr. James Gracie:
- Robert Burns: Epitaph For Mr. Gabriel Richardson:
- Robert Burns: Apology For Declining An Invitation To Dine:
- Robert Burns: Jerusalem Tavern, Dumfries.: Inscription On A Goblet
- Robert Burns: Compliments Of John Syme Of Ryedale: Lines sent with a Present of a Dozen of Porter.
- Robert Burns: The Solemn League And Covenant:
- Robert Burns: Craigieburn Wood:
- Robert Burns: A Man’s A Man For A’ That:
- Robert Burns: For The Sake O’ Somebody:
- Robert Burns: The Tear-Drop:
- Robert Burns: My Nanie’s Awa:
- Robert Burns: Canst Thou Leave Me Thus, My Katie:
- Robert Burns: Farewell Thou Stream:
- Robert Burns: Contented Wi’ Little And Cantie Wi’ Mair:
- Robert Burns: Philly And Willy:
- Robert Burns: Lassie Wi’ The Lint-White Locks:
- Robert Burns: The Charming Month Of May:
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

A. Van Jordan, born 1965 in Akron, Ohio, USA, is a contemporary American poet and the author of four important collections: Rise, which won the PEN/Oakland Josephine Miles Award (Tia Chucha Press, 2001); M-A-C-N-O-L-I-A, (2005), which was listed as one the Best Books of 2005 by the London Times; Quantum Lyrics, (W.W. Norton, 2007); and The Cineaste (W.W. Norton,, 2013). Jordan has been awarded a Whiting Writers Award, an Anisfield-Wolf Book Award, and a Pushcart Prize.