Long 90 Poems

Sappho fragment #155
translation by Michael R. Burch 

A short revealing frock?
It's just my luck
your lips were made to mock!

*

Sappho fragment #156
translation by Michael R. Burch 

She keeps her scents
in a dressing-case.
And her sense?
In some undiscoverable...

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One day not so long ago 
I walked
Never alone
For the world 
Is always my home

It was a late
Spring snow
Yet I felt
Invisible red roses
Offering sweetest perfume
To my nose and soul

There’s such warmth 
In snow-filled winter
No bitterness
No...

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Unquotable quotes: Tale-Carriers, Gossip-Mongers, Courrier-Pigeon Caretakers, Smoke-Signal Puffers and Tom-Tom Thumpers – XXVI

Could there be such things as political shenanigans or inter-continental warfares, even catastrophes, natural disasters, tsunamis, irruptions, conflagrations, inundations, landslides, typhoons, tornadoes, hurricanes,...

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KEY - W: Will/Me - F: Friend - M: Mom

Thanksgiving week of '75, as a concurrent student earning multi-degrees from two campuses, and one off. I lived above the Uni, uphill, panicview Hilo Town and...

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Red light, the neon beer sign on the distant wall reflects off the long expanse of polished bar top, overpowering the quiet brown wood. It’s after lunch, only a few people in to stir the...

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In a matter of months, we would experience the greatest economic                        ...

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Queen Elizabeth Alexandra Mary ll
Her seemingly eternal monarch--God has now beckoned
Balmoral Castle, reigned over the United Kingdom
"God Save The Queen" The British national anthem
21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022

     ...

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"Fragments and crumbs of life, all the little pieces"

                    John Ruskin, 1853


I think of youth’s sweet...

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This happened last Fall, during Thanksgiving break.

Lisa and I were at the MET (The Metropolitan Museum of Art), with her family, at an exhibit of Art Deco sculpture. Lisa and I came out of a...

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Two new crutches and two double shots of Bushmills Irish Whiskey enabled Joe Faherty to move from the back seat of Moira Murphy's 1976 Buick into Eagan's Funeral Home for Tim McGillicuddy's wake. At 87,...

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I was speaking with my good friend
Donald John
the Evangelist for AntiChrist
the other day.

And I had to ask,
Donald John,
Why are you so against health care
for all our not yet slaughtered
and otherwise dead already?

Except perhaps health services...

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There are actual people
half woman half man
running mornings and
dream people in movies
half language half light.
Tomorrow is John’s funeral.

		*			*			*

This is my minute
my moment
Oops, gone!

Anything can happen
if you don’t resist
Resist!

		*			*			*

But who am I? You think bullets won’t
kill?...

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Unquotable quotes: Fat People – XXIX

(I know this piece sounds mean and cruel but as every single parent must have experienced, this is also the expression of utter exasperation, and perhaps there’s also the slightest...

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He sat all alone, drinking jim beam and coke

Looking out as the waves crashed ashore

He kept to himself, drinking jim beam and coke

As the storm winds would batter the door

He'd only come in when the...

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A notice appeared in the paper recently with the names and faces of eight men who have a combined wealth of $426 billion. According to Oxfam International, in 2015 this would have equaled the amount...

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The next day. It was iffy everybody 
Was tense. The Hakim family was
Distrustful of The Black China Men. 
Early morning 8 am Friday. 
Damali rose from his slumber 
First followed by DJ Desharah
And Amadeus. 
They...

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Blocks View of His Feet

Trump not only is total loss but also complete;
Speaks same words several times and will repeat;
Ignorant sign off;
Retarded slightly above,
And big belly does block view of his both feet.

James Thesarious Hilarious...

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A former friend of mine
tricked me into becoming
something I am not

The volunteer President
of our condo association,
a position I clearly cannot afford
midst trifling disassociations.

We were starting our Autumn tradition
of arguing about next year's budget
which typically continues
until...

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Everybody love to say they’re number one,
but it takes two
to make beautiful music, 
so we’re told
Pitch perfect
That one favorite song two lovers have,
it never gets old
After ninety nine repeats, 
it sounds one zero zero multiple...

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A FORGOTTEN ANGEL

Who was she?  They wondered
No one knew her name
Where did she live?  They wondered
No one ever saw her playing
How old was she?  They wondered
Did she have any friends?
What happened? ...

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“I am sorry I slept for so long, Lumi.  I should have relieved you a couple of hours ago,” Joulupukki apologized as his head appeared through the door.  “Can I get anything for...

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Approximately three plus days elapsed...
without yours truly experiencing urge to defecate

Neither bloating nor constipation
arose, but one nondescript anguished
logophile anticipated intestinal blockage,
hence prophesying worse case scenario

I (predicated in direction for an adult)
ingested three Dulcolax tablets
and subsequently...

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1	A plume of dirt and grime envelops sky;
		The hellish slug of gas does creep along.
		It casts an orb three hundred stories high
		Over the Sun and ends his morning song.
		The birds and trees now stand a...

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The word "Galaxy", is derived from the Greek "galaxias", literally "milky", a reference to the Milky Way galaxy. Galaxies contain varying amounts of star systems, star clusters and types of interstellar clouds. (Nebula is Latin...

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Unquotable quotes – Lawyers:  XX

(No aspersions are willfully or otherwise cast on the honorable profession of the Law. Though I’m not a Barrister, I passed – through self-study – all the subjects at the...

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