Long Hastily Poems

Poem revised Memorial Day May 30th, 2022 at 1500 hours

Flagrante delict adulterous sordid behavior 
automatically linkedin with Lothario;
an unscrupulous seducer of women, 
based upon a character 
in The Impertinent Curious Man, 
a story within a...

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Medieval Poems

How Long the Night
anonymous Middle English lyric, circa early 13th century AD
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

It is pleasant, indeed, while the summer lasts
with the mild pheasants' song ...
but now I feel the northern...

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Merciles Beaute ("Merciless Beauty")
by Geoffrey Chaucer
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Your eyes slay me suddenly;
their beauty I cannot sustain,
they wound me so, through my heart keen.

Unless your words heal me hastily,
my heart's wound will remain...

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Rondels, Roundels and Rondeaux

These are poetic forms similar to villanelles, with refrains (repeated lines) and sometimes double refrains.



Rondel: Merciles Beaute ("Merciless Beauty")
by Geoffrey Chaucer
loose translation/interpretation Michael R. Burch

Your eyes slay me suddenly;
their beauty I cannot...

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He just appeared to me, like wispily curling 
Chimney smoke, 
One grim and early morning in the very midst of 
Decembers briefest days, on the highest slope,
Toiling through my daily round; where, slowly 
Driving up...

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[ ... story with context, a plausible universe with top and bottom
  a coat of cosmos covering
  over a subterranean protoverse of potential fields
  a quantum cellar creating
  the very big...

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He lifts me up on cloud nine
I’m a lost sheep in godly sleep
He nurtures me like His child – I’m feelin’ fine
I’m a joyful sheep in godly sleep
Dead leaves of dried hope and fervor-lacking faith...

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Now as the years passed by everyone became so tired
the heaps of things scattered around became too much to bear
some benevolence was certainly grand but this was too much
the two felt unable to undertake ...

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It’s complicated…
I’m the king of jealousy
Keep me up
I’m held down

Rumors are like the watery triangle of nasty errors… 
(Aphradere waterfalls fall on us)
My black and white future is full of grey blurs 
(Remember, we are...

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Constitution Street is where the Devil Meet
On constitution Street you can find many thieves
Pick pockets, phone snatchers, and money grabbers
Wine bibbers, idle men and youth, 
Hanging around with their hands in their pockets
Looking for something...

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People often say I talk a lot, but I hardly think that is true,
Like the whispers about the bluebird, of which he never knew.

Talking helps a lot with my job, which is in public relations,
As...

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Joyful music filled the village
when mother’s barren womb gave birth. 
Born to end Philistine pillage, 
and fill sad, anxious hearts with mirth.

No wine or product of the vine,
should pass your palate when you dine.
No razor...

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Circa February 12th, 2122 ~ 10:30 PM

Equals twenty one thirty 22:30 military time
future time traveler looks back one century ago,
oceanic waterways overladen with green slime,
yours truly attempted crafting id est feeble rhyme
far from madding crowd,...

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"LETTER OF INNER RE-EVALUATION"

As I think about the future moving forward, it seems that I miscalculated the opportunity laid before me. In this moment of strife and turmoil, should I act, without taking a full...

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Future time traveler looks back one century ago

The following poem tweaked 
courtesy original author who crafted
literary endeavor some couple years ago.

Now circa August 20th, 2122, 
or 1930 military time,
yours truly attempted 
drafting id est feeble...

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You vanished suddenly out of view
I didn’t know I was so far away from you
You disappeared out of the blue
Wondering where my missing shoe is
If only you knew, if only you knew
That I’ve lost something...

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I was a zealous meteorologist, which I had been for a long time,
As the roving years work diligently, to create a very fine wine.

So content in my fond vocation, many deemed me tops in my...

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SS SULTANA

Boiler, or bomb, the Sultana sank on April 27, eighteen sixty five 
Taking down with her, a good rounded off number of 1,800 lives

Carrying Union soldiers, who were ex-prisoners of war, up north
From Vicksburg...

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Jinxed jesting jejune junior jobber...
just jabbering gibberish (A - J)

Again, another awkward ambitious
arduous attempt at alphabetically
arranging atrociously ambiguously
absolutely asinine avoidable alliteration.

Because...? Basically bonafide belching,
bobbing, bumbling, bohemian beastie boy,
bereft bummer, bleeds blasé blues, begetting
bloviated boilerplate bildungsroman,
boasting...

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Future time traveler looks back one century ago

I exhibit health and virility at one hundred and 
64 years astride planet earth, whereby spouse,
(who remained married to yours truly for about
one century – which elapsed in...

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I never knew who wrote them, but some of                          ...

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It’s been 36 days since you were dethroned 
You were the free-standing house, I was the fist that ripped the power line in half 
You’re the ouija board to my spirits of the past,
You keep...

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Joulupukki was hastily making preparations for his morning departure when Lumi and Chroí entered the room.  When he saw them he hurried over to help Chroí find a suitable chair in which to sit....

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 [Poem read at Sekoto’s inhumation ceremony at the Neuilly-sur-Marne-93 Cemetery, near Paris. Channel 4 in London recorded the reading as they did the funeral rites in the presence of his close relatives come from...

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The Chinese store has everything 
so be observant when you walk in. 
The Chinese store has everything, 
Matchbox, paper bag and red watch
The Chinese store has everything
Wall clock old keys and old lock
The Chinese store...

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