Long Courtesan Poems

MODERN SONNETS I

I prefer the original definition of the sonnet as a “little song” of indeterminate form and length. These modern sonnets vary from more-or-less traditional to free verse.


Maker, Fakir, Curer
by Michael R. Burch

A poem...

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Rejection
a roundel by Geoffrey Chaucer
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Your beauty from your heart has so erased
Pity, that it's useless to complain;
For Pride now holds your mercy by a chain.

I'm guiltless, yet my sentence has...

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Veronica Franco translations

Veronica Franco (1546-1591) was a Venetian courtesan who wrote literary-quality poetry and prose.

Capitolo 19: A Courtesan's Love Lyric (I) 
by Veronica Franco
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

"I resolved to make a virtue of...

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Renee Vivien Translations


Song
by Renée Vivien
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

When the moon weeps,
illuminating flowers on the graves of the faithful,
my memories creep
back to you, wrapped in flightless wings.

It's getting late; soon we will sleep
(your eyes...

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(The Apostle Paul is waiting at Athens, and some of the Epicureans and Stoics engaged him in conversation.)

Agon, Aidos, Apate, Bia, Corus and Dysnomia (talking amongst themselves) say “What will this seed picker say?”

(A seed...

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An anticlimactic sexual event...

with Barb Black née Beebee
to help set the ghost
of little Willy Brandt free
(a non German, but germane fellow  
courtesy Craigslist classified
personals of mine invitee
she replied, I took liberty
to Google her first...

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Moulin Rouge

The greens and pinks magnetize to my eye
Like flowers abloom, in a field espied;
That overwhelms creation’s invention
With beauty of grandiose dimension
Shifting to the wind’s orchestrated movements,
And winks my soul agape by the performance
To be...

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CHINESE FEMALE POETS: ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS

Sung to the tune of “I Paint My Lips Red”
by an anonymous courtesan or Li Ch’ing-Chao
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

After swinging and kicking lasciviously,
I get off to rouge my palms.
Like...

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Sotoba Komachi is a modern Noh play by Yukio Mishima (1925-1970). Mishima's play is based on an ancient work by Kan'ami Kiyotsugu (1333-1384). The first kanji means "stupa" (the dome of a shrine) while the...

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NOSSIS

There is nothing sweeter than love.
All other delights are secondary.
Thus, I spit out even honey.
This is what Gnossis says:
Whomever Aphrodite does not love,
Is bereft of her roses.
—Nossis translation by Michael R. Burch

Most reverend Hera, the...

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Growing up Roxanne learned that a woman
could do anything that was done by a man,
that it was wrong to have different standards,
and this point of view informed all her plans.

She was aggressive in her relationships,
and...

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Apostate hearts and palsied hands Your earthly lives debase,
You all, to your great Prophet (PBUH), are Bringers of deep disgrace;
Those idol-breakers all have gone, You idolaters are,
Abraham was the father, you His sons, are but...

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He plays the chords with his blue depression
          still searching for true loves heart expression
Though there is praise for this worlds celebrity
    ...

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Oh, my love, your intoxicating eyes,
Like lotus flowers, your lips, a treasure to the skies.
Your waist, a velvet lotus, your voice, a cuckoo's call,
Leaves me breathless, and in heaven's thrall.
Show me your mercy, give me...

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From devadasi  in temples to women of the streets,
Form hooker to harlot,
From courtesan to call girl,
Whether a paramour in the hands of wealth,
Or a Whore engaging in promiscuous sexual intercourse, 
So many names and...

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Sappho Translations VIII by Michael R. Burch


Sappho, fragment 68
translation by Michael R. Burch

That was then, this is now!
In those days my maidenhead was in full bloom,
then you …


Sappho, fragment 135
translation by Michael R. Burch

Golden Persuasion,...

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Segment 1



Under the moon I do the darkest of deeds,

To send another man to Heaven,

I pick his pocket.



As he ascends, I must pay my way

For the boatman.

Coins and locket.



It has been two years to the...

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Les Bijoux (The Jewels)
by Charles Baudelaire
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

My lover nude and knowing my heart's whims
Wore nothing more than a few bright-flashing gems;
Her art was saving men despite their sins;
She ruled like harem...

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Part Two

To have written is to leave but a mark
  nothing stands for the proud rhyming syllables
    more than his acquired business acumen
a Vaishya karmic hope

Now we stand aghast before this...

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while figuratively hunting
and pecking around me noggin
force hum theme to write about
lo and behold, the solution
stared me right in front
of my little knob nub nose with gentle clout

cuz, as an avid bookworm, the dictionary,
I enjoy...

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Ringhiare verses Knurren, he smoked a Gurka Royal Courtesan, singing "Snorfin Lowgalling" and Lettmi Love You". Two sips of the Sidting Droft ( sherry and white grape juice mix), he began asking things in his...

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Her name was Anarkali, 
an eloquent carnival of legendary beauty.
a dancer in the court of Emperor Akbar.
Deep russet rouge blushed her red,
a silky smile on her rosy peach cheeks 
rich, sensual and seductive...
With the sweet...

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... leave your walls and cliffs behind and 
leap with me into the vernacular music of turquoise night, 
clutching one another by our trembling hearts, 
defying the twisted face of oppression 
in annihilation of free-fall...

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Her face was splurged with white powder
An illusion of mask under the white cover
Red and black accents her eyes and brows
Lips like flower buds cool in the afterglow

Like a maiko pursuing her ardent dream
To dance...

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Vaingloria, chieftainess imperial
Hums a tune of love and springtime lost,
For now the seasons of her greying hair is Fall
Flecked with harbingers of coming frost.

And yet she reminisces of her early years,
Courtesan of rare erotic arts,
Remembering...

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