Long Fecund Poems

"The Payload" 

The payload 
came crashing down
like rain expelled
from the fat belly 
of a ruinous pregnant cloud 
bilious with buxom promise

it came crashing down 
like school fish released 
from the tight confines
of a course rope...

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Fadwa Tuqan has been called the Grand Dame of Palestinian letters and The Poet of Palestine. These are my translations of Fadwa Tuqan poems originally written in Arabic.



Enough for Me
by Fadwa Tuqan 
loose translation/interpretation by...

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English translations of Arabic poems by Fadwa Tuqan aka "The Poet of Palestine"

Enough for Me
by Fadwa Tuqan 
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Enough for me to lie in the earth,
to be buried in her,
to sink...

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"Barefoot in the Bushfires of the Vanities"



Heat rises slowly to rapture flames licking and teasing
Blue Ghostgums to stretch and crack wide open
as Fire spreads molten sweet sap bleeding burgundy all over 
amber gold wild bush...

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Groundhog day 2024 or Forty one days since 2023 Winter Solstice

Rather than be a day late
and dollar short, I opted   
to post poem acknowledging
the second of February,
where eponymous groundhog
gets his (most often male)
foretelling...

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From blank screen to logorrhea, I write with confused adumbrations

Methinks hmm, perhaps
I admittedly self plagiarize and quite aware
aforementioned amalgamated, conglomerated, 
fabricated, jerry rigged, and organized 
eye gripping titled
poem already aired a year plus ago,
though revisiting...

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Spring equinox arrives March 20th, 2023 at 5:24 PM

Despite what outside temperature registers
(even absolute zero), the official arrival
of spring occurs, when thee eel hip tic
of coe phish hunt holy Mackerel
becomes tangential to barenaked ladies 
barren...

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A psalm to solemnize pure tin forefathers/mothers...

Who didst unknowingly, unquestionably, 
and unwittingly script vitality
and the prologue to Thanksgiving,
(which theme poem initially written)
about three hundred and ninety seven years, 
and nine months after February third 1621,
yet...

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What drives the stuff of life to persist and thrive?
What drives it to struggle so hard 
to be fittest to compete and survive?
What drives it to be the most fecund 
and best at seeding the...

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Hyperbolic quasi autobiographical prevarication...
caricature sketch of person best known to yours truly

What began as an honest 
to goodness attempt 
to craft personal truthful profile
evolved into a fictional poem
manifested into the following.

Despite the onslaught of paparazzi,
I...

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Recurrent sneezing fit courtesy freshly mowed grass

circa June 20th, 2022
prompted me to stutter 
self addressed rapid fire gesundheit
nsync with, spluttering
“I don't have any allergies!”

An infinitesimal slight speck tickled 
nostril follicle – activated via an itty...

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From Blank Screen To Logorrhea, I Write With Confused Adumbrations

Methinks hmm, perhaps
aforementioned conglomerated eye gripping titled,
poem already aired
though revisiting said theme
downplayed as thoughts blare
though similar content
invariably communicated,
sans trademark Pi Seine fishtail career
as applies to other...

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Espousing irreverent greed

Crafted one year ago today
yours truly – hopefully self plagiarism okay
worse case scenario, 
I would meet ill fate re: kenway
named after Assassin Creed 
Black Flag's protagonist. 

"Yo, I totally Kenwayed that guy." 
by...

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As climate pathology peaks
toward climax conditions

LeftBrain privileged blindness
and deafness,
tastelessness
replacing savoring,

Absence of green
and sea salty blue
fragrance,
bereft of internal robust feelings
and external wellbeing touch
drop unhealthily
unwealthily away
from enabling organic integrity
to know 

Empathy is to spiritual consciousness
as sympathy mirrors...

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Espousing irreverent greed

Passive stance, but aye agreed
and did promise to pledge troth
faster than greased lightning airspeed
once the missus temporarily
ceased menarche regarding monthly bleed
became in family way with child
thee eldest, whom one day may breed,
when permanently...

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Ruminating vagaries of life May 2nd, 2021

(conceived while in utero
which loosely summarization in toto
of this ordinary Joe Schmoe,
who did wade nine months for a roe
at mercy of obstetricians status quo,

giving me a jump start to...

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Let hope rely upon your Maginot
for swift retort has choked your Gallic might.
It crushed your will beneath its undertow
as diligence receded in the fight.
Your flailing forces teeter on defeat
and any hint of truce shall be...

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"Forbidden"

the knowledge 
acquired 
from the story
I’ve lived 
is forbidden
to be written

I listen to 
their voices
carried in the 
rustling leaves 
the whispering 
of ghosts behind me

hushing me
I haunt them

the rain transports
me as if it is music
I...

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"The Emperor’s New Clothes"

We write about beliefs
our prayer flags flying 
like chrysallis books on a branch 
of those higher deities we trust, 
submerged, we are always listening 

in our quiet hours of sleep
mostly when 3.33...

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"All the Pretty Words"



All the pretty words
blooming like summer jonquils
fade from the velvet fresh green tongues
and rich fecund tussled beds 
of poets and minstrels
strumming hearts with 
fingers that waltz over keys
plucking tangos from dreams of
sensitive...

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Biosphere's tropical respiratory rainforests are on the verge of extinction,
the exclusive reservoir of biodiversity, the Congo Basin is shrinking rapidly.

Deforestation dehydrates the caliginous evergreen region,
scorching heat changed the water cycle irreversibly.

Locking in scanty rainfall and...

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How convenient slated to receive second dose...
COVID-19 February 13th, 2021

Here at Highland Manor apartments
me and the missus occupy room B44
courtesy qualified medical personnel
Lansdale, Penna CVS store #01379.

No qualm regarding being vaccinated
though yours truly NOT panic...

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"The Drowning Machine"



Pulled from my mouth
a string of raw gold to build a tower
built from one understanding
a united ziggurat of words sucked
backwards played before broken mirrors
translated anti-clockwise slow speed all that babel
an alter laid down...

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He was alive should breathing be called life, 
In state of peace and bliss, no surface strife, 
Suffering in silent resolve for long, 
A man as was of intense self-esteem, 
Died long ere, waiting still...

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My Black God
is real as I could imagine
worrying about defective White People
vulnerable to skin cancer
and fading water-front real estate values
in this unholy 
traumatic 
WhiteWashed Anthropocene.

My Black God
is strong as I could imagine
on my luckiest bipolar...

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