Long Firefly Poems

These are translations of some of the oldest Japanese waka, which evolved into tanka, renga and haiku. 

While you decline to cry,
high on the mountainside
a single stalk of plumegrass wilts.
—O no Yasumaro (circa 711), translation...

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Grasses wilt:
the braking locomotive
grinds to a halt
—Yamaguchi Seishi, translation by Michael R. Burch

Oh, fallen camellias,
if I were you,
I'd leap into the torrent!
—Takaha Shugyo, translation by Michael R. Burch

The first soft snow:
leaves of the awed jonquil
bow...

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Salat Days
by Michael R. Burch 

(dedicated to my grandfather, Paul Ray Burch Sr.)

I remember how my grandfather used to pick poke salat ...
though first, usually, he’d stretch back in the front porch swing,
dangling his long...

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Note to Readers of Previous Versions:
There are so many new vignettes scattered throughout the poem that I hope you will reread the whole thing! There are new GEMS, improvements to previous verses and improved footnotes...

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you were an infant
i would sing a song i created for you

'there's a baby in my arms
there's a baby in the mirror
but honey 
there's not really two
the child in the mirror
is only 
an image 
of...

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“What's this then,” he asked him as Sprinteren poked his head through the stable door.
     “Umm, we're guarding the back door to make sure no one tries to get in or...

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I write about my ex a lot,
we didn't talk much, but our tongues touched,
we used to have sex a lot and 
it was so hot that it set my soul ablaze, 
and no, it wasn't...

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The flames of the furnace (well-travelled by wind
slowly glazing the rags of gray women chagrined
at the sight of a hair fleeing tresses now thinned) 
sometimes billow like waves flooding naves through the night,
when the lightning...

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when I met you, I was dying. for the very first time in my life, but certainly not the last- you made sure of that
when I met you I was dying. I hadn’t eaten in...

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Driving down a country road one sultry summer evening, with headlights sweeping through the little clouds of dust ahead, 
Caused by cars that led the way…or met me in the night…I scanned the ditches, left...

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Dead Man Tales
shards of glass pearl the emperor's rise,
his arms embracing upon our sins and lies, 

do not deceive yourself , my friend.
in the twilight of our beings our corruption merges and blends.

there is no...

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The forest had enjoyed a magical transformation.
Dusk had ushered in the firefly brigade.
They lit up the pond area like tiny LED lights.
I could see they were excitedly motioning to the faeries.
Although I do not speak...

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Slowly creeping out of winter 
Would it ever be the same 
If I showed up at your door 
Out of breath, out of line 
With a million excuses behind my manic behavior?
A video diary full...

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A long, long time ago on a cold winter's night

A long, long time ago on a cold winter’s night
Two hearts were broken the crest of the eve
This is the story of how it all happened
How...

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“One of the best gifts we can give ourselves is time alone with God.” - author unknown.


Stars reflect His amazing, His grace, His praises,
Are forever on my lips, rising like the Son’s comforting,
Boiling over, in...

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Q, you; you cry, defy
call me a liar; open inside, simple design
I shout to the sky like a dying firefly
See the light flickering incessantly 
a cosmic wave of energy mingling
an incomplete portrait, complete with hair...

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Visual surroundings-
Some of it are monotonous -
Tiring are Some of it sometimes-
Maybe traditional scenes
Unknowingly builds the pinnacle -
Of the dreamless minaret.

Or-
Talk about rubbish
That rains incessantly
Disturbs the Subconscious.


Rather in the darkness of decade
Or-
It can be seen...

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My Halloween party was in full swing. I had gone all out this year and rented an old crumbling, reputed-to-be haunted mansion for the evening's Dionysian festivities, and all the invited guests were present and...

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The winter solstice has passed, so the spring dance can begin at last,
and everyone is invited, from every tree as far as the eye can see.
To each and every flourishing flower, the buzzing bees and...

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Something prolific pulled me from my bed
It dragged me through the battered door  
and land me on the main road
I wasn't dreaming or sleep walking
I wasn't having an outer body experience
I was literally walking...

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oh, Dear Indulgence ...

desolate, obscure, I know you not, (and have known you not),
    still, do I not know the glint there, in your eye? Aye, it abides
    ...

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This is the story about the man who sought refuge in my heart
His glance told stories
It sang songs, reviving and pioneering all at the same time 
His melody was beauty and foreign, a vacation I...

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I walked a wooded path at night;
Down in the vale: a hint of light.
It shone as through an open door:
A faint, soft glow, and little more,
And sounds of bells, to my delight.

I crept up close...

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A kangaroo in dungarees hops hopefully 
	To win first prize in the Favs contest hot
		On the heels of an enlightening glow worm

Surely life is no competition but the stage lights
	Reverberates all the promising contenders
		Reincarnation oils...

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EPIGRAMS IV

Improve yourself by others' writings, attaining freely what they purchased at the expense of experience.
—Socrates, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

I didn’t mean to love you,
but I did.
Best leave the rest unsaid,
hid-
den
and unbidden.
—Michael R....

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