Long Crocodiles Poems

IN THE WILD

Early morning, we go for a drive,
An awesome feeling as we arrive,
At our camp gate which, opens 
At 6 o’clock, 
Now we are in the African bush
Which, will unlock,
Moments that we have missed...

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The Story
by Kamal Nasser
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

I will tell you a story ...
a story that lived in the dreams of my people,
a story that comes from the world of tents.
It is a story...

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Every second, every minute, every single thought about you
Wonders of this still could be too good to be true
Fluttering in my heart, palpitations go amiss
I yearn for the touch of your skin, and I constantly...

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Throughout 2016 I have been reading Rob Brezsny's Pronoia
Is The Antidote For Paranoia
now ending before I reach 2017.

This postmillennial bible of multiculturalism
ends with several questions or statements
with space to write in my responses.

I am about...

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There is so many stories telling a child how to grow up, the difference between right and wrong. to follow the rules, to see in color, how to stand strong. But still, you are children,...

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This is a translation from the poem "Camellia", by Rabindranath Tagore, Nobel laureate Poet from India (1861 -1941) Understandably the story took place in late nineteenth century - early twentieth century Bengal. 



Her name is...

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Unquotable Quotes VIIIL : SEXUAL HARASSMENT* - the feminist kind

(*”aggressive pressure or intimidation”: Is it really “any different” in most cases in the act, judging by Hollywood standards?)

STOP: ARREST ALL GIRLS
 - standing with legs...

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I once walked into my backyard
and found two slugs mating in a bucket
I had just learned how slugs go about mating, 
or trust-I would have been rightly confused

Here hangs a long line of slime, almost...

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Superhero



The Boy is  three,  his sister, two

I can’t hear your water
Make it bigger 
The windows are colorful
Rainbow indigo
Like a pillow 
Because it’s colorful 
Why you say that  to me?
Why why why?
I’m gonna...

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Wallow and vacant...
Not at all significant...
Feeling so breathless
I’m feeling oh so worthless
Depthless distress...

I express hopelessness
Swallow this pill of reality
Deep down, a bottomless body
Looked at by everybody
Everyday, weighed down
By an upside down frown 
Everyday, weighed down
By...

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It is a Sunday morning.

The day before was still,

yet eventful and surprising:

sacredness met in holy places

and inspired persons.

Petrified trees and slave traders’ bedrooms;

cattle grazing and the ancient one sleeping.

The quiet sounds of lit boats by...

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"I truly feel that it is only when humanity can genuinely show love and
         respect, by nurturing and protecting the environment and all forms of 
 ...

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The year ends on saddest notes
of crying, dying babies in Palestine 
and obstructed efforts 
to throw them a lifeline 

They ought to have long halted
this ethnic cleansing 
of the indigenous inhabitants
Stop the cruel bombardment
of their...

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CHAPTER 3c continued 


Till he happened to encounter 
A much stronger river hunter
Hideous Jurassic lizard
Pulled him down with no returning
 
Other crocodiles converging
Made straight lines like silver arrows
Churned and twisted in the water
Then the other three turned...

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There’s a Swahili adage that goes
‘Mshale ulioingia msituni haujapotea’
An arrow that has been cast (shot/strayed) into the forest is not lost
I guess this is one of those arrows
~~~   	~~~   	~~~
As usual,...

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A Pupil of Papua New Guinea 


I live in a village deep in the jungle 
And cross rivers on foot and by wooden boat
Westerns have come but have not taken our pride

Village men perform an...

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I see it now
flying low
over silver-spumed waves.

I am a watcher
I can enlarge the picture
        zoom in
look into bright midnight eyes
        as...

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The birds of pray are on their way, in every beak the Word

(of ptomaine tomes by gnarly gnomes) whose meaning is obscured;

they roost aloof on every roof, obscene but always herd,

to tell the tale of...

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Sometimes a normal life can become epic,
But this thing called fate has a bag full of tricks.

Every day in my village, out of the window,
I saw the face of a graceful belle who had the...

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With these winds of July ever sweeping the earth,
How should I follow the footprints of men that believed that no man shall auction another?
... Here, dawns are graceless, birds are no longer early to chirp...

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A BUSH FIRE  
               
One scorching afternoon,
A sudden splintering sound was heard,
The nearest was the buffalo herd,
They smelt the smoke...

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Water lapping at edge of the boat beneath the silence of the sky
Swaying branches of mopane trees and fish eagles cry
Wind of changing seasons and melting palates of hue
in the blood red sunset glow and...

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An old gal applied to join Mensa
Gee she couldn’t be any denser
She went in the wrong door
On the thirty third floor
And there she enrolled as a fencer

When attending her first fencing class
A man scored a...

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On the one hand, there is a remarkable beauty                          ...

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WRITTEN IN DRUGS OF RAIN

Unscrupulous vulture-like officials standing inside skyscrapers;              
they croon softly, but wield their pretentious tongues like blades--
casting spells on...

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