Long Andromeda Poems

Poems about Poems V

Distances
by Michael R. Burch

There is a small cleanness about her,
as though she has always just been washed,
and there is a dull obedience to convention
in her accommodating slenderness
as she feints at her salad.

She...

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I shall resolve to leave this
Place now...
And steadfastly search out,
Nestling between ridge and bluff
Amidst the folds of a foreign 
Land,
Several acres of unkempt ground
Fallow and rough;
Upon which stands...
Crumbled stone walls
With an exposed slate roof in
Some...

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'Continental Drift' - The Metaphor

In the seventies (1), few people dreamed ‘it’ was true,
guessed by scientists first when rough coastlines compared (2)
matched like parts of a puzzle (a jigsaw), found place
that joined ‘drop-offs’ waves hid...

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These are poems about starlight and moonlight, moons and stars, dreams and visions, illuminations and intimations …



Will There Be Starlight
by Michael R. Burch 

Will there be starlight
tonight
while she gathers
damask
and lilac
and sweet-scented heathers?

And will she find...

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I thought of writing about another High School Social Studies book report. This is an intriguing piece riddled with a complicated set of circumstances. I chose to write it as a short story as it...

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‘ In general, quantum mechanics does not predict a single definite result for an observation. Instead, it predicts a number of  different possible outcomes and tells us how likely each of these is. ‘

...

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“On the Sonnet”
by John Keats

If by dull rhymes our English must be chained,
And, like Andromeda, the Sonnet sweet
Fettered, in spite of painéd loveliness;
Let us find out, if we must be constrained,
Sandals more interwoven and complete
To...

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UNQUOTABLE QUOTES: XLVII - Tongue Twisters

If you want to « have » your cake and « eat » it at one and the same time, simple enough, just split it into two equal parts like...

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THREE ROCKS

Written for Competition :  A Magical Journey 
Sponsor : Constance La France

[ Prompt : I hold three magic rocks in my hand
   Rolling them over and over and over
  ...

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“Look up at the stars,” you say
Its just another night up on the old water tank
Our blanket is spread and here we sit with the universe our theater
Another night of showing me the constellations 
Astronomy…your...

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I tore the page from its binder and ripped it to pieces, not wanting to be associated with the scribbles I had left on the sheet. To call that abomination 
'art' would be an insult...

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Dr. Mark Hall undertook the task of unarming the rigged satellite there in the secluded part of the lab. He is trapped in a section that, due to an oversight, has no substation. He must...

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1010101
                                  ...

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Sappho Translations XIII by Michael R. Burch

In these translations the fragment numbers are mostly Lobel-Page. All translations are by Michael R. Burch and should be so credited if they are used in any way, shape...

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Sappho Translations XIII by Michael R. Burch

In these translations the fragment numbers are mostly Lobel-Page. All translations are by Michael R. Burch and should be so credited if they are used in any way, shape...

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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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POEMS ABOUT SCIENCE 6: EVOLUTION

Singularity
by Michael R. Burch

Are scientists confounded like the ostrich?
Heads buried in the sand, they shout, *Preposterous!*
This universe, so magical, they say,
proves there’s no God. But let’s look anyway ...

He said, *Let...

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I am just dragging around the town carrying this heavy weight in my body when my normal weight is a hundred and ten pounds and that’s the weight that will take me to where destiny...

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To the successful best ...

I can see the future,
it's been calling me
I'm gonna live my life,
it's how it's gonna be
Some people never listen,
Some people gotta burn
They never hear a single thing,
And they will never learn

I...

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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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            Beaming brilliant beautiful bright stars.
            These diamonds, twinkling, sparkling. 
  ...

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they met, once upon a time-
her silky hand melds with his
for but a moment 
an exchanged glance, fleeting
chocolate brown orbs
swimming in pools of milk
ebony hair dancing across her 
backless gown as she walks away
walked away…

swirling...

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IF ever I had a country : XLVI - XLVII

			XLVI

IF ever I had in Andromeda a country
And if ever by rights I were the Chief Collision-Conglomerate Six-Star Plenipotentiary
I'd moot and execute a permanent plan for...

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Wanna know why my verbs hurt, 
I’ve held them in for so long they became cursed words.
The worst of the worst, it hurts ‘cause they’re nursed,
Cradled then derailed into a million who were impaled by...

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When I was in Atlantis,
We walked not on ground, but upon fields of light.
The air itself knew our names —
And the stars bent low to whisper secrets.

We spoke in silence,
Words unneeded between hearts that saw...

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