Long Dream up Poems

With my Uyghur poetry translations I am trying to build awareness of the plight of Uyghur poets who are being sent to Chinese "reeducation" concentration camps.

Elegy
by Perhat Tursun
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Asylum seekers, will...

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it feels good to escape
with authors and poets
and dream up new places
with tales that are spun

but sometimes what's real
and sometimes what isn't
encroach on each other
and read just as one

such are the worlds
of rhyme but no...

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I awoke the next day, with a soft smile,
Not awakened by the screeching and the moaning of the demons beside,
But of the intense breathing of my collaborator,
Crouching above me, glaring me down with eyes abhorred
Though...

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Tell her you saw me ...

Tell her I was out on the bluff at the Cape
during a gale, much too close to the rocks.
Tell her the surf was tormenting the ledges,
its roar far too loud...

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tell her you saw me ...

tell her I was out on the bluff at the Cape during a gale, much too close to the rocks … tell her the surf was tormenting the ledges, its...

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"go on" I dared myself
So I did
Booked an extra ticket for my Mum
"She'll love it" said my brain
"What if people break bones, you crash on the way, you forget the tickets, someone wears the wrong...

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I’ve often wondered, what it’s really like, to be lost
I mean I’ve been lost before; in fact, I’ve been lost, many times, at many levels
I’ve been lost, in my ways; lost in the light of...

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Grim reaper forever guaranteed eternal plentiful harvest

the following written 
for no particular rhyme nor reason
quite aware the exit (stage door left)
allows, enables, to provide every season
with a bumper crop of dead souls.

many mortals beseechingly 
lift...

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Alexa down!

She, the brainchild of Rohit Prasad -
India-born person who breathed life
into Alexa, and lead technology side
of project almost from its inception.

Amazon Alexa Echo
a marvel of voice activation technology,
(reportedly voiced by Nina Rolle,
a voice actress...

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Caught a Flight out of town 
Hadn’t seen you in while
Wondered if you’d still look the same
Still want me to be ya number one dame
At one time you offered me your last name
Then in a...

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Well, this morning began “a fine kettle of fish” to my taste
(ambiguity present and somewhat ironic), no waste
of intent here. ‘Walk’ mentioned proforma, ‘glazed doughnut’ from Stan’s (1)
tasked, a possible ‘chaser’ to sweeten the plot....

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Trim Trimmer get your head out the gutter,
forget the overbearing suffer and the bother,
forget the negative air you breathe like a monster,
prove you're a man and come out from undercover.

Now listen Nicholas,
your life is ridiculous.
The...

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A poem which shows the value of poetry to letting the mind run free.

There's an outline around the unseeable—the temptation to lick it, knowing it's like the inside of the freezer wall. The lure, being...

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I met her on a towering cruise ship,
the Benthic Princess, a vacation trip.
Her platinum hair shimmered in waves,
a beckoning smile that asked me to stay…
That first dinner was quite magnificent,
we talked and talked, like life-long...

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Give me a reason.


One poem a day; that is my goal.
I must write something each night or day and show you my soul.
My collection of written words will never be whole,
For it is constantly expanding,...

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The name of this poem is "…" So the first line is shown.
The system would not let me put that in the title box. Sew, so...


...

Hear and now, know here and now, no! No!
It is...

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The teacher said,

Go home and write 
a poem tonight
And let that poem come out of you---
Then, it will be true.

I wish it were that simple. 
I am merely a sixteen year old, born in a...

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As per Casarah's request, here is 2 fun dedications to Dr. Seuss

A Person is a Person
-no matter how small-

I can not see
I can not be
I can not write a word at all
So I am not...

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A CHRISTMAS DREAM

I went to bed that Christmas night, and once again I dreamed
Of my dear son who now is gone, but so real now it seemed.
For I sat in the chair that’s there beside...

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You can feel them move through streets
Emblazoned with sirens' primary colors,
A swatch of fjord's colonial flagship hues
Left to slap in the wind of reorderd forms
Until sheared into confetti strips. Scripts 
Writ into a code are...

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What Should I Be Aware Of

That sure seems to be a magic question to me.
There are always comments about my poems catching my attention.
If my poem, was smooth, perfect and properly flowing it may be...

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I am Indian by birthright,
Simply black when it feels right,
A gender champion through and through,
A Southern Belle from the Bayou.

I cover all the bases from Gay rights to MeToo,
Environmental warriors – I’ll always stand with...

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Some laws are crazy you will agree.
Read some of these laws and you will see.

Some laws are funny and some just absurd.
It pays to be careful how we use our words.

To keep your ass in...

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Since I was, but a child, I loved frosting on everything. Frosting on cupcakes, cookies, and cakes. I would put my fingers in the frosting bowl or cakes, and lick  them off when mother...

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A NOVEL OF NEGATIVITY

Things happen to me the best fiction writer couldn’t dream up
You could fit all my good luck in a child’s doll house tea cup
If bad luck had teeth I’d have a torso...

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