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:
- Cinema Therapy and The MovieMaking Process
- The Memorial poem – Alexander Pushkin
- Robert Burns: My Girl She’s Airy: Fragment
- Константин Бальмонт – Четыре источника
- Sea World by Nin Andrews
- Epic by Patrick Kavanagh
- The Haunted House by Thomas Hood
- Over The Roofs by Sara Teasdale
- To Haydon poem – John Keats poems
- Robert Burns: Epigram On Seeing Miss Fontenelle In A Favourite Character:
- “Why should I, from this long and losing strife ” poem – Alfred Austin
- Poppies In July by Sylvia Plath
- Sonnet I
- XIV: Some Verses: To Mr. Edward Allane by William Alexander
- Lady Anne Bothwell’s Lament poem – Andrew Lang 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
- Sonnet. On A Picture Of Leander poem – John Keats poems
- Sonnet: Oh! How I Love, On A Fair Summer’s Eve poem – John Keats poems
- Sonnet IX. Keen, Fitful Gusts Are poem – John Keats poems
- Sonnet IV. How Many Bards Gild The Lapses Of Time! poem – John Keats poems
- Sonnet III. Written On The Day That Mr. Leigh Hunt Left Prison poem – John Keats poems
- Sonnet II. To ****** poem – John Keats poems
- Sonnet. If By Dull Rhymes Our English Must Be Chain’d poem – John Keats poems
- Sonnet I. To My Brother George poem – John Keats poems
- Sonnet: Before He Went poem – John Keats poems
- Sonnet: As From The Darkening Gloom A Silver Dove poem – John Keats poems
- Sonnet: After Dark Vapors Have Oppress’d Our Plains poem – John Keats poems
- Sonnet. A Dream, After Reading Dante’s Episode Of Paulo And Francesca poem – John Keats poems
- Song. Written On A Blank Page In Beaumont And Fletcher’s Works poem – John Keats poems
- Song Of Four Faries poem – John Keats poems
- Song. I Had A Dove poem – John Keats poems
- Song. Hush, Hush! Tread Softly! poem – John Keats poems
- Sharing Eve’s Apple poem – John Keats poems
- Otho The Great – Act V poem – John Keats poems
- Otho The Great – Act IV poem – John Keats poems
- Otho The Great – Act III poem – John Keats 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.