Joseph Brodsky Poems on Kings & Queens (5 Poems)

History of the Twentieth Century (A Roadshow) (Joseph Brodsky Poems)

The Sun’s in its orbit, yet I feel morbid. Act 1 Prologue Ladies and gentlemen and the day!All ye made of sweet human clay!Let me tell you: you are o’kay. Our show is to start without much delay.So let me inform … Continue reading →

Daedalus in Sicily (Joseph Brodsky Poems)

All his life he was building something, inventing something.Now, for a Cretan queen, an artificial heifer,so as to cuckold the king. Then a labyrinth, the time forthe king himself, to hide from bewildered glancesan unbearable offspring. Or a flying contraption, … Continue reading →

Odysseus to Telemachus (Joseph Brodsky Poems)

My dear Telemachus,The Trojan Waris over now; I don’t recall who won it.The Greeks, no doubt, for only they would leaveso many dead so far from their own homeland.But still, my homeward way has proved too long.While we were wasting … Continue reading →

Stone Villages (Joseph Brodsky Poem)

The stone-built villages of England. A cathedral bottled in a pub window. Cows dispersed across fields. Monuments to kings. A man in a moth-eaten suit sees a train off, heading, like everything here, for the sea, smiles at his daughter, … Continue reading →

A Polar Explorer (Joseph Brodsky Poem)

All the huskies are eaten. There is no space left in the diary, And the beads of quick words scatter over his spouse’s sepia-shaded face adding the date in question like a mole to her lovely cheek. Next, the snapshot … Continue reading →