For The Record

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.

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Bat’s Poetry Page – more poetry by Fledermaus

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Batty Writing – the bat’s idle chatter, thoughts, ideas and observations, all original, all fresh

Poems in English 

• Westward on the High-Hilled Plains poem – A. E. Housman by Alfred Edward Houseman
• Wake Not for the World-Heard Thunder poem – A. E. Housman by Alfred Edward Houseman
• Tis Time, I Think, By Wenlock Town poem – A. E. Housman by Alfred Edward Houseman
• Tis Time, I Think, By Wenlock Town poem – A. E. Housman by Alfred Edward Houseman
• Think No More, Lad poem – A. E. Housman by Alfred Edward Houseman
• Think No More, Lad poem – A. E. Housman by Alfred Edward Houseman
• There Pass the Careless People poem – A. E. Housman by Alfred Edward Houseman
• There Pass the Careless People poem – A. E. Housman by Alfred Edward Houseman
• The Winds Out of the West Land Blow poem – A. E. Housman by Alfred Edward Houseman
• The Winds Out of the West Land Blow poem – A. E. Housman by Alfred Edward Houseman
• The Welsh Marches poem – A. E. Housman by Alfred Edward Houseman
• The Welsh Marches poem – A. E. Housman by Alfred Edward Houseman
• The True Lover poem – A. E. Housman by Alfred Edward Houseman
• The Street Sounds to the Soldiers’ Tread poem – A. E. Housman by Alfred Edward Houseman
• The Stinging Nettle poem – A. E. Housman by Alfred Edward Houseman
• The Stinging Nettle poem – A. E. Housman by Alfred Edward Houseman
• The Recruit poem – A. E. Housman by Alfred Edward Houseman
• The Recruit poem – A. E. Housman by Alfred Edward Houseman
• The rainy Pleiads wester poem – A. E. Housman by Alfred Edward Houseman
• The rainy Pleiads wester poem – A. E. Housman by Alfred Edward Houseman

More external links (open in a new tab):

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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.

 

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