Long Erasure Poems

In some primordial 
wandering birth-canal way,
I imagine we all experience traumatic excommunication

An internal climate PanDemonic
cerebral yet narrowly competitive 
win/lose health today or safety tomorrow survivalist
life or death revivalist

EcoFeminist MotherYang Warriors for GreenPeace Experience
or DeGenerative LoseLose...

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Mahmoud Darwish English Translations of Arabic Poems



Palestine
by Mahmoud Darwish
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

This land gives us
all that makes life worthwhile:
April's blushing advances,
the aroma of bread warming at dawn,
a woman haranguing men,
the poetry of Aeschylus,
love's...

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Choices my dear one,
So many choices, 
So few voices,
Some near,
Some far,
Some to fear.

A path.
Clear and chosen.  
The erasure of a closing.
The logos of math.
The trajectory of wrath.
The conciliatory legislation blindly ruling the cosmos of...

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You say all lives matter
Bringing up all these colors 
Like red, white, orange, and blue
But when a black life is taken, where on Earth are you?
Where's your sympathy and support when the takers of our...

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The sun rises high over the tropical trees
White patchy clouds survey the blue sky,
Time drifts slowly into the clouded breeze
With the colors red, green and gold passing by.

Jamaica play a key role bringing out the...

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not in the heart again
for chrissakes it's like Swiss cheese
decoffinated please I'm a yet ambulatory zombie
off his medication as usual
alternatives to logic 101 with Prof. Spike
far too much work for a dead end
saw his only...

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Winds of change 
are fanning the flames 
are fanned by the deranged. 
The flames of misdirection, 
the winds giving chase 
(orchestrated by instruments to enrage. 
Horned cheering section.) 
Drones of the BlackRock, riders in holdings...

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Soul, slow down your flight
A kindred soul dare to delight
In  your tryst when you hold her tight
 
Savouring every breath, every moment
Shunting aside pain and torment
Shutting out a callous comment
 
When your priorities say...

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Erasure Poem 
So many fake Indians these days
Elizabeth Warren is one
And according to my DNA results
I am too

But my grand-parents spoke Cherokee my mom claims
And they disappeared into the hills 
She claims

Is the DNA test...

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narcissistic negativity in higher learning.
nods of forget-me-nots, knots in shyness
satisfying unconfidence - look at me,
don’t look at me, pass by, stop...please.

brat in me left for a funeral, fuming dissonance;
meanwhile friends thought I was dead, falling
off...

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Have you ever had a major itch
Deep inside your brain
Where your whole face does a Chubby Checkers twist
Driving you erratically down crazy lane

You need to find that special something 
To cram far enough up your...

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Repressed, sombre colours
weep a blurry sadness.
Melancholic, metallic hues
bite a frustrated, untouched lip -
silently surrendering
crimson, golden spheres of promise…
They dissolve, shrinking to watery flakes,
melting to a near oblivion.

Lyrics pin hopes on a pointless map,
touching tender triggers
like...

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Man, ye want more than thy fair valid need, 
Ye corner every craven mundane toy, 
Coveting vulture-like that grabs with greed, 
Indulging more, way far less to enjoy, 
Chasing false leads to squirrel more and...

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I am tired of broken peace,

I am tired of rules and laws,

I am tired of bad critics,

I am tired of discrimination,

I am tired of hypocrite doctrines,

One of the most evil things is ignorance and arrogance,

Society...

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grandma had always been a magical offspring of nature

collected herbs images mushrooms psychedelic support

tattoo in her mind rebellion independence and freedom

mescal beans at stakes looking like witches’ broomsticks

cultivated night shade a belladonna of sorts in...

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The stranger in the mirror says:
Alz is not well

Those grey hairs alzways lose twenty-something
track of time ...
can’t tell when he’s at,
where he last slept
Or how he fell

My sixty-ish seconds of elusive,
lucid thought
wanna know why
am I...

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Erasing half of you into another
Merging like flour into water
Swaddled in comforting love.
When alone damp and bone chilled
Staring through rain slicked woodland
Alone with the unknown world 
Of leaves and fungus and dark earth. 
I am...

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A boy sits on house steps (cement arid)
    removing the crust from his egg salad sandwich
sparrows snatch the broken morsels he throws at them
laced bonds like a companionship weave
   ...

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"Bildungsroman" 

childish things 
become children
the sweetness 
leaves them 
when the dream
in reality leaves them
to walk hand in hand
with the nightmare
of what becomes 
us as adults

protagonists are 
sometimes heroes
sometimes villains
inside us all dwells
a versatile shadow

we save...

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it is then i feel like an earthquake inside
it is then i feel as if my balance needs a ride
it is then i feel like my heart is on vacation
it is then i feel that...

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PLEA BARGAIN

If justice can be carted away on a platter of gold
And repaid with a moribund emerald,
Then let Law swallow its loquacious pride—
Let the rays of the sun drop its shines
Let the glitters of the...

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What in the ink whorl is papièr churl going on?

Ill quill vapors are trying to victimize me,
vex prose don’t belong
Word saber player haters trying to stick it to me,
throwing cursive stones
Their coarse paper tone is...

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Languid limbs lie in wait
Motionless memories dissipate
Breathing cadenced calm and slow
Echoing heartbeats through eardrums flow

Illuminations snuffed by tidal twilight
Ushering in cool dark ebony night
Tucked away tranquility; warm body heat 
Flowing gently under soft clean sheets

Perfect...

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I know I am counted
I know how to count
I know how to count on
There is utterance of disgust
There is a vein of tremor
There is high and hollow sides
Half of what I said
Is already forgotten
Half of...

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What Is It

                                ...

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