Long Clammy Poems

Poems about Dogs

This Dog
by Rabindranath Tagore
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

Each morning this dog,
who has become quite attached to me,
sits silently at my feet
until, gently caressing his head,
I acknowledge his company.

This simple recognition gives my...

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Every Day You Play
by Pablo Neruda
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

Every day you play with Infinity’s rays.
Exquisite visitor, you arrive with the flowers and the water.
You are vastly more than this immaculate head I clasp...

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This page shows my writing process and is part of Poetrysoup's first workshop.  The workshop's intent is to reveal how revision strengthens a poem. Constructive feedback can be a gift.  Should any journal...

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Imagine,
said Yin to distraught Yang,
never able to get quite enough of himself,
never enough time to fully become his ego-potentiality,
imagine this day opens a new rhetorical event,
a new day of conversation between you,
as Ego,
and those you...

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Our lusty voice was in the tramp of narrow, winding,
     Scree-littered, deep-rutted roads;     
 Ravens, uttering guttural croaks, slow-wheeling above      
 ...

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Glory to thermodynamics in general...

and generation of heat in particular
cuz yours truly 
spoiled with trappings 
of Western Civilization.

How ideal I imagine 
to dwell in a self sufficient domicile,
where thrum of the central heater...
automatically activated 
upon...

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The early hours of a Wednesday morning in a small country town.
An 18-year-old boy struggles to sleep
He had pain so bad 
all he could do was weep 
he, knee was so painful
he had to go...

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Remorseless sweaty palms

despite being prescribed glycopyrrolate.

Though the angst riddled psyche of mine crafted youth, long since receded, ebbed in the past, infringement, impingement, and indecent wracking wrath of mental illness, that even as a middle...

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In The Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus fell to His knees
As He cried to His Father, let this cup pass from me
His anguish and pain I could never imagine
Sweat turning to blood, as He begged for...

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But we of the Three Tribes live undiscovered 
   In the reverberating stillness of the 
 Three Gorges...
And are therefore unknown to the warring mongol;
    His impassioned lusts -- his...

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Present wedded bliss haint no touchstone...

Circa ~ late spring/ early summer 1978
twas at behest of Harriet Harris,
thus due credit mother dearest
(she long since passed away)
who tried, to bribe, coax, exhort...
(protracted effort not all in vain),
cuz...

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I posit picayune propensities prevail among pesky management

Most favored renter status imposed on us
i.e. meaning myself;
(one tarnished prince of Highland Manor)
and the missus, his princess consort
who must abide by rigorous writ
of tidiness, whereby
every flat surface...

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Adolescent infatuations...never consummated

Greetings reader from a cross between an aging seventy inch long (ringing ding dong) haired pencil necked geek and a Norwegian bachelor farmer wannabe; meaning yours truly actually a virtually married Pennsylvania man,...

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'Twas a sound I thought alarming, most assuredly disarming;
Up I rose from peaceful slumber to discern what it might be.
While my candle flickered, wavered; whilst my heartbeat halted, quavered,
At my window I was favoured by...

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Mine Nightmare With Social Anxiety,...
Now Mostly Purged

Decades removed when body electric
felt tortured reverberated, and quaked
with MegaDeath repercussions tattooing, 
piercing, foisting, ensnaring, drubbing
 
drum beat indelibly 'pon psyche NON 
MEMORABLE years gone bye felled 
psyche with...

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An image of the netherworld envisioned by a misanthrope

Mein kampf fraught re: 
emotionally/psychologically challenged 
impossible mission to cope
compared to classmates, I felt like a dope
and entertained escapist fantasies,
whereby Miss Rainbow 
(sixth grade student teacher),
though robbing...

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BULLETS IN THE SOUP POT
I
BEFORE THE MIRROR
Sometimes, I sit on my sofa
Pondering on why war, poverty, hatred
and anguish has become a comforting bliss.
They say life is an unending quest; is it?
They say true love lasts...

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The chilled musky air torments the aging Saxon stone;
whistling through the aisles, the sound reverberating
as it sweeps along the colonnade.
Moonlight penetrates ancient glass stained windows,
initiating reflected shadows, as an innocent mind pulsates tempestuously,
he who was...

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Frost leaves my heart feeling cold and clammy, like a icicle hanging down from a gutter, dripping liquid sparkles as the sunlight softens the edges of my feelings and frees my thoughts to believe in...

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it was sizzling hot    scorching   blazing   sweltering -
    oh the unbearable heat   (from the relentless sun above)
the sweat was rolling off me in...

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If ever I had to have a country victim of pedophily-LXXXV

(Note : Fresh disclosures from the Catholic Church on the subject
made public by protesting Mothers of infants victims of pedophily
at the hands of the Clergy...

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In the flickering of the ethereal candlelight, as the greenish blue flame
Burns dimly against the ancient mirror of reflections, the necromancer
Chants in rhythms rhythmic undertones, stirring the rippling pools of
Illusions, between the divisions of altered...

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Deep within the bowels of the Earth
(dark visceral centre)
immensely distant from the sheltering sky
amidst a thick fog enveloped landscape
with here and there a projected
craggy, derelict chasm
precipitously crooked 
rocky claws pointing toward

an infinitely wide yawning abyss
dwelt...

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ORIGINAL TITLE HAIKU 35
1#
Brewed tea
Wife and myself
Nothing between us
2#
He was metamorphosed 
Into a frog
When his wife had left him
3#
I needed
A lonely woman
Thousand years back
4#
She shivered
In yellow sun
Struck by her coyness
5#
God travels
With three suitcases
One for me
6#
I...

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There is something you should know about me
Something that I've been hiding very well
Believe it or not
I try not to let it out

I've seen this a couple of times 
Few times in my past
It makes...

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