Long Gelid Poems

State of the Art (IV)

These are my "ars poetica" poems about the art and craft of writing poetry. 



Hearthside
by Michael R. Burch

“When you are old and grey and full of sleep...”  — W. ...

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To a Daughter More Precious than Gems
by Otomo no Sakanoue no Iratsume
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

Heaven's cold dew has fallen—
and thus another season arrives.
Oh, my child living so far away,
do you pine for me...

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A wince doth lurk wearing which wicked gaze,
Of conniving cast shadows ‘tween my windowpanes.

Gazing through the window’s diaphanous gelid glass, 
I see a flushing fluorescent misty haze of frothy brass.

It floats aloft the frost of...

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 Continued from Part 2 

5. MIDNIGHT DREAMS 
At night the soldiers sometimes dream
of many things which make them scream,
like
               ...

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Una donna rattristita e velata dal pianto,
guarda verso un mare
piu' squallido di questo invernile mattino: 
rimpiangendo i pensieri dolci
cullati dalla nostalgia di ieri
che non sara' facile dimenticare!

Una nave parte,
si ode il suo rombo...
si infrancono
onde tempestose
sulla...

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Urges ushered Est’bel out of her abode –
a cottage cobbled together from cobwebs and clapboard – 
and she scuttled forth,
her nesty hair tousled
by a leaf-laced breeze

In her bony hands she clutched
dregs of a nightmeg broth
in...

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The blood and lapis daylight sets
in ether. How the mind resets
brutality of winter chill
with February's codicil;
what gossamer a dream begets.

I hear the crickets in the dark,
their clicking takes up where the lark
has been. The flagrant...

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The glossy lamp-posts,
like the tremulous stars and awakening stars,
light up one by one with a click;
and with incredible manifestation
they announce a spectacular sunset
to impatient and eager lovers...
lost in profound contemplation,
feeling the urge of improvisation!
Serenity descends...

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The sunless evening is deprived
of its ardent and vivid colors,
the mischievous clouds
in their hastiness extend
their thin and tenebrous veil 
increasing my body's chill.

They intensify the dreary darkness
invading the lively landscapes under
a silent universe so distant...

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I thought about my older brother when I wrote this


One morning I woke up
and my bed was now a king size,
No more chow lines
and my wisdom[wife] was puttin' in kitchen work
and I was blessed to...

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A frosty whitewash, whirling winter snow
smoothly shrouds a secret silent slumber.
Skies all awake, flying mosaics of row
music chirps cavort the sunset amber.
Gelid air turfs, chilled in birds of wonder
gliding through miles, unknown lands asunder.

Crackling wings...

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It was Long ago.
From the break of dawn
July 23,2003.
To the plenilune of the moon,
After the bullets have surceased.
The cry of a neonate hearkened through out the waves of the sea.

The gelid breeze alleviated my stress...

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Hearthside: an Imagined Sequel to "When You Are Old"
by Michael R. Burch

“When you are old and grey and full of sleep...” ? W. B. Yeats

For all that we professed of love, we knew
this night would...

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The grandstand is gelid by a sharp wintry breeze
Carried off from the field are the last of dead leaves
The shrill of the whistle, muffled calls from the crowd
From the tunnel stampede, metal studs echo loud.
With...

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Between frosty cobalt-cliffs, cruise-ship hesitates to pause,
Amidst ice sculptures echoing cheers of spirited applause,
Mesmerizing enthralled sights evincing awe-struck trance,
Lauding vast gelid expanse, hypnotizing eyes of romance.

Buoying on inlets, flaunting aesthetics of sculpted designs,
Dark blue glaciers...

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When gusty winds blow, riling my troubled dawn in gelid woes
Squall of my throes dissipates in scented whiffs of budding rose.

As brazen fog shrouds mind, heightening my grief, poking fun 
Defyingly I step out in...

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More days await underneath the solar's resplendant sheen,
dishevelled hair battered by michevious whirlwinds;
and slowly approaching my bright chapel, I promise to commit no sins.



Lilies and daisies are held by a cautious hand which has known...

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In depth of woods how autumn dazzles, swirling beauty of ornate décor,
Waltzing with ochre hickory, birch; whirling flaxen moods of sycamore,
Gracing my view upon blazing foothills, where vistas gamboge scroll,
Bedecking maples, swaying rhythms, with fiery...

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I hear the words. In autumn's silent verse
lie anapestic wafts of falling leaves
with golden syllables both bright and terse,
the crimson pluck of summer as it grieves

its loss of verdant shimmer.  In the wake
of crisp...

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Melting your frozen heart.


Why do you refuse to feel my love?

Why has your heart grown cold?

It´s so cold it is frozen solid, 

beating ever so slowly,

for no one.

A warm smile, a calid embrace, 

a compassionate...

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Canines of cold bite down hard

Frigid daggers pierce the bones with reality
Pack ice, pregnant with the dynamism of glacial creep
Screaming and retching as it births its icy progeny to the Southern Ocean
Relentless gales turning billows...

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A chill drifted past the staircase
lingered then dissipated;
while the rustic oil lamp flickered, 
hesitating to die. 
Gasping to calm emotions, before 
feelings of faint overpower wit.
A continuous bumping in the lulling 
darkness sends an anxious...

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While gelid breezes of winter, quiver emotions of decaying rays,
And arc of horizon cedes to dusk, evoking grimace of malaise,
Casting shadows tenebrous, shrouding glimmer of a slowing day,
Desperate hope lingers still, in resplendence of autumn’s...

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Autumn has dressed up in pretty auburn
by pulling all the lifeless leaves
off the dormant, cold trees; 
and every bird, that once thrilled everyone's heart,
has glanced upon this scenery and sadly gone south,
and I like them...I...

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What brought me to this sullen shore...
is not sheer curiousity at all,
but an equivocal question too hard to be answered
even by those whose minds are so cultured! 

Pelicans swarm the February's frigid sky over the...

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