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:
- O Daedalus, Fly Away Home by Robert Hayden
- The End of the Day poem – Amy Levy poems | Poems and Poetry
- Good Meäster Collins by William Barnes
- Sunday Morning Blues poem – A. D. Winans poems | Poetry Monster
- Владимир Бенедиктов – Радуга
- Джон Китс – Два-три букета и две-три коробки
- Translated poem – Andrew Marvell poems
- Владимир Бенедиктов – Тост
- Paradise Lost: Book 01 poem – John Milton poems
- Olney Hymn 45: The Happy Change by William Cowper
- Алексей Жемчужников – Ты прав
- Happy Victory Day – May 9, 2022
- The Indian Upon God by William Butler Yeats
- On The Eating Of Mice by Russell Edson
- houses.html
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 Licorice Fields at Pontefract poem – John Betjeman poems
- The Last Laugh poem – John Betjeman poems
- The Irish Unionist’s farewell to Greta Hellastrom in 1922 poem – John Betjeman poems
- The Hon. Sec. poem – John Betjeman poems
- The Cottage Hospital poem – John Betjeman poems
- Sun and Fun poem – John Betjeman poems
- South London Sketch poem – John Betjeman poems
- Slough poem – John Betjeman poems
- Senex poem – John Betjeman poems
- Seaside Golf poem – John Betjeman poems
- On a Portrait of a Deaf Man poem – John Betjeman poems
- Myfanwy poem – John Betjeman poems
- Mortality poem – John Betjeman poems
- Middlesex poem – John Betjeman poems
- Meditation on the A30 poem – John Betjeman poems
- Loneliness poem – John Betjeman poems
- Ireland With Emily poem – John Betjeman poems | Poems and Poetry
- Inexpensive Progress poem – John Betjeman poems | Poems and Poetry
- In Westminster Abbey poem – John Betjeman poems | Poems and Poetry
- How To Get On In Society poem – John Betjeman 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
Adrienne Cecile Rich (1929 – 2012) was an American poet, essayist, and feminist.