A poem by Alan Dugan
As an American traveler I have
to remember not to get actionably mad
about the way things are around here.
Tomorrow I’ll be a thousand miles away
from the way it is around here. I will
keep my temper, I will not kill the dog
next door, nor will I kill the next-door wife,
both of whom are crazy and aggressive
and think they live at the center of culture
like everyone else in this college town.
This is because I’m leaving, I’m taking off
by car, by light plane, by jet, by taxicab,
for some place else a thousand miles away,
so I caution myself: control your rage,
even if it causes a slight heart attack.
Stay out of jail tonight before you leave,
and don’t get obstreperous in transit tomorrow
so as to stay out of jail on arrival tomorrow night.
Think: the new handcuffs are sharp inside
and meant to cut the wrists. You’re not too old
to be raped in their filthy overcrowded jails
and you’ll lose your glasses and false teeth.
How would you eat, study and be
a traveling lecturer if you got out alive and sane?
So remember to leave this place peacefully,
it’s only Asshole State University at Nowheresville,
and remember to get to the next place peacefully,
it’s only Nowhere State University at Assholesville
and you must travel from place to place for food and shelter.
A few random poems:
- Meditation on a Bone
- Lady Clare poem – Lord Alfred Tennyson poems
- The Heart Chirps by Ramesh Anand
- Robert Burns: Sketch -New Year’s Day [1790]: To Mrs. Dunlop.
- Silver Wedding by Vernon Scannell
- Pure call of the wilderness by Vinko Kalinic
- By A Norfolk Broad
- Anteater by Shel Silverstein
- The Drowned Man poem – Alexander Pushkin
- 1914 III: The Dead by Rupert Brooke
- In Memoriam A. H. H.: 7. Dark house, by which once more I s poem – Lord Alfred Tennyson poems
- “The lark confinèd in his cage” poem – Alfred Austin
- Coole Park, 1929 by William Butler Yeats
- You Can Have It by Philip Levine
- Михаил Лермонтов – Баллада (В избушке позднею порою)
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
- Il Penseroso poem – John Milton poems
- Hymn on the Morning of Christ’s Nativity poem – John Milton poems
- How Soon Hath Time poem – John Milton poems
- From ‘Samson Agonistes’ i poem – John Milton poems
- From ‘Arcades’ poem – John Milton poems
- Comus poem – John Milton poems
- At A Vacation Exercise In The Colledge, Part Latin, Part English. The Latin Speeches Ended, The English Thus Began poem – John Milton poems
- At A Solemn Musick poem – John Milton poems
- Arcades poem – John Milton poems
- Another On The Same poem – John Milton poems
- An Epitaph On The Marchioness Of Winchester poem – John Milton poems
- An Epitaph on the Admirable Dramatic Poet W. Shakespeare poem – John Milton poems
- Winter Seascape poem – John Betjeman poems
- Winter Landscape poem – John Betjeman poems
- Westgate-On-Sea poem – John Betjeman poems
- Verses Turned… poem – John Betjeman poems
- Upper Lambourne poem – John Betjeman poems
- Trebetherick poem – John Betjeman poems
- The Plantster’s Vision poem – John Betjeman poems
- The Olympic Girl poem – John Betjeman 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
Alan Dugan (1923 – 2003) an American poet, a contemporary classic of American poetry.