Long Abyssal Poems

With my Uyghur poetry translations I am trying to build awareness of the plight of Uyghur poets who are being sent to Chinese "reeducation" concentration camps.

Elegy
by Perhat Tursun
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Asylum seekers, will...

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Perhat Tursun

Perhat Tursun (1969-) is one of the foremost living Uyghur language poets, if he is still alive. Born and raised in Atush, a city in China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, Tursun began writing poetry...

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Where’s a hero when we need one?
Get rid of the villain with a silly, little gun
I ricochet like the bullets that hit Superman,
But he was shielded best he can…best he can…

Driving through dystopia town, dystopia...

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The great Sabbath day descended, though not in my heart and mind
On this new day,
I imagined rays of God’s light shining generously upon the mountains,
Pools of living waters gurgling, and winds gently rustling trees
Wishing for...

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In my chambers where phantasmagoria undulate
    not as vigilant watchers but as mnemonic parasites
    I ruminate—
        no longer a singular entity but...

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I don’t feel good at this
I’m feeling so hopeless
I need some happiness
I’m feeling dread instead
I’ve been consuming sorrowful bread
I’ve been feeling rather dead

I want to repent of being sinful
I want to repent of being resentful
I...

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As I pivot to confront my offspring, I anticipate the sight of terror etched in their innocent eyes, a reflected horror that would mirror the abyssal darkness that has long resided within me.

Instead, I am...

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Out in that sky, no one sleeps, not even the stars.

We are at the 24-hour late-nite diner

and they’re serving up fruit

from the plants growing out of the floor.

We watch bodies fall to the ground outside

like...

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Inspired by Disturbed’s songs…

We are the animal inside my soul, my soul
We are the animal, so crack open my skull
We are going insane inside our wearisome brain
When will we be sane again? Is it all...

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I’ve lost my darksome heart in the rivers of dimensions long ago..oh so long ago...
I’ve lost my lonesome soul in the waves of oblivion
You’ve given me wretched woe, but I still love you deep down...

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I don’t understand why you make me feel so lonesome
You say to take a stand and be a man for the time being
And I don’t need your hand to hold me tightly
Frankly, I don’t care...

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There is so much pain in the pleasure beyond measures…I need some kind of considerate cures…

I’m so coldhearted sometimes with my comments of plenty
But it not always feel uncomfortable and stressful — it’s also very...

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Believe in me
And reflect on me
Grieve with me
Zone out freely

Zone out whenever you like
I will be riding my future bike
I don’t have much money, my dear
There are several possibilities and opportunities..I missed several of those,...

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 Was privileged to have sedentary on the seashore in seraphic poetic submersion;
 the ringing sounds from the distant horizon made me entirely lost in  speculation;
 when the sounds of waves from far nimbly...

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I knew you were troublesome from the start
You stole my heart and I fell apart...take heart,,,
Wake me up from this dream I’m in 
Wondering where you’ve been...again…

Keep this a little secret -
I loved you for...

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In the heart of the night, next to the unmoved clock,
She lies, with the pillow—a saline lake of pagan scents,
Mourning something that was never spoken.
Prisoner in the castle of shadows, where darkness
Bearer of chaos, stretches...

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Through the broken lines of destiny, the shattered strings of time are revealed,
The thread of fate snaps, the springs of eternity unravel silently,
Fallen idols, marble faces cracked under the weight of eternity,
People sleeping in beds...

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Written: May 09, 2024

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Three points of ionic invisibility, drawn off the charted map
Of realism or reality, the calibrated compass spins out of 
Control, then suddenly freezing at polar northern degree!
Within the gravitational shift, a rippling vibrational influxes 
Occurs,...

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Vibes of slight vulgarity married you 
Long ago and it’s been so long
Since you last called, my boo
Write with me a tragedy in reverse 

I’m on the track of Random
Numb my cranium of devastating dumb
I...

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SILENCE, Translation of Pierre Emmanuel's poem: Silence by T. Wignesan


The silence PRIOR to silence
	Silence anterior to the ineffable SYLLABLE where silence is born where it’s accomplished in advance
	PERCEPTIBLE syllable distanced by far from pure silence...

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(Piece is intended to be the most complex vocabulary gothic ever)

Grandiloquence,
mellifluous pulchritudinous,
gaiety of quintessential moistening serendipity,
bile deluge if you show the sanguinary breath,
crimson waterfall sizzling on lava rock hellscape.

Yclept necrophelia maestra,
macabre tableau,
dips douse abyssal incarnate,
now...

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I’m scorched aflame by passionate desire
You weren’t the one who heartlessly threw me
Into the rainbow flames of the undying fire
It isn’t your fault at all, my baby of empathy

Scorch aflame with me today or tonight,
Sad...

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Loneliness is not what I’m looking forward to
Distress was not part of my gladness, so true
Oceanic, ominous waves bring me down sometimes, darling so free
Tension-packed, traumatic nervousness gives me moments of mere bravery

Oceanic, ominous waves...

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Written: September 12, 2023
Ocean Poetry Contest                             ...

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