Anna Akhmatova
Everything by Anna Akhmatova
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Everything’s looted, betrayed and traded,
black death’s wing’s overhead.
Everything’s eaten by hunger, unsated,
so why does a light shine ahead?
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By day, a mysterious wood, near the town,
breathes out cherry, a cherry perfume.
By night, on July’s sky, deep, and transparent,
new constellations are thrown.
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And something miraculous will come
close to the darkness and ruin,
something no-one, no-one, has known,
though we’ve longed for it since we were children.
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Anna Akhmatova Poems
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I Taught Myself To Live Simply by Anna Akhmatova
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I taught myself to live simply and wisely,
to look at the sky and pray to God,
and to wander long before evening
to tire my superfluous worries.
When the burdocks rustle in the ravine
and the yellow-red rowanberry cluster droops
I compose happy verses
about life's decay, decay and beauty.
I come back. The fluffy cat
licks my palm, purrs so sweetly
and the fire flares bright
on the saw-mill turret by the lake.
Only the cry of a stork landing on the roof
occasionally breaks the silence.
If you knock on my door
I may not even hear.
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Anna Akhmatova
Maya Angelou
Insomniac by Maya Angelou
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There are some nights when
sleep plays coy,
aloof and disdainful.
And all the wiles
that I employ to win
its service to my side
are useless as wounded pride,
and much more painful.
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Maya Angelou Poems
I Taught Myself To Live Simply by Anna Akhmatova
.
I taught myself to live simply and wisely,
to look at the sky and pray to God,
and to wander long before evening
to tire my superfluous worries.
When the burdocks rustle in the ravine
and the yellow-red rowanberry cluster droops
I compose happy verses
about life's decay, decay and beauty.
I come back. The fluffy cat
licks my palm, purrs so sweetly
and the fire flares bright
on the saw-mill turret by the lake.
Only the cry of a stork landing on the roof
occasionally breaks the silence.
If you knock on my door
I may not even hear.
.
.
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Emma Lazarus (1849 - 1887)
Echoes by Emma Lazarus
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Late-born and woman-souled I dare not hope,
The freshness of the elder lays, the might
Of manly, modern passion shall alight
Upon my Muse's lips, nor may I cope
(Who veiled and screened by womanhood must grope)
With the world's strong-armed warriors and recite
The dangers, wounds, and triumphs of the fight;
Twanging the full-stringed lyre through all its scope.
But if thou ever in some lake-floored cave
O'erbrowed by rocks, a wild voice wooed and heard,
Answering at once from heaven and earth and wave,
Lending elf-music to thy harshest word,
Misprize thou not these echoes that belong
To one in love with solitude and song.
Women Poets and Poetry
Amy Lowell (1874 - 1925)
Mary Oliver (1935 - present)
Marge Piercy (1936 - present)
Ann Taylor (1782 - 1886)
Phillis Wheatley (1753 - 1784)
Ella Wheeler Wilcox (1850 - 1919)
Elinor Wylie (1885 - 1928)
Lisa Zaran (1969 - present)
Denise Levertov (1923 - 1997)
Pleasures by Denise Levertov
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I like to find
what's not found
at once, but lies
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within something of another nature,
in repose, distinct.
Gull feathers of glass, hidden
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in white pulp: the bones of squid
which I pull out and lay
blade by blade on the draining board--
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tapered as if for swiftness, to pierce
the heart, but fragile, substance
belying design. Or a fruit, mamey,
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cased in rough brown peel, the flesh
rose-amber, and the seed:
the seed a stone of wood, carved and
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polished, walnut-colored, formed
like a brazilnut, but large,
large enough to fill
the hungry palm of a hand.
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I like the juicy stem of grass that grows
within the coarser leaf folded round,
and the butteryellow glow
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in the narrow flute from which the morning-glory
opens blue and cool on a hot morning.
Anne Kingsmill Finch (1661 - 1720)
Hope by Anne Kingsmill Finch
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The Tree of Knowledge we in Eden prov'd;
The Tree of Life was thence to Heav'n remov'd:
Hope is the growth of Earth, the only Plant,
Which either Heav'n, or Paradise cou'd want.
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Hell knows it not, to Us alone confin'd,
And Cordial only to the Human Mind.
Receive it then, t'expel these mortal Cares,
Nor wave a Med'cine, which thy God prepares.
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Famous Women Poets
Louise Gluck (1943 - present)
Portrait by Louise Gluck
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A child draws the outline of a body.
She draws what she can, but it is white all through,
she cannot fill in what she knows is there.
Within the unsupported line, she knows
that life is missing; she has cut
one background from another. Like a child,
she turns to her mother.
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And you draw the heart
against the emptiness she has created.
Helen Hunt Jackson (1831 - 1885)
A Dream by Helen Hunt Jackson
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I dreamed that I was dead and crossed the heavens,--
Heavens after heavens with burning feet and swift,--
And cried: "O God, where art Thou?" I left one
On earth, whose burden I would pray Thee lift."
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I was so dead I wondered at no thing,--
Not even that the angels slowly turned
Their faces, speechless, as I hurried by
(Beneath my feet the golden pavements burned);
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Nor, at the first, that I could not find God,
Because the heavens stretched endlessly like space.
At last a terror siezed my very soul;
I seemed alone in all the crowded place.
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Then, sudden, one compassionate cried out,
Though like the rest his face from me he turned,
As I were one no angel might regard
(Beneath my feet the golden pavements burned):
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"No moew in heaven than earth will he find God
Who does not know his loving mercy swift
But waits the moment consummate and ripe,
Each burden, from each human soul to lift."
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Though I was dead, I died again for shame;
Lonely, to flee from heaven again I turned;
The ranks of angels looked away from me
(Beneath my feet the golden pavements burned).
Jane Kenyon (1947 - 1995)
Erica Jong (1942 - present)
Anne Killigrew (1660 - 1685)
Amy Levy (1861 - 1889)
Ellis Parker Butler (1869 - 1937)
Linda Pastan (1932 - present)
Kathleen Raine (1908 - 2003)
Jennifer Reeser (1968 - present)
Adrienne Rich (1929 - present)
Christina Rossetti (1830 - 1894)
Edith Södergran
Edith Södergran (1892-1923) geldt als Finlands meest vooraanstaande dichteres. Tijdens haar korte leven werd ze vrijwel algemeen verguisd, maar met de jaren groeide het inzicht dat zij het modernisme in de Zweedstalige poëzie had geïntroduceerd. Södergran publiceerde vier poëziebundels, waarvan een aantal sterk nietzscheaanse trekken vertoont. Haar vijfde bundel werd postuum uitgegeven. Het vrije ritme en de sterke beelden maken het lezen van haar gedichten tot een adembenemende ervaring.
Stevie Smith (1902 - 1971)
Famous Women Poets and Poetry
Emily Bronte (1818 - 1848)
Mary Elizabeth Coleridge (1861 - 1907)
Ingrid Jonker
Ingrid Jonker
19 september 1933- 19 juli 1965.
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