Long Customs Poems

Each flame 
elegantly weaves in waves
flowing up from resources red cinder hot,
similar in warm color
temperature decrees
of beauty as integrity's truth
trust each surrounding flame.

Each flame 
unique in point of origin below
as ubiquitously flickering fading destinations above.

Yet...

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Come, You
by Rainer Maria Rilke
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

This was Rilke’s last poem, written ten days before his death. He died open-eyed in the arms of his doctor on December 29, 1926, in the...

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Archaic Torso of Apollo
by Rainer Maria Rilke
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

We cannot know the beheaded god
nor his eyes' forfeited visions. But still
the figure's trunk glows with the strange vitality
of a lamp lit from within,...

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The Panther
by Rainer Maria Rilke
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

His weary vision's so overwhelmed by iron bars,
his exhausted eyes see only blank Oblivion.
His world is not our world. It has no stars.
No light. Ten thousand...

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Additional free advice to those* who would be King from the THIRUK-KURAL with Commentary
[*like presidents, prime ministers, dictators of declining (falling or fallen) nations or even empires]

K442: urranOy niikki uraa amai munkaakkum
   ...

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I got up this morning in a good mood 
searching for solitude in the distant skies
And watching the clouds rolling by
I stopped and listened to the sounds around me
While contemplating my sacred destiny
Barking dogs and...

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Grandma died when I was 18 years old, on Christmas day. I never really got to know her well, since the family had pretty much kept their distance from her due to her 'weird religion.'...

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Origin of Christianity

(If you don't like religious writes don't read on)

It may surprise some that Jesus was born a Jew, his parents Joseph and Mary were Jewish, both from the tribe of Judah, in the...

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"Worship in spirit and truth"

With Easter approaching, many people Christian and non-Christian are exposed to this celebration and may have questions concerning the various teachings, rites, rituals and traditions that are promulgated by public worship...

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This is my translation of the first of Rilke’s Duino Elegies. Rilke began the first Duino Elegy in 1912, as a guest of Princess Marie von Thurn und Taxis, at Duino Castle, near Trieste on...

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He awoke to the sound of lightly crunching ice.  As he opened his eyes the boy stood looking at him, then with one fluid motion he stepped forward and stretched out his hand, 
...

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Zulaikha:
What a bird you are, o red-billed Bird, 
you don’t eat reddish mangoes!
By eating which ash, will you exist then
in this bower of fate?

Yusuf:
That there is any fruit better than the name of God
and any...

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The appearance of his old friend brought new thoughts of his mother and, Nordgrend, the town in which  they spent the last few years.  Raðulfr, was a truly kind man and he was...

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While I was walking through a meadow, of blooms and sunshine,
I stopped to spread my blanket, for a gay picnic at lunchtime.

It was very pleasant, and I had brought many good things to eat.
Afterwards I...

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Poet's Pre-Notes: A poem from my 8th week in a Stanford continuing education class offered on the internet, a study of free verse and structure. The poem writing technique is to write as unconsciously as...

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I reflect upon a word -
   Innocence
To understand more fully what it means,
I think of what it conjures up for me -
childhood times -
 those times when I believed all I was taught
from...

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Chapter 1: Deneen's Failed Liberalism (Revised Version)

Developing progressivism
within liberalism
further iterates pervasive presentism
of win/win
past through future multiculturalism,

A healing timelessness,
progressivism grounds deep attachment
toward our most sensory-nutritional past,

Particularly radical cooperative customs
and multiculturally bilateral geocentric traditions.

While widely understood to...

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some wise men
of different bent, ilk,
orientation and time, 
then our own,
prescribed four spice yellow smoothie milk 
to fortify the virtues 
considered natural and proper
by their standards and rules of the game:
swaddling was à la mode
cuddling...

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Conditioned since birth by customs, family, society and ego
We go about with a clustered mind 
Complicating our simple life with our thoughts and self-imposed restrictions
We don't see a human as human rather we attribute adjectives...

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Zero.
By which nothing is divided.
No zero
no negative
no opposite
no hope
no Adam, no apple, no marriage, no morning.
No mirror
no knowledge
no God, no soul, no ear lobe, no Iliad, no Odyssey.
No universe
no black hole
no zodiac
no hero
no mission, no...

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The finis sing touches touché

Knead dull brows knitted; 
belief system I cogitate 
gearing thee ordinary bipedal hominid 
acquiesces to deck the halls 
of the mountain (dew) king with boughs 
of sister golden haired 
sprinkling angel...

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India (Original Poem)

I hear much joy in the music,
View elation in the dance
Feel happiness in the laughter,
Soulful spirit in poetic romance.

I feel love in the language
Swelling in my heart.
Reverence for God and Goddess
In beloved families...

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abuse, age, discrimination, health, introspection, lonely, old,

Customs To Getting Old  ©


There are very ingrained customs noted when getting old
Getting accustomed to old age is not one of them
One has to be blessed with 65...

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Romance Day And Night

How the Romans played their moonlit dreams
splashing out near viaducts of love I can only
wonder same as with knights in shining armour
or rather without when the Ages seemed dark
and oriental spices called...

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Every morning
When I glance into the mirror
I look deep inside
Deeper than my subtly-thinning hair
Deeper than my raven beard
Deeper than my mocha complexion
Laden with marks
Of life's wear and tear 
And high cheek bones
I see multitudes
From across...

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