Long Mnemosyne Poems

Poems about Poets I


The Wonder Boys
by Michael R. Burch

for Leslie Mellichamp

The stars were always there, too-bright cliches:
scintillant truths the jaded world outgrew
as baffled poets winged keyed kites—amazed,
in dream of shocks that suddenly came true ...

but...

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Poems for Poets X
Poems about Poets X



Sinking
by Michael R. Burch

for Virginia Woolf

Weigh me down with stones ...
   fill all the pockets of my gown ...
      I’m going down,
...

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Sappho Translations III by Michael R. Burch


Bed the bride with the beautiful feet,
or bring her to me!
—Sappho, fragment 103b, translation by Michael R. Burch

I long helplessly for love. Gazing into your eyes not even Hermione...

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CORINNA

I come to sing of heroes' and heroines' courageous deeds.—Corinna translation by Michael R. Burch

Mount Helicon, father of fair offspring, friend of the wayfarer, beloved of the Muses!—Corinna translation by Michael R. Burch

Terpsichora calls me...

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1.
Uninvited you come, oh Erato*, you muse of poetry, the 
Majority of the times,
Knocking at my soul’s door at any given moment
Insisting on letting you in, your message to deliver
Disregarding at what state my soul...

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For days and days the Professor would stay at Bingo Mountain. He meet people who brainwashed him into evil.ell respected, he'd lead the cause against tainted honey: now he make a batch of Carmel to...

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O Mnemosyne repugn thy persistent nilling
Shield not thine fenestella from my tarantistic spirit so earnestly
 yearning
Lift thy scialytic veil and evince those furibund relics from Lethe's depths.
Memories of mother's soft serene womb
Now to me doth...

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Hippocrene (hip'?-kren‘) is a fountain on Mount Helicon, Greece, sacred to the Muses and
regarded as a source of poetic inspiration. 
Mnemosyne (nemoz'ini) is a titan who is the personification of remembrance. She is the
mother of...

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Grimoire enchantress beguiles vetala invictus, slicka min kisse, hehe just kidding, just a u’i lata spreading sugar, a sweet gift. A snarl like smile crosses my countenance as I manifest into a deity of quintessential...

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Fair Angels of Parnassus, Muses Nine,
That on its snowy summit gay recline
With other gods, are haply the cynosure
Of poets whom inspires your sacred ewer,
O'erflow'd with the ambrosial Hippocrene,
The haunt of daughters of Mnemosyne, 
And Father...

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Standing on a cliff, it feels as if you are a cloud, high above the world.
Lush forests can be seen, full of every creature and plant.
Rivers flow, winding through the valleys, bringing life in the...

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Many a man may muse…
Like lust for Mnemosyne and Zeus’s daughters…

To specify the significance,
Nay the beauty of ONLY one,
Would set the hearts of the rest to slaughter…

No way could I praise the inspiration of a...

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These Four Muses Sing


These four
 Muses simply pour
Epic words poets eat
 great writes can't be beat

Calliope sent charm and wit
 those favored she made it fit
Euterpe gave imagination as a boon
 graced with wisdom from...

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Coleridge once wrote of the Khan’s pleasure dome
Where Mnemosyne, the mother of muses did roam
And her daughter, Caliope, was the muse of epic poetry 
Gave rise to Orpheus, who joined Jason on his odyssey 
His...

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Drowsy vertigo thoughts losing their substance 
in the spirals of deafening maelstrom black waters,
my letters—my ruins—my Sodom 
becoming the cries that 
never reach bottom—

          —never reach...

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SILENCE

Articulations bound by another’s place.
Maw silenced, no expressions from this face.
Inarticulate, the lingna moves not for Beauty.
Vocal cords caught, a voice sought.
Yet no lyrical, poetic vibrations projected.
Pinna, tympanic membrane never again to be affected?
Silences, preponderates...

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Sonnet VII – Invoking The Muses

I call the daughters of Mnemosyne:
Sweet Erato, your kithara solo -
Dearest Euterpe, your aulos blow -
So my words won’t die in ignominy.
Inspire me with words of wit and charms,
That playfully...

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"There was a clear pool with water like silver
where mountain goats never resorted
nor shepherds drove their flocks."  *


By the crystal pool a mild flower grew
(mild flower)
(wild flower)

And near this bloom a golden butterfly flew
(touched...

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What memories lay in days gone by?
We learn from the past, how, when, why
In order to benefit from ‘then’…
We must record it with paper and pen.

History books store events of the past
Always looking back, their...

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