Long Birches Poems

Ten slices of pure marmalade plus two years of misted Karmapa bread equals? Oh do hurry up. The sum is easy. Oh ok then try another. Twelve custard tarts divided by an in between feathered...

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So many, maybe millions
No, billions. Trillions?
Of stars, a quiet, hot snowfall
of white stars; sandal season squall.
Each birch tree here outdoing 
January's record accumulation.

Weeks of hour after hour after hour
upon day upon day upon day of
birches'...

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Far from having a nascent thought that envelops my rabid self,
Like inside of an accurate Swiss watch that had been given -
A present to presidents and diplomats from the 70’s era,
Memories in the kaleidoscope of...

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Cecelia was a new person in town to see
about the rooms for rent with availability.
This woman came to start a car rental company.
It would serve the people within this community.
Cecelia knew Prester was the name...

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Nero the god! I had a dream. 
There I was at the foot of Mount Olympus.
 Mother was with me as usual. 
As we reached a cross-roads, Agrippina said: 
"Come Nero, here we turn left"...

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Tentative rose thorns graze my skin as I push through the plant-walled garden
They neither break skin nor draw those secret white lines across it
Lillies of the valley wonder where their valley has gone when they...

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Vergossene Tränen, verloren,
versickert in der Vergangenheit
wie Frühlingsschnee
im September

Kein Grab, kein Stein,
für die Erinnerung,
ausgelöscht die Namen, 
unvergessen das Leid

Die Birken im Wäldchen
verschlucken sich an dem Licht,
nur die Blätter verdecken die Sonne
mit traurigen Augen

Angst verbreitet sich stumm,
der...

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LATE NOVEMBER


                                 ...

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What vile infusion calls me to the brink
Of ruthless fear and callous doubt sown deep
Within my heart, where tides of malice bring
To mind deep wells whence cheerlessness I seep?
I lie, forgotten by the vim of...

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Every cloud has silver lining
And with stories all untold
From the far off ocean chambers
From the far off foggy fold
On the puffs of summer zephyr
Come they rowing then unfold

Oceans, rivulets, ponds and Rivers
In the deeps of...

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Every cloud has silver lining
And with stories all untold
From the far off ocean chambers
From the far off foggy fold
On the puffs of summer zephyr
Come they rowing then unfold

Oceans, rivulets, ponds and Rivers
In the deeps of...

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It is morning but soon
It will be noon 
It is late May early June
Last night the class was observing visage of full moon

This morning school kids are planting a tree
From a tiny sprout they hope...

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I was twenty when I was hired by the state
to watch out for fires that could devastate,
since the cost of flights was becoming too great,
up to the tower I go.

Now North Pennsylvania is a wild...

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Early winter sun; low in the sky

Warm light burnishing the yellow leaves that stubbornly cling to the birches
Silver trunks contrast with their own dark shadows
Russet browns of the larches beyond add a touch of fire
And...

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***

Nobody loved like they did 
those nights splayed
like open books, 

soggy foils at humid peace, 
at least until the next 
morning riot.

***

I ran to the coffee shop 
last street down,
shouting your name 

to a third...

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Hereabouts the thinning glades
Of sparse grey Birches:
Brackens crisp copper tresses 
All aglow;
Gently waking Snowdrops
Lift their sleepy heads
From leafy beds of woodland moil,
When tucked snugly up,
Out of intrusive sight and just 
Below.

Fondly the slowing bend
Hugs upon...

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Zinnia Grandiflora a golden beauty 
Yellow Prairie Coneflower conical cutie

Xerophilous plants designed to survive
Waterlily attached to bottom soil to stay alive

Venus Fly Trap grows wild in marshes
Ulmus grows wild along with birches

Texas Bluebonnet cover fields...

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in the cage of shadows
by the birches cast
  your red raincoat 
         wetly shines
Papers and clouds of dreams are stuck to the 
benches and the iron...

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I began a poem this morning
driving in the rain.
I turned the radio off,
not interested in voices.
I repeated the lines to myself,
but I was driving
and it slipped away in curious, strange whispers.

I wanted to tell of...

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Birches took a vote after the child left the forest
Next time, two wanted to capture her, to keep her always
Ninety-six others voted this was wrong.
The magical birch had a new idea.

Let me create a phantom...

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The birch has its bark ghostly white
She is beautiful but makes for sad sight
For lumberjack might cut her tomorrow or even tonight
Thereby extinguishing her light

The majestic visage of purple clouds reflects in the lake
Sun plays...

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While moon over Konsantinovo wanders,
and meadows sleep in the silence,
your spirit still breaths, 
seeking new oases,
peasant valley couldn't offer you worldly aspirations!


Restless vagabond, 
you yearned for vision life couldn't give,
and flew through new dimensions so...

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ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE

Atmospheric pressure’s training school
Anonymous board, equipped with fine tool
Teaches silently to everyone who under it sit
To handle pressure and still stay calm with it!

The massive ships bear it through the journey
The caulker, to make...

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English version by Liviu Martinescu

- a solo nijuin renku -

waves covered in wind
in our blood the salt of the sea
is seeking the shore

autumn clouds scattered
by viola d'amore

insatiably drinking in
the image of those conches
lurking amongst barren...

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A SMALL REQUEST

She won’t go into the woods alone
afraid of the trees and what they might say;
the telltale trunk cannot be trusted
to keep the secret of her lover,
how she cut him open then stealthily walked...

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