Long Dante Poems

Epigrams by Michael R. Burch

If brevity is the soul of wit
then brevity and levity 
are the whole of it.
—Michael R. Burch

To write an epigram, cram.
If you lack wit, scram!
—Michael R. Burch

Conformists of a feather
flock together.
—Michael...

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Poems about Poems IV

The Toast
by Michael R. Burch

For longings warmed by tepid suns
(brief lusts that animated clay),
for passions wilted at the bud
and skies grown desolate and gray,
for stars that fell from tinseled heights
and mountains bleak...

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State of the Art (II)

These are my "ars poetica" poems about the art and craft of writing poetry. 



What the Poet Sees
by Michael R. Burch

What the poet sees,
he sees as a swimmer 
~~~~underwater~~~~
watching the shoreline...

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Premise
The great poem by the italian poet Dante is the DIVINA COMMEDIA
I have tried to translate in english verses of INFERNO (HELL).
It was a very difficult task. 
I expect criticism.

When just the midway of my...

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Already I reached the place where heard the sound
Of falling water in the circle next
Suchlike the rumble done by hives around,

When three spirits together changed their treks,
Running, out of  an horde just passing there
Under...

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Poems about Poets I


The Wonder Boys
by Michael R. Burch

for Leslie Mellichamp

The stars were always there, too-bright cliches:
scintillant truths the jaded world outgrew
as baffled poets winged keyed kites—amazed,
in dream of shocks that suddenly came true ...

but...

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(Continuing the trip through Hell of Dante with poet Virgilio)

Pah-peh Sah-tan, Pah-peh Sah-tan al-ept!”,
Started Pluto with his hoarse voice toss
And that gentle wise, who any knowledge kept,

Told to encourage me: “don’t have a loss 
By...

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Unquotable quotes: Poets, Poetasters and Platos – XXXVI

     For James McAuley – in remembrance of a memorable week in Cardiff 1965 

The greatest poet ever is NOT Homer, Lao Tse, Ovid,...

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Empires and rivers, time and space, man and nature.
Yet nothing, nothing satisfies like clear sinuses and arteries.
The struggle to express and understand is seemingly futile.
Pope’s Iliad, Milton’s Paradise, Armand Schwerner’s Dante.

Chemotherapy, quatrains, everything rhymes with...

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The difficult translation of first Canto of Divina Commedia is here completed
In the part published before, Dante imagined to find himself in a dark forest where he met three beasts. 
Now he is going to...

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“Sacred Lakes”



There is magic 
in your shaman bones
stories shaken like strange mojo 
busy under cover of autumn leaves 
turning burnished topaz gold 
idling unrushed roll over

in honeyed slumber

turning back hands
to face a time of 
blushing...

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Welcome…welcome again dear sweet diary entry
Am I really welcome…
I feel outlandish, a lonely outcast characterized as a basket case; am I insignificant
Insignificant enough to not belong on earth 
Or is my home an endless abyss...

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It was somewhere in Cambridge, when the amalgam of substances 
began to cloud our judgment. 
The changes were between vague and blatantly obvious, but 
we were masters at this terrifying craft. 
A small dose of...

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So now you’re feeling sorry
for yourself? Your pain and
anguish gnawing at you?
Just because to start you
ended up the object of
another’s twisted fantasy
and there were four of you
but then Gloria asphyxiated
you have no claim to sorrow
you...

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The Journey to the Cosmic Beyond

Life
God’s divine spark heralds our mortal presence on this Earth,
Whilst angels sing their mystic paeans to our cosmic rebirth.
The soul’s constant transformation transcends all mortality,
As it brings each of us...

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"50 Words for Poe: Revenant"


Everywhere he looks for Her his melancholic Ghost Girl
does our lachrymose ignoble Phantom in his own thunder storm


In the Wind Song he listens
Her elusive whispers hail from another dimension 
echolocation through...

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Could I leave you? Could I really fend off the tears that would batter my heart? Could I
Dante the man you love follow through, martyr my heart?

My life was slain with arrow and bows, they...

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On Tue, Sep 25, 2018, 11:54 AM M Mc  wrote:
ENEMY ANONYMOUS 

So many forms, so many names 
Im Tina, Dope
No ing joke!
Let's start with Mary Jane.
First some weed, "it's not a need"
Now were escalatin'
toc...

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"Here rise to life again, dead poetry!
Let it, O holy Muses, for I am yours,
And here Calliope, strike a higher key,
Accompanying my song with that sweet air
which made the wretched Magpies feel a blow
that turned...

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It has occurred to me now that humanity has come to lack the culture once held 
O’ so very dear to our own existence.

  As Dante once walked with Virgil, down an epic path...

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Dante caught Beatrice looking at him and smiled.
"I dare say that right now you look even more handsome 
to me than when I first made your acquaintance."

"So what blessed soul was the recipient of 
your...

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Enemy Anonymous

ENEMY ANONYMOUS 

So many forms, so many names 
Im Tina, Dope...im Mary Jane

What's my Name?
I steal all Hope 
Your soul I Claime.
Let's take a walk now
Through the flame.
The Booze you poured down the drain...

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ENEMY ANONYMOUS 

So many forms, so many names 
Im Tina, Dope...im Mary Jane

What's my Name?
I steal all Hope 
Your soul I Claime.
Let's take a walk now
Through the flame.
The Booze you poured down the drain 
That...

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When we pleasantly stroll down
the streets or boulevards
of any historical city or town,
we  stops pensively and reflect deeply
by the magnificent monuments erected for the great;
and reading the engraved words,
we are astonished by the accomplishments
of...

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Trumpets sounded loudly towards dusk
as they did in ancient times,
to warn all warriors of an imminent battle,
there I saw throngs of angels
with glorious Jesus in their mist....
a thick book was opened by Gabriel;
below, Satan was...

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