Long Helen 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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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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This is a totally true episode from our 40 years spent collecting antiques -  


You never know for sure what lays ahead in life, my friend…
And here’s a tale I love to tell, and...

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"Sick Art"



I walk the streets
still and quiet
I do not lie
I do not betray
what the heart belies
pickled kidneys 

I am a ghost
of my former self

ears lent to hear 
the sweet music
of the sounds so fraught
caught up...

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Busy time very frustrating watching my 
husband and ciro gargano go over the 
blue prints over and over again during 
the 1984 elections for lake county Daniel 
Furlan Bobby Thompson Ernest Fisher Ciro 
was looking...

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A poet of a thousand words
The pen garnished by the flame
Like a sea no desire knows
And love becomes the same
As poet to my love for thee
I confess between the lace
Of time and every sorrow made
I...

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MY PRINCESS OF IMAGINATION
                               ...

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“Women Have Loved Before As I Love Now”
by Edna St. Vincent Millay

Women have loved before as I love now;
At least, in lively chronicles of the past-
Of Irish waters by a Cornish prow
Or Trojan waters by...

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This is a Crown of Sonnets I wrote about one of my favorite books and movies (the version in 1943 with Liz Taylor, who was only 11 had a small role, Joan Fontaine and Orson...

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How terribly awkward it so often is when ones relations are faced with seeing to the daily survival of those they most care about - young OR old - 



Sooner or later the day will...

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The problem with trying to prove clairaudience, clairsentince, out-of-body, and Near Death Experiences to a Mudblood is not as simple
as it could have been.
Is it because Para-science is totally unsubstantiated?
Not in MY family.
Scientifically un-sound?
Sure, by...

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Mother nature oh! Rose of roses!
Mother of all flowers' and smell,
Ylang Ylang! You don't know what it causes!
An aphrodisiac turns you on like hell!

Sandalwood with its masculine warmth poses,
Rosemary clears the head, you can tell,
Peppermint...

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“I’m reluctant to share my secret, but being we are the closest of friends, I will share my secret with you. But before I do I’m going to ask you to pinkie swear that you...

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Lord Of Long Shadows, Master Poe And I 

Lord of long shadows had invaded hearth and home
sauntered in amidst cracklings of hot fireplace flames
Saying, " I like this sad place, may I freely roam
you know...

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Here's the deal, folks...

This is, as indicated, the 2nd HALF of this fairly lengthy poem. Due to Poetry Soup's file-size limitations, this piece, like several of my story-pieces, had to be posted in 2 parts....

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Won’t you please take me back
To the brown couch at my Gramma’s house 
With the big gold-framed antique mirror over it
And hand me Grampa’s old transistor radio
Covered in leather with glorious knobs
That brought me the...

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Here's the deal, folks...
   This is, as indicated, the 2nd HALF of this fairly lengthy poem. Due to Poetry Soup's file-size limitations, this piece had to be posted in 2 parts. 
 ...

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CONTINUES PART II:

Then she departs, ... his newfound friend
stands (clueless me, no intro of her) I with Rick ... waiting
wife comes--(Hellooo Oh) newfound by brochure stand
he says, "My wife Kris." "Hm" <--(My utterance--smiling, as I'm...

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Most of you, I don’t suppose, devote a lot of time to wond’ring ‘bout your death, but, now and then, 
I begin imagining some pretty strange scenarios.   Of course I’m going to die,...

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Deciphering crossword puzzles, cryptograms and scrabblegrams once favorite pastimes

Livingsocial at 324 Level Road
circa post high school graduation
found yours truly voluntarily holed up
for an inordinate amount of time
within familiar four walls of his bedroom.

He preferred solitude versus
interacting...

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Twelve days of sleep deprivation has thrown
Aunt Zee into full blown manic.
And it did not help that a young
cute female doctor who was trying
to please, wanted her to get to
drive to Omaha for Easter, so
she...

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I Am The Final Word And The First Word


I’m having another one of those night sweats again. 
I am on my back here as naked as David, 
On this slip-covered sofa of mine, 
Counting the...

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Here's the scoop, friends...
   This is, as indicated, the 1st HALF of this fairly lengthy poem. The 2nd half had to be posted separately due to Poetry Soup's file-size limitations. No other way...

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So from first circle started the descent
Down to the second, which contains less
And more pain, stinging to a great extent.

There the horrible Minòs growls giving stress:
The faults examines right to entry close:
Judges and sends according...

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I thought to myself. What an 
Odd feeling? Looking out at the
Crowd and thinking... they're 
Here to see me. I could certainly 
Pack a house. As a prairie boy
From Saskatoon... it doesn't get 
Any better....

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