Long Inscription Poems

"The Strange Case of F.T."



They say the dead don’t talk
the stories I have calculated
to deliver a saving grace 
confessional shared amongst 
my equal peers, or so I deem 
you somewhat sometimes seem,
less than me, you...

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Come, You
by Rainer Maria Rilke
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

This was Rilke’s last poem, written ten days before his death. He died open-eyed in the arms of his doctor on December 29, 1926, in the...

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Archaic Torso of Apollo
by Rainer Maria Rilke
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

We cannot know the beheaded god
nor his eyes' forfeited visions. But still
the figure's trunk glows with the strange vitality
of a lamp lit from within,...

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The Panther
by Rainer Maria Rilke
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

His weary vision's so overwhelmed by iron bars,
his exhausted eyes see only blank Oblivion.
His world is not our world. It has no stars.
No light. Ten thousand...

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I suppose you might have missed out on Paul Feyerabend's,
and especially Thomas Kuhn's Problem of Incommensurabiity.

Oh, not at all.
I have not looked at science or culture
or language
or even your attempts at communication
quite the same since...

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The Ash Can  ©

I got the call on Sunday night.  I was traveling on business.  When I looked at the caller ID
 I wondered why my husband’s boss would be calling me....

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[If you’re a glutton for punishment, you
Can find ‘Mad Molly Shaw’ using the poems
Tag at top of screen]
              ****

Mad Molly Shaw wasn’t...

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Old Glory has Something He Wants to Say  
By – Roger White
The dawn’s first sunlight crests over the eastern horizon.  A midnight dark sky leisurely changes tinctures: blue becomes purple, bright azure and...

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This is my translation of the first of Rilke’s Duino Elegies. Rilke began the first Duino Elegy in 1912, as a guest of Princess Marie von Thurn und Taxis, at Duino Castle, near Trieste on...

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The Sandless Sand Castle

Let me tell you about my eldest brother.

I am: the "Scram!", the "Beat it!", the "What you looking at?!", and the "Turn around and watch the movie!", younger brother. As you can...

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Two days passed without event before the ceremony to re-inter Joulupukki's parents began.  Because of where it was being held, the number of elves to participate had to be limited.  With the last...

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Erlenkönig pulled the chair out beside Aisling's and sat on the side of the table.  A large, luxuriant and ornate chair headed the end of the table,
several places down from where he sat...

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“The Lewis Trap”



Well, of course he's misanthropic
He’s a Misanthropic Man
The Devil’s in the details
Buried deep under the covers
Of bedtime stories, slithers ‘neath loose sand

A Liddell bit of cake
A Liddell bit of julip
Sweets for a sweet...

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The rest of this poem continued in Part 2
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I had to get out from behind the wall so that my spirit could grow tall
I had to get out from behind the wall to breathe fresh...

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HEADSTONES AND CHATTELS 

‘Twas pure chance that I discovered
Just the other day,
A place passed 
Countless times,
Never had the thought of calling in,
Inner thoughts and misplaced fears
Oh there must have been countless other reasons
For one to...

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(The Apostle Paul is waiting at Athens, and some of the Epicureans and Stoics engaged him in conversation.)

Agon, Aidos, Apate, Bia, Corus and Dysnomia (talking amongst themselves) say “What will this seed picker say?”

(A seed...

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“It is not the deer's tag.  We do not use tags.  These deer are free to come 
and go as they wish.”
     “Oh, alright then!”  He turned quickly...

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“The Waiting” 

eyes close
the new chapter
picks us up 

we find ourselves
lost in the poetic dream
stranded in a desert 

a lifetime away from home
we are in the waiting place
writing words in the sand

they are blown away...

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Along some bank of ambiguity.
Isolated while in wonder,
I lacked motivation.
Consequently, I preferred to be someplace different.
I perceived myself wandering near the banks,
Concerning one Tiber River in Rome.
"What is behind me,
Is not in front of me!"
Snickering,...

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The coin has two sides on it, and if you have time you must examine all the details on it, the unique strokes around the circumference will lead you towards the spell bound heavens, the...

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As a historian I was focused, on the long record of writing,
Considered an expert in the field, I found it most exciting.

For countless delights have arisen, out of the written word;
And we only knew crude...

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I placed my head between my knees to have a good look at the trees beneath me; I held it there for some time and found that nature was divine.

I saw the seeds springing from...

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A Workman Approved by God 2 Timothy :14-16

Keep reminding them of these things.  Warn them before God 
against quarreling about words;  it is of no value, and only ruins 
them who listen. ...

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These are modern English translations of epigrams and poems by the ancient Greek poet Erinna...

On a Betrothed Girl
by Erinna
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

I sing of Baucis the bride.
Observing her tear-stained crypt
tell Death who dwells...

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A journeyman once spelunked in a cavern beneath a marsh,
Whose oily layers of algae and water made his mission harsh.

For the cavern's entrance stood in the middle of the massive swamp
Full of gators with sawtooth...

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