Long Arresting Poems

Chinese Poets: English Translations II

These are modern English translations of poems by the Chinese poets Tzu Yeh, Lin Huiyin, Xu Zhimo and Huang E. These are poems about love, passion and beauty. 


Tzu Yeh (circa...

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These words of love I give to you, my dear
to have comfort in the stillness of time
and meld two souls to keep love's wishes near
when the length of the years and age will climb
I will...

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U can 2 was on the license plate of my 
store manager brown Benz where a dead man 
was found in the trunk Alston Isadore defense store 
manager at Fort Sheridan Army base Ronald Reagan...

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"The Crow Bar"

she said,
here I bury my dead,
you can hear them sleeping
somnulent forget-me-nots,
snoring blithely unaware,
in neat rows between 
the thick,
ink injected lines,
their soiled lives
ploughed and 
turned over 
replanted
sunnyside down
expunged and 
wrung out

eventually,
not totally oblivious, 
they...

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It is known throughout Earth's anonymous
unanimous Commons,
Systems are hard to change.

The more macro-competitive,
Yang-strong,
The more difficult of all conversion stories

Over pernicious decades,
We tend to add "isms"
to pathological ends
of these global systemic issues.

This polyculturalistic/multiculturalism suffix,
negative appendage,
suggests a...

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These words of love I give to you, my dear
to have comfort in the stillness of time
and meld two souls to keep love's wishes near
when the length of the years and age will climb
I will...

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I see this ulcer
Mind boggling in perception
Body arresting in phenomena
Of diverse shapes and designs
Magnificently wrought together
In one whiff of putrid scent
It is of an exotic nature
Magnanimously growing out of context
Thus ticking with apocalyptic dimensions ...

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*Image of Hikers Warning by Pixabay.

Out Of The Way

As a self-proclaimed ruler of my person, I am mindful of the internal convictions, external constitutions as Lord overseer of my spotless realm,

Upon my own free will,...

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Early one morning, as fresh springtime was just ending,
I was hiking in the woods, and overhearing the birds sing.

And with a tranquil heart, and lost in a deep green world,
I was reveling in the gaiety,...

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There is an author, a creator, a maker of the LIGHT                        ...

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It must have been the darkest, deepest fate time create,
People saw and forgot the impact when history intervened. 
We forgive and endure, but our minds will not forget
The Bizarre world trying to suppress our African...

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There stood a castle on the summit of a hill
Now fallen to decay, hidden among bushes wild
It perched like an eagle’s nest on the steep hill
It was owned by a Lord, gentle and mild

Blessed with...

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Mighty White the US!

How ‘white’ whites are who worship Sun and think a tan line’s fine
though folks whose skin is darker tone won’t see a valentine!
Let’s say proof’s real, fear’s justified, and poverty breeds crime,
but...

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The Antics Of A Yoyo Thief

Potential life of as juvenile delinquent
(ala bam mean future streetwise thug)
stopped dead in the tracks – manacles
the above two lines hopefully gives hint
nearly changing changing life of one boy
an undersized...

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I was a public relations specialist, ever promoting positivity to people,
As positivity is promoted afar, by the sight of the towering cathedral.

My work was very interesting, there weren't ever two days the same,
As an exotic...

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Martin Luther King junior was the inspiration
For the Northern Ireland, Civil Rights association
Protests were held and they marched peacefully
The unionist majority tried to stop them brutally.

The campaign gathered momentum it was nineteen sixty nine
The unionists...

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I was a zealous fashion designer, whose elegant styles were ever in vogue,
Like the rainbow time of cool, damp evening, that elegant colors go rogue.

Lost in my work, I took it seriously, for creating something...

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Am I really this old,
so many ghosts
beckoning?
—Michael R. Burch

Sleepyheads!
I recite my haiku
to the inattentive lilies.
—Michael R. Burch

Stillness:
the sound of petals
drifting down softly together...
—Miura Chora, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

The sky tries to assume
your eyes’...

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Smoke wafted across the village,
The swack,swack, swack, sound
Of a helicopter inbound, 
was heard,
Grass and dust churned and curled,
As it landed, 
Amidst the carnage caused,
By it’s crew now disbanded,
The horrors of war, 
are but dreams when...

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 As My Life Goes On

The past is gaining on me 
There's nowhere else to go
I'm tired of running
Ready or not it's time to face my foes

The ghosts the demons the skeletons the scheming
The lies...

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I could see, feel, and hear it.  The fragrance was of an arresting aroma.                    ...

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Now scores of years 
after botched minor theft penchant 
courtesy security guard
analogous to inquisitorial trenchant
unforgettable verbal lashing
(suppressing me ululation to vent)
unwittingly arresting snitch behavior
plus potential life of crime.

Not a peep passed thru 
pursed lip o'...

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These are original haiku by Michael R. Burch and his translations of haiku by the Japanese masters Matsuo Basho, Yosa Buson, Masaoka Shiki, and others. 

Am I really this old,
so many ghosts
beckoning?
—Michael R. Burch

Sleepyheads!
I recite...

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Granny and I lived in Bemeyills
A land beyond the hills
On a beautiful thatchy
In a tract of a wild country
She wanted me a life of bliss
So she called me and told me all these

She said event...

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Sometimes our attention will turn toward some of God's special creations that may cause our hearts to skip a beat or take one's breath away.  Such was the case with me when one of...

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