Long Mongrel Poems

Native American Translations

Cherokee Travelers' Blessing I
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

I will extract the thorns from your feet.
For yet a little while, we will walk life's sunlit paths together.
I will love you like my own...

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Radiance
by Michael R. Burch

for Dylan Thomas

The poet delves earth’s detritus—hard toil—
for raw-edged nouns, barbed verbs, vowels’ lush bouquet;
each syllable his pen excretes—dense soil,
dark images impacted, rooted clay.

The poet sees the sea but feels its meaning—
the...

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Salat Days
by Michael R. Burch 

(dedicated to my grandfather, Paul Ray Burch Sr.)

I remember how my grandfather used to pick poke salat ...
though first, usually, he’d stretch back in the front porch swing,
dangling his long...

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These are poems about Dylan Thomas, as well as poems "for" and "after" Dylan Thomas. Dylan Thomas was one of my favorite poets from my early teens and has remained so over the years. I...

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Myth, after Dylan Thomas
by Michael R. Burch

Here the recalcitrant wind
sighs with grievance and remorse
over fields of wayward gorse
and thistle-throttled lanes.

And she is the myth of the scythed wheat
hewn and sighing, complete,
waiting, lain in a low...

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Pellucid pachyderms wade across
the purpling River Manjees
and Tozzath watches from the bank, 
the seat of his maroon pantaloons soaked with mud,
his nostrils flaring with the fragrance of ombadalias,
whose lacey petals flutter
like the wings of long-dead...

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Thou, O king, hast made a decree, 
that every man that shall hear the
sound of the cornet, flute, harp,
sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, 
and all kinds of musick, shall fall
down and worship the golden image:
And whoso...

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I’ve always been a prankster and a lover of a joke.
I love to see the puzzled look on an unsuspecting bloke,
when he looks around and lifts his hat - totally confused.
Some take a joke for...

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Take me to the tombstone 
let me touch the gray stone that stands
where life could not
I will put my face to that touchstone of deaf thunder,
What happened  to your breath baby brother,
what happened in...

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The Square Root of Beiruit 
 
Ten men bending while theyre pretending to be near the ending
A capitalist nightmare glares like rotten fruit
The squate root of Beiruit
No it isn’t fair, so they’ll start to loot
 
The soldiers are...

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Me real name it is Bill Vonbertouche,	
but for short most folk just call me Bill.
Me Mum and Dad say I’m real smart,	
but the girls reckon I’m just a dill.	

But let’s just get this one thing...

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Spawned from the loins that 
Perpetuated the loyal serfs mongrel
Seed:-
These peoples of a conditioned and
"Resigned-To-it-all" breed.
Born into the enveloping tedium
Of interlocking days...Interwoven
With interlocking days -
Victims of stark circumstance
And vague promises unmade.
Gregariously living out their lives
When...

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Rod Andersons 
                                ...

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I was out of work in thirty-three and forced to take the road,
not really looking forward toward the tramping swaggy code,
and as luck had it, just by chance, I no longer had to hike,
‘cause parked...

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Smartest Duck Dog in the World
By
Kevin L Fairbrother

Old Bill had a dog he called blue
Claimed he was the smartest and
Best duck dog in the World and
Would give a demonstration to anyone who doubted

Bill was at...

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Ten slices of pure marmalade plus two years of misted Karmapa bread equals? Oh do hurry up. The sum is easy. Oh ok then try another. Twelve custard tarts divided by an in between feathered...

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He’s just a dog, a mongrel pup that fitted in me hand,
short haired, tan and white, with needs of high demand,
he’s whingy and he’s whiny, I s’pose he misses Mum,
but now his Mum and Dad...

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Screaming from his office was loud enough to wake the dead
by our trucking company foreman who was livid when he said,
“That useless bloody mongrel, that scum of the flamin’ earth,
has loaded up a truck with...

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Across the ridges, flats and ranges, in print, on radio and stages,
you may hear this tale wherever you may go.
Sometimes a stranger may confide, about that famous ride,
in the rodeo at Mildura's annual show.

For a...

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dark matter(s)
by Michael R. Burch

the matter is dark, despairful, alarming:
ur Creator is hardly prince charming!

yes, ur “Great I Am”
created blake’s lamb

but He also created the tyger
and what about trump and rod steiger? 


The Echoless Green
by...

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Teddy was our mongrel dog who kept coming back to stay,
When my parents gave him up because we had to move away.
Three times my father took him back to live at his new home,
But we'd...

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The summer sun was high. The heat was oppressive.
The whalebone corset dug into the body's tender parts.
Peering from the shop, my hand touching the pane
of dearly brought glass, I feel the vibration of the incoming...

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Lampo

At the train station in Campiglia
Within sight of Elba Island
Stands the statue of a mongrel
A mix of a something Highland
The statue shows Lampo just sitting
His right paw aloft as if to shake
And facing the train...

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The summer sun was high. The heat was oppressive.
A whalebone corset dug into my body's tender parts.
Peering from the shop, my hand touches the pane
of dearly brought glass it vibrates with the hoof-beat of riders.
The...

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I was in a deep and needed sleep, and having dreams of something beaut. 
I could feel these gorgeous arms around me and other things that’s cute,
For Elle was pleading with me not to leave...

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