Courtesan Poems

My Landlady

...Among a stone-wreathed, sun-fried declivity
On earth’s raised stomach, a shack. Common
With the nervousness of heat, such shack-up
Points bury their heads in shame forever...
School hours brought...

Chinese Female Poets: English Translations V

...CHINESE FEMALE POETS: ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS

Sung to the tune of “I Paint My Lips Red”
by an anonymous courtesan or Li Ch’ing-Chao
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

After swi...

Conversations at the Areopagus

...

(The Apostle Paul is waiting at Athens, and some of the Epicureans and Stoics engaged him in conversation.)

Agon, Aidos, Apate, Bia, Corus and Dysnomia (talking amongst themselves) say “What w...

NOSSIS ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS

...NOSSIS

There is nothing sweeter than love.
All other delights are secondary.
Thus, I spit out even honey.
This is what Gnossis says:
Whomever Aphrodite does not love,
Is bereft of her roses.
...

The Velvet Life

...Oh, my love, your intoxicating eyes,
Like lotus flowers, your lips, a treasure to the skies.
Your waist, a velvet lotus, your voice, a cuckoo's call,
Leaves me breathless, and in heaven's thrall.
...

Sappho Translations VIII

...Sappho Translations VIII by Michael R. Burch


Sappho, fragment 68
translation by Michael R. Burch

That was then, this is now!
In those days my maidenhead was in full bloom,
then you …


...

Blocks of Nigh

...through streets of déclassé squalor, i wander, 
courtesan of chaos my feet bare, 
ballerina on the dirty floor 
o the city's kin of decay, 
ragtag orchestra plays its dirge;
an eerie swan song.
...

Morning walk to Vaishali Garh

...
Early in the morning before the sun,
We reach the top where the night is done,
Shadow of night holding the hand of the light,
To start anew and to end a flight,
Me and my sister following Grann...

Night Crawler Nell a Crabby Courtesan

...a crabby courtesan does not do well
when her meanness is seen by clientele
the one I knew named angry night crawler Nell
was so grouchy, she was a very hard sell
the Madame found her a new place ...

CLERIHEW XLVII ecphrasis rodin

...Rodin so expresive
tactile & creative
in The Old Courtesan* en plein air
his  'intense truth' laid ' bare'...

Moulin Rouge

...Moulin Rouge

The greens and pinks magnetize to my eye
Like flowers abloom in a field espied,
Overwhelming creation’s invention
With beauty of grandiose dimension,
Shifting to the wind’s...

An anticlimactic sexual event

...An anticlimactic sexual event...

with Barb Black née Beebee
to help set the ghost
of little Willy Brandt free
(a non German, but germane fellow  
courtesy Craigslist classified
personals of m...

Adagio Glissando and Aria Oratorio Sips Hav

...Ringhiare verses Knurren, he smoked a Gurka Royal Courtesan, singing "Snorfin Lowgalling" and Lettmi Love You". Two sips of the Sidting Droft ( sherry and white grape juice mix), he began asking thin...

Champagne Original

...You invited me in 
discreetly laughing at moi
you gave me words
but no champagne
blindfolded I feel behind
I tasted your marmalade peel 
then you played sister moonshine
you sweetly sang hymns...

Champagne

...You invited me in
discreetly laughing at moi
you gave me no words of encouragement
but only champagne wine
blind drunk I fell behind
still I tasted your marmalade peel
then you played sister mo...

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