A poem by Adrienne Cecile Rich (1929 – 2012)
The clouds and the stars didn’t wage this war
the brooks gave no information
if the mountain spewed stones of fire into the river
it was not taking sides
the raindrop faintly swaying under the leaf
had no political opinions
and if here or there a house
filled with backed-up raw sewage
or poisoned those who lived there
with slow fumes, over years
the houses were not at war
nor did the tinned-up buildings
intend to refuse shelter
to homeless old women and roaming children
they had no policy to keep them roaming
or dying, no, the cities were not the problem
the bridges were non-partisan
the freeways burned, but not with hatred
Even the miles of barbed-wire
stretched around crouching temporary huts
designed to keep the unwanted
at a safe distance, out of sight
even the boards that had to absorb
year upon year, so many human sounds
so many depths of vomit, tears
slow-soaking blood
had not offered themselves for this
The trees didn’t volunteer to be cut into boards
nor the thorns for tearing flesh
Look around at all of it
and ask whose signature
is stamped on the orders, traced
in the corner of the building plans
Ask where the illiterate, big-bellied
women were, the drunks and crazies,
the ones you fear most of all: ask where you were.
A few random poems:
- The Lover Tells Of The Rose In His Heart by William Butler Yeats
- Владимир Костров – Срок настал, московская богема
- Does It Matter? by Siegfried Sassoon
- I Travelled among Unknown Men by William Wordsworth
- Николай Глазков – Дремота обрела права
- Юргис Балтрушайтис – Чудом тени
- Open sky by Shailendra Chauhan
- Владимир Маяковский – Стихи из предсмертной записки
- Cavern in Paradise by Rita Odessa Villaruel
- Robert Burns: Yon Wild Mossy Mountains:
- Robert Burns: Second Epistle To Robert Graham, ESQ., Of Fintry:
- Николай Заболоцкий – Сентябрь
- The Battle of the Baltic by Thomas Campbell
- Teignmouth: “Some Doggerel,” Sent In A Letter To B. R. Haydon poem – John Keats poems
- Metaphysical View by Satish Verma
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 Leaden Echo And The Golden Echo poem – Gerard Manley Hopkins poems
- The Lantern Out Of Doors poem – Gerard Manley Hopkins poems
- The Handsome Heart poem – Gerard Manley Hopkins poems
- The Half-way House poem – Gerard Manley Hopkins poems
- The Habit Of Perfection poem – Gerard Manley Hopkins poems
- The Furl of Fresh-Leaved Dogrose Down poem – Gerard Manley Hopkins poems
- The Child Is Father To The Man poem – Gerard Manley Hopkins poems
- The Candle Indoors poem – Gerard Manley Hopkins poems
- The Caged Skylark poem – Gerard Manley Hopkins poems
- The Bugler’s First Communion poem – Gerard Manley Hopkins poems
- The Blessed Virgin Compared To The Air We Breathe poem – Gerard Manley Hopkins poems
- The Alchemist in the City poem – Gerard Manley Hopkins poems
- That Nature Is A Heraclitean Fire And Of The Comfort Of The Resurrection poem – Gerard Manley Hopkins poems
- Summa poem – Gerard Manley Hopkins poems
- Strike, Churl poem – Gerard Manley Hopkins poems
- St. Winefred’s Well poem – Gerard Manley Hopkins poems
- St. Alphonsus Rodriguez poem – Gerard Manley Hopkins poems
- Spring & Fall: To A Young Child poem – Gerard Manley Hopkins poems
- Spring poem – Gerard Manley Hopkins poems
- Spelt From Sibyl’s Leaves poem – Gerard Manley Hopkins poems
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
Adrienne Cecile Rich (1929 – 2012) was an American poet, essayist, and feminist.