Long Affluent Poems

There is nothing weaker than water
But none is superior to it in overcoming the hard,
For which there is no substitute.
(Laotse, "Nothing Weaker Than Water", Lin Yutang, trans.)

That weakness of mind and body overcomes strength
And uniting...

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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 written in Arabic.



Enough for Me
by Fadwa Tuqan 
loose translation/interpretation by...

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I.	  The Settlement

          Hickory bark bluffs
          at the blend of two 
    ...

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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 to lie in the earth,
to be buried in her,
to sink...

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This is the third time
I've read Beyond Religion:
Ethics
[non-sectarian, non-partisan, non-violent]
for A (not "The") Whole World
[ZeroZenZone Universe, psychological and politically eco-logical].

In the second, of two, sections,
the Dalai Lama discusses,
in most excruciating therapeutic detail,
emotional positive v negative...

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Average affluent Almost Afternoon 
11:30 morning time.  Damian was
Still asleep as were DJ and 
Amadeus. Molly and Dolly were 
In the kitchen planning Barrington 
And Godfrey's birthday party.
"Come sis are we baking this cake...

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There was a twenty minute lull
Before the paramedics arrived to
Remove Greatgrand Dad's 
corpse. When the paramedics 
Arrived they examed Greatgrand 
And confirmed the family's dread.
 Damian and CJ accompanied 
The body to the Hospital. While
Julius...

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Dear Sue,

I am remembering our strong negative responses
to the young woman who surreptitiously read
her aunt's very private diary,
filled with vulnerable statements
of the most intimate nature
and transparently lusty spirit,

Yet, though secretive,
then took a bold black marker
and...

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The fruit juice drips momentarily beneath the alter filling the crevices and corner, while the sound of impatient traffic rolls down the street honking horns and disrupting the peace. A strange sound starts rumbling in...

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Dare to live your life to the fullest.  Take a chance for you
      create your own happiness for it is a decision.  Life
     ...

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Lori Gottlieb
describes mental health mediators
and dream translators
prescribing more cost-effective therapeutic questions:

Who am I?
What do I want?
What's in my natural health/spiritual wealth
bilaterally balancing way?

What do I want more:
to autonomously control
OR 
to be part of some monopolizing,
possibly...

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I learned so much last time I went too 

The shore casino near the ocean blue  

Conjuring up honesty and words that were true  

Looking for tranquil sanctuary to think and talk ...

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1. A constant smile is the alabaster
for struggle’s ornaments be made faster
average looks with a smile can be labial
its absence points to problems so filial,
may not keep the wolf away from the door
or deliver salvation...

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Re: viewing the emotionally prosperous papa razz zee life I did not live

The following poetic account 
written more'n a dozen 
dirty dancing decades ago, 
while I (a socially 
withdrawn Homo Sapiens) 
one indigent Yahoo 
groveled...

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POTD 21 November 2017

So professional in his lies - So ruthless in his ambition
Feeding lies to the simple folk - convincing in his deception
Telling them they live on toxic farm land - succeeds in striking...

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Defining Analogies

Natural/Spiritual Religion:
Our cooperative ZeroSoul-owned green sanctuary system
for extensively restoring interdependent outcomes
to and for healthy ego co-invested lives
transubstantiating Earth's wealthiest ecocentric WinWin Peace.

Why do you qualify Religion with "natural/spiritual"?  
Is there some other kind...

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Ruing the emotionally prosperous papa razz zee life I did not live

The following poetic account 
written more'n a dozen dirty dancing decades ago, 
while I (a socially withdrawn Homo Sapiens) 
groveled along (on a secret...

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Democratic pursuits of healthy constitutions
and health policy discipline
are often associated with growing compassion,
global enlightenment values
for well-being and happiness,

And peace and happiness, in turn,
associated with prosperity, both natural and spiritual wealth,
never one without the other.

This historical...

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American Pies and Porkies

I’m not American though I spent a year in California the land of beaches Hollywood 
‘flower power’ ‘Big Sur’ with dopey dreams and have walked ‘bear’-foot in Yosemite
thus I followed the elections...

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I'm musing with Jill Lepore,
historian (Harvard feminist, but definitely within brackets of general interest),
through eight hundred pages of These Truths
telling an other U.S. herstory.

She starkly says,
"Slavery is political"
while I had been thinking more of addictive...

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What is dogmatically
unchangingly fundamental to Christianity,
and to all win/win positive faith systems,
is certainly not capitalism's ZeroSum economic assumptions
in which winner god takes all
from loser satan.

But, what is fundamental compassion's truth
is profoundly sacred
globally open-systemic theology
of HolySpirit...

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The monthly lunch crowd
reinvented our Elder Journey Association
traveling together toward renewal,
resilient
restorative justice,
resonant co-redemption,
revival of reconnecting
through this Great ReTurning Communion.

Our Green Sanctuary Statement:

Love is always unfinished
Green cooperative health business,

Like Life and Hope's potential integrity,
Living as One,...

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Nine nine  

A story I needed to find  

My credentials were declined  

But it was Sunday, I did not mind  

Honestly, I tried  

Decided, ‘take a ride’  

Into the...

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In a peculiar puny town nestled in western Massachusetts,
There lives an enchanted mansion in the Wilbraham woods,
Hidden in the hills away from the eastern city's pollutants,
Where the creme de la creme masquerades in cowled hoods.

Around...

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Avoiding risk
is not always the best way to feed
and assertively, but not overbearingly, water
resilient opportunities.

Patriarchalism
is not ever the best way to build
resilient ecofeminist cooperative opportunities.

It may too often be exclaimed,
"The best offense
is a strong defense."

Defensive...

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