Because life’s too short to blush,
I keep my blood tucked in.
I won’t be mortified
by what I drive or the flaccid
vivacity of my last dinner party.
I take my cue from statues posing only
in their shoulder pads of snow: all January
you can see them working on their granite tans.
That I woke at an ungainly hour,
stripped of the merchandise that clothed me,
distilled to pure suchness,
means not enough to anyone for me
to confess. I do not suffer
from the excess of taste
that spells embarrassment:
mothers who find their kids unseemly
in their condom earrings,
girls cringing to think
they could be frumpish as their mothers.
Though the late nonerotic Elvis
in his studded gut of jumpsuit
made everybody squeamish, I admit.
Rule one: the King must not elicit pity.
Was the audience afraid of being tainted
–this might rub off on me–
or were they–surrendering–
what a femme word–feeling
solicitous–glimpsing their fragility
in his reversible purples
and unwholesome goldish chains?
At least embarrassment is not an imitation.
It’s intimacy for beginners,
the orgasm no one cares to fake.
I almost admire it. I almost wrote despise.
Copyright ©:
Alice Fulton
A few random poems:
- Михаил Кузмин – В легкой лени
- Full Moon and Little Frieda by Ted Hughes
- Near The Wall Of A House by Yehuda Amichai
- Robert Burns: Thou Fair Eliza:
- The Vaudois by William Wordsworth
- Ок Мельникова – Let it be
- Вера Звягинцева – Пойдёте пешком на кладбище
- I have outlived my own desires by Alexander Pushkin (Pouchkine)
- Федор Тютчев – Как ни тяжел последний час
- Ghosts by Martina Reisz Newberry
- English Poetry. Madison Julius Cawein. Finale. Мэдисон Джулиус Кавейн.
- On The Wedding Of The Aeronaut poem – Ambrose Bierce poems | Poems and Poetry
- Gwain To Feäir by William Barnes
- This Evening Also by Paul Celan
- The Sandbox by Rachel McKibbens
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
- The Ever-Patient Woman poem – Andree Chedid poems | Poems and Poetry
- Sun Light poem – Ammar Hussain poems | Poems and Poetry
- Sacred Epiphany poem – Ammar Nadeem poems | Poems and Poetry
- Prize poem – Amanda James DIll poems | Poems and Poetry
- Poems from Makiwane poem – Amitabh Mitra poems | Poems and Poetry
- Landscapes poem – Andree Chedid poems | Poems and Poetry
- Peace of Mind poem – Amit Shankar Saha poems | Poems and Poetry
- Oh Mother poem – Amy Haritha Suseel poems | Poems and Poetry
- Ode poem – Amr ibn Kulthum poems | Poems and Poetry
- Nocturno poem – Ana Chig poems | Poems and Poetry
- Nigra Sum poem – Andrea “Vocab” Sanderson poems | Poems and Poetry
- My Mask poem – Amy Haritha Suseel poems | Poems and Poetry
- Mujer Libanesa I poem – Amir Ibn Tawfik poems | Poems and Poetry
- Mother Ocean poem – Amy E. Johnsen poems | Poems and Poetry
- Milagros Retenidos poem – Ana Chig poems | Poems and Poetry
- Midnight poem – Amy Michelle Mosier poems | Poems and Poetry
- Love is Immortal poem – Amy Haritha Suseel poems | Poems and Poetry
- Landscapes poem – Andree Chedid poems | Poems and Poetry
- Ka ‘Ba poem – Amiri Baraka poems | Poems and Poetry
- In an Effort to Translate Solitude poem – Andrea “Vocab” Sanderson poems | Poems and Poetry
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