Long 140 Poems

Enola Gay

There on the ‘North Field’ tarmac of Tinian Island, Marianas;
Taxis the sleek designed ‘Boeing B-29 Superfortress’ to ready for take-off. 1
Glistening, polished aluminum under the blaring floodlights filmed for posterity,
Maneuvers' the ‘Enola Gay’, chosen...

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Bharathidasan’s “Pulikku nay enta muulai” (To the Tiger, the Dog knows no safe dwelling!) translated by T. Wignesan 

Bharathidasan (1891-1964) was a self-proclaimed disciple of the eminent Brahmin poet: Cuppiramania Bharathiyar (cf. two poems of...

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On the need to avoid being envious: Canto XVII, K161, K162 of the THIRUK-KURAL, Translation with Commentary

[ ENVY, of course, knows no racial nor ethnic boundaries, but I wouldn't be wrong, I dare say, ...

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Say I:

On the websites I used to share, I was frequently amazed 
     Poems got greeted with silence; it seems eyes were quickly glazed. 

It’s as if I’d morphed into a...

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Date:  July  2050

Beautiful  summer Saturday late
Morning. Pool party full force. 
Everybody busy all seemed fine.
Damian stayed close to Molly and
Monitored her. "Feeling good my love?"
He caressed her 9 month pregnant 
Belly. "I'm...

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First version 



As Midnight Moon Shines Upon Her Eyes 


In a dream world where fantasies abound 
shall be where my princess is found
Wrapped in her vision an angelic choir
cherubs singing her heart's desire
Her voice soothes...

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Red Sunsets On The Blue Hills

What of soft red sunsets on the blue hills
Or true love found in sweet dreams of the light
Just as night frights give deeper cold chills
Crimson sunsetting views show heaven's might.

Such...

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The years passed, things never did get better..
Her Garden Club was the only thing that held her together
The mental abuse had taken it’s toll...
As far as he was concerned he owned her soul..
She now felt...

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1.	Abolish Mints
2.	Abut Mints
3.	Accomplish Mints
4.	Accouter Mints
5.	Acknowledge Mints
6.	Ada Mints
7.	Adjust Mints
8.	Admonish Mints
9.	Adorn Mints
10.	Advance Mints
11.	Advertise Mints
12.	Agree Mints
13.	Ail Mints
14.	Align Mints
15.	Announce Mints
16.	Annul Mints
17.	Apart Mints
18.	Appease Mints 
19.	Appoint Mints
20.	Arma Mints
21.	Argu Mints
22.	Arrange Mints
23.	Assess Mints
24.	Astonish Mints
25.	Atone Mints
26.	Attain Mints
27.	Banish Mints
28.	Battle Mints
29.	Befuddle Mints
30.	Bereve Mints
31.	Better Mints
32.	Bewilder Mints
33.	Blandish Mints
34.	Command...

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He was coming.
He was coming fast.
He was coming to pay us a visit.
A brooding, lethal monster 30 miles out.
He was coming straight at us
and nothing or no one could stop him

Our house was on the...

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Stone-People, Hearts As Cold As Frozen Stones


Stone-people, hard dried in their vanity
all around they lay- with their dead talking
Delight in mere tinges of sanity
closing rock-hard blind eyes when they slow-squawk!

Stone-people, every realm's black pot has...

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These are my modern English translations/interpretations of ancient Greek poems by the immortal Sappho of Lesbos…

With my two small arms, how can I
think to encircle the sky?
—Sappho, fragment 35, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Mother,...

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Kitted out with a uniform, I felt the part, 
But the deesire inside is always the art;
I was enlisted as a pilot under training, 
And inoculated, vaccinated in yearning. 

The medical exam asserted no divinity,
And...

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Sappho Translations I

Sappho, fragment 132 (Lobel-Page 132)
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

1.
I have a delightful daughter
fairer than the fairest flowers, Cleis,
whom I cherish more than all Lydia and lovely Lesbos.

2.
I have a lovely daughter
with a...

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What have we learned?

What is our big 20/20 revision takeaway
from this win/lose
zero-sum failure?

To transparently cooperate
for our most inclusive win/win health
and long-term safety,
economic
and political
and social
and physical
and mental health
resilience

From my own observation,
probably colored
multihued and complexly patterned
by Integral...

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Forsaken Love

Dear lover, why hast thou forsaken me
my miserable life now cut in shreds
If only thee had instead set me free
love, no longer sharing our silkened beds

To what ending hath thou denied my love
with darkness...

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My ideal love is a love that catches me by surprise. 
The realization of intelligent things and conversations that literally take us anywhere.
My ideal love is a love that expresses ideal.
The ramifications that influence us...

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These two poems composed to honor this truly great poet,
Elinor Wylie....
 
(1.)
Heaven Smiles And Its Light Awaits
 
Icy winds have died, winter fled
Hope has sung, Spring has sprung
Love and promise have wed 
new life's radiant...

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Afghan Afghan wearing an Afghan

      leg lifted high

            a pissious 88 salute

       ...

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When I was a young child I studied ants 
I loved their formation on ground and plants.
Like tiny soldiers lined, disciplined well,
They worked hard all day, from what I could tell.

Their strength was awesome, things...

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Contest entry: 
 Forms: Sonnet (a,b,a,b) (c,d,c,d) (e,f,e,f) (g,g) 
 Three stanzas and a couplet(a summary) ..
 Ten syllables per line

 You may search and find a saying to inspire you please 
 include the...

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(1.)

Deep Within Woes Of Love's First Dying Breath

Lost, I am not there, you can not reach me
woe, dark and naked- all life is not fair
tho' heavy blows hurt, they do not teach me
nor my rebellion...

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He’s Hemingways whiskey, he’s vodka on ice
Smoke on the water, a roll of the dice
Magic and mirrors illusion to most
Thumbing his way from east coast to west coast

He’s lived on the brink, on the edge...

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watch the blissful couple
whisper to each other about
how they need to get out quick,
leave their current 
circumstance &
run,
run,
run,
so they can get home & ****!
see the epitome of 21st century romance
plastered on the face**** page &
listen...

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In Our Blindness, Chalked Up To Just Be Fate

Life, its complexity truly astounds
astounds this old soul so sadly earthbound
earthbound but not without imagined flight
flight into blue heavens's glimmering night.
Night of ill winds that beggars disbelief
disbelief...

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