Long Cormorant Poems

Poems about Flight, Flying, and Birds



Flying
by Michael R. Burch

I shall rise
and try the bloody wings of thought
ten thousand times
before I fly...

and then I'll sleep
and waste ten thousand nights
before I dream;

but when at last...
I soar the...

Read More

Matsuo Basho New Haiku Translations

Air ballet:
twin butterflies, twice white,
meet, match & mate
—Matsuo Basho, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch 

Denied transformation
into a butterfly,
autumn worsens for the worm
—Matsuo Basho, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch 

Dusk-gliding...

Read More

ZEN DEATH HAIKU V

These are my modern English translations of Japanese Zen Death Haiku. 

A cat in heat
can't catch a mouse? —
pathetic! 
—Kinpu, loose translation by Michael R. Burch

It's getting to the point
of sucking on...

Read More

In a moment of magic I once gave her a juicy innocent peach

Not yet knowing that she harboured a sweet nascent dream

In which as a youngster she knew that she would marry the one

Who handed...

Read More

I sit by the waters edge
Sitting on the border of a concrete ledge
Surrounded by miss-shaped rocks
Formed by the years of repeated water knocks

I throw a line in the water
As a man sits next to me...

Read More

No citadel’s too tall for mortals like you.
Even acclivity of mounts fear of bipeds like you.
Adam’s ale in its ampleness has lost its meaning.
And only with your condonance, 
do the flowers un-bud and birds do...

Read More

For all the night she trod the furrowed earth
As she has walked all winter in her wake
In seeking for the child she brought to birth
The maiden bride whom Hades chose to take


The gibbous moon is...

Read More

A bird’s eye view 
conversation overheard in a park 
somewhere near you


Hey, Ori ... what’s up?

Nothing much, Marque.
Just flying low, bro.

Big Ollie, the Ruby Cleaners rooftop dove,
shared some bad popcorn news.

Oh, yeah. What’s the latest...

Read More

PART I.

I.
each night...
I think about the moment when we'll vanish 
on the doormat of an empty house
because I know some day they will come - 
the malignant conquistadors and their moon colored hounds
when this century...

Read More

Daybreak 2
                 Frank Halliwell
At first light every morning 
And before  dusk  every night,
All looking for a handout,
And...

Read More

I teeter on the brink of possibility. 
The sun on the new horizon glistens 
its rays on the undulating sea of change. 

I gaze a while, drifting with a squawking gull, 
or diving with a...

Read More

*****************

blemished sky erupts
a waterfall... a  river
the cormorant dived

the mile high eagle
hunting... not gone unnoticed
meercats wary

heavy rain... torrents
one litre... one kilo...
man will make  you pay

wildflower meadow
trampled... flattened by children
educate them now

take my hand... nature
I...

Read More

Driftwood benches stretch along the shoreline as far as the eye can see


While purple and green kelp stain the wet sand like messy 
brush strokes a child would make


Amongst the rocks and tide pools, a...

Read More

Too much company 
Kill the company,
What am I going to think?
About those curious people?
What am I going to think? 
Why sailors are celebrating.

Too much solitude,
Kill the solitude,
What am I going to think?
Of the inert stone,
What...

Read More

Hand in hand with the breaking pink light of dawn, 
A light east breeze dances on tiptoes upon the water’s surface. 
I stand on the wooden deck, looking out onto the quiet bay,
Scattered boats gently...

Read More

I’m not one but a whisper -
          I’m nothing ‘cept a sham
              ...

Read More

The waves dash themselves
Against the rocks,
Sending geysers of spray
High over the seawall,
Half drowning the cars
That are creeping slowly
Through the sandy lakes
Forming on the road.
The wind screams
And pounds its fists in a
Tantrum on car windows.
The angry...

Read More

As I watched,
like a lion with its prey
the wave growled and snarled
while crouching, preparing to pounce.
Rushing up the sloping shingle beach,
it reached out and dragged pebbles
down into its lair.

I heard
the rasping raking of the beach...

Read More

Birke/Birch/Abedul

Im  sanften  Abendlicht
Wehen die Blätter der Birke
Goldfähnchen im Wind 



In soft evening light
The leaves of the birch flutter
Golden banners in the wind 



En suave luz de la tarde
Ondean las hojas del abedul
Banderitas de...

Read More

Tiny wavelets on the pool today,  a gentle
breeze and raindrops fall with a rhythmic
pitter patter. The ducks and wildfowl pay
no heed, around the sedge bob and feed. 
The Heron standing as if frozen, his
cunning...

Read More

Summer fog.
The air thick and warm
with a closeness gathering in
the early morning as if all
that it shrouds share
a common breath.

Everything holds together,
birds, water, the pebbled shoreline,
as a cormorant dives
downwards through the still, 
its underwater wings...

Read More

I got my first duck feather today,
First one for the season of spring,
Standing up proudly, I couldn't walk away,
To me, feathers are gifts, straight from the wing.

I watched as the turtles all swam about,
And saw...

Read More

 Seagulls summer sailing
Gliding on thermal air
Green-eyed cormorant 
Looks with disdain aware
How screeching gulls do chant.

 Seagulls summer sailing
Swiftly land on sailboat
Birds behave quite frisky
The shore is now remote
Ocean breeze blows briskly.

 Seagulls summer sailing
Arrogance...

Read More

The morning seemed unreal,
too perfect in a way -
the waking river
where small boats ignited
like candles on being lit
by first light and where
a cormorant dived
into a blazing sun.

And here, where
a certain magic began
to find its way...

Read More

peppy porcelain puppy poops on the floor
  wacky winged walrus whizzes on the door
enigmatic eonian elephant espies some bamboo
  clever castrated cormorant shrieks yahoo

brassiere-busting bonobo barfs on the table
  maniacal mystic monkey...

Read More