Long Colts Poems

These are modern English translations of Chinese poems of The Shijing or Shi Jing ("Book of Songs" or "Book of Odes")

Shijing Ode #4: “JIU MU”
ancient Chinese rhyming poem (c. 1200-600 BC)
loose translation by Michael R....

Read More

Don Heller owned an impressive spread,
Not that far from Lindholme town,
Below the tall peaks of Idaho,
Down the road from Ed McGowan.

Ed McGowan owned half the ville,
And had two-dozen hanger-son.
Ike Raeburn owned the other half,
But had...

Read More

hip hip hurrah, herc shot hera
sick sad era, tri city terror
dirty land lover, lips hit terra
karma bent over,  messenger error
never say neva, davin say better
no pain no gain, accept the rainy weather
paint a pic...

Read More

The Shijing or Shi Jing or Shih-Ching (“Book of Songs” or “Book of Odes”) is the oldest Chinese poetry collection, with the poems included believed to date from around 1200 BC to 600 BC. According...

Read More

I.
Myron Baker wasn’t much of a man
for gunplay, whiskey, or ladies of the night.
He'd made his move out the western way
for space to live his life just as he liked.

He’d gotten himself a good spread...

Read More

Since the begining of days when my heart became an advocate of concrete paths, I have 
come to understand the joys that are unprecipitated fears and the fears that are purpose. 
For so long I...

Read More

A Hundred Equine

Hot salty drops trickled into my mouth.
The sun had changed my brown flesh to bright red.
Reflected brilliance passed through squinting eyes.
Faint, I rested in shade eating sweetbread.

I lay my head on a smooth...

Read More

Even in our winter season the soul of the coming year bursts through hard thick frost,
Even in high piles of purest white snow, buds grow for our future of the next summer,
Blow flowers stir and...

Read More

A POLLEN PUFF WAND 

Puff, puff, a pollen puff
That blows from a single rose; 
The Field Fairy blonde, waves her gold wand 
Constructed from giggles and bowes. 

Butterflies know when springtime is late 
And the...

Read More

It is time for them to run  

In the Jersey Shore tourist sun  

Continuing their three-year-old campaign  

Feeling the warmth of youthful fame  

Before being sent out to be studs ...

Read More

I, Mustang, am the stuff of legends
               Roaming the Northwestern badlands 
         ...

Read More

This is the third in a trilogy of steeler poems and while it is good on its own.I really had fun with this one. All three need read for the full story to be told.

Oh...

Read More

Two of Eight

My back’s against the wall
Cold granite above me
Mountain stream to the right 
On the left a big ol’ spruce tree

Almost three hours back
I was holed by a shot
Given to me from a Ute...

Read More

MUSTANGS

The ground shudders, and shakes,
 Under pounding hooves.
 Echoing against canyon walls.
Fast and furious wild hearts beat,
Keeping equal pace, with the prairies,
 Wide divide.
From within hell's fiery furnace,
Tempered muscle drives motions sinew.
Behold evolution's die hard...

Read More

Early in the year a young man walks with a stout Yew stick firmly on his shoulder,
Resting on damp grey stone looking all around watching the dicky birds and smiling,
Rising from the stone he drops...

Read More

Early in the year a young man walks with a stout Yew stick firmly on his shoulder,
Resting on damp grey stone looking all around watching the dicky birds and smiling,
Rising from the stone he drops...

Read More

Apples and Hosses

I started to cowboy just sixteen and raw
On a spread east of the divide
The boss man was as tough as I ever saw
He didn’t keep nothin’ inside.

I knew your pa, he says, a...

Read More

Oh, pretty little butterfly, flitting all around.
You can flash dance colorfully even with no sound. 
Hummingbird, I see you too. You flap your wings so fast.
You super duper flapper, you are having such a blast!

Bumble...

Read More

The young generation, who believe in dissolution,
promulgating the manifesto
“tradition is the grave of the banality,
only solecism is the quickening of new life…”

yell upholding a flag similar to a bad check
which is unable to secure the...

Read More

The two year old mahogany stallion's nostrils flared out
mist in the cool April morning, his veins prominent, his
sweat frothy on his regal neck and muscular chest.
His exercise rider, a youth himself, gently pulled him
to a...

Read More

Walk along a steep cliff top over glades over Yew trees and brambles to Butter-Worth Head,
Walk through a wood and stand by a warm bank of the clearest spring a mezereon will blossom,
The old tacamahac...

Read More

Walk along a steep cliff top over glades over Yew trees and brambles to Butter-Worth Head,
Walk through a wood and stand by a warm bank of the clearest spring a mezereon will blossom,
The old tacamahac...

Read More

The sounds of wolves howling... echoed loudly,
deep in the solitary woods of no mans land,
While the blazing campfire shared its hearth proudly,
heating the pot of coffee Kid Colt had close at hand,

Each day rehashed such...

Read More

Midst sullen storm and winter's grip,
Secure and warm I toddies sip.
By fireside glow my thoughts take wing.
While watching snow, I dream of spring.

Spring's swimming pools, azalea shrubs,
And garden tools and hiking clubs.
It's daffodils and meadows...

Read More

Today I noticed rain clouds gathering 
And the sky was turning gray;
Cooler air was moving in 
As the winds kicked up a fray.
 
Birds stopped singing in the trees 
As leaves began to drift
Up, down...

Read More