Inside/Outside The Window
by Alexander Russo Two horses grazing in a distant field. Closer up, a few leaves twisting on a branch. The leaves begin to take on A strange new presence: crinkled, stubborn face. One resembles a monster, paying off a bad Kharmic debt. It groans, swaying back and forth, like the broken […]
Industrial Lace poem – Alice Fulton poems | Poetry Monster
The city had such pretty clotheslines. Women aired their intimate apparel in the emery haze: membranes of lingerie— pearl, ruby, copper slips— their somehow intestinal quivering in the wind. And Freihofer’s spread the chaste, apron scent of baking, a sensual net over a few yards of North Troy. The city had Niagara […]
Do You Know What It’s Like
by Alexandra Gross Do you know what it’s like To be different? To never Feel quite right with people? To be in a crowd and yet utterly Alone? To wish for someone Who understands you completely, And come to the realisation that No such person exists? I do. Do you know […]
That devil of a man
by Alexander McConnell Many were wiser and many tried to advise her, and many tried to save the heart and soul of the child who had fallen for the wild, wild and wicked devil of a man Many were wiser and many tried to make her see, and many tried to […]
Because We Never Practiced With The Escape Chamber poem – Alice Fulton poems | Poetry Monster
we had to read the instructions as we sank. In a hand like carded lace. Not nuclear warheads on the sea’s floor nor the violet flow over the reactor will outlive this sorrowful rhyme. Vain halo! My project becalmed, I’ll find I’ve built a monument more passing than a breeze. It will cost us, Pobrecito. […]
Aplogize
by Alex Gross This is a question to teachers. Why does everyone make kids Apologize to other kids? It doesn’t make sense if you consider it. If I am little Ally, and I pushed little Timmy You make me apologize; you don’t punish me. I’m not sorry. Don’t tell me to […]
Alone
by Alex Gross What do you say when you Are with people? You say you Want to be alone. What do you say When you are alone? You say you Want to be with people. I’ll tell you why that is. It’s because You are never alone. Your thoughts Are always […]
About Face poem – Alice Fulton poems | Poetry Monster
Because life’s too short to blush, I keep my blood tucked in. I won’t be mortified by what I drive or the flaccid vivacity of my last dinner party. I take my cue from statues posing only in their shoulder pads of snow: all January you can see them working on their granite tans. […]
To the Muse poem – Aleksandr Blok poems | Poetry Monster
A poem by Alexander Block – Alexandre Block – Alexandr Blok – Александр Блок (1880-1921) In your hidden memories There are fatal tidings of doom… A curse on sacred traditions, A desecration of happiness; And a power so alluring That I am ready to repeat the rumour That you have brought angels down from […]
Those Born In Obscure Times poem – Aleksandr Blok poems | Poetry Monster
A poem by Alexander Block – Alexandre Block – Alexandr Blok – Александр Блок (1880-1921) Those born in obscure times Do not remember their way. We, children of Russia’s frightful years Cannot forget a thing. Incinerating years!, do you bring tidings of madness or of hope? The days of war, the days of freedom […]
Those Born In Obscure Times poem – Aleksandr Blok poems | Poetry Monster
A poem by Alexander Block – Alexandre Block – Alexandr Blok – Александр Блок (1880-1921) Those born in obscure times Do not remember their way. We, children of Russia’s frightful years Cannot forget a thing. Incinerating years!, do you bring tidings of madness or of hope? The days of war, the days of freedom […]
The Twelve poem – Aleksandr Blok poems | Poetry Monster
A poem by Alexander Block – Alexandre Block – Alexandr Blok – Александр Блок (1880-1921) III Our sons have gone to serve the Reds to serve the Reds to risk their heads! O bitter,bitter pain, Sweet living! A torn overcoat an Austrian gun! -To get the bourgeosie We’ll start a fire a worldwide […]
The Stranger poem – Aleksandr Blok poems | Poetry Monster
A poem by Alexander Block – Alexandre Block – Alexandr Blok – Александр Блок (1880-1921) The restaurants on hot spring evenings Lie under a dense and savage air. Foul drafts and hoots from dunken revelers Contaminate the thoroughfare. Above the dusty lanes of suburbia Above the tedium of bungalows A pretzel sign begilds a bakery […]
The Faithless Shadows. poem – Aleksandr Blok poems | Poetry Monster
A poem by Alexander Block – Alexandre Block – Alexandr Blok – Александр Блок (1880-1921) The faithless shadows of day are running And high and clear is the call of bells, Steps of the church are blazed as with the lightning, Their stones are alive and wait for your light steps. You’ll here pass […]
The Death of Grandfather poem – Aleksandr Blok poems | Poetry Monster
A poem by Alexander Block – Alexandre Block – Alexandr Blok – Александр Блок (1880-1921) We waited commonly for sleep or even death. The instances were wearisome as ages. But suddenly the wind’s refreshing breath Touched through the window the Holy Bible’s pages: An old man goes there; who’s now all white-haired; With rapid […]
The Snowy Spring Is Raging Mad poem – Aleksandr Blok poems | Poetry Monster
A poem by Alexander Block – Alexandre Block – Alexandr Blok – Александр Блок (1880-1921) The snowy spring is raging mad, I look away from the saga; O, dreadful hour, when she read The palm extended by Tsouniga. Into his eyes she aimed her gaze, There was mockery in her dark eyes, The row […]
The Scythians poem – Aleksandr Blok poems | Poetry Monster
A poem by Alexander Block – Alexandre Block – Alexandr Blok – Александр Блок (1880-1921) You are but millions. Our unnumbered nations Are as the sands upon the sounding shore. We are the Scythians! We are the slit-eyed Asians! Try to wage war with us-you’ll try no more! You’ve had whole centuries. We-a single […]
Street Circus poem – Aleksandr Blok poems | Poetry Monster
A poem by Alexander Block – Alexandre Block – Alexandr Blok – Александр Блок (1880-1921) A small circus is amazing; It’s for kids who are merry and bright; There a girl and a boy’re gazing At the ladies, kings, and droll sprites. … And that terrible music cries over our lot, Despondently howls the […]
The Snowy Spring Is Raging Mad poem – Aleksandr Blok poems | Poetry Monster
A poem by Alexander Block – Alexandre Block – Alexandr Blok – Александр Блок (1880-1921) The snowy spring is raging mad, I look away from the saga; O, dreadful hour, when she read The palm extended by Tsouniga. Into his eyes she aimed her gaze, There was mockery in her dark eyes, The row […]
On the Field of Kulicovo poem – Aleksandr Blok poems | Poetry Monster
A poem by Alexander Block – Alexandre Block – Alexandr Blok – Александр Блок (1880-1921) The river stretched. It flows, idly grieves, And washes both banks. In steppe, above light clay of cliffs Rinks mourn in ranks. O Russia! Dear wife! With clearness and pain We see the lengthy way! It sent an arrow […]
I Wait For You… poem – Aleksandr Blok poems | Poetry Monster
A poem by Alexander Block – Alexandre Block – Alexandr Blok – Александр Блок (1880-1921) I wait for you. The years in silence pass And as the image, one, I wait for you again. The distance is in flame — and clear one as glass, I, silent, wait — with sadness, love and pain. […]
I Prefer the Gorgeous Freedom poem – Aleksandr Blok poems | Poetry Monster
A poem by Alexander Block – Alexandre Block – Alexandr Blok – Александр Блок (1880-1921) I prefer the gorgeous freedom, And I fly to lands of grace, Where in wide and clear meadows All is good, as dreams, and blest. Here they rice: the clover clear, And corn-flower’s gentle lace, And the rustle is always […]
He, who was born poem – Aleksandr Blok poems | Poetry Monster
A poem by Alexander Block – Alexandre Block – Alexandr Blok – Александр Блок (1880-1921) He, who was born in stagnant year Does not remember own way. We, kids of Russia’s years of fear, Remember every night and day. Years that burned everything to ashes! Do you bring madness or grace? The war’s and […]
Halls grew darker poem – Aleksandr Blok poems | Poetry Monster
A poem by Alexander Block – Alexandre Block – Alexandr Blok – Александр Блок (1880-1921) Halls grew darker and somehow faded. Grates of windows drowned in black. Every knight, every beautiful lady Knew the tiding: “The Queen’s deadly sick.” And the king, very silent and frowned, Passed the doors, lost of pages and slaves […]
Gamajun, the Prophetic Bird poem – Aleksandr Blok poems | Poetry Monster
A poem by Alexander Block – Alexandre Block – Alexandr Blok – Александр Блок (1880-1921) On waters, spread without end, Dressed with the sunset so purple, It sings and prophesies for land, Unable to lift the smashed wings’ couple… The charge of Tartars’ hordes it claims, And bloody set of executions, Earthquake, and hunger and […]
Don’t fear death poem – Aleksandr Blok poems | Poetry Monster
A poem by Alexander Block – Alexandre Block – Alexandr Blok – Александр Блок (1880-1921) Don’t fear death in earthly travels. Don’t fear enemies or friends. Just listen to the words of prayers, To pass the facets of the dreads. Your death will come to you, and never You shall be, else, a slave […]
A Girl Sang a Song poem – Aleksandr Blok poems | Poetry Monster
A poem by Alexander Block – Alexandre Block – Alexandr Blok – Александр Блок (1880-1921) A girl sang a song in the temple’s chorus, About men, tired in alien lands, About the ships that left native shores, And all who forgot their joy to the end. Thus sang her clean voice, and flew up […]
A Girl Was Singing In A Church Choir poem – Aleksandr Blok poems | Poetry Monster
A poem by Alexander Block – Alexandre Block – Alexandr Blok – Александр Блок (1880-1921) A girl was singing in a church choir Of the weary people on foreign soil, Of all the ships that sailed aspired, Of all, who have forgotten their joy. So sang her voice, to the cupola reaching, White shoulders […]
You by Vladimir Mayakovsky
You by Vladimir Mayakovsky You came – determined, because I was large, because I was roaring, but on close inspection you saw a mere boy. You seized and snatched away my heart and began to play with it – like a girl with a bouncing ball. And before this miracle every woman was either a […]
To All and Everything by Vladimir Mayakovsky
To All and Everything by Vladimir Mayakovsky No. It can’t be. No! You too, beloved? Why? What for? Darling, look – I came, I brought flowers, but, but… I never took silver spoons from your drawer! Ashen-faced, I staggered down five flights of stairs. The street eddied round me. Blasts. Blares. Tires screeched. It was […]
Conversation with Comrade Lenin by Vladimir Mayakovsky
Conversation with Comrade Lenin by Vladimir Mayakovsky Awhirl with events, packed with jobs one too many, the day slowly sinks as the night shadows fall. There are two in the room: I and Lenin- a photograph on the whiteness of wall. The stubble slides upward above his lip as his mouth jerks open in speech. […]
Back Home by Vladimir Mayakovsky
Back Home by Vladimir Mayakovsky Thoughts, go your way home. Embrace, depths of the soul and the sea. In my view, it is stupid to be always serene. My cabin is the worst of all cabins ; All night above me Thuds a smithy of feet. All night, stirring the ceiling’s calm, dancers stampede to […]
Past One O’Clock … by Vladimir Mayakovsky
Past One O’Clock … by Vladimir Mayakovsky Past one o’clock. You must have gone to bed. The Milky Way streams silver through the night. I’m in no hurry; with lightning telegrams I have no cause to wake or trouble you. And, as they say, the incident is closed. Love’s boat has smashed against the daily […]
Our March by Vladimir Mayakovsky
Our March by Vladimir Mayakovsky Beat the squares with the tramp of rebels! Higher, rangers of haughty heads! We’ll wash the world with a second deluge, Now’s the hour whose coming it dreads. Too slow, the wagon of years, The oxen of days — too glum. Our god is the god of speed, Our heart […]
My Soviet Passport by Vladimir Mayakovsky
My Soviet Passport by Vladimir Mayakovsky I’d tear like a wolf at bureaucracy. For mandates my respect’s but the slightest. To the devil himself I’d chuck without mercy every red-taped paper. But this … Down the long front of coupés and cabins File the officials politely. They gather up passports and I give in My […]
Call To Account! by Vladimir Mayakovsky
Call To Account! by Vladimir Mayakovsky The drum of war thunders and thunders. It calls: thrust iron into the living. From every country slave after slave are thrown onto bayonet steel. For the sake of what? The earth shivers hungry and stripped. Mankind is vapourised in a blood bath only so someone somewhere can get […]
Attitude To A Miss by Vladimir Mayakovsky
Attitude To A Miss by Vladimir Mayakovsky That night was to decide if she and I were to be lovers. Under cover of darkness no one would see, you see. I bent over her, it’s the truth, and as I did, it’s the truth, I swear it, I said like a kindly parent: “Passion’s a […]
At the Top of My voice by Vladimir Mayakovsky
At the Top of My voice by Vladimir Mayakovsky My most respected comrades of posterity! Rummaging among these days’ petrified crap, exploring the twilight of our times, you, possibly, will inquire about me too. And, possibly, your scholars will declare, with their erudition overwhelming a swarm of problems; once there lived a certain champion of […]
Émigrés by Anna Barkova
edited, unrhymed translation by © Евгений Сухарников, Fledermaus, Poetry Monster, 2021, Russian original Émigrés by Anna Barkova Émigrés both internal and external, We, eternal migrants on the go, Though we are keen to lull our own feelings, Friendships fade and enmity grows. Émigrés both internal and external, No one waits for us or wants us […]
I have outlived my own desires by Alexander Pushkin (Pouchkine)
translated by Fledermaus, Евгений Сухарников, © 2021 I have outlived my own desires I now detest my own dreams My suffering never expires It is no longer what it seems Under the storm of the most brutal fate My flowering wreath wilted away I languish in a disheartened state And only for the […]