To Frank O’Hara
Sometimes when my eyes are red
I go up on top of the RCA Building
and gaze at my world, Manhattan-
my buildings, streets I’ve done feats in,
lofts, beds, coldwater flats
-on Fifth Ave below which I also bear in mind,
its ant cars, little yellow taxis, men
walking the size of specks of wool-
Panorama of the bridges, sunrise over Brooklyn machine,
sun go down over New Jersey where I was born
& Paterson where I played with ants-
my later loves on 15th Street,
my greater loves of Lower East Side,
my once fabulous amours in the Bronx
faraway-
paths crossing in these hidden streets,
my history summed up, my absences
and ecstasies in Harlem-
-sun shining down on all I own
in one eyeblink to the horizon
in my last eternity-
matter is water.
Sad,
I take the elevator and go
down, pondering,
and walk on the pavements staring into all man’s
plateglass, faces,
questioning after who loves,
and stop, bemused
in front of an automobile shopwindow
standing lost in calm thought,
traffic moving up & down 5th Avenue blocks behind me
waiting for a moment when …
Time to go home & cook supper & listen to
the romantic war news on the radio
… all movement stops
& I walk in the timeless sadness of existence,
tenderness flowing thru the buildings,
my fingertips touching reality’s face,
my own face streaked with tears in the mirror
of some window-at dusk-
where I have no desire-
for bonbons-or to own the dresses or Japanese
lampshades of intellection-
Confused by the spectacle around me,
Man struggling up the street
with packages, newspapers,
ties, beautiful suits
toward his desire
Man, woman, streaming over the pavements
red lights clocking hurried watches &
movements at the curb-
And all these streets leading
so crosswise, honking, lengthily,
by avenues
stalked by high buildings or crusted into slums
thru such halting traffic
screaming cars and engines
so painfully to this
countryside, this graveyard
this stillness
on deathbed or mountain
once seen
never regained or desired
in the mind to come
where all Manhattan that I’ve seen must disappear.
A few random poems:
- Canadian Winter by Mike Yuan
- Holidays by Nicolene Kissinger
- Sonnet: On seeing Miss Helen Maria Williams weep at a tale of distress by William Wordsworth
- Dawlish poem – John Betjeman poems | Poems and Poetry
- Reason Use It Divine Matters
- Epitaph of a Young Poet Who Died Before Having Achieved Success poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- Владимир Высоцкий – Запись в книге почётных гостей Киевского завода шампанских вин
- Зинаида Александрова – Шарик
- Альфред де Мюссе – Что так усиленно сердце больное
- The Bagpipe Who Didn’t Say No by Shel Silverstein
- My Heart Is Heavy by Sara Teasdale
- Hare-hunting by William Somervile
- Михаил Лермонтов – Всевышний произнес свой приговор
- An Immorality poem – Ezra Pound poems
- Upper Lambourne poem – John Betjeman 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
- Robert Burns: A Poet’s Welcome To His Love-Begotten Daughter: The First Instance That Entitled Him To The Venerable Appellation Of Father
- Robert Burns: Epistle To John Rankine: Enclosing Some Poems
- Robert Burns: Reply To An Announcement By J. Rankine: On His Writing To The Poet, That A Girl In That Part Of The Country Was With A Child To Him.
- Robert Burns: Ballad On The American War:
- Robert Burns Country: In The Character Of A Ruined Farmer:
- Robert Burns: On My Ever Honoured Father:
- Robert Burns: On My Own Friend And My Father’s Friend, Wm. Muir In Tarbolton Mill:
- Robert Burns: On James Grieve, Laird Of Boghead, Tarbolton :
- Robert Burns: Epitaph On Wm. Hood, Senr., In Tarbolton:
- Robert Burns: Remorse: Fragment
- Robert Burns: Wha Is That At My Bower-Door:
- Robert Burns: Green Grow The Rashes: A Fragment
- Robert Burns: My Nanie, O:
- Robert Burns: Song Composed In August:
- Robert Burns: The Rigs O’ Barley:
- Robert Burns: I Dream’d I Lay:
- Robert Burns: Poor Mailie’s Elegy:
- Robert Burns: Death And Dying Words Of Poor Mailie, The Author’s Only Pet Yowe., The. An Unco Mournfu’ Tale:
- Robert Burns: John Barleycorn: A Ballad :
- Robert Burns: My Father Was A Farmer:
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
