Long Cranes Poems

The first soft snow: 
leaves of the awed jonquil 
bow low
—Matsuo Basho translation by Michael R. Burch

Come, investigate loneliness! 
a solitary leaf
clings to the Kiri tree
—Matsuo Basho translation by Michael R. Burch

The cheerful-chirping cricket
contends gray...

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Dusk-gliding swallow, 
please spare my small friends
flitting among the flowers! 
—Matsuo Basho translation by Michael R. Burch

A bee emerging
from deep within the peony's hairy recesses
flies off, sated
—Matsuo Basho translation by Michael R. Burch

That dying cricket,...

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To a Daughter More Precious than Gems
by Otomo no Sakanoue no Iratsume
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

Heaven's cold dew has fallen—
and thus another season arrives.
Oh, my child living so far away,
do you pine for me...

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Medieval Poems IV



IN LIBRARIOS
by Thomas Campion
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Booksellers laud authors for novel editions
as pimps praise their whores for exotic positions.



Brut (circa 1100 AD, written by Layamon, an excerpt)
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R....

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Sonnets LII-LX

The Endeavors of Lips
by Michael R. Burch

How sweet the endeavors of lips: to speak
of the heights of those pleasures which left us weak
in love’s strangely lit beds, where the cold springs creak:
for there is...

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LOVE POEMS V

These are love poems by Michael R. Burch, about life, the dream of love, virtue, a first kiss, a first crush, the birth of a first relationship, the joy of a first love...

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The Trial.

 

Arthur, Sammy, Davis, Junior, Stevie Wonder, Bob, Mick, Sue, Carver. You are being charged with the partial demolition of a listed building. Endangering the life of one, Mavis Stepney. How do you plead.

Not...

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Opa John

The caboose sits red—its iron spine cradles the earth like Atlas
rails stretching into nowhere. The stream murmurs softly
its voice threading through Ellie’s laughter like silver wire

"Do you see it?" I ask her my voice...

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Leonardo more than a Renaissance man
artist? yes but - 
sculptor? yes but - 
musician? yes but - 
anatomist? yes but - 
cartographer? yes but - 
scientist? yes but - 
engineer? yes but - 
inventor? yes...

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“You play on my every weakness from my past, 
As a heart-wrenched spirit of truth caresses your comrades
They are perturbed as you are by the magnificent light,
To challenge your heart, is to render the fight…”

A...

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As her EarthDay drum calls out
to inside outside severance

Amid EarthTribe's gathered laughter
and sorrow,
speaking
and listening,
singing
and silent witnessing,

Earth's wealth
leaks nutritional health 
gifts sharing value with every messiah
in sunshine circles
of care giving
and receiving
sacred shifts 
toward cherished bright esteem.

In...

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Himalayas

Eons ago in the planet’s evolution,
During tectonic plate movement: 1
The Indian Island Ma moved northward
Crashing into the Eurasian continent,
To form the Himalayan mountains. 2

Out of the chaos, towering peaks arose,
Piercing heavenly soft, white cotton clouds,
Bursting...

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Opening 
Fourth street and the divide meet 
Near the stream where it's waters Impede 
Five metres walk from the wooden bridge 
A little further away from the deserted car park 
Underneath the third tree with...

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So from first circle started the descent
Down to the second, which contains less
And more pain, stinging to a great extent.

There the horrible Minòs growls giving stress:
The faults examines right to entry close:
Judges and sends according...

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I can still hear that voice speaking as if someone was dreaming, it is the voice that you hear when someone is trapped between mid-night and daylight and the sun comes charging at you and...

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He was coming.
He was coming fast.
He was coming to pay us a visit.
A brooding, lethal monster 30 miles out.
He was coming straight at us
and nothing or no one could stop him

Our house was on the...

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My heart is empty, Jeffrey.
I’m standing here transfixed 
within the threshold 
of a vacant bedroom.
The air is still
but the delicate scent 
of your passing soul 
invades my nostrils. 
The aroma travels deep 
inside the tunnels...

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Fukuda Chiyo-ni Haiku

Fukuda Chiyo-ni (1703-1775) was a Japanese poet and painter of the Edo period, also known as Kaga no Chiyo.

Because morning glories
held my well-bucket hostage
I went begging for water!
—Chiyo-ni, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R....

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These are my modern English translations of haiku about plum blossoms, plums and plum trees. 

Picking autumn plums
my wrinkled hands
once again grow fragrant
—Yosa Buson, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Clinging
to the plum tree:
one blossom's worth...

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Cranes fly miles 
During the winter 
Migrating birds 
Hoping to reach their destiny. 

Buzzards along the way 
Look for pigeons 
That seek to feasts and 
long legged buzzards 
search for pigeons 
Inside pigeon holes. 

Parrots...

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THE DRAGLINE  for Pete Brett 

One hundred foot boom 
 7-½-yard bucket 
The tracks are like 
 Ones on the tracks of a tank
They go chunk clunk and clank  

Arm of the boom...

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When I appear there Nature seems to 
Dance and dance and dance, 
When I disappear she is prone to 
Weep and weep and weep. 

Withdraws all clouds from sky to set a 
Splendid scenery, 
So...

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I walked along the corridors of time staring at reality in front of me and the vision of the night with loose bolts flickering in the sky shaped my unknown destiny.

I felt courage moving up...

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Turtle heard that Salt Woman was on the road again, and he was 
wanting a taste of her. Some miles from Cochiti, he stopped 
for directions at a Speedway gas station.
The dwarf who ran the...

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Venice, Italy, is a crazy shamozzle of new and old 
Where junk, graffiti, decay, stunning beauty, 
     history and culture poverty and opulence, all reside side by side, bobbing. 
Water dominates...

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