This trumpeter of nothingness, employed
To keep our reason dull and null and void.
This man of wind and froth and flux will sell
The wares of any who reward him well.
Praising whatever he is paid to praise,
He hunts for ever-newer, smarter ways
To make the gilt seen gold; the shoddy, silk;
To cheat us legally; to bluff and bilk
By methods which no jury can prevent
Because the law’s not broken, only bent.

This mind for hire, this mental prostitute
Can tell the half-lie hardest to refute;
Knows how to hide an inconvenient fact
And when to leave a doubtful claim unbacked;
Manipulates the truth but not too much,
And if his patter needs the Human Touch,
Skillfully artless, artlessly naive,
Wears his convenient heart upon his sleeve.

He uses words that once were strong and fine,
Primal as sun and moon and bread and wine,
True, honourable, honoured, clear and keen,
And leaves them shabby, worn, diminished, mean.
He takes ideas and trains them to engage
In the long little wars big combines wage…
He keeps his logic loose, his feelings flimsy;
Turns eloquence to cant and wit to whimsy;
Trims language till it fits his clients, pattern
And style’s a glossy tart or limping slattern.

He studies our defences, finds the cracks
And where the wall is weak or worn, attacks.
lie finds the fear that’s deep, the wound that’s tender,
And mastered, outmanouevered, we surrender.
We who have tried to choose accept his choice
And tired succumb to his untiring voice.
The dripping tap makes even granite soften
We trust the brand-name we have heard so often
And join the queue of sheep that flock to buy;
We fools who know our folly, you and I.

Poetry Monster – Home

A few random poems:

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

• Владимир Маяковский – Буржуазия и пролетариат стали врагами друг против друга… (Главполитпросвет №19) by Владимир Маяковский
• Владимир Маяковский – Будь готов by Владимир Маяковский
• Владимир Маяковский – Бруклинский мост by Владимир Маяковский
• Владимир Маяковский – Бродвей by Владимир Маяковский
• Владимир Маяковский – Братство РОСТА БН by Владимир Маяковский
• Владимир Маяковский – Богомольное by Владимир Маяковский
• Владимир Маяковский – Близится сушь… (Главполитпросвет №184) by Владимир Маяковский
• Владимир Маяковский – Били раз… (РОСТА №631) by Владимир Маяковский
• Анатолий Жигулин – Обвал by Анатолий Жигулин
• Анатолий Жигулин – О, жизнь! Я всё тебе прощаю by Анатолий Жигулин
• Анатолий Жигулин – О, Родина, в неярком блеске by Анатолий Жигулин
• Анатолий Жигулин – Ночная смена by Анатолий Жигулин
• Анатолий Жигулин – Невыразимы сладкой тишью by Анатолий Жигулин
• Анатолий Жигулин – Не надо бояться памяти by Анатолий Жигулин
• Анатолий Жигулин – Начало поэмы by Анатолий Жигулин
• Анатолий Жигулин – Москва by Анатолий Жигулин
• Анатолий Жигулин – Мне помнится рудник Бутугычаг by Анатолий Жигулин
• Анатолий Жигулин – Марта, Марта! Весеннее имя by Анатолий Жигулин
• Анатолий Жигулин – Лисенок by Анатолий Жигулин
• Анатолий Жигулин – Лесные дороги by Анатолий Жигулин

More external links (open in a new tab):

Russian Commerce Agency

Dealing Monster

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

Poems by Author and Category

The Poetry Repository – an online library of poems, poetry, verse and poetic works