Long Embroidering Poems

Currents
by Michael R. Burch

How can I write and not be true
to the rhythm that wells within?
How can the ocean not be blue,
not buck with the clapboard slap of tide,
the clockwork shock of wave on rock,
the...

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Beckoning
by Michael R. Burch 
 
Yesterday the wind whispered my name
while the blazing locks
of her rampant mane
lay heavy on mine.
And yesterday
I saw the way
the wind caressed tall pines
in forests laced by glinting streams
and thick with...

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Sonnets LII-LX

The Endeavors of Lips
by Michael R. Burch

How sweet the endeavors of lips: to speak
of the heights of those pleasures which left us weak
in love’s strangely lit beds, where the cold springs creak:
for there is...

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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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Some men die to survive

	the Hard endures
the Soft succumbs   stews in juices  reproduces exults
			disappears
the heartless breaks cracks crumbles
							drags
   the Ephemeral down the ravines of the also-ran rivers
								   ...

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In an era long since passed, an Oriental carpet adorning the 
floor from far off lands seems to object to the
leopard skin beneath a fair maiden’s feet, yet this English lass 
seems oblivious as she...

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...a tribute to Hermann Hesse and his novel 'Narziss Und Goldmund.'

                        ...

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MY GRANDMA DEEMMA

    My Grandma, whom I called Deemma
    bathed me in showers of limitless love and blessings.
    Those feelings I am still carrying in my...

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...a tribute to Hermann Hesse and his novel 'Narziss Und Goldmund.'


Two friends in early childhood when their lives were worry free,
each pursued his own direction to fulfill his destiny.
One was tempted by the devil to...

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They say it’s rude to stare 
But staring is caring 
So forgive me if I’m staring
I’d have you know it’s for a good cause
I’m looking at people 
Those people
With the backpacks on their backs
I'm talking...

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They weave, they weave
They weep and they weave
Smarting under the persecuting whips -
Verbal, literal or carnal whips
They weep, they weep.

Locust-like they swarm the streets
To reach the factories before the sun settles well
In its diurnal rounds.
There...

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Through cotton thistles 
A young woman walks embroidering tears
With a seven month old
That moves and dreams in her womb.
The boyfriend who impregnated her
Has put a chastity belt on her
Throwing the lock
And taking the key
It is...

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Far away I stood on a mountain
Looking at the valley's scurrying fountain

The beauty of the view was so powerful
It made me feel so warm with the aid of its comforting wool

It engulfed me with the...

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Endless, Youthful days
are never forgotten by anyone, 
neither by us nor time:
they were yours and mine;
can they never be taken away 
from these nostalgic minds
drunken with tasty wine...
so saddened by the auburn trees 
shedding their...

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ARTIST NATURE

                        Spectacular! Nature’s decoration
       ...

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Strobe lightning flashes
when midnight strikes home
Blades of grass whistling
signals the brutal winter wind
that follows harshly
Shady shallow creatures
crawl out of their shells of unfinished business
Growls of hunger rising to wails of one banshee cry
 
She calls...

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We don’t shine like we used to, The light in our eyes
Faded long ago, To the radioactive glow
Building our dystopian walls, If you stand there
Upon a crowded city street, You can feel
The ancient shriveled roots...

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Here I am

a voodoo doll

made from rags

of what is left

filled with organic lavnder

of what once was

squashed between two palms

without a lifeline


I  am here

whilst you are there

beneath our waxing moon

embroidering my heart

with mourning cross-stitch


'I don't...

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In the secretive corners of the soul,
Where you are guided by the whispers of loss,
There hides the seed of poetry —
A precious stone born from the unseen pressure of pain.
An ancient ritual in a canvas...

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The soft sereneness in their eyes
As they find their spot to lay—
Beside you they choose to lay,
Purity embroidering human flaw

Souls so sweetened by the sun,
Delicate ears pricked and alert,
Their tail curling around you—
There is love...

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B-R-E-A-T-H -  OF -  L-O-V-E


Summer sun or winter freeze pulls heartstrings in trapeze. . .
Cotton soft to gnarled callus vows have thread along my way
embroidering ribbon actions to pliant swings of reactions
like a...

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Across the vastness of the silver sea of pain,
in a cave in the land of "I don't know",
a moonclad maiden waits and weeps,
embroidering her comely countenence
with copious corpulet crystalline tears
and, fears his ship won't make...

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SOULMATE

                         Some where some when somebody to expect
   ...

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Because of you
I'm all here
Buried all the pains
Dug a new chapter
Imported new feelings
Seeded hope 
Exported all the grievances
Took hold of the promises
Watered the heart
Cementing the broken pieces together
Laminated the smile
And on the wall I nailed...

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Because of you
I'm all here
Buried all the pains
Dug a new chapter
Imported new feelings
Seeded hope 
Exported all the grievances
Took hold of the promises
Watered the heart
Cementing the broken pieces together
Laminated the smile
And on the wall I nailed...

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