Long Drifts Poems

TRUMP SMELLS B.O.


TRUMP SMELLS B.O.

BUST UP THE BEAT TO INTRODUCE IT'S TEMPO

GOT ME PLACES TO GO

SILENCE IS GOLDEN GOT BLOOD THAT"S UNFOLDING

SITS IN HIS IVORY TOWER ENGAGED IN THE WALL WHILE HE SITS IN HIS...

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Snapshots
by Michael R. Burch

Here I scrawl extravagant rainbows.
And there you go, skipping your way to school.
And here we are, drifting apart
like untethered balloons.

Here I am, creating "art,"
chanting in shadows,
pale as the crinoline moon,
ignoring your face.

There...

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His glowing golden eyes glistened with a comprehension beyond the mortal condition

A well-toned, tall, and tanned man, who most, not all, would call handsome

A brightly bleached stalactite overbite gleaned between the mean features of an...

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I love you only because I love you
by Pablo Neruda
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

I love you only because I love you;
I am torn between loving and not loving you,
Between apathy and desire.
My heart vacillates...

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Sonnet LXXXI-LXXXIX

Day, and Night
by Michael R. Burch

The moon exposes pockmarked scars of craters;
her visage, veiled by willows, palely looms.
And we who rise each day to grind a living,
dream each scented night of such perfumes
as drew...

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Turkish Poetry Translations II

Çanakkale Sehitlerine
"For the Çanakkale Martyrs"
by Mehmet Akif Ersoy
loose English translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Was there ever anything like the Bosphorus war??
The earth’s mightiest armies pressing Marmara,
Forcing entry between her mountain passes
To a...

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IT WAS 1984 DURING AN ELECTION CIRO GARGANO RAN THIS SMALL TOWN OUTSIDE GREATLAKES NAVY BASE WITH HIS DRUG CARTEL AND AN IRON FIST OF  CORRUPTION HE BLACKMAILED THE ENTIRE CITY SEVERAL OFFICERS SELLING...

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Nowhere Man

Star dust, the stuff of a fool’s dreams.
Oh !!!, to travel upon star dust streams
- that glorious, never ending journey -
into the realms, the space of many.

This old spirit, seems, not to fit into...

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These are prophetic poems and apocalyptic poems ...



The Vision of the Overseer’s Right Hand
by Michael R. Burch

“Dust to dust ...”

I stumbled, aghast,
into a valley of dust and bone
where all men become,
at last, the same color...

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Old Glory has Something He Wants to Say  
By – Roger White
The dawn’s first sunlight crests over the eastern horizon.  A midnight dark sky leisurely changes tinctures: blue becomes purple, bright azure and...

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Spring's Excitement
There are rhythms of Nature that no one controls
that farms use to advantage! Time's fishermen sailed
both with tides and fair breezes offshore in their boats
at each dawn and dusk's onshore brought home each day's...

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Last Night 
by Faiz Ahmed Faiz
translation by Michael R. Burch

Last night, your memory stole into my heart
as spring sweeps uninvited through barren gardens
as morning breezes revive dormant deserts
as a patient suddenly feels better for no...

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Moving on ???

I have come to wonder – as time passes – why ?,
the lady brings tears to my heart – makes me cry.
This lady who took in hand, in holy of holies, in mouth,
resurrecting...

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He sung all the day, all the night of the fourth,
Endlessly, relentlessly, angrily and passionately
Deafening my ears in the wet sugar of his words
In an eternity of hours,
Slowly and dopily, darkness billowed away
Sifting along to...

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This is my translation of Rainer Maria Rilke's second elegy from his Duino Elegies, which he began composing at Duino Castle in 1912. 

Second Elegy
by Rainer Maria Rilke
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch 

Every angel...

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Their rending cries, when all is still, reecho in the moonlight;
They lie about in fitful slumber on the ground at noonlight,
Their virgin hair spread in the dust; for nothing really matters:
Who then will see their...

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Reflections

Though our love nurtured well in passion's fire
Aroused now as a lamplight on life's road
This ember's torch burns still from our desire
With gleams of memories from love bestowed
as we journeyed in wondrous enchantment
I've kissed you...

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Ledger of Love

In the dim-lit chambers of the Victorian home,
Resides a wife, her heart a silent tome.
Once, love’s flame burned bright within her breast,
But now a thin whisp, a ghostly jest.

Her gaze averts from her...

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Hope and…a father is could be 

Against all odds and expectations
so many rules and norms and
clever theories society’s demands
cultures and conventions there is
no magic wand no miracle solution

I throw you high up in the air
and...

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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Northward! He frowned into the storm
The wind ever stirring, the snow swirling 'round
Ahead lay destiny, a lone dying form
He felt a stirring, as if homeward bound
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Trudging carefully through the heavy snow he watched as Sprinteren...

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Passion and compassion vibes flow
Let the flowers grow, you know?
Yes, you know...because it’s shown
In your oceanic eyes...it’s like an ice cream with its favorite cone...it’s flavorful and all alone

Your voice is depicted in shimmering, scrumptious...

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Joulupukki hesitated for a few seconds, 
     “I know this is going to sound ridiculous, but what if we feed the magic corn to a team of deer and they pull...

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Mimi and Mary T.
By

M P Walsh


It was 25 December,
And a snug-warm Christmas day.
The temp was over 50,
The weather: bright, not gray.

But a sadness on this Sunday fair
Perplexed me...what was wrong?
As I left the cape with...

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A WISH FOR ALL FISH

Washed up on shores around the world
Already dead, a whale, a dolphin a shark, 
All marine life is suffering, the situation
Has become absurd, 
The facts real and stark!
My Fairy God mother...

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Winter Weary
A rhyme that sends a winters “chill’.
With snow, not knowing where to start.
But as he’s had some time to “chill”. 
A fellow with a changing heart.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~...

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