Best Usurper Poems

"My Kingdom will rise above all others. I'll always put it first."
He spoke with the devil perched upon his left shoulder,
but no angel sat on...

Read more of this work...

“The True Mother”

What part of a heart
in another could one trust
when betrayal comes
like a silver bullet, words and deeds
sharp piercing to burrow 
bleed out Life’s...

Read more of this work...

As time stood still in the presence of the King
Awaiting its order to commence
The King’s voice echoed throughout the universe
Silence ensued, loud and fierce!
The four...

Read more of this work...

Written: May 03, 2024

                  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I witnessed the dawn...

Read more of this work...

“The Big Blues and Baptismal Alice”



In the land of the dirty politician
Steely resolve was borne bidding
farewell to thinly veiled conceit and division
that particular brand of...

Read more of this work...

"The Messenger"

Love is rich with 
venom and honey. 

there was a female ...

snake, 
it watched 
with green-eyed 
avarice, covetting
a dove’s nest

the dove, 
was white as...

Read more of this work...

The stranger is strange, pariah, leper sounds offbeat,
 Neither truculent, nor relevant, all destined to encounter the doomed relic;
The bizarre outlander, alien to stimulate the...

Read more of this work...

THE BLOODY TOWER

I am so trapped a phantom princess, on an ethereal plain, spiritually
Forgotten in isolation's domain, in hell's chamber of brick and mortar,
In this...

Read more of this work...

Bow the great dragons, unto the mighty,
Ruler under heaven.
The divine master's iron heel, lies upon the
Serpents neck.
For brilliance illusion a golden throne shines,
Blinding those whom...

Read more of this work...

English translations of Arabic poems by Fadwa Tuqan aka "The Poet of Palestine"

Enough for Me
by Fadwa Tuqan 
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Enough for me...

Read more of this work...

old Smeaton’s Tower
spends its retirement dreaming
recalling its youth

no light in its eyes
glares at the young usurper
on Eddystone reef

Jack Horne for Russell’s In the Light of...

Read more of this work...

"White Noise and the Mother Load of Dark Matter" 

underneath the static
what exists 
is never seen nor heard

for what it truly is 
the eyes and...

Read more of this work...

Fadwa Tuqan has been called the Grand Dame of Palestinian letters and The Poet of Palestine. These are my translations of Fadwa Tuqan poems originally...

Read more of this work...

Where did you find safety when you were a child, 
?Did flight also help you, I wonder my friend? 
?I felt like it did me,...

Read more of this work...

“The Tear”



How many oceans of salt 
does it take to form a tear?

Unrelenting waves of sorrow 
pounding a broken heart
hears the howl of sharp beaked...

Read more of this work...