Poems List
Explore poems from our collection
Questions
Questions
Write me what you're wearing! Is it warm?
Write me how you lie! Do you lie there softly?
Write me how you look! Is it still the same?
Radio Poem
Radio Poem
You little box, held to me escaping
So that your valves should not break
Carried from house to house to ship from sail to train,
So that…
Parting
Parting
We embrace.
Rich cloth under my fingers
While yours touch poor fabric.
A quick embrace
You were invited for dinner
While …
On Reading a Recent Greek Poet
On Reading a Recent Greek Poet
After the wailing had already begun
along the walls, their ruin certain,
the Trojans fidgeted with bits of wood
in t…
Mack the Knife
Mack the Knife
Oh, the shark has pretty teeth, dear
And he shows them pearly white.
Just a jack knife has Macheath, dear
And he keeps it out of sig…
Not What Was Meant
Not What Was Meant
When the Academy of Arts demanded freedom
Of artistic expression from narrow-minded bureaucrats
There was a howl and a clamour in its …
I Never Loved You More
I Never Loved You More
I never loved you more, ma soeur
Than as I walked away from you that evening.
The forest swallowed me, the blue forest, ma soeur <…
Ich habe dich nie je so geliebt...
Ich habe dich nie je so geliebt...
[Original]
Ich habe dich nie je so geliebt, ma soeur
Als wie ich fortging von dir in jenem Abendrot.
Der W…
Future Generations (Translation of
Future Generations (Translation of
I confess this:
I have no hope.
The blind talk about an escape.
I see.
When the errors are consumed
…
Fragen
Fragen
Schreib mir, was du anhast! Ist es warm?
Schreib mir, wie du liegst! Liegst du auch weich?
Schreib mir, wie du aussiehst! Ist´s noch gleich?…
Alabama Song
Alabama Song
Show me the way to the next whisky bar
Oh, don't ask why, oh, don't ask why
Show me the way to the next whisky bar
Oh, don't ask why, …
Der Pflaumenbaum (The Plum Tree, translation)
Der Pflaumenbaum (The Plum Tree, translation)
Im Hofe steht ein Pflaumenbaum,
Der ist so klein, man glaubt es kaum.
Er hat ein Gitter drum,
So trit…
Young Greedyguts
Young Greedyguts
Cap of silk moiré, little wand of ivory,
Clothes very dark.
Paul watches the cupboard,
sticks out little tongue at pear,
Pre…
A Worker Reads History
A Worker Reads History
Who built the seven gates of Thebes?
The books are filled with names of kings.
Was it the kings who hauled the craggy blocks of st…
Working People
Working People
O that warm February morning!
The untimely south came
to stir up our absurd paupers' memories,
our young distress.
What One Says To The Poet On The Subject Of Flowers
What One Says To The Poet On The Subject Of Flowers
I
Thus, ever, towards the azure night
Where there quivers a topaz sea,
Will function in y…
Vigils
Vigils
I.
It is a repose in the light,
neither fever nor languor,
on a bed or on a meadow.
It is the friend neither violent nor weak. <…
To The Poet On The Subject Of Flowers
To The Poet On The Subject Of Flowers
Thus continually towards the dark azure,
Where the sea of topazes shimmers,
Will function in your evening
The…
To A Reason
To A Reason
A rap of your finger on the drum
fires all the sounds
and starts a new harmony.
A step of yours: the levy of new men
and their ma…
Those Who Sit
Those Who Sit
Dark with knobbed growths,
peppered with pock-marks like hail,
their eyes ringed with green,
their swollen fingers clenched on their …
The Sun Has Wept Rose
The Sun Has Wept Rose
The sun has wept rose in the shell of your ears,
The world has rolled white from your back,
Your thighs:
The sea has stained …
The Soul
The Soul
Eternal Undines, split the pure water.
Venus, sister of azure, stir up the clear wave.
Wandering Jews of Norway, tell me of snow;
old belo…
The Sly One
The Sly One
In the brown dining-room,
which was perfumed
with the scent of polish and fruit,
I was shoveling up at my ease
a plateful of some…
The Sideboard
The Sideboard
It is a high, carved sideboard made of oak.
The dark old wood, like old folks, seems kind;
Its drawers are open, and its odours soak
…