Long Battling Poems

Currents
by Michael R. Burch

How can I write and not be true
to the rhythm that wells within?
How can the ocean not be blue,
not buck with the clapboard slap of tide,
the clockwork shock of wave on rock,
the...

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Poems about Mothers


Mother's Smile
by Michael R. Burch

There never was a fonder smile
than mother's smile, no softer touch
than mother's touch. So sleep awhile
and know she loves you more than "much."

So more than "much, " much more...

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Beckoning
by Michael R. Burch 
 
Yesterday the wind whispered my name
while the blazing locks
of her rampant mane
lay heavy on mine.
And yesterday
I saw the way
the wind caressed tall pines
in forests laced by glinting streams
and thick with...

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With my Uyghur poetry translations I am trying to build awareness of the plight of Uyghur poets who are being sent to Chinese "reeducation" concentration camps.

Elegy
by Perhat Tursun
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Asylum seekers, will...

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He has the biggest heart.

He enjoys doing things for other people

Just because it’s the right thing to do, and

Knowing he made someone happy makes him happy too.

He’ll do whatever he can to satisfy

Everyone around him.

But...

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Here I stand outside this door heart beating out of my chest, knowing that once I cross this threshold there will be nothing of me left
I got myself into this predicament I wanted this so...

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The Story of History  

Beyond those beaten days’ depleted daylight
Beyond the bathos of a pandemic bondage
With  the resurrected  sashay’s charmed night
Down in the dumps   at the pretentious  proscenium
A ...

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A Dark Identity

Days into nights... time without time
Normalities of everyday life beckons to remain
Shadows with lights.... to find to define
I am he who goes by without a name

The world is only up to date
And I’ve...

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Oppressor and the oppressed.

Who is the oppressed and who is the oppressor?
Who has the right to beat a random person on the street?
Who has the right when to pronounce a person guilty or to see...

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That following month Damian 
Started spending more time with 
His sons.  He opened a new 
Billards hall in town. He made
The trip into town with two of
His sons, leaving the youngest,
Joshua Justin and Jordan...

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MOTHER

Mother is a very meaningful word.
Mother is a person that carries a lot of weight.
When I think of mother,
Mother Mary comes to my mind.

The understanding, courageous, protective Mother.
Understanding the responsibilities of a mother,
having the courage...

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Gloriously luxuriating in eternal sleep

Forlorn; bereft of golden
(slippered) opportunities I weep;
Three score and four years
replete with mailer daemons,
hence mindset adrip
with self denouncing expletive filled bleep
unwritten expressed recriminations
wielded upon figurative head of wimpy blip;
decades elapsed at...

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'm extinct 
I'm irrelevant 
Rare off day today
Go to to store and see if I can pilfer a couple xmas presents
Raise me this way
My moms ddnt 
But my deviation has allowed me
Woke up this morning...

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Your Own Favorite Poem Contest
Sponsor: Carol Eastman

"GOOD BYE, MY LOVE" Part I
Written: December 14, 2015

After the snowfall but before the lily blossoms,
you were this woman who left by choice,
all natural decisions made from a place...

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NEW TIME SAME PROBLEM STILL PREJUDICE

I am colored by my skin type is...
Dark brown I am black
If the color of my skin offends you, then
Just close your, eyes close your eyes;
Be surprised everything in the...

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~ Punished~
                        
One evening with her dad she met this man at...

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"Life is like a chess match 
To win you must be swift and able to maneuver 
Yes, life and the chess match are very much the same 
Once the king dies, no others continue the...

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That's my dad for you... getting his hands deep into the knitty-gritty, when most others would just back off a safe distance away saying, "No thanks! Maybe when Armageddon comes a'knocking we can talk religion,...

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I can clearly sense your utter despair of Der Matratzengruft*
As you valiantly carried on your poetic works to the very end.
This did not change your literary accomplishments well-known,
And your courage through the misery and morphine*...

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Of Fate And The Choosing Between Scylla and Charybdis
(From Continued Greek Heroes And Mythology Series)
Part Two....
referenced, 
*Scylla and Charybdis, *Homer, *Iliad and The Odyssey, *Hades, *Heaven

Of Fate And The Choosing Between Scylla and Charybdis
(From Continued...

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Doused in depression's dangerous zone
Feeling so afraid of being left all alone
Negative thoughts like these cannot be all that...natural
No longer caught up in swish-swooshing waves of appall

In the universe of tragedy in reverse,
I spin and...

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Out of my dreams and into my life..
Unbelievable.
You stole the matches from my book.
Put out the fire in my eyes.
I need you to leave me alone..
We ran our courses, going no where.
I close my eyes,...

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                                  ...

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I Wait Upon the Lord


With the most blessed life I can imagine even with all 
the chronic illnesses and painful hours since 
age 8 still I have known Christ to stand in battle beside me

while...

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“Clap your terrible wings, vivacious serpent of old!
Imagine my plight as dangerous as your spite,
Stomp your clawed feet on these prison floors,
Peace shall always follow the sink of your fangs…”

Silenced were the wailing demons round,
Crouched...

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