Long Babbled Poems

State of the Art (II)

These are my "ars poetica" poems about the art and craft of writing poetry. 



What the Poet Sees
by Michael R. Burch

What the poet sees,
he sees as a swimmer 
~~~~underwater~~~~
watching the shoreline...

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A Vain Word
by Michael R. Burch

Oleanders at dawn preen extravagant whorls
as I read in leaves’ Sanskrit brief moments remaining
till sunset implodes, till the moon strands grey pearls
under moss-stubbled oaks, full of whispers, complaining
to the darkening...

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Was it a cruel twist of fate?
Sneering, laughing chance?
Perhaps something I ate?
A bad bout of happenstance?

It wrenched and tore at my gut,
A sickening, sober, foreboding sign.
Wretched chance it was not,
This time was by insidious design.

The...

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The noise aboard the motor boat reminds me that I was not alone
The high perspiration smell from the young couple sitting beside me
caused me to remember the green wood’s in Virginia and the squirrels
chasing each...

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"SYNAESTHESIA"



The Rose was burning 
long before she was Green
The Synaesthete placed his brush stroke
On his future dreams


Long before she was Green
The Synaesthete dreamed of him
Walking barefoot through the buried Rust 
and rustling burnished Ochre leaves...

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...He loked at one and he sighed:
”Wished they still made them like that.”
I said,”I know at least one remains,
if you’re willing to haul a pack.”

Nick didn’t seem at all convinced,
I said,”Trust me when I say,
if...

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Back when I was a youngish man
this was a tale I heard,
and thinking back upon in now,
just makes it seem absurd.
It was about a truck-driver
out roaming the highways,
but cargo wasn’t what he brought,
when he showed...

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It was back about 1803,
there stood a small cabin near to the sea,
where a widow lived by the name of Joanne,
who could not grieve for the death of her man,
since six years back he’d vanished...

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Excerpts from "The Tulip of Sinai"
by Allama Iqbal
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch



Withered Roses
by Allama Iqbal
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

What shall I call you,
but the nightingale's desire?

The morning breeze was your nativity,
an afternoon garden,...

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Poems about Poets

Elemental
by Michael R. Burch

for and after Dylan Thomas

The poet delves earth’s detritus—hard toil—
for raw-edged nouns, barbed verbs, vowels’ lush bouquet;
each syllable his pen excretes—dense soil,
dark images impacted, rooted clay.

The poet sees the sea...

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Have you ever met those kind of blokes who get upon your nerve,
when they quote continual references that most think should deserve
a threatening confrontation that if they make that quote again, 
then the punishment that’s...

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ALLAMA IQBAL TRANSLATIONS INTO MODERN ENGLISH



Excerpt from Rumuz-e bikhudi (“The Mysteries of Selflessness”)
by Allama Iqbal aka Muhammad Iqbal
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Like a candle fending off the night,
I consumed myself, melting into tears.
I spent...

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Excerpts from "Cordoba"
by Allama Iqbal
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch



Withered Roses
by Allama Iqbal
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

What shall I call you,
but the nightingale's desire?

The morning breeze was your nativity,
an afternoon garden, your sepulchre.

My tears...

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ALLAMA IQBAL TRANSLATIONS INTO MODERN ENGLISH



Ehad-e-Tifli (“The Age of Infancy”)
by Allama Iqbal aka Muhammad Iqbal
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

The earth and the heavens remained unknown to me,
My mother's bosom was my only world.

Her embraces...

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...Techno was so excited that
scanning the moon made him happy,
he babbled about it a he flew,
sending back new pictures endlessly.

A year passed before her reached Mars,
used its gravity to increase speed,
it was only a short...

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That day is very much vivid in my memory, 

I was holding a baby who was weeping inconsolably, 

and I did not know how to make him smile, 

was sobbing myself! 

My father saw me...

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In a far away land
Was a castle prison
In the left back tower they were held captive
The Fool
The High Priest
The Magician

Hours to days
Days to night and months to years
They all looked out the tower windows
The magic...

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Sleepy, I walked down the senior hallway
The last door on the left seemed miles away
But I was determined to make it
It was 7:26 in the morning, assignment due 7:30
My hands were sweating bullets
Felt as if...

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The day that Mary lost her tooth
She felt quite scared to tell the truth.
It’s strange for her to thus behave
As generally she’s bold and brave.

Examining her tooth so white,
She clenched her fist and held it...

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She slipped clumsily in a 
café
Looked all around her
from the corner of her 
eye
Felt all eyes upon her
Bit her lip
and flushed crimson 
disconcertedly.

He was sacked, literally 
fired
Got down in the dumps
Was down and out
and was...

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How Do Rocks Walk?" 
How does pain drain?
Is it all contained within a limited brain?

And yes yes if air could breath
It shall never deceive 
Upon the path of incredible dreams 

It seems it seems that...

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she babbled over the gosip.
citing what she thought was fair.
She mentioned people she knew and some
she didn't know. And emsized who didn't care
if they cared they'd be here helping wiff the pies
or they'd be offering...

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after swilling as much sicera 
as he could pound down
a middle ages drunk stood over in the
corner
somewhere in the alley behind the
church,
whipped it out, closed his eyes &
flushed out all his toxins down upon
what he...

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I met a chap in an English pub and asked from whence he came.
"Harumph! I hail from Piddlehinton", he pompously did proclaim!
"And you sir?", he asked and I proudly puffed out my chest.
"I come from...

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God lets us see life from every angle. Anklebiters that we are. Fist fighters, black-eyed contenders, snivelers. The boss looks down, looks into our eyes, looks at our feet, looks underneath. We don’t see the...

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