Berenda Slough
by Philip Levine
Earth and water without form,
change, or pause: as if the third
day had not come, this calm norm
of chaos denies the Word.
One sees only a surface
pocked with rushes, the starved clumps
pressed between water and space —
rootless, perennial stumps
fixed in position, entombed
in nothing; it is too late
to bring forth branches, to bloom
or die, only the long wait
lies ahead, a parody
of perfection. Who denies
this is creation, this sea
constant before the stunned eye’s
insatiable gaze, shall find
nothing he can comprehend.
Here the mind beholds the mind
as it shall be in the end.
End of the poem
15 random poems
- STONEWASHED by Satish Verma
- Василий Лебедев-Кумач – Водовоз
- “`Father, farewell! Be not distressed” poem – Alfred Austin
- Михаил Лермонтов – Ах! Ныне я не тот совсем
- Absence poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- An Old French Poet by Siegfried Sassoon
- Владимир Маяковский – Победой увенчав Октябрьский бой… (Главполитпросвет №364)
- Let me draw your face by St Antoine de la Vuadi
- An Exiles Farewell
- Two Campers In Cloud Country by Sylvia Plath
- Saint George the Dragon by Michael Nikoletseas
- Владимир Макуров – Бумажный самолёт
- Eclogue:–The Times by William Barnes
- Владимир Маяковский – Странно… но верно
- Enough by Sara Teasdale
Some external links:
Duckduckgo.com – the alternative in the US
Quant.com – a search engine from France, and also an alternative, at least for Europe
Yandex – the Russian search engine (it’s probably the best search engine for image searches).
Philip Levine ( 1928 – 2015) was an American poet best known for his poems about working-class Detroit. He taught for more than thirty years in the English department of California State University, Fresno and held teaching positions at other universities as well. He served on the Board of Chancellors of the Academy of American Poets from 2000 to 2006, and was appointed Poet Laureate of the United States for 2011–2012