Long Inanna Poems

The Moon as a Metaphor for Your Mouth
by Michael R. Burch

When I was closest to love, it did not seem
real at all, but a thing of such tenuous sweetness
it might dissolve in my mouth
like a...

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Enheduanna is the first writer we know by name. She created the first poetry anthology and hymnal, circa 2250 BC, in ancient Sumer. She was the daughter of King Saragon the Great. 

Lament to the...

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“ANTE BELLUM”


BEIGEBest served where it can’t be seen
On Stirling Silver platters
With redruM narcotics
Delivered by sharp Blood-Red
Well-mannered talons
Strutting in sleek wet rolling tight-skirted
Long French Silk Stockinged legs all the way down to 
Lethal Six Inch stilettos...

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The Exaltation of Inanna: Opening Lines and Excerpts 
by Enheduanna, daughter of Sargon I of Akkad and high priestess of Inanna
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Lady of all divine powers!
Lady of the resplendent light!
Righteous Lady...

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Lament to the Spirit of War
by Enheduanna (circa 2285-2250 BCE)
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

You hack down everything you see, War God!

Rising on fearsome wings
you rush to destroy the land:
raging like thunderstorms,
howling like hurricanes,
screaming like...

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The Love Song Of Shu-Sin
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Darling of my heart, my belovéd, 
your enticements are sweet, sweeter than honey. 
Darling of my heart, my belovéd, 
your enticements are sweet, sweeter than honey....

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Enheduanna (circa 2285-2250 BCE), the daughter of the famous King Sargon the Great of Akkad, is the first ancient writer whose name remains known today.

Temple Hymn 15
to the Gishbanda Temple of Ningishzida
by Enheduanna 
loose translation/interpretation...

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These are poems about storms, poems about squalls, poems about tempests...



Dark-bosomed clouds
pregnant with heavy thunder ...
the water breaks
—Michael R. Burch



Squall
by Michael R. Burch

There, in that sunny arbor,
in the aureate light
filtering through the waxy leaves
of a...

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These are poems about storms, poems about squalls, poems about tempests...



Squall
by Michael R. Burch

There, in that sunny arbor,
in the aureate light
filtering through the waxy leaves
of a stunted banana tree,

I felt the sudden monsoon of your...

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In Sumer land, you first appeared.
A potent god, both loved and feared.
Queen of Heaven, joined to its lights.
Moon your father, Sun your brother.

Venus was your symbolic star.
You were too, a goddess of war.
Fierce, fiery, passionate,...

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A new type Of spell summons the chaos from order thru demonic language,                  To speak of wisdom thru...

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Before the first moonlight spilled down upon us like winged doves from the sky
we were fettered together like lovers were,
In passion not yet transmuted into devotion to one another.
Above us rose a virgin sky void...

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Are you the Aphrodite of the Greek tales
Or the Artemis who admirers drooling sent? 
No, for Aphrodite had her little flaws
And Artemis the fortunes of Orion bent.

Nor are you the stunning star that the Magi...

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For the accountant, the librarian, on this cold day
there is no revelation. He will go his own way
to the roar of the tinnitus in his ears.
About our war what is there to say. Yesterday
a flock...

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There lives with-in, a grande dame fair,
goddess of many talents rare.
Yet, humble in her own shy way,
she weaves her words without delay, beyond compare.

You might just think she lives to write,
that poetry consumes her sight.
I...

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