Long Heirloom Poems

Sappho fragment #155
translation by Michael R. Burch 

A short revealing frock?
It's just my luck
your lips were made to mock!

*

Sappho fragment #156
translation by Michael R. Burch 

She keeps her scents
in a dressing-case.
And her sense?
In some undiscoverable...

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I'm writing on the first page.
I love the concord and quiet at my age.
The morning came from a genius mage.
In my spirit, I am searching for the truth stage.
To understand things to resist this upsurge.
It...

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Black Iraqi Woman
Written by Faleeha Hassan
Translated from the Arabic by William Hutchins
Shortly before my father died, he whispered to me longingly: “Daughter, treasure this, because it authenticates your heritage to our kinsfolk!” When I accepted...

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Written: March 4th 2024
                 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Whilst waiting patience is a probity,
swifter straddling startled savvy scare
strong for people enduring anguish
trope for enthusiastic...

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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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I am ill eke quipped to dusk hoover dawn ting task of badinage

Indentured gumption forsaken 
courtesy each pulled wisdom-tooth
this hug gust aspiring writer..., albeit youth
fool looking imp posse Hubble wordsmith,
(i.e. the babbling dad) coon sitters...

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You should have a getaway, my friends all said,
They said I earned it, so why sit home instead?

A real vacation would be the nicest thing yet;
Go see the peachiest scenery you'll never regret!

I listened very...

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It is time. Yes. It is time. Time for all time telling devices to climb up trees. The grandfather clocks can climb the oaks. The watches can climb the willows. The alarm clocks can climb...

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On a cobblestone street,
cracked and ill-repaired, 
I rifle antique shops 
  for a jeweled music box 
     to cradle my empty locket. 
I wish to drop it 
  ...

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I resided in a beautiful old home, on the sunny side of the street;
And I had friendly neighbors, offering hellos whenever we'd meet.

Often when I was off from work, I puttered in my house or...

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That furniture at Grandma’s house has never had a;
Behind, sit down directly on it-
The plastic had duct tape overtop
Where something sharp had pierced a hole
This sofa, that had lasted 30 years… unscathed.
The sofa also had...

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Interview With a Rock   
I was conceived in the warm haven of a mother’s womb.  Developing, growing, morphing through the epochs of time.  Then, on no day in particular, I emerged...

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A translucent but lucid idea is best held by a pea in a pod. A pea in a pod is protected whilst in the pod but shelling the peas means that the pea would then...

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I was an experienced interior designer, whose specialty was outer doors,
Ever opening to amber sunshine, as petals open, when vivid beams pour.

Functionality and beauty were very vital, so I helped customers each day,
To choose materials,...

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I still blame myself because I was the one to walk away from the accident.  I stare at our 
pictures on the book shelf and think about that argument.  I should have been...

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Silver lining sought amidst coronavirus COVID-19 onslaught

Two hundred and forty six plus months
into twenty first century celeb
and anonymous folks alike
gripped courtesy pestilence re: deb
buckle fishtailed, looped, roughed up...
wreaks/wrought havoc across world wide web.

As a secular...

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Violet Smith lived in Center Kingdom. Her neighbors were Jack and Jill;
Like orange sun, of a pink morning, when it's just peeking over blue hills.

With Mother and Father and sister, Ava, Violet enjoyed life on...

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Did you ever have real good thoughts?
Where you're not stressed or distraught?
Well thinking about our Savior, I was feeling rather good,
When I was interrupted by a long ago friend that lived in the hood.

It was...

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I
                                  ...

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(Isaiah 50: 4, 5 /  Song of Solomon  /  John 11: 23 – 27  /  Revelation 21: 3, 4)


Out of Cold Shadows On A Highland Moor
Will You Come Walking To...

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He Thought, ‘Cause He Was Old
And the Other Guy, was Just ‘Sprung’
That He didn’t have a Chance To Hold
His Own, Against The ‘Young-Un’ …

And In Spite of His Many Years
… Worn-Well, Like Battle-Scars
The Boy, Wet,...

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What’s left of Octavia glides down the hall 
Past the portraits she painted in life,
Now framed in mahogany, rosewood, and oak, 
And they’re hers for the haunting tonight.
She looks for the canvas she started the...

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… On The Gist of Where A Gather Melts Hate’s Glacier
On The Nexus of Need & Knowing True Love’s Nature
On The Passage of Innocence To Please Forgive Us Prayers
On The Way To Meet Wide Open...

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a flustered tango of Gypsy moths 
drumming the porchlight; chalk artists; 
the endemic disappearance of farms—silos lost 
in unkempt fields;  space stations; the sunlit-scent of lemon 
oil on cherry wood; birth; the chasm between...

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The Reason
~~~~~~~~~~
The reason for these tears and heartache
For this pain that you feel is not yours alone
A love that's no more was of beauty and truth
Do you remember when you cast it away?
I always kept...

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