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:
- Elegy I. To Charles Deodati (Translated From Milton) by William Cowper
- A Tree Song by Rudyard Kipling
- Soul by Malkia Charlee NoCry
- He Tells Of The Perfect Beauty by William Butler Yeats
- Анатолий Жигулин – Лисенок
- Was Then by AC Zenner
- Наталья Шевченко – Он не в себе
- Colors by Shel Silverstein
- The Swans poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- Peace by Patrick Kavanagh
- Низами Гянджеви – Когда ты локоны свои распустишь
- An Epitaph on the Admirable Dramatic Poet W. Shakespeare poem – John Milton poems
- Валерий Брюсов – Гнутся высокие лотосы
- A Fragment poem – Alfred Austin
- Lesson In Grammar by Vernon Scannell
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
- The Fault of It poem – Ezra Pound poems
- The Encounter poem – Ezra Pound poems
- The Bath-Tub poem – Ezra Pound poems
- Tame Cat poem – Ezra Pound poems
- Taking Leave of a Friend poem – Ezra Pound poems
- Sub Mare poem – Ezra Pound poems
- Statement of Being poem – Ezra Pound poems
- Song of the Bowmen of Shu poem – Ezra Pound poems
- Song in the Manner of Housman poem – Ezra Pound poems
- Song poem – Ezra Pound poems
- Silet poem – Ezra Pound poems
- Sestina: Altaforte poem – Ezra Pound poems
- Salutation poem – Ezra Pound poems
- Quies poem – Ezra Pound poems
- Portrait d’Une Femme poem – Ezra Pound poems
- In Tempore Senectutis poem – Ezra Pound poems
- Invern poem – Ezra Pound poems
- Ione, Dead the Long Year poem – Ezra Pound poems
- The Jewel Stairs’ Grievance poem – Ezra Pound poems
- Envoi poem – Ezra Pound 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