Long Celebrated Poems

Sappho fragment #155
translation by Michael R. Burch 

A short revealing frock?
It's just my luck
your lips were made to mock!

*

Sappho fragment #156
translation by Michael R. Burch 

She keeps her scents
in a dressing-case.
And her sense?
In some undiscoverable...

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Wonderland
by Michael R. Burch
 
We stood, kids of the Lamb, to put to test
the beatific anthems of the blessed,
the sentence of the martyr, and the pen’s
sincere religion. Magnified, the lens
shot back absurd reflections of each...

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Twenty two years had passed  by

She blinked, and a lifetime had passed

She started this job as a lark

She never thought it would last

Two husbands and rehab were part of this bar

The husbands...her clients all...

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- 2016 -

- JANUARY -

A freezing cold evening

Where the stars shining bright

With frost blade flanks

From mouth and nose steam

In the clear silence

White untrodden snows

Nature's frozen pulse

Sleep like a little baby

One gracious moon

After the night the...

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Date: December  2042

Early afternoon, Damian was 
Busy in his den planning the trip 
To Trinidad. He called CJ first 
To confirm his commitment to
The project. "Hey brother you
Still on for that trip we spoke
About."...

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Fulfilled fantasies and legitimate realities…you do know how to please…
Are you listening to my voice of longing and yearning?
No, don’t backstab me with your broken promises…stop being a horrid tease…
Do not worry, Lord, I am...

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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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Happy Fourth Of July, Or Happy Independence Day

On this day we celebrate and commemorate the birth of our nation, The United States of America's Independence from Great Britain's monarchical hold and liberty's triumph
Congress voting in...

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Eric Mottram on the American literary and cultural scene during 1965-66 while he was the recipient of the American Learned Societies’ award for a year. (begun in the last post and to be continued)

January 2,...

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April 9th, 2024 would be ninety fifth birthday poem for dearly departed papa

The following words crafted soon after the soul of me daddy set adrift into the empyrean realm joining the rank and file of...

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The First Thanksgiving (Sept. 3, 1578)

The shortest distance to Cathay 1
(Land of riches: silks, teas and spices)
Lay to the north to the South Sea. 2
Didn’t Barlow tell the King, 3
Was reserved for England.

The routes ‘round...

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February 29th, 2024

Alternately titled: 111th leap year since 1582
the year Pope Gregory XIII world leader
(i.e. essentially paterfamilias among
Roman Catholic flock)
timely maneuvered around calendrical rock
and hard space implementing
viable system tracking years ad hoc
out of sync and...

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I am an Outlander
Who lives on a high hill
Overlooking a man-made lake
That once was a rapidly rushing river
Along whose banks the Ozarks Bluff Dwellers and the Osage and then Delaware
Hunted, fished, and created shelter
For their...

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Grandma died when I was 18 years old, on Christmas day. I never really got to know her well, since the family had pretty much kept their distance from her due to her 'weird religion.'...

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Let us begin
by explicitly undressing
what may have been
implicitly held
multicultural feelings:

1. For the overwhelming masses
of teeming and scheming 
healthy human adults,
and especially adolescents,
peak sexual experiences
are also our peak
lifetime
spiritual experiences
of compassion
co-passion
shared orgasmic passion.

2.  Our elder right...

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Now as the years passed by everyone became so tired
the heaps of things scattered around became too much to bear
some benevolence was certainly grand but this was too much
the two felt unable to undertake ...

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How could this possibly be a anything fake 
For that would be true if you were Rod 
Or Todd 
Or Harry 
Or drake ...
But no, you seem to arrive at just the right pace
Perhaps anyone...

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The Call

For as long as I can remember, I have been phoning my mom. Even before leaving home when I was a teenager. Whenever I had good or bad news, it was just natural for...

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DJ and  the Damian squad rushed
The house. "Dad we're gonna 
Play CRUEL BALL!"  Amadeus 
Gave notice. Damian said, "Oh
Yeah." He put his hands on both
His sons shoulders and said.
"Fellows first of all it's...

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OUR BABY GIRL TURNS 21

ON 1ST JULY 1990~ THE ANGELS DID SOMETHING ALMIGHTY
FROM HEAVEN THEY SENT US OUR LIFE-LONG DESIRE-A PRECIOUS DAUGHTER TO LOVE AND ADMIRE.
TRUE TO YOUR NATURE YOU ARRIVED WITHOUT FUSS OR PAIN--THE...

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I dream into my Ta(0)ist
not-Universal Yang equals
not-Unitarian Yin
Sanctuary,
expecting to be greeted
by visions
of familiar spiritual apartheid.

But I am not.
Instead,
communion in this Sanctuary
looks and resounds,
feels and resonates
with multicultural communities outside,
tilting GoldenRule windmills,
bowing toward Eastern nondual rainbows,
surfing NewMoon...

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Molly had just awoke from a
Nap when Damian rang her bell
Carrying Damian Junior. "Hey
Damian." She had to be calm for 
The Baby's sake. He placed
DJ in a small bassinet that he
Brought with him.  Then...

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Mud and leather
dirt and nerve
bloodied laughter
collision to serve,
distance, drive and demolition
battle axe ambition in the wild air
muscle and mind joined in steeled instinct, 
a stitched pigskin ball, the grail of the Fall
to fumble it means...

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Its been over 27 years coming
 this missive or letter,
 maybe poem ? 

I HATE Mother’s day !!
 with a passion ... I've said it ...
 The sheer relief is palpitating
 a load of my...

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Average affluent Almost Afternoon 
11:30 morning time.  Damian was
Still asleep as were DJ and 
Amadeus. Molly and Dolly were 
In the kitchen planning Barrington 
And Godfrey's birthday party.
"Come sis are we baking this cake...

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