CITIZEN POEMS
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I Want To Be Sane Again
I am a condemned
untamed wacky aberrant lunatic
I went berserk
I took leave of reasoning
.....
Michael Aete
I am a condemned
untamed wacky aberrant lunatic
I went berserk
I took leave of reasoning
.....
Michael Aete
A Coffin'is A Small Domain
943
A Coffin-is a small Domain,
Yet able to contain
.....
Emily Dickinson
943
A Coffin-is a small Domain,
Yet able to contain
.....
Emily Dickinson
Values '67
Pass by citizen
don't look left or right
Keep those drip dry eyes straight ahead
A tree? Chop it down- it's a danger
.....
Spike Milligan
Pass by citizen
don't look left or right
Keep those drip dry eyes straight ahead
A tree? Chop it down- it's a danger
.....
Spike Milligan
September 1, 1939
I sit in one of the dives
On Fifty-second Street
Uncertain and afraid
As the clever hopes expire
.....
W. H. Auden
I sit in one of the dives
On Fifty-second Street
Uncertain and afraid
As the clever hopes expire
.....
W. H. Auden
The Unknown Citizen
(To JS/07/M/378/ This Marble Monument
Is Erected by the State)
He was found by the Bureau of Statistics to be
.....
W. H. Auden
(To JS/07/M/378/ This Marble Monument
Is Erected by the State)
He was found by the Bureau of Statistics to be
.....
W. H. Auden
Antarctic Pioneers
Because some unimportant man
In politics talks loud and high,
Or some wild, economic plan
To lift depression takes his eye,
.....
Clarence Michael James Stanislaus Dennis
Because some unimportant man
In politics talks loud and high,
Or some wild, economic plan
To lift depression takes his eye,
.....
Clarence Michael James Stanislaus Dennis
Gyelsay ( The Son Of The Nation).
Hidden land of Himalaya blessed by lotus born,
Worshiping God father Zhabdrung Rinpoche,
He ruled the land of thunder dragon,
With spiritual & secular law.
.....
Norbu Dorji
Hidden land of Himalaya blessed by lotus born,
Worshiping God father Zhabdrung Rinpoche,
He ruled the land of thunder dragon,
With spiritual & secular law.
.....
Norbu Dorji
Letter To An Archaeologist
Citizen, enemy, mama's boy, sucker, utter
garbage, panhandler, swine, refujew, verrucht;
a scalp so often scalded with boiling water
that the puny brain feels completely cooked.
.....
Joseph Brodsky
Citizen, enemy, mama's boy, sucker, utter
garbage, panhandler, swine, refujew, verrucht;
a scalp so often scalded with boiling water
that the puny brain feels completely cooked.
.....
Joseph Brodsky
A Song Of Liberty
The Eternal Female groand! it was heard over all the Earth:
Albions coast is sick silent; the American meadows faint!
Shadows of Prophecy shiver along by the lakes and the rivers and mutter across the ocean! France rend down thy dungeon;
Golden Spain burst the barriers of old Rome;
.....
William Blake
The Eternal Female groand! it was heard over all the Earth:
Albions coast is sick silent; the American meadows faint!
Shadows of Prophecy shiver along by the lakes and the rivers and mutter across the ocean! France rend down thy dungeon;
Golden Spain burst the barriers of old Rome;
.....
William Blake
A Triumph Of Order.
A squad of regular infantry,
In the Commune's closing days,
Had captured a crowd of rebels
By the wall of Pere-la-Chaise.
.....
John Milton Hay
A squad of regular infantry,
In the Commune's closing days,
Had captured a crowd of rebels
By the wall of Pere-la-Chaise.
.....
John Milton Hay
Fellow Citizens
I drank musty ale at the Illinois Athletic Club with
the millionaire manufacturer of Green River butter
one night
And his face had the shining light of an old-time Quaker,
.....
Carl Sandburg
I drank musty ale at the Illinois Athletic Club with
the millionaire manufacturer of Green River butter
one night
And his face had the shining light of an old-time Quaker,
.....
Carl Sandburg
Captain Craig Iii
I found the old man sitting in his bed,
Propped up and uncomplaining. On a chair
Beside him was a dreary bowl of broth,
A magazine, some glasses, and a pipe.
.....
Edwin Arlington Robinson
I found the old man sitting in his bed,
Propped up and uncomplaining. On a chair
Beside him was a dreary bowl of broth,
A magazine, some glasses, and a pipe.
.....
Edwin Arlington Robinson
Pan In Vermont
About the 15th of this month you may expectour Mr. -- , with the usual Spring Seed, etc., Catalogues.- Florist-s Announcement.
It-s forty in the shade to-day, the spouting eaves declare;
.....
Rudyard Kipling
About the 15th of this month you may expectour Mr. -- , with the usual Spring Seed, etc., Catalogues.- Florist-s Announcement.
It-s forty in the shade to-day, the spouting eaves declare;
.....
Rudyard Kipling
Found Poem
after information received in The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 4 v 86
The population center of the USA
Has shifted to Potosi, in Missouri.
.....
Howard Nemerov
after information received in The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 4 v 86
The population center of the USA
Has shifted to Potosi, in Missouri.
.....
Howard Nemerov
Tiresias
I wish I were as in the years of old
While yet the blessed daylight made itself
Ruddy thro' both the roofs of sight, and woke
These eyes, now dull, but then so keen to seek
.....
Alfred Lord Tennyson
I wish I were as in the years of old
While yet the blessed daylight made itself
Ruddy thro' both the roofs of sight, and woke
These eyes, now dull, but then so keen to seek
.....
Alfred Lord Tennyson
Fresh Air
I
At the Poem Society a black-haired man stands up to say
-You make me sick with all your talk about restraint and mature talent!
.....
Kenneth Koch
I
At the Poem Society a black-haired man stands up to say
-You make me sick with all your talk about restraint and mature talent!
.....
Kenneth Koch
With Dickens
In Windsor Terrace, number four,
Iâ??ve taken my abodeâ??
A little crescent from the street,
A bight from City Road;
.....
Henry Lawson
In Windsor Terrace, number four,
Iâ??ve taken my abodeâ??
A little crescent from the street,
A bight from City Road;
.....
Henry Lawson
And So To-day
And so to-day- they lay him away-
the boy nobody knows the name of-
the buck private- the unknown soldier-
the doughboy who dug under and died
.....
Carl Sandburg
And so to-day- they lay him away-
the boy nobody knows the name of-
the buck private- the unknown soldier-
the doughboy who dug under and died
.....
Carl Sandburg
The Brigs Of Ayr, A Poem, Inscribed To J. Ballantyne, Esq., Ayr.
The simple Bard, rough at the rustic plough,
Learning his tuneful trade from ev'ry bough;
The chanting linnet, or the mellow thrush,
Hailing the setting sun, sweet, in the green thorn bush:
.....
Robert Burns
The simple Bard, rough at the rustic plough,
Learning his tuneful trade from ev'ry bough;
The chanting linnet, or the mellow thrush,
Hailing the setting sun, sweet, in the green thorn bush:
.....
Robert Burns
Jackdaw
ALOOF from his tribe
On the elm-tree's top,
A jackdaw perched
A hand-reach up.
.....
Padraic Colum
ALOOF from his tribe
On the elm-tree's top,
A jackdaw perched
A hand-reach up.
.....
Padraic Colum
Ode To W. Kitchener, M.d.
Author of
The Cook's Oracle, Observations on Vocal Music, The Art of Invigorating and Prolonging Life, Practical Observations on Telescopes, Opera-Glasses, and Spectacles, The Housekeeper's Ledger
and
The Pleasure of Making a Will.
.....
Thomas Hood
Author of
The Cook's Oracle, Observations on Vocal Music, The Art of Invigorating and Prolonging Life, Practical Observations on Telescopes, Opera-Glasses, and Spectacles, The Housekeeper's Ledger
and
The Pleasure of Making a Will.
.....
Thomas Hood
The Sense Of Beauty
SPIRIT! who over this our mortal Earth,
Where nought hath birth
Which imperfection doth not some way dim,
Since Earth offended HIM--
.....
Caroline Elizabeth Sarah Norton
SPIRIT! who over this our mortal Earth,
Where nought hath birth
Which imperfection doth not some way dim,
Since Earth offended HIM--
.....
Caroline Elizabeth Sarah Norton
Culture And Cops
Five nights agone I lay at rest
On my suburban couch.
My trousers on the bedpost hung,
Red gold within their pouch.
.....
Clarence Michael James Stanislaus Dennis
Five nights agone I lay at rest
On my suburban couch.
My trousers on the bedpost hung,
Red gold within their pouch.
.....
Clarence Michael James Stanislaus Dennis
The First Step
The young poet Evmenis
complained one day to Theocritus:
"I've been writing for two years now
and I've composed only one idyll.
.....
Constantine P. Cavafy
The young poet Evmenis
complained one day to Theocritus:
"I've been writing for two years now
and I've composed only one idyll.
.....
Constantine P. Cavafy
Rules Of The Road
WHAT man would be wise, let him drink of the river
That bears on its bosom the record of time
A message to him every wave can deliver
To teach him to creep till he knows how to climb
.....
John Boyle O'reilly
WHAT man would be wise, let him drink of the river
That bears on its bosom the record of time
A message to him every wave can deliver
To teach him to creep till he knows how to climb
.....
John Boyle O'reilly
National Nomenclature - Prose
To the Editor of the Knickerbocker.
SIR: I am somewhat of the same way of thinking, in regard to names, with that profound philosopher, Mr. Shandy, the elder, who maintained that some inspired high thoughts and heroic aims, while others entailed irretrievable meanness and vulgarity; insomuch that a man might sink under the insignificance of his name, and be absolutely "Nicodemused into nothing." I have ever, therefore, thought it a great hardship for a man to be obliged to struggle through life with some ridiculous or ignoble Christian name, as it is too often falsely called, inflicted on him in infancy, when he could not choose for himself; and would give him free liberty to change it for one more to his taste, when he had arrived at years of discretion.
.....
Washington Irving
To the Editor of the Knickerbocker.
SIR: I am somewhat of the same way of thinking, in regard to names, with that profound philosopher, Mr. Shandy, the elder, who maintained that some inspired high thoughts and heroic aims, while others entailed irretrievable meanness and vulgarity; insomuch that a man might sink under the insignificance of his name, and be absolutely "Nicodemused into nothing." I have ever, therefore, thought it a great hardship for a man to be obliged to struggle through life with some ridiculous or ignoble Christian name, as it is too often falsely called, inflicted on him in infancy, when he could not choose for himself; and would give him free liberty to change it for one more to his taste, when he had arrived at years of discretion.
.....
Washington Irving
The Brothers
Scene-_A lawyer's dreadful den.
Enter stall-fed citizen.
LAWYER.-'Mornin'. How-de-do?
.....
Ambrose Bierce
Scene-_A lawyer's dreadful den.
Enter stall-fed citizen.
LAWYER.-'Mornin'. How-de-do?
.....
Ambrose Bierce
The Country Church - Prose
A gentleman!
What o' the woolpack? or the sugar-chest?
Or lists of velvet? which is 't, pound, or yard,
You vend your gentry by?
.....
Washington Irving
A gentleman!
What o' the woolpack? or the sugar-chest?
Or lists of velvet? which is 't, pound, or yard,
You vend your gentry by?
.....
Washington Irving
A Sunday In London - Prose
In a preceding paper I have spoken of an English Sunday in the country and its tranquillizing effect upon the landscape; but where is its sacred influence more strikingly apparent than in the very heart of that great Babel, London? On this sacred day the gigantic monster is charmed into repose. The intolerable din and struggle of the week are at an end. The shops are shut. The fires of forges and manufactories are extinguished, and the sun, no longer obscured by murky clouds of smoke, pours down a sober yellow radiance into the quiet streets. The few pedestrians we meet, instead of hurrying forward with anxious countenances, move leisurely along; their brows are smoothed from the wrinkles of business and care; they have put on their Sunday looks and Sunday manners with their Sunday clothes, and are cleansed in mind as well as in person.
And now the melodious clangor of bells from church towers summons their several flocks to the fold. Forth issues from his mansion the family of the decent tradesman, the small children in the advance; then the citizen and his comely spouse, followed by the grown-up daughters, with small morocco-bound prayer-books laid in the folds of their pocket-handkerchiefs. The housemaid looks after them from the window, admiring the finery of the family, and receiving, perhaps, a nod and smile from her young mistresses, at whose toilet she has assisted.
.....
Washington Irving
In a preceding paper I have spoken of an English Sunday in the country and its tranquillizing effect upon the landscape; but where is its sacred influence more strikingly apparent than in the very heart of that great Babel, London? On this sacred day the gigantic monster is charmed into repose. The intolerable din and struggle of the week are at an end. The shops are shut. The fires of forges and manufactories are extinguished, and the sun, no longer obscured by murky clouds of smoke, pours down a sober yellow radiance into the quiet streets. The few pedestrians we meet, instead of hurrying forward with anxious countenances, move leisurely along; their brows are smoothed from the wrinkles of business and care; they have put on their Sunday looks and Sunday manners with their Sunday clothes, and are cleansed in mind as well as in person.
And now the melodious clangor of bells from church towers summons their several flocks to the fold. Forth issues from his mansion the family of the decent tradesman, the small children in the advance; then the citizen and his comely spouse, followed by the grown-up daughters, with small morocco-bound prayer-books laid in the folds of their pocket-handkerchiefs. The housemaid looks after them from the window, admiring the finery of the family, and receiving, perhaps, a nod and smile from her young mistresses, at whose toilet she has assisted.
.....
Washington Irving
The Prophecy Of Dante
Canto The First.
Once more in Man's frail world! which I had left
So long that 'twas forgotten; and I feel
.....
George Gordon Byron
Canto The First.
Once more in Man's frail world! which I had left
So long that 'twas forgotten; and I feel
.....
George Gordon Byron
Reflections On Having Left A Place Of Retirement
Sermoni propriora.-Hor.
Low was our pretty Cot; our tallest Rose
Peep'd at the chamber-window. We could hear
.....
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Sermoni propriora.-Hor.
Low was our pretty Cot; our tallest Rose
Peep'd at the chamber-window. We could hear
.....
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
More Life'went Out'when He Went
422
More Life-went out-when He went
Than Ordinary Breath-
.....
Emily Dickinson
422
More Life-went out-when He went
Than Ordinary Breath-
.....
Emily Dickinson
Nature Affects To Be Sedate
1170
Nature affects to be sedate
Upon occasion, grand
.....
Emily Dickinson
1170
Nature affects to be sedate
Upon occasion, grand
.....
Emily Dickinson
The Bird Did Prance'the Bee Did Play'
1107
The Bird did prance-the Bee did play-
The Sun ran miles away
.....
Emily Dickinson
1107
The Bird did prance-the Bee did play-
The Sun ran miles away
.....
Emily Dickinson
The One-legged Man
Propped on a stick he viewed the August weald;
Squat orchard trees and oasts with painted cowls;
A homely, tangled hedge, a corn-stalked field,
And sound of barking dogs and farmyard fowls.
.....
Siegfried Sassoon
Propped on a stick he viewed the August weald;
Squat orchard trees and oasts with painted cowls;
A homely, tangled hedge, a corn-stalked field,
And sound of barking dogs and farmyard fowls.
.....
Siegfried Sassoon
Patience
Be patient with you?
When the stooping sky
Leans down upon the hills
And tenderly, as one who soothing stills
.....
Amy Lowell
Be patient with you?
When the stooping sky
Leans down upon the hills
And tenderly, as one who soothing stills
.....
Amy Lowell
On The Building Of Springfield
Let not our town be large, remembering
That little Athens was the Muses' home,
That Oxford rules the heart of London still,
That Florence gave the Renaissance to Rome.
.....
Vachel Lindsay
Let not our town be large, remembering
That little Athens was the Muses' home,
That Oxford rules the heart of London still,
That Florence gave the Renaissance to Rome.
.....
Vachel Lindsay
The Moon Is A Painter
He coveted her portrait.
He toiled as she grew gay.
She loved to see him labor
In that devoted way.
.....
Vachel Lindsay
He coveted her portrait.
He toiled as she grew gay.
She loved to see him labor
In that devoted way.
.....
Vachel Lindsay
Citizen Of The World
No longer of Him be it said
“He hath no place to lay His head.”
In every land a constant lamp
.....
Joyce Kilmer
No longer of Him be it said
“He hath no place to lay His head.”
In every land a constant lamp
.....
Joyce Kilmer
My Head On Fire, Dull But Glowing
I
A miniature salamander rears
his tiny head in the halls
.....
Amy King
I
A miniature salamander rears
his tiny head in the halls
.....
Amy King
To Abraham Lincoln
Thou kindly, loving, whole-souled man,
Yet just, as well as tender;
Of wrong, the foe implacable,
Of the oppressed, defender;
.....
John J. Loud
Thou kindly, loving, whole-souled man,
Yet just, as well as tender;
Of wrong, the foe implacable,
Of the oppressed, defender;
.....
John J. Loud
Restlessness
Would I had waked this morn where Florence smiles,
A-bloom with beauty, a white rose full-blown,
Yet rich in sacred dust, in storied stone,
Precious past all the wealth of Indian isles-
.....
Emma Lazarus
Would I had waked this morn where Florence smiles,
A-bloom with beauty, a white rose full-blown,
Yet rich in sacred dust, in storied stone,
Precious past all the wealth of Indian isles-
.....
Emma Lazarus
Natalia-s Resurrection: Sonnet Xi
So in his agony at noon he came,
On the third day, to where without the walls
Stood San Lorenzo with its front of flame,
Where mourners wait the accustomed funerals.
.....
Wilfrid Scawen Blunt
So in his agony at noon he came,
On the third day, to where without the walls
Stood San Lorenzo with its front of flame,
Where mourners wait the accustomed funerals.
.....
Wilfrid Scawen Blunt
Uncoloneled
Though war-signs fail in time of peace, they say,
Two awful portents gloom the public mind:
All Mexico is arming for the fray
And Colonel Mark McDonald has resigned!
.....
Ambrose Bierce
Though war-signs fail in time of peace, they say,
Two awful portents gloom the public mind:
All Mexico is arming for the fray
And Colonel Mark McDonald has resigned!
.....
Ambrose Bierce
I Close My Eyes
I close my eyes like a good little boy at night in bed,
as I was told to do by my mother when she lived,
and before bed I brush my teeth and slip on my pajamas,
as I was told, and look forward to tomorrow.
.....
David Ignatow
I close my eyes like a good little boy at night in bed,
as I was told to do by my mother when she lived,
and before bed I brush my teeth and slip on my pajamas,
as I was told, and look forward to tomorrow.
.....
David Ignatow
A Triumph Of Order
A Squad of regular infantry
In the Commune's closing days,
Had captured a crowd of rebels
By the wall of Pere-la-Chaise.
.....
John Hay
A Squad of regular infantry
In the Commune's closing days,
Had captured a crowd of rebels
By the wall of Pere-la-Chaise.
.....
John Hay