Long Harvest moon Poems

Yosa Buson haiku translations

On the temple’s great bronze gong
a butterfly
snoozes.
?Yosa Buson, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Hard to describe:
this light sensation of being pinched
by a butterfly!
?Yosa Buson, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Not to worry...

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Evening came and the Harvest Moon was about to rise,
little did Johnny know this night would bring him a surprise…

Johnny lived in a mushroom village with many folks just like him. He carried an over...

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Face to the sky,
Breath of the Caribbean
Woven with earthy Autumn,
Saturates the alveoli of my lungs,
Pouring raw impulses into the neurons of
My pleasure centers, so triggering a myriad of
Memories ... the demurring requiem to summer tide...

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I crept into the pit of hell all alone. Contingent upon my lifestyle I knew this could be my last day alive…

She haunted me in my dreams. She terrorized me in the sunlight but through...

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Femme Fatale By A Wishing Well 
  (In The Wastelands Of War)

Warm as breath on placid skin,
Soft as gentle summer rains,
Loud as natures angry clouds
That gather in ambushed lanes,
To confer with the wounded boys
Whose...

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Matsuo Basho New Haiku Translations

Air ballet:
twin butterflies, twice white,
meet, match & mate
—Matsuo Basho, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch 

Denied transformation
into a butterfly,
autumn worsens for the worm
—Matsuo Basho, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch 

Dusk-gliding...

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Poet's Pre-Notes: A poem from my 8th week in a Stanford continuing education class offered on the internet, a study of free verse and structure. The poem writing technique is to write as unconsciously as...

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...the village shivers   a hive of restless souls
skin pricklin' with anticipation
as costumed runners fixin' to gather — hearts a-thrummin'
              ...

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I was going to be late to work again, as it was one of those days,
When one small mishap after another, made for way too many delays.

Lateness had become a genuine problem, to a person...

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Alexandria, Egypt is well known for being the city where Cleopatra once ruled her people and both she and her famous lover, Mark Anthony met their final, tragic fates.  It is where the "Pharos...

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Upon the doorstep of my paradise,
     You’ll find h e l l i s h pansies and t a i n t e d tulips,
     obscured within...

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In the middle ages
these roughed and scuffed decades
between newborn crocus snow-melt-nursed and
dried hydrangea blooms sepia-skinned and papery thin
I earned the right to wear sapphires
and burn my mademoiselle mistakes with wisdom-fires

it took me a while to...

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Fukuda Chiyo-ni Haiku

Fukuda Chiyo-ni was a Japanese poet and painter of the Edo period, also known as Kaga no Chiyo.

Having seen the moon
I can bid this planet
farewell.
—Chiyo-ni, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

The moon settled
in...

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Haiku Translations I

As the monks sip their morning tea,
chrysanthemums quietly blossom.
—Matsuo Basho, loose translation by Michael R. Burch

The fragrance of plum blossoms
on a foggy path:
the sun rising.
—Matsuo Basho, loose translation by Michael R. Burch

The sea...

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ZEN DEATH HAIKU VI

These are my modern English translations of Japanese Zen Death Haiku.

Both victor and vanquished are dewdrops:
flashes of light
briefly illuminating the void.
—Ouchi Yoaka, loose translation/interpretation of his jisei (death poem) by Michael R....

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Let's see, my oldest son was about seven years old.  The boys had to ride a bus to 
school, which my oldest did not do well.  He has this way about him, that...

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If we start we may not end
but, here it goes for a special friend.
In no particular order or rank,
too many people to mention and thank.

So lets move on to other things,
like a package waiting when...

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                  Orb pulsates above a secret door,
proudly beaming about the find,
skitters to and fro as if to etch...

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As Neal Young's Harvest Moon plays on the computer in the background, as Sam our dog can
be found scratching her ear as her tail and butt bang on the rumbling laundry machine and
humming dryer. Clacking...

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Haiku Translations II

Illuminated by the harvest moon
smoke is caught creeping
across the water...
Hattori Ransetsu, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Fanning its tail flamboyantly
with every excuse of a breeze,
the peacock!
Masaoki Shiki, loose translation by Michael R. Burch

Waves...

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Whilst sitting on the Launch Pad
They await the final countdown
Their rocket – called TAKE 5, begins to shudder
The Captain is well known, and called BUTTERFINGER  Boris
The other crew are MIKE and IKE and a...

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Then the guns roared!! and it was hard to distinguish the 
Hush from the roaring; the two seemed almost 
Indistinguishable. 
Was it the roaring, I wondered, or was it the hush that was 
The more...

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Our family got the news today
Our bubba's gettin' hitched
Young Daisy Mae, she's near fourteen
Got our boy bewitched
He's sayin' that he loves her
He's making her his bride
She's the first to get him this close
Though not too...

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O, the old toad talks
To the equinox,
But he sings to the harvest moon.
Cuz his little pollywogs
All swam off in the bog,
And they’re getting gobbled up by a loon.

The chance is remote
For an antidote,
And they’ll all...

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She dances in a ring of fire.
  Cackling laughter stirring in the hot muggy nights.
  Sweat dripping down her shining skin.
  Her eyes are affixed on the blackened feline stalking her from...

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