Long Bitterly Poems

Erin, for a girl who embodies Ireland
by Michael R. Burch

All that’s left of Ireland is her hair—
bright carrot—and her milkmaid-pallid skin,
her brilliant air of cavalier despair,
her train of children—some conceived in sin,
the others to avoid...

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Here We Shall Remain
by Tawfiq Zayyad
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Like twenty impossibilities
in Lydda, Ramla and Galilee ...
here we shall remain.

Like brick walls braced against your chests;
lodged in your throats
like shards of glass
or prickly cactus...

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Watching wan moonlight
illuminate tree limbs,
my heart also brims,
overflowing with autumn.
—Ono no Komachi, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

As I slept in isolation
my desired beloved appeared to me; 
therefore, dreams have become my reality
and consolation. 
—Ono...

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As I slept in isolation
my desired beloved appeared to me; 
therefore, dreams have become my reality
and consolation. 
—Ono no Komachi, translation by Michael R. Burch

Submit to you—is that what you advise? 
The way the ripples...

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Winter Awakens My Care
anonymous Middle English poem, circa 1300
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Winter awakens all my care
as leafless trees grow bare.
For now my sighs are fraught
whenever it enters my thought:
regarding this world's joy,
how everything...

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I heard two distinct voices in the night,
Conversing amongst themselves most eagerly
They whispered like children in excitement
Their sardonic mouths sung many savvy tunes
It was Death I could perceive, defending me,
And he, a strange, distant friend
Seemed...

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“Through me you enter the city of woe
Trough me you enter the eternal pain
Through me you go to people lost below.

Justice inspired my highest factor reign;
I was created by act of divine,
Supreme wisdom and the...

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Upon this date he spoke no more of the preceding moments, 
Tearing and hurling insult upon insult
In several directions, his tongue whipped and scorched me,
And he waited relentlessly to see the spark in my eyes...

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Blossoming 
Effulgent sun proffers love 
Clambering… 
My brain makes me wonder if you remember the times shared
Back to the blessed times, I recall that you would listened, be worried about me, and, at the time,...

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At once she paid a visit. In her colorful dress, so revealing and appealingly suited to her slendern torso. I to gaze the door way, mine heart pounded viciously,  a death knock. I was...

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He lifts me up on cloud nine
I’m a lost sheep in godly sleep
He nurtures me like His child – I’m feelin’ fine
I’m a joyful sheep in godly sleep
Dead leaves of dried hope and fervor-lacking faith...

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**Trigger Warning**



"I Knew Anne Silently - My Ravenous Poe" 

I knew Anne.
you’d think 
with a name like hers
she’d be able to find her way 
out of unchartered waters.

it didn’t come as a suprise, 
then, on...

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The Rhymed Poem aka The Rhyming Poem and The Riming Poem
Old English Poem (i.e., Anglo-Saxon Poem) from the Exeter Book, ca. 990 AD
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

He who granted me life created this sun
and...

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The Rhymed Poem aka The Rhyming Poem and The Riming Poem - Part II
anonymous Old English Poem from the Exeter Book, circa 990 AD
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

He who granted me life created this...

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yet another iffy coronavirus haiku #1
by michael r. burch

plagued by the Plague
i plague the goldfish
with my verse



yet another iffy coronavirus haiku #2
by michael r. burch

sunflowers
hang their heads
embarrassed by their coronas

I wrote this poem after having...

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(His Version of Pieces and Memories of You)

A smile one so beautiful that I asked myself, could she be real? As I sat there looking at your picture you would never believe me when I...

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For old Star-Gazer Master Khayyam – a name like Shakespeare’s for « some » other giants - Part One

                ...

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“Sometimes, a hug can mend a sorrowful soul like mine” – J W M Earnings
What’s the point of sorrow when I have tomorrow to look forward to?
What’s the big deal with people who just don’t...

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How deserted lies the city, once so full of people!
How like a widow is she, who once was great among the nations!
She who was queen among the provinces, has now become a slave.
Bitterly she weeps...

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I had lunch with Randy, between classes today. It was a perfect day. The sky was an infinite, capri blue, the wind was stirring the environment, clouds were wispy and on high - in the...

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Detrimental, this situation...so detrimental
Why, why do I even persist; why do I even bother to contend
to be a contender, the defender in this pointless game
Am I the pretender, pretending nothing affects me
like a contagious infectious...

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I received so many wonderful gifts
I'm thankful and oh so grateful
I had a good amount of uplifting lifts
Life is so abundant and beautiful 

Spill it all to the floor some more
I heard you shut the...

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Let me tell you a story, a story of woe:
a tale of a pup who got lost in the snow.
Daughter Laura, our eldest, came up to see us,
drove home in a Jeep (to rhyme, insert...

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Thus says He who guards the gate,
The atmosphere is stagnant,
Stagnant with discontented gluttons,
Tangled with tricks and deceptions,
Soaked with indoctrination,
And charged with foul breath. 

Thus says He who guards the gate,
The atmosphere is saturated,
Saturated with dirt...

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The mysterious night tiptoed silently and abducted me from my bed
I saw a  dispirited district somewhere in town staring blindly at its
hopeless inhabitants whose passion lay motionless in ruins 
lamenting the vengeance for its...

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