Long Gulf Poems

Epitaph for a Palestinian Child
by Michael R. Burch

I lived as best I could, and then I died.
Be careful where you step: the grave is wide.



Autumn Conundrum
by Michael R. Burch

It's not that every leaf must finally...

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I Know The Truth
by Marina Tsvetaeva
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

I know the truth?abandon lesser truths!
There's no need for anyone living to struggle!
See? Evening falls, night quickly descends!
So why the useless disputes?generals, poets, lovers?

The wind...

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Athenian Epitaphs

Mariner, do not ask whose tomb this may be,
but go with good fortune: I wish you a kinder sea.
—Michael R. Burch, after Plato

Does my soul abide in heaven, or hell?
Only the sea gulls
in their...

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Additional free advice to those* who would be King from the THIRUK-KURAL with Commentary
[*like presidents, prime ministers, dictators of declining (falling or fallen) nations or even empires]

K442: urranOy niikki uraa amai munkaakkum
   ...

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My love is light (a fairy kiss?)          
               Like the pressure of...

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LOVE POEMS II

These are love poems by Michael R. Burch: original poems and translations about passion, desire, lust, sex, dating and marriage. On an amusing note, my steamy Baudelaire translations have become popular with the...

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...cont

Always wanting to get the most from life,
one morning after a terrible snow storm
she rose from bed stretching 
the most radiant, playful grin spread across her face,
"I feel incredible," she screamed,
"Let's have a picnic!"
"In this?"...

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A Most Courageous American President for the Ages

I thought it would be most appropriate for me to take a moment to
share some of my reflections on the life and distinguished public
service of the late 41st...

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The Great Lakes acronym spells homes

I chose titled topic by a fanciful whim,
nevertheless still consider my knowledge 
of aforementioned material slim.

Housing multivarious biomes
register ecological syndromes
whereby constituents of NOAA 
Great Lakes Environmental 
Research Laboratory writ tomes.

Pellucid...

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The Rhine Salmon Complaint, Translation of Etiemble’s Complainte d’un salmon du Rhin

						For Yvon Belaval
(A lilting musical poem of varying line length in quatrains with a refrain and much internal
 rhyming; end-rhyme scheme: alternate rhymes in...

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Note:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Percy_Bysshe_Shelley
Percy Bysshe Shelley,  Born 4 August 1792
Horsham, Sussex, England[1]
Died , 8 July 1822 (aged 29)
Gulf of La Spezia, Kingdom of Sardinia (now Italy)
Occupation	Poet, dramatist, essayist, novelist
Alma mater	University College, Oxford (no degree)
Literary movement	Romanticism
Spouse	Harriet Westbrook
(m. 1811;...

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Huge fluffy clouds began to form over 
Sanibel Island as the salted gulf splashed 
against the rocks around the lighthouse 
coastal waters rose up as a calming coolness 
carried this gentle warm breeze over to...

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Now in my time echoes
  I remember then
  my full days in a life
  when I was ten.
We lived in a shadow 
  much greater 
  at the gates of...

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Remembering our friendship 
how we'd talk for hours about
any topic family love kids life
how it hurt not to hear from 
one another sending cards 
pictures letters remember that 
I remember so well that achy 
lonely...

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When it comes to “this” generation, many (if any) do not know about the songs we sung faithfully and wholeheartedly each and every morning at school.
I was born in the sixties and even in the...

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Placed seventh in
Consciousness Correction Poetry Contest 
Sponsored by Unseeking Seeker

 
                        ...

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A rising sun in the east does appear
  from St. Augustine to St. Clair,
to loose me from sleep’s tranquil hold
  and dreams of serendipities of old -
to rise again the boy I was...

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I was taught by   my father to be obedient in the dense forest to save the individuals trees, stop destruction to plantation. I cannot be silent under the detriment from lumberjacks to global...

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The Undertow


The two could feel the undertow
Pull at them both - then let them go
He wondered if she could know
Or sense it too and let it flow

The undertow in the fast-running tide
Ebbed and flowed at...

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                           I
On the hill betwixt Carlisle and Deep Creek
...

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Hidden beauty resides not in the grace like charms
Of coy smiles 
Painted across a gentle Madonnas face.
Nor is she vested within the chastened vows
Of saintly knights; encased Great-Helm:
Thus maketh the pale maidens meek pulse
To so...

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flying over Gulf of Mexico
                              ...

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Inevitable death defines afterlife - trois

So all I ask, would be
inviting, offering, and ushering me to 
top secret cygnet committee
to give this average sized 
chapped sticky man
spinning the david bowie playlist 
as a somber dee...

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Pedestrians are moving ups and downs the day can define the differences he experiences in the bathroom, cars buzzing their noise, around my understanding I cannot keep on thrusting for answers which has to be...

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The human ego, a deadly thing; it convinces we’re better,
more powerful, creators who have no limits and we believe its’ lies.

Greed = ego,
hate - ego
selfishness = ego
self-centeredness,
vanity,
inconsiderateness,
a desire for power,
Germ Warfare = Human Ego
it’s all...

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