A poem by Adrienne Cecile Rich (1929 – 2012)
A life hauls itself uphill
through hoar-mist steaming
the sun’s tongue licking
leaf upon leaf into stricken liquid
When? When? cry the soothseekers
but time is a bloodshot eye
seeing its last of beauty its own
foreclosure
a bloodshot mind
finding itself unspeakable
What is the last thought?
Now I will let you know?
or, Now I know?
(porridge of skull-splinters, brain tissue
mouth and throat membrane, cranial fluid)
Shattered head on the breast
of a wooded hill
Laid down there endlessly so
tendrils soaked into matted compose
became a root
torqued over the faint springhead
groin whence illegible
matter leaches: worm-borings, spurts of silt
volumes of sporic changes
hair long blown into far follicles
blasted into a chosen place
Revenge on the head (genitals, breast, untouched)
revenge on the mouth
packed with its inarticulate confessions
revenge on the eyes
green-gray and restless
revenge on the big and searching lips
the tender tongue
revenge on the sensual, on the nose the
carrier of history
revenge on the life devoured
in another incineration
You can walk by such a place, the earth is
made of them
where the stretched tissue of a field or woods
is humid
with beloved matter
the soothseekers have withdrawn
you feel no ghost, only a sporic chorus
when that place utters its worn sigh
let us have peace
And the shattered head answers back
And I believed I was loved, I believed I loved
Who did this to us?
A few random poems:
- Robert Burns: Extemporaneous Effusion: On being appointed to an Excise division.
- William Strode – William Strode
- Robert Burns: Stanzas On The Same Occasion [Prospect of Death]:
- English Poetry. George Eliot. How Lisa Loved the King. Джордж Элиот.
- haiku
- София Парнок – Ты помнишь коридорчик узенький
- A Ghost in the Shell by Talha Jafri
- Юнна Мориц – Античная картина
- Epitaph on a Lap-dog by Robert Burns
- The Stage Coach by William Barnes
- Be’mi’ster by William Barnes
- Song from Aella by Thomas Chatterton
- Last Battle Cid
- The Lent Lily by A. E. Housman
- Вера Звягинцева – Качаешься в гробу стеклянном
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
- Владимир Британишский – Феодосия, Керчь, Таганрог
- Владимир Британишский – Эх, из огня да в полымя
- Владимир Британишский – Этот вечер
- Владимир Британишский – Есть добрая, есть и дурная слава
- Владимир Британишский – Еретик
- Владимир Британишский – Емуртла
- Владимир Британишский – Екатеринбургский модерн
- Владимир Британишский – Единственный шаман, которого я видел
- Владимир Британишский – Дым отечества
- Владимир Британишский – Двуединство души
- Владимир Британишский – Другу
- Владимир Британишский – Дождик
- Владимир Британишский – Дороги
- Владимир Британишский – Дом (Время ведь с годами ведь)
- Владимир Британишский – Дом, как бог
- Владимир Британишский – Добравшись до водораздела
- Владимир Британишский – Девятое января
- Владимир Британишский – Державин был солдат
- Владимир Британишский – Дали ему дивизию
- Владимир Британишский – Далекая скрипка
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.