Said I shouldn’t.
Fingering me.
Everything I did.
A litter of chewed knucklebones
I’ve spread them out over the
rectangular floor as regularly as
I can; so I can account for them.
Her hands are crossed over
her breasts and each holds
a feather; her face has no features
Have I come to beg
What do I wish — to be
judged?
Is it an accumulation
of what I’ve said, that
counts, that I’m counting
is it all alphabet and abacus
everything rhymed?
You still don’t have a face.
Suddenly she has the face of a
cat.
No that’s a different
goddess.
I tell you this
bloodthirsty
jaguar…
I don’t have any idea what my word is, I
mean fault. Is it a word or an act. The
whole thrill is ripping me apart
Inside these
words there’s nothing but a pumping
bloodsoaked…
but clearly, everything I said, did,
was a long shot
We didn’t hear a word
What have you ever heard?
Now I’m here — black-caped in a
chair. Animal staring at me
I sink into your disaffected
ambiance to name.
What emotional
charges
have been laid on me from
earliest times
and my own
earliest
resulting in the bone strewn carpet
I had to grow the dice
of accounting to your love; for
you made me speak to you
lovingly; or did I do that naturally
oh just, bloodthirsty face
who doesn’t have to understand.
I don’t know who I’m speaking to
is pushing me
Judgment maybe it’s when being
fragile I
hallucinate you best
I don’t want to use my name!
‘Where I was born we girls ran
free. and named ourselves,’
Justice says.
She may kill me,
it depends on whether she’s hungry
Copyright ©:
Alice Notley

A few random poems:
- Гавриил Державин – Модное остроумие
- The Chambermaid’s Second Song by William Butler Yeats
- Song By Gulbaz
- Robert Burns: The Charming Month Of May:
- Федор Сологуб – Вы не умеете целовать мою землю
- Repentance poem – Ygor Noblott poems | Poetry Monster
- Happiness by Wilfred Owen
- Владимир Британишский – Глухарь
- Николай Языков – Воспоминание
- The Copper Beech by Marie Howe
- Sonnet XII. On Leaving Some Friends At An Early Hour poem – John Keats poems
- Armies in the Fire by Robert Louis Stevenson
- Sonnet # 15 by Luis A. Estable
- An Answer To The Rebus, By The Author Of These Poems by Phillis Wheatley
- A Noun Sentence by Mahmoud Darwish
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
- A Song by Thomas Carew
- A prayer to the Wind by Thomas Carew
- A Divine Mistress by Thomas Carew
- A Cruel Mistress. by Thomas Carew
- Specula by Thomas Edward Brown
- Salve! by Thomas Edward Brown
- Risus Dei by Thomas Edward Brown
- Pain by Thomas Edward Brown
- Opifex by Thomas Edward Brown
- My Garden by Thomas Edward Brown
- Land, Ho! by Thomas Edward Brown
- Jessie by Thomas Edward Brown
- If Thou Could’st Empty All Thyself Of Self by Thomas Edward Brown
- Ibant Obscur? by Thomas Edward Brown
- I bended unto me a Bough by Thomas Edward Brown
- Dora by Thomas Edward Brown
- Disguises by Thomas Edward Brown
- Time of Roses by Thomas Hood
- Tim Turpin by Thomas Hood
- The World is with Me by Thomas Hood
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