Long Disappointing Poems

For ten months now I’ve brooded over coming second place
in the pickle section deeming, it no less than a disgrace.
It was written plain and simple, so there can be no excuse,
that the pickles in this...

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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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Once Upon a Time Everything was Perfect in Eden, NSW, Australia

This is a story about why snakes are reluctant to leave whenever you see them. 
Why they hang about, instead of scurrying off.
A reluctant snake...

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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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I am sorry
about my judgmental,
sadly disdainful,
tone
in earlier messages.

Even worse,
I remain embarrassed
for spreading it out
for key staff
and leaders
to well-positioned see
and hear
and feel,
touched by wounded toxicity.

My training 
and experience
includes victimized by homophobia
and healing through community mediation.

Within this...

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They pursued it with vigor, they pursued it with crass
They hunted with valor and hope
They proceeded with a dose of good Knightly sass
They chased it with tackle and rope

Now King Arthur declared in a boisterous...

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It was noon, he was in the bush, he enjoyed this type of living, he sometimes played with the animals just to make himself happy and spend some time, Leisure and embraced them all as...

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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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Patience
by Rabindranath Tagore
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

If you refuse to speak, I will fill my heart with your silence and endure it.
I will remain still and wait like the night through its starry vigil
with...

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“I must say, Rian,” Joulupukki addressed the Dark Elf. “I find you a bit disappointing.  From all of the stories I've heard, I expected so much more from you.”
     “I...

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Gold is your soul


The drive there will be boring.
The arrival so momentous!
The disappointing greeters;
The sights not quite as expected.
The smell at times will be rancid.
The art of it all will be lost.
They will say “Welcome...

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Listen to the encouragement in mind 
And the people say it for you to find 
Relief from the grief due to trials in its prime
You can be who you want to be, yes, this time…

I...

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Much has been felt
then written
about loneliness at the top

Less written,
yet perhaps far more often felt,
about claustrophobia in the center.

Problems with delegation,
boundaries,
predictable timelines,
responsive management focus,
follow through performance,
closeted partisanship,
competitions to be heard
listened to
appreciated
respected 
for our therapeutic,
and not...

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S/he wonders why
when we breathe in
our left sides
feel right mind dominant
when our rights inside
feel LeftBrain capital deviated,

Dysfunctional
disappointing
disharmonious
sad and lonely 
dissonant
disturbed
unbalanced
uneased

Constipated
blocked
trumped

Stuck
obstructed
oppressed
suppressed
repressed
not fluently holistically impressed,

Pressured
disabled
disenabled
feminized
marginalized
enslaved
disempowered

Unenlightened
unarticulated
not understanding
not cooperatively experiencing
co-investing in questioning

Why we continue longing
for bicameral win/win engagement
of all...

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Your life is a sandwich with many layers
Your knife slaughtered me as you bewitch my mind with thought-slayers
Coming undone by this bleeding hate-love relationship 
You tease me with insults that make me wanna cry, but...

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I've noticed
since early years on the family farm
with large matriarchally planted and harvested gardens,
that food,
for moms,
is a natural,
and yet also spiritual,
communion relationship.

Nutrition evolves from and for communal relatives
of which we are ourselves made
and nurtured into...

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Brainstorming until figuratively blue in the gills...,
and finally gung-ho with a poem title
important to yours truly
not disappointing his Facebook fan base,
which electronic affirmation,
and confirmation, breeds gratification
analogous to being
the proud papa begetting offspring
progeny growing up at...

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I'm rereading Marshall Rosenberg's chapter on Anger,
The big challenge for nonviolent communicators.

Marshall, a StraightWhiteMale psychotherapist,
repeatedly refers to feeling disappointment
escalating into Loser-shamed anger
sometimes further escalating into defensive
red-hot blaming Rage
risking lose/lose nihilistic outcomes for oneself
and anyone in...

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At the time I thought I was in love 
At the time I thought there was no one who could come above 
What we had all those days we spent 
All those days when I...

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( a college life vignette)

It’s Thursday morning, usually no one’s favorite, but this one seems sugary new, as if beamed in from a different, better universe. The clouds look fluffy and freshly washed.

Even the freshmen,...

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Circa sixty one years ago July 6th, 2001 -
birth of dear beloved wife

We now get along swimmingly
analogous to this bro and his older sis
on the cusp of our gifted silver married years
if her presence absent,...

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Recalling moments stored in memories with people I miss
Staring at a star-filled sky sometimes it's nice to reminisce
Seems like it was yesterday if only a short while
Cruising along my own time machine with thoughts that...

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Vibe-check, it’s Friday. Yay! A delightfully cool Friday at that! I’d like to thank the democratic party (which I’ve heard controls the weather now). Has the heat finally surrendered to the inevitable freshness of fall?
Can...

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When I drove away from the family farm
to embrace my freshman year
at the University of Michigan
in Vietnam-era 1970,

I was planning on majoring in political science
which later turned into a double major
in communication theory
and positive neuro-psychology

Persuasion,
cognitive/affective...

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