Living In Sin

A poem by Adrienne Cecile Rich (1929 – 2012)

She had thought the studio would keep itself;

no dust upon the furniture of love.

Half heresy, to wish the taps less vocal,

the panes relieved of grime. A plate of pears,

a piano with a Persian shawl, a cat

stalking the picturesque amusing mouse

had risen at his urging.

Not that at five each separate stair would writhe

under the milkman’s tramp; that morning light

so coldly would delineate the scraps

of last night’s cheese and three sepulchral bottles;

that on the kitchen shelf amoong the saucers

a pair of beetle-eyes would fix her own–

envoy from some village in the moldings…

Meanwhile, he, with a yawn,

sounded a dozen notes upon the keyboard,

declared it out of tune, shrugged at the mirror,

rubbed at his beard, went out for cigarettes;

while she, jeered by the minor demons,

pulled back the sheets and made the bed and found

a towel to dust the table-top,

and let the coffee-pot boil over on the stove.

By evening she was back in love again,

though not so wholly but throughout the night

she woke sometimes to feel the daylight coming

like a relentless milkman up the stairs.

Poetry Monster – Home

A few random 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 

• Essay on Man poem – Alexander Pope by Alexander Pope
• Epistles to Several Persons: Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot poem – Alexander Pope by Alexander Pope
• Epistles to Several Persons: Epistle IV, To Richard Boyle, poem – Alexander Pope by Alexander Pope
• Epistle II: To A Lady (Of the Characters of Women) poem – Alexander Pope by Alexander Pope
• Epigram Engraved on the Collar of a Dog Which I Gave to His Royal Highness poem – Alexander Pope by Alexander Pope
• Eloisa to Abelard poem – Alexander Pope by Alexander Pope
• Elegy to the Memory of an Unfortunate Lady poem – Alexander Pope by Alexander Pope
• Couplets on Wit poem – Alexander Pope by Alexander Pope
• Argus poem – Alexander Pope by Alexander Pope
• An Essay on Man in Four Epistles: Epistle 1 poem – Alexander Pope by Alexander Pope
• An Essay On Criticism poem – Alexander Pope by Alexander Pope
• The Rape of the Lock: Canto 4 poem – Alexander Pope poems | Poetry Monster by Poetry In English
• The Rape of the Lock: Canto 3 poem – Alexander Pope poems | Poetry Monster by Poetry In English
• The Rape of the Lock: Canto 2 poem – Alexander Pope poems | Poetry Monster by Poetry In English
• The Rape of the Lock: Canto 1 poem – Alexander Pope poems | Poetry Monster by Poetry In English
• The Rape of the Lock poem – Alexander Pope poems | Poetry Monster by Poetry In English
• The Iliad: Book VI (excerpt) poem – Alexander Pope poems | Poetry Monster by Poetry In English
• The Dying Christian to His Soul poem – Alexander Pope poems | Poetry Monster by Poetry In English
• The Three Gentle Shepherds poem – Alexander Pope poems | Poetry Monster by Poetry In English
• The Temple of Fame poem – Alexander Pope poems | Poetry Monster by Poetry In English

More external links (open in a new tab):

Russian Commerce Agency

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.

 

Parallel Translations of Poetry

Poems by Author and Category

The Poetry Repository – an online library of poems, poetry, verse and poetic works