Long Animal nature Poems

The Panther
by Rainer Maria Rilke
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

His weary vision's so overwhelmed by iron bars,
his exhausted eyes see only blank Oblivion.
His world is not our world. It has no stars.
No light. Ten thousand...

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Harry was waiting at base camp for his party of tourists
hoping that Beverly and her children would not be rowdy.
When they finally arrived, he got them settled in their tent.
Once unpacked they joined him in...

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Early Poems XX

These are my early poems or juvenilia. 


Paradise
by Michael R. Burch, age 15

There’s a sparkling stream
And clear blue lake
A home to beaver,
Duck and drake

Where the waters flow
And the winds are soft
And the sky...

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Happily Never After (the Second Curse of the Horny Toad)
by Michael R. Burch

He did not think of love of Her at all
frog-plangent nights, as moons engoldened roads
through crumbling stonewalled provinces, where toads
(nee princes) ruled in...

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from crude beginnings came primitive man
learning to cope with natures darkened wilderness,
wild plants,wild animals,wild environment,and
day to day uncertain productiveness...

an animal by nature,commuting the body with inferior things,
sticks and stones became weapons and tools
the processed skills,from...

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The Tree

Through the foggy mist of a new day dawning
Appears a huge tree, awaiting the birth of another winter morning.

All that remains is its bare branches stretching toward the sky
And an old abandoned nest, left...

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I rest perched atop my tree branch blind,
watching and waiting
for anything to unknowingly pass below
I got sleek, midnight skin ... 
distinct markings of a black panther
I got white eyes that glow in the dark,
my vision...

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The only life-saving boats 
                             sailing ever...

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For weeks now the two young males had been watching,
waiting for their opportunity and now it was time.
They were now strong enough to take over the pride.
Signalling his intent to his brother Moto stood up
and...

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Sam Adams 
Lived in Medford Oregon
Where he ran a vacation home business
And was part of the Ashland Chamber of Commerce
Who were his adopted family

One day he was out on the mountain highway
Outside of town
When ...

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Well, I must say that I did not want to walk two hours, some days I am downright tired of diabetes

So I drove to Logonna Daoulas after a visit to the Kerdrein strike for the...

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CAT AND SQUIRREL
By Curtis Johnson

The squirrel was in the tree, and the cat on the ground.  There was nothing special about that scene except that on this particular spring morning in 2014, there was...

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in 2040 in a small town in
near Seattle. 
 A Group of college students
on a class assignment found
a briefcase with the words
"GODSENT" on the front.
they pried open the case and found
documents addressed to " Fittall...

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Ashes,
Black, gritty, sooty signs
Painted on the foreheads
Of humanity parading about.
My thumb would be black
For several days following
The signing of so many foreheads,
The dark soot engrained
Within my right thumb print.

Ash Wednesday is a magnet
That draws people,...

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He moves quickly through the underbrush
I follow close behind, pushing
Briars cautiously with a hand prepared 
To let go hastily and a throat
Holding onto a shudder in response
To the graze of the briar against
Soft, naked skin

He...

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I love to sit and watch the Roosevelt Elk for hours.  The Roosevelt Elk named for Theodore Roosevelt, it's my favorite animal in the wild.  They are the largest of the four remaining...

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Deep in the Canadian wilderness she gave birth to four pups,
     It was a large dug out hole at the base of a tangled tree;
Her mate for life was out hunting...

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If with each breath, we can erase our past,
relearning by touch, tenderness of love,
with choice to dwell in heart, the die is cast,
to invoke God’s grace that pours from above.
Reworded, let’s say, we carry no...

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Everything was property of the state
life of a serf didn't even rate
tyranny from Lords,Dukes and  Barons
production of goods,they weren't sharin'....

Coxcomb magistrate castle seneschal
internal scheming took alot of gall
court intrigue was their special interest
todays politics...

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The air is as crisp as the night is dark;
Star light travels millennia to finally hit its mark.
The scents astound me pungent as they hit my nose.
From the ground, the air, the trees they nimbly...

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We love to make lists,
To describe, name, number.
How can it have value,
If not on my list.
As logger I stand
Before the green forest,
The numbered trees
Are ones to cut.
The forest cut down
Is only to me
Bigger box to...

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Fruits noirs

Sans qu’on y prenne garde,
Le ciel se tisse du grillage
Sombre des branches.
Elles  s’étendent  chaque année,
Et chaque année,
Grignotent un peu plus d’espace,

Au point de parfaire une voûte
Et d’arriver à se rejoindre,
En confisquant le...

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Canis Lupus, gray wolf of forest and brushlands,
Where denning sites throughout are plentiful and safe,
With gifts of strength, endurance and great stamina,
You travel on for hours before fatigue sets in.

As Alpha male, joined with your...

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In the whimsical woods where the wind whirls wild, 
Lived Benjamin the Bear, a creature quite mild. 
With a belly that bounced as he waddled through trees, 
He was a bundle of joy, blowing bubbles...

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                          ...

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