A poem by Adrienne Cecile Rich (1929 – 2012)
Far back when I went zig-zagging
through tamarack pastures
you were my genius, you
my cast-iron Viking, my helmed
lion-heart king in prison.
Years later now you’re young
my fierce half-brother, staring
down from that simplified west
your breast open, your belt dragged down
by an oldfashioned thing, a sword
the last bravado you won’t give over
though it weighs you down as you stride
and the stars in it are dim
and maybe have stopped burning.
But you burn, and I know it;
as I throw back my head to take you in
and old transfusion happens again:
divine astronomy is nothing to it.
Indoors I bruise and blunder
break faith, leave ill enough
alone, a dead child born in the dark.
Night cracks up over the chimney,
pieces of time, frozen geodes
come showering down in the grate.
A man reaches behind my eyes
and finds them empty
a woman’s head turns away
from my head in the mirror
children are dying my death
and eating crumbs of my life.
Pity is not your forte.
Calmly you ache up there
pinned aloft in your crow’s nest,
my speechless pirate!
You take it all for granted
and when I look you back
it’s with a starlike eye
shooting its cold and egotistical spear
where it can do least damage.
Breath deep! No hurt, no pardon
out here in the cold with you
you with your back to the wall.
A few random poems:
- To a Discarded Toast by William Somervile
- The Rice Was Under Water
- Robert Burns: Scots’ Prologue For Mr. Sutherland: On his Benefit-Night, at the Theatre, Dumfries.
- Владимир Британишский – У этой матери кормящей
- Cigarettes And Whiskey And Wild, Wild Women by Anne Sexton
- Storm-Racked poem – Amy Lowell poems | Poems and Poetry
- Ashes of Soldiers. by Walt Whitman
- haiku
- Огюст Барбье – Мельпомена
- Эмиль Верхарн – Здравствуй, подруга
- Lullaby by William Butler Yeats
- Владимир Маяковский – Ров (РОСТА №181)
- “Behold Vale! I Said, When I Shall Con” by William Wordsworth
- When Lovely Woman Stoops To Folly by Oliver Goldsmith
- The Memorial poem – Alexander Pushkin
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 Broomfield Hill poem – Andrew Lang poems
- The Bonny Hind poem – Andrew Lang poems
- The Bonnie House O’ Airly poem – Andrew Lang poems
- The Bonnie Earl Moray poem – Andrew Lang poems
- The Battle Of Killie-Crankie poem – Andrew Lang poems
- The Battle Of Harlaw–Evergreen Version poem – Andrew Lang poems
- St. Andrew’s Bay poem – Andrew Lang poems
- Sir Hugh; Or The Jew’s Daughter poem – Andrew Lang poems
- Scythe Song poem – Andrew Lang poems
- A Scot To Jeanne D’Arc poem – Andrew Lang poems
- Rose The Red And White Lily poem – Andrew Lang poems
- Robin Hood And The Potter poem – Andrew Lang poems
- Robin Hood And The Monk poem – Andrew Lang poems
- Robin Hood And The Butcher poem – Andrew Lang poems
- A Portrait Of 1783 poem – Andrew Lang poems
- Andrew Lang – Andrew Lang Poems
- On Calais Sands poem – Andrew Lang poems
- Melville And Coghill – The Place Of The Little Hand poem – Andrew Lang poems
- Mary Ambree poem – Andrew Lang poems
- Love Gregor; Or, The Lass Of Lochroyan poem – Andrew Lang 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
Adrienne Cecile Rich (1929 – 2012) was an American poet, essayist, and feminist.