Long Insolence Poems

Veronica Franco translations

Veronica Franco (1546-1591) was a Venetian courtesan who wrote literary-quality poetry and prose.

Capitolo 19: A Courtesan's Love Lyric (I) 
by Veronica Franco
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

"I resolved to make a virtue of...

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I need some natural,
organic,
spacious kinda time.
Where is nature in this time,
my time,
our time?

Perhaps nature is to time
as solid forms are to flowing recreation,
as body solidarity is to mind creativity,
as Yang is to Yin,
as Full-Blown Climaxing...

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“Her Ever Changing Moods, the Rapture Reprising”

Lavender seduces symmetry  
in her ever changing moods
slips into something more comfortable

a swollen tangerine sky 
moves its tongue over 
the blues of her violet harbour 

calling the siren...

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In the copper-clad cradle of time
where gears whir fugues to forgotten dreams.....
the fog—a somnolent specter—drifts.....
veiling the calculus of progress
a manuscript etched by steam and soot.

Hark The hiss of pistons proclaims
a triumph—or perhaps a dirge—
for we...

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It caters to an arrogance of hate
when war becomes a method of despite.
Through vile contempt, he seeks to cultivate
a dogma that defines inhuman blight.
The devil’s plan has given due consent
to let annihilation be the goal.
Let...

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Let murderers subdue the guilt within
let not such burdens weigh upon your heart,
for bound by oath, your troopers are akin
to brothers that share equally in part.
‘Tis fiendish pride that fills your evil corps
of blackened angels,...

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As gods go forth to set the world a fire
‘tis ego that consumes the despot mind.
While domination seeks its epic spire,
the raging wars from east to west align.
‘Tis mere despite that veils a wailing world
then...

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For soon the rains of destiny will fall
as innocence capitulates its soul.
Aggression sealed your fears within a wall
to let disease and hunger take their toll.
Your rank-and-file dissolved into the night
with nary whisper echoing their names,
‘tis...

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The Hypocrite


The Doubter hides behind religious guise,
Mistakes the raven for the pigeon in darkened skies.
His words beguile, twisting my skeletal fancy into a deceitful smile,
Espousing, “Darkness must be exposed by light”, all the while.
Release the...

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Victory at the Hippodrome

They were hiding their stalls out of sight near the race course at Olympia

No signs but everyone knew where they were under cover of dubious propriety

On track for instant wealth and gratification...

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...“They screamed that they should have a say in things,
we destroyed all who would question True Man,
until those who were left stopped their shouting,
since then we have ruled all with a firm hand.

“That will be...

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Prometheus
by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

obscure Your heavens, Zeus, with a nebulous haze!
and, like boys beheading thistles, decapitate oaks and alps.

yet leave me the earth with its rude dwellings
and my hut...

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The August Sage recounts, 

For the 17 past lives I have been a Scholar Official, I was neither imperious nor inhumane. I saved the distressed, aided the desperate, succored the orphaned and borne insolence with...

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The pageantries of mighty kings to us were shows that mattered not,
Beneath the shade of blades unsheathed in Kalima we glory sought.
Our only life was then to face the perils of Your Holy wars;
To glorify...

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I come from the land of coffee,
plastic breasts and nonsense,
drugs and narco past, 
very proudly they'll exalt.

Woman so pretty as blow-up doll, 
got so many surgeries, you don't know what you touch.
Reality or banality, 
inflatable,...

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In the twilight of my melancholy existence, love savors its bravery, like a vulture allergic to the suspicious aspects of ephemeral glamour, in a final macabre choreography.
 On the edge of the precipice of my...

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Jawab-e-Shikwa
THE ANSWER TO THE COMPLAINT BY ALLAH ALMIGHTY  SIDE TO PIOUS PEOPLE OF THE WHOLE UNIVERSE:
https://youtu.be/EXRl5VKq39M
When passion streaming from the heart turns human lips to lyres,
Some magic wings man’s music then, his song with...

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I'd met you, like a lad meeting his neighbor little lass,
Charmed to you at very first sight, I stood like a dumb ass; 
As tabooed lover admiring his darling, I stood far,
Thirst of bathing in...

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tread on! move on! in this life’s caravan,
unending trail of life from dusk to dawn!
pass skeletons in sand from days of yore,
sand has blown over, past footprints are gone

man with limp walks to meet destiny’s...

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(Continued from Part Two - 1)

Nothing of the foisoning ageold homegrownwine
       strained through Ol’ Kayyam’s ever draining ruba’iyat bowl
    keeps vigil in their scelerosed veins ...

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waved away from certain topics
Yolanda and her Singing Saw blade
captured the intellectual integrity
of a generation in readjustment
freedom springs only from freedom kids
so lock your shields and set your pikes
and whatever else unmasks the poseurs
making mischief...

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I beg your forgiveness for I am not long for this world. Happenstance has led me down this path so crooked and forlorn. Misery has preceded my path and darkened my senses all but torn....

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he waived cross examination
innovation had suffered a sucking head wound
and the Mossad was after my ass 
a post Ragnarok picnic with a fire on the ice
hot enough to fry a penguin steak
code breakers grab your...

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RISE ABOVE IT CONTEST
SPONSOR: BECCA TEAGEN


"RISE ABOVE THE INFLUENCE"

I held compassion for a very special friend with
high hopes of being friends forever. First grade
came and I met girl with long blonde hair, and 
skin so...

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A young boy who’d been told often enough of the virtues of honesty,
Resolved to tread the same path even in difficulty.

He decided he’d never tell lie nor steal things,
Love all those around him, be they...

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