Section: «Poems»

Verse (ancient Greek ὁ στίχος — row, structure), a term in versification used in several meanings: artistic speech organized by division into rhythmically commensurate segments; poetry in the narrow sense; in particular, it implies the properties of versification of a particular tradition ("antique verse", "Akhmatova's verse", etc.); a line of poetic text organized according to a certain rhythmic pattern ("My uncle of the most honest rules").

Remembering Snow

I did not sleep last night.The falling snow was beautiful and white.I dressed, sneaked down the stairsAnd opened wide the door.I had not seen such..

© Brian Patten

The Blue Angel

Marlene Dietrich is singing a lamentfor mechanical love.She leans against a mortarboard treeon a plateau by the seashore.She's a life-sized toy,the..

© Allen Ginsberg

So Many Different Lengths Of Time

How long does a man live after all?A thousand days or only one?One week or a few centuries?How long does a man spend living or dyingand what do we..

© Brian Patten

Geography Lesson

Our teacher told us one day he would leaveAnd sail across a warm blue seaTo places he had only known from maps,And all his life had longed to be.The..

© Brian Patten

Paterson

What do I want in these rooms papered with visions of money?How much can I make by cutting my hair? If I put new heels on my shoes,bathe my body..

© Allen Ginsberg

Mr Ifonly

Mr Ifonly sat down and he sighed,I could have done more if only I had triedIf only I had followed my true intentIf only I had done the things that I..

© Brian Patten

One Another’s Light

I do not know what brought me hereAway from where I’ve hardly ever been and nowAm never likely to go again.Faces are lost, and places passedAt which..

© Brian Patten

To Aunt Rose

Aunt Rose—now—might I see youwith your thin face and buck tooth smile and painof rheumatism—and a long black heavy shoefor your bony left leglimping..

© Allen Ginsberg

Doubt Shall Not Make An End Of You

Doubt shall not make an end of younor closing eyes lose your shapewhen the retina's light fades;what dawns inside me will light you.In our public..

© Brian Patten

Wales Visitation

White fog lifting & falling on mountain-browTrees moving in rivers of windThe clouds ariseas on a wave, gigantic eddy lifting mistabove teeming..

© Allen Ginsberg

The Innocence Of Any Flesh Sleeping

Sleeping beside you I dreamtI woke beside you;Waking beside youI thought I was dreaming.Have you ever slept beside an ocean?Well yes,It is like..

© Brian Patten

The Right Mask

One night a poem came up to a poetFrom now on, it said, you must wear a mask.What kind of mask? asked the poet.A rose mask, said the poem.I've used..

© Brian Patten

Party Piece

He said:'Let's stay hereNow this place has emptiedAnd make gentle pornography with one another,While the partygoers go outAnd the dawn creeps in,Like..

© Brian Patten

In Tintagel Graveyard

Who brought flowers to this grave?I, said the wren.I brought them as seeds and thenWatched them grow.No, said the wind. That's not true.I blew them..

© Brian Patten

Psalm Iv

Now I'll record my secret vision, impossible sight of the face of God:It was no dream, I lay broad waking on a fabulous couch in Harlemhaving..

© Allen Ginsberg

War Profit Litany

To Ezra PoundThese are the names of the companies that have mademoney from this warnineteenhundredsixtyeight Annodomini fourthousandeighty..

© Allen Ginsberg

Nagasaki Days

I -- A Pleasant Afternoonfor Michael Brownstein and Dick GallupOne day 3 poets and 60 ears sat under a green-striped Chau-tauqua tent in..

© Allen Ginsberg

Mugging (I)

ITonite I walked out of my red apartment door on East tenth street’s dusk—Walked out of my home ten years, walked out in my honking..

© Allen Ginsberg

On The Conduct Of The World Seeking Beauty Against Government

Is that the only way we can become like Indians, like Rhinoceri,like Quartz Crystals, like organic farmers, like what we imagineAdam & Eve to’ve..

© Allen Ginsberg

Transcription Of Organ Music

The flower in the glass peanut bottle formerly in thekitchen crooked to take a place in the light,the closet door opened, because I used it before..

© Allen Ginsberg

I Have Changed The Numbers On My Watch

I have changed the numbers on my watch,And now perhaps something else will change.Now perhapsAt precisely 2a.m.You will not get upAnd gathering your..

© Brian Patten

The Newcomer

'There's something new in the river,'The fish said as it swam.'It's got no scales, no fins and no gills,And ignores the impassable dam.''There's..

© Brian Patten

Sometimes It Happens

And sometimes it happens that you are friends and thenYou are not friends,And friendship has passed.And whole days are lost and among themA fountain..

© Brian Patten

Cezanne's Ports

In the foreground we see time and lifeswept in a racetoward the left hand side of the picturewhere shore meets shore.But that meeting placeisn't..

© Allen Ginsberg

The Day I Got My Finger Stuck Up My Nose

When I got my finger stuck up my noseI went to a doctor, who said,"Nothing like this has happened before,We will have to chop off your head.""It's..

© Brian Patten