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:
- Василий Лебедев-Кумач – Веселый ветер
- The King by Michael Yuan
- In A Railroad Station by Sara Teasdale
- Epigram on Parting with a kind Host in the Highlands by Robert Burns
- English Poetry. William Barnes. Second Collection. The Heäre. Уильям Барнс.
- Владимир Высоцкий – Студенческая песня
- Ольга Седакова – Только время доходит сюда
- Clear, with Light, Variable Winds poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- Slough poem – John Betjeman poems
- A Valediction Forbidding Mourning
- You Must n’t Swim… by Rudyard Kipling
- On The Civil War On The East Coast Of The United States Of North America 1860 64
- Utopia by Ndue Ukaj
- Robert Burns: The Henpecked Husband:
- Einstein Defining Special Relativity poem – A. Van Jordan poems
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
- Владимир Маяковский – Рабочие столицы, крестьяне окраины… (Роста №89)
- Владимир Маяковский – Рабочей России Красной рыцарь…
- Владимир Маяковский – Рабкор (Лбом пробив безграмотья горы)
- Владимир Маяковский – Пятый интернационал
- Владимир Маяковский – Пустяк у Оки
- Владимир Маяковский – Птичка божия
- Владимир Маяковский – Проверь, товарищ, правильность факта
- Владимир Маяковский – Протекция
- Владимир Маяковский – Прощанье
- Владимир Маяковский – Промедление – смерть (Главполитпросвет №339)
- Владимир Маяковский – Пролетарка, пролетарий, заходите в планетарий
- Владимир Маяковский – Профсоюзы – производства рычаг… (Главполитпросвет №10)
- Владимир Маяковский – Профплакаты
- Владимир Маяковский – Продналог оставил деревне много лишка… (Главполитпросвет №157)
- Владимир Маяковский – Проч руки от Китая
- Владимир Маяковский – Про Тита и Ваньку
- Владимир Маяковский – Про пешеходов и разинь, вонзивших глазки небу в синь
- Владимир Маяковский – Про гидру контрреволюции сегодня сказ (РОСТА № 79)
- Владимир Маяковский – Про это
- Владимир Маяковский – Привет, КИМ
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.