Long Hilltops Poems

I was reading Rev. Julian Clifford Jaynes' homily,
delivered May of 1919
to the First Unitarian Society in West Newton, Massachusetts,
commenting on the 100 years since Channing's Baltimore Sermon.

Rev. Jaynes had a son, 
a second generation Julian...

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With you, the twilight changes, wandering through the silent dreams,
With you, destiny wanders, hopes and promised goals.
With trembling boats at the shores, love urges us to be
Hostages to the droplets of waves and kings over...

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With summer nearly gone, we all wanted to do something special,
And decided it should be daring, rather than the usual and dull.

So, we listed the things we desired to do, but hadn't yet tried,
And we...

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Dear global leaders - keep on rockin' in the free world
after implementing long overdue criminal justice reforms,
especially affecting marginalized groups of people.

I vote for more lenient, progressive and tolerant treatment
towards undocumented immigrants, plus implementing
a humane...

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My arrival landed where I began my flight and journey 
Sunny San Diego y e s, I was back and how I missed it
Oh-h-h-h, let me count the ways—rather days spent 
in a border town,...

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Odyssey from Africa, Chapter 12 The Fireflower (continued, b)

Finally a tired Ipiki
Flew back to his owner Matto
Hanging from his fern-frond necklace 
Starting late his daytime sleeping 
 
Matto went into the mansion 
Back into their...

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Gefunden (“Found”)
by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Into the woodlands,
alone, I went.
Seeking nothing,
my sole intent.

But I saw a flower
deep in the shade
gleaming like starlight
in a still glade.

I reached down to pluck it
when...

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I was born at the edge of a field 
that captured the shadows at sunset
I was an adolescent, 
when I watched men plant odd, angular rocks
where a  strange, hollow tree sprouted,
maturing unnaturally fast.

I was...

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China, the rising giant;
China, the ruthless tyrant.
China, proud host of the Olympic Games,
China, notorious records of shame.
China, Olympic torch burning bright;
China, missing flame of human rights.
China, model of reform and openness;
China, cruel crackdowns with patent...

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DAMP 1
Out walking to where three valleys meet,                           ...

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Just because you didn't finish that thought 
Doesn't mean we didn't know what you were thinking 

And you’d think the voice in my head had no choice but to agree with me 
But the knife’s...

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" The Horse and The Storm Cloud ... "

(From The Solomon Studies Series) # 4
(Eccl. 3: 11 / Prov. 6: 6 / Matt. 6: 26, 28, 29)



The Horse and The Storm Cloud
Both Have Thundered Over...

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By Cherbo Geeplay

You woke me up when I was dead,
teaching the night stars wantonly 
to obey the Atlantic; then slashed
my arteries in flight to Lake Piso, 
humbling its boundaries, before 
fusing them calmly to a...

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*Image of A Fallen Smirk by DG.

Brace For Impact

Pillar of society, creme de la creme, important person,
   one to be reckoned by indeed.
One who's untouched by palls, frails near a radiant ray
 ...

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Where to? Just to walk?
Dressed in long garment like ghost?
A question mark in purse… gold!?

She preferred a walk!
Missed her crooked edgy boat!
Just went to walk down the road…

Looking at picture
In the hands of the painter
Van...

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Image: Cloud Fantasy, by Susan Lawrence

On spring's green carpet I repose, revitalizing the soul
passing slow minutes pondering the sky

The lake whispers a morning meditation
as memories abound of cloud fantasies
a thousand ships of condensation dreams

Assorted sizes,...

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In my quest to conquer, from valleys to cities
From rivers to hilltops, deserts to valleys of ice
Until reaching focal point to realize
That there are many things I do not know:
My shadow is my best companion
Yet,...

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Sometimes I dream of whistles blowing
     while the warden's calling out my name,
And I wonder if that thunder far
     will be bringing in the summer rain.
I was...

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Hand me a pen so that I may write the most stunning 
love poem in the world.
Hand me the most luxurious paper so the writing appears 
elegant and well placed.
Let the words flow from my...

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 I call out your name from hilltops and lofty mounts.
But I get no response, not even an echo return.
Once our laughter pulsated through crannies and crevices
And along seastrands with the sibilance of waves and...

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Lost was I amidst the Scottish highlands
          The evening sky was blushing heaven-kissed
             ...

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If I were allowed, just one last precious day...
Only twenty four hours, to swallow away
To fear, or to fret, what a waste of the gift
So I'll say, I'll confess, what a blessing it is
to be...

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As I walked beside the water, feeding ducks and skimming stones,
I was whistling to the weather and the winter wind that moans.
Dreaming dreams of summer sunshine with you walking by my side,
In a land across...

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Language rots
in memories,
thoughts,
but in dreams 
above all
do lips blow
cherry O's and ah's

rolling hilltops into
milky afterbirth atmosphere
that I tumble down
quite suddenly by ear,

And in the valley pitch...
Blind visions—
Master!
Totem!
Taboo...too clear!
A knife pulled from 
ear to ear.

My tongue...

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Written: October 02, 2023 For Robert James Liguori Contest
               _______________________________________

Fervent mishaps start life's biggest wins.
The first crocus shrieks and grins.
A bird's...

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