Long Drizzled Poems

Sappho fragment #155
translation by Michael R. Burch 

A short revealing frock?
It's just my luck
your lips were made to mock!

*

Sappho fragment #156
translation by Michael R. Burch 

She keeps her scents
in a dressing-case.
And her sense?
In some undiscoverable...

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Pellucid pachyderms wade across
the purpling River Manjees
and Tozzath watches from the bank, 
the seat of his maroon pantaloons soaked with mud,
his nostrils flaring with the fragrance of ombadalias,
whose lacey petals flutter
like the wings of long-dead...

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I inherited a restaurant, from my parents who had retired.
It was a classy one, and only the best of staff were hired.

Overseeing its operation, was genuinely a labor of love,
As the noon warming sunshine, oversees...

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{Three o'clock on a December afternoon,
the sky is opaque as my nature has stood out, the rain drizzles down my windows and I am distinctly reminded how it once drizzled down my back; the lacquers...

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Joulupukki was hastily making preparations for his morning departure when Lumi and Chroí entered the room.  When he saw them he hurried over to help Chroí find a suitable chair in which to sit....

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Skinned shins on tree skins,
Space-viewed landscapes of rust and paint 
Showing mirrored continents imagined; 
Worlds within worlds at every turn, 
Outlines of Octopi on Oil slicked streets;
Every post and pole or stone a step:
Sat on,...

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Decade
         solid 
                solitary 
       ...

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I was an experienced interior designer, whose specialty was outer doors,
Ever opening to amber sunshine, as petals open, when vivid beams pour.

Functionality and beauty were very vital, so I helped customers each day,
To choose materials,...

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One day I wish to know, 
as the scars of devils do, 
when your eyes, married to the auburn fox, 
will remove their pantheon of petrified ghosts
and lay with me once again.


Lay with me again...

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I am not a blank slate to score upon again
Yet there is this gap, this hollow place
That wants a name. I search for it in vain
The alien presence of eyes, and of face
Nothing comes back...

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The campaign …
was over -
he, the last left alive on the
field of battle, and barely, at that …
his men had fought valiantly -
the odds were never theirs,
yet he was content in
their efforts, and more than...

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You are my life and in that I believe
	Always my love will be only for you

			Flattering though that sounds I must confess
			My first love is chocolate - sad but true

	Sensual visions to capture the feel
	Bringing...

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(The final part of my serial "Do Not Listen" poem. I had written this months ago, but hadn't felt confident about posting it--until now and with a few edits.)

___


Do Not Glisten, Child! of my early...

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Embarrassing moments .. oh I guess we’ve all had a few
But this is one is so memorable so I will share it with you!

My hubby had become friends with Dave through work 
and we had...

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"Two doves in white flying, feathers glow beneath the morning's rainbow    colors" By Charles Messina


As I looked on the horizon far 
I saw an assemblage of colors
Arching across the moist sky

It had...

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Once at dawn upon a wandered mind when day had dwelled within a dream,
I stood afore a forest's edge and gazed upon its refulgent grassy gleams. 

Home alone on a house's deck perched before the...

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My heart grieves for past warmth, rocking guilt back and forth
Like a cradled infant, deceased, and torn
I wailed inside and expressed what the babies could not,
Pierced so purposefully. . . their blood drizzled lightly upon...

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haunter of the woods, 
woods whispering wishes,
like a heartbeat, still as starlight,
reflecting all the music…

oaks and birch, pine and laurel,
soothing barks, 
ligneous laughter, a morning sun
silent as dew, drizzled on the heart,
freeing the feelings to...

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all the tiny pieces of life blended together 
                           when...

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A few hot-orange embers burn low in the fire pit.
Morning has sprung, evident only
In the vague concrete illumination
	of an overcast sky.
Scattered twigs and last night's remaining logs
Are tossed upon the coals,
With a few shivering breathes...

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I REMEMBER (1)

Candles & nightlights
   flickering bright
blackout curtains
    shutting out light

Dripping setting
   from Sunday's roast
spread  thick
on Monday's toast

Paper chains
    cut and glued
beer in glass
     bottles brewed
Christmas puddings
   with threepenny bits
 Meccano kits
     made to fit

Sunday school outings
      upto Coombe hill
my first ever train ride
         so quite a thrill
Summer walks
    to the Bugle Horn
crisps & lemonade
     upon their lawn
A weekly soak
  ..in a round tin bath
towelling off
 by a fire in the hearth

I REMEMBER (2)
afterschool
on a
          tuesday
  my treat
   awaiting on gran's
baking tray

a spicy aroma
  filled
the air
 t'was
  freshly baked-
my
 weekly share

bread pudding
piping hot
   drizzled with honey
moreish&
          yummy
a moist mouth
 watering
             confection
in
a
 sultana delectation


I REMEMBER (3)
my clerking 
ever on the go
the junior
   lowest
                of the low

the office
 with  partners just two
pens   pencils
  nearly-new
daily drudgery
  reality soon shone thru'

the 'old man ' yelling
      'ere lad
  chop chop
get me baccy
   from t'corner shop

 tea-break brews'
                   in a stew
bellows of hurry-hurry
from  the back-office crew

another  task
       to get done
this time
   for the partner's son
    no time to stop &chat
  he'd forgotten the fish
          for his wife's cat

    the switchboard clicked
           the doorbell chimed
&
skills to learn
  juggle & prioritise


whew!
    nearly half five
&  knock-off time

    just one task
still to do
fetch the 'boss's
  evening  news

  was this really
           the career    to choose?...

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Jeff
Born to reverend Stevens
On a cool Monday morning
It drizzled a little bit
Very beautiful weather
Jeff was the finest of all babies
In my neighborhood Jeff was an example
Example of good Christian character 
Until he became plagued
Plagued with...

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RAVEN AND WREN

As the world wakes up
To the sun’s gentle rays of light
Frozen memories melt and flow 
Penetrate but do not satiate
Moments of insipid sight
A scenery of incessant delight
As the raven chases the wren
Back to...

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A Solitary Stranger

Lonely a soul, he, waits there daylong, a lonely stranger, he
To knit the finest webs of dreams, one of the most delicate kinds.
Gazing, out there, with  brimming eyes he ponders
To catch a...

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Who remembers, is it only me?
When March had drizzled, and April fooled us...
But a morning in the month of May.........

We'd spread upon a kitchen table 
Paste made of flour, scissors, borrowed
paper, crayons of rainbow colors...

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