Long Crumples Poems

Poems about the Coronavirus I


yet another iffy coronavirus haiku #1
by michael r. burch

plagued by the Plague
i plague the goldfish
with my verse



yet another iffy coronavirus haiku #2
by michael r. burch

sunflowers
hang their heads
embarrassed by their coronas

I wrote...

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Chinese Poets: English Translations II

These are modern English translations of poems by the Chinese poets Tzu Yeh, Lin Huiyin, Xu Zhimo and Huang E. These are poems about love, passion and beauty. 


Tzu Yeh (circa...

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*Image of Hikers Warning by Pixabay.

Out Of The Way

As a self-proclaimed ruler of my person, I am mindful of the internal convictions, external constitutions as Lord overseer of my spotless realm,

Upon my own free will,...

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...the village shivers   a hive of restless souls
skin pricklin' with anticipation
as costumed runners fixin' to gather — hearts a-thrummin'
              ...

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ZEN DEATH HAIKU III

Spring
stirs the clouds
in the sky's teabowl
—Kikusha-ni, loose translation by Michael R. Burch

Tonight I saw
how the peony crumples
in the fire's embers
—Katoh Shuhson, loose translation by Michael R. Burch

Both victor and vanquished are dewdrops:
flashes...

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He draws the curtain open
His weary legs haul him over gravity's threshold
He sways, the water leaving through the drain with the rest of his will, his strength
He steps past his minds mistress
And crumples onto the...

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At nights we’d sit out on the balcony drinkin
Breathin
That thick mug air
Of a New Orleans summer evening.
Livin as easy
As they’d let us
In the bowels of the Irish Channel
Where magnolias bloom all year long
Amidst the cracked...

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Invitation to Reality ___ 

Embossed, elegant and proper 
With white glove upon silver tray 
(He imagined ) 
the invitation 
Would surely come 
To announce his required presence to attend. 

His fellow wordsmith's and other known...

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Chrysalis



Emerald caverns carved in light, honeycombs of sheer delight

And I, a joyful wonderer be, in this labyrinth of mystery

One mere step through fern and brier, to satiate my soul’s desire

Streaking through the leafy crown, blades...

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At Times, 

My eyes will set me to see this tremendous world that tumbles over me.
Closing my eyes to the existence at hand my mind rolls with clouds from a higher land.
I was here I...

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Denizen of abyssal labyrinth,
legendary ancient Wyrm seeks succour
within prodigious sepulchral cavern:
her domicile for an ageless lifetime.

Ethereal shafts cascade through ceiling's
stochastic rifts, piercing tenebrous tomb;
vicious viscous scarlet smears juxtapose
against shimmering iridescent scales.

Aeons past, Faustian pact formed...

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The frolic boughs of trees tremble,
butterfly-latticed leaves flutter 
in the trail of summer squall, 
where the feisty forest plays with foliage.
Don’t make your mind 
a sprawling forest of forlornness.
In descending dismal dusk, 
with the flickering...

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Walking around the graveyard
Untaggling his hands from the pocket in his jacket
its clear in his head that he's screaming for something
that something is missing within his heart

Taking off his hat as he sits it on...

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Time: the biggest landlord
At whose feet kings and queens bow
Cockiness and stubborn they can ill afford
When time wipes vanity and sagacity from their brow

In consonance with the mandate
Bestowed on time from on high
As no other...

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Blue velvet caged
Behind rusty bars.
Soul within chars.
Fervent flames raged.

Mighty door creaked
Black-veiled phantoms
Chanting the anthems
Thus the dusts freaked.

All the phantoms read
The holy pages.
The pious sages
For repentance plead.

Life’s last drops
Time’s burning tears.
Soaked deep in fears,
Crushed by crops,

The...

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Selfish accusations align the walls
while the honest roof crumples to the floor-
and you're on the skyscraper ledge,
debating to jump
yet you don't have capability
to lose what you've created.
You can't escape even if you jump
cause the lies...

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Say goodbye to the land of Oz in dismay
 where knowledge and logic fall away
 like the scarecrow's inner stuffings filleted,
first one strand, then two or three until
 all his common sense has spilled;
say hello...

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These tears keep plunging down my face, I call it Red Devil’s rain.
This rain symbolizes agony, and sheltered pain.
These tears are not perceptible to others, but only to the one who bears the 
name.
Which is...

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Remember,
when hearts become wrinkles, 
as pages not wrote, 
thoughts were once Shakespeare’s, 
on crumpled pages of note. 

Poet’s, pages unwritten, 
one day is guilt smitten, 
for dries up many streams, 
of, accomplished poet's dreams. 

I...

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As the morning breeze flows softly 
rippling on the placid lake,
on the lotus leaf floating lonely
reclines a dainty drop of water,
sparkling in the rays of the rising sun, 
rolls as an opalescent pristine pearl, 
the...

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Spirituality or religion?
Based on where born, most pray to a symbol;
reach for scriptures, like a homing pigeon,
laudable no doubt, resting thoughts nimble,
yet missing out on vibrant bliss tingle.
There’s a holy book, they need to follow,
yet...

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45 another year older 
At the stroke of midnight 
I must now write 
When filling in official forms 
That I am no longer 44
And ,Where the hell has all that time gone 
Because I sure...

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It skips along carefree
But where is its comrades?
The golden guard watches down
Like a burning tyrant.
Hurried along toward the abyss
it descends into wooden warriors.
Familiar faces, now feared faces
For they stand incensed that their cover is blown.
Free...

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I sit and watch as the sadness seeps into the face before me

Watching with growing desperation as the face slowly crumples like tissue

Feel the aching in my heart as the eyes start to redden

Seeing the...

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I’m fresh 
Pristine.
Eager to Please
Fresh out of the grocery store shelves.
My beauty is sound. 
My lines are crisp.
The prettiest of blues.
I am symmetrical and smart.
I feel pride as a hand picks up a pen.
Scribble scribble...

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