Long Concentration Poems

“Come on, let's get introduced to my play mate in a palm.
Linda, these are Joshua’s true other selfs.” 
Lelia emitting a peculiar chuckle.
A comic situation arose where I changed my voice for each of my...

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First they came for the Muslims

after Martin Niemoller

First they came for the Muslims
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Muslim.

Then they came for the homosexuals
and I did not speak out
because I was...

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World War II Poems and Holocaust Poems - VI - Chaim Nachman Bialik, Erich Fried

After My Death
by Chaim Nachman Bialik
translation by Michael R. Burch

Say this when you eulogize me: 
Here was a man—now, poof, he's...

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With my Uyghur poetry translations I am trying to build awareness of the plight of Uyghur poets who are being sent to Chinese "reeducation" concentration camps.

Elegy
by Perhat Tursun
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Asylum seekers, will...

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Come, You
by Rainer Maria Rilke
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

This was Rilke’s last poem, written ten days before his death. He died open-eyed in the arms of his doctor on December 29, 1926, in the...

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Archaic Torso of Apollo
by Rainer Maria Rilke
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

We cannot know the beheaded god
nor his eyes' forfeited visions. But still
the figure's trunk glows with the strange vitality
of a lamp lit from within,...

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Postcard 1
by Miklós Radnóti
written August 30, 1944
translated by Michael R. Burch
 
Out of Bulgaria, the great wild roar of the artillery thunders,
resounds on the mountain ridges, rebounds, then ebbs into silence
while here men, beasts, wagons...

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The Panther
by Rainer Maria Rilke
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

His weary vision's so overwhelmed by iron bars,
his exhausted eyes see only blank Oblivion.
His world is not our world. It has no stars.
No light. Ten thousand...

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World War II Poems and Holocaust Poems - IV - Primo Levi

Shema
by Primo Levi
translation by Michael R. Burch

You who live secure
in your comfortable houses, 
who return each evening to find
warm food, 
welcoming faces...

consider whether this...

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Sad place when Lucifer sits behind a desk allowing severe repeat violent offenders to give false statements falsified documents in order to frame innocent persons from behind bars after over 20 convictions queen pin drug...

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"The Beetlejuice Past Your Eyes"


“Well, where would you suggest I commence? Should we begin with the concept of pasteurize?”

This said to the earnest listener, who views the protagonist with a bon vivant confused expression. To...

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World War II Poems and Holocaust Poems (I)

These are poems about World War II and the Holocaust, which is also called the Shoah in Hebrew. 



Epitaph for a Child of the Holocaust
by Michael R. Burch

I...

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Perhat Tursun

Perhat Tursun (1969-) is one of the foremost living Uyghur language poets, if he is still alive. Born and raised in Atush, a city in China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, Tursun began writing poetry...

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“Look,” Lumi shouted over the wind, and pointing off to their right.  Jutting above the clouds was the peak of a large mountain.  He shifted the team in that direction.  As the...

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They were joined by Ceridfen, Lumi, Gwaldon and several others a bit later in
the day for a late mid-day meal.  Seileach, the efficient elf that he was, had already forwarded a letter containing specific...

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This is my translation of the first of Rilke’s Duino Elegies. Rilke began the first Duino Elegy in 1912, as a guest of Princess Marie von Thurn und Taxis, at Duino Castle, near Trieste on...

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Borrowing from David Holmgren, Permaculture Principles and Pathways Beyond [Win-Elite v Lose-NonElite] Sustainability, 2002, p. 1

Health ethics are Beloved Community normative principles
used to guide action toward good and light and right outcomes
and away from degeneratively...

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World War II Poems and Holocaust Poems II - Bertolt Brecht



The Burning of the Books
by Bertolt Brecht
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

When the Regime
commanded the unlawful books to be burned, 
teams of dull oxen hauled...

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On the canvas of a cold, grey, winter sky,
In large black letters above the Iron Gate,
Read the message: "Arbeit Macht Frei".
A shrewdly sinister, propagandist lie,
Designed to deceive all of our eventual fate.
This was the very...

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A lot of acquaintances deemed me lucky, and I knew I was,
For I had a successful life, when all could have been chaos.

I had a wonderful job that I loved, making plenty of money,
And a...

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A notice appeared in the paper recently with the names and faces of eight men who have a combined wealth of $426 billion. According to Oxfam International, in 2015 this would have equaled the amount...

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REGENERATE :

Doctorated at a premium university,
Lost his concentration to absurdity,
Discarded his desire for rationality. 
Sorry for this dude's unfortunate category.
As solemn as his heart aches,
Peace was lost from the face.
Deep troubles that he stake,
Wrong squad...

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Please come join me in spirit if not in body...
regarding my resumption 
of daily/mostly nightly constitutional

I accompany my dark shadow...
(small number of  hours 
before edge of night,
where twilight zone evokes night gallery - 
drawing...

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One warm Summer’s day
As I sat in my folding chair
Something caught my eyey
Something there
Something flying through the air
It was a butterfly
It did flitter and flutter by

When it decided to land
It landed on my left hand
I...

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I'm always staring into space
Trying to keep pace with your rapid race
Hoping to find a significant, tranquil trace...

However,

I often wish you'd be a productive brother
I know my father misses my beloved mother
I wish I can...

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