Long Mutates Poems

Sonnets XXV-XXXII

Archaischer Torso Apollos (“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...

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Sonnets X-XVI


Archaischer Torso Apollos (“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...

Read More

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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Archaischer Torso Apollos ("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...

Read More

This is my modern English translation of Paul Valéry's poem “Le cimetière marin” (“The graveyard by the sea”). Valéry was buried in the seaside cemetery evoked in his best-known poem. From the vantage of the...

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

Come, you--the last one I acknowledge; return--
incurable pain searing this physical mesh.
As I burned in the spirit once, so now I burn
with you; meanwhile, you consume...

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I still see it when I close my eyes,
hands stoking up and down my naked thighs,
I can’t shake the lingering memory
of the night that someone violated me.

No shower seems able to make me clean,
I find...

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A Rant – The Quiet Hypocrisy


it seeps in through gradual osmosis

and soon is ingrained in pliant minds

it mutates and thrives in tunnels of vision

and then is fused into the fiber of unreason

the quiet hypocrisy that...

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Written: September 09, 2023
______________________________________________________________

In the area of dominion, where elitism wields
Altruism flickers as a beam of light in the field.
Some may consider this a sort of implausibility.
Yet, verity and equity will steer our ability.

Such as...

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“That dream only needs a speech to bring about the change the world has been waiting for, 
never be speechless no matter what; you have something to say...” 
 Felix Joseph.o



SPEECHLESS!
 
A feeling contends to...

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A Beautiful Death

High on a hill hidden by shrubs
I am embraced by the branches of trees
I am worshiped by nature
I hide from the exhaustion of humanity’s harassment
I am safe from the horrendous appetite of others
Here...

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the numbers were in and it didn't look pretty
you people surrender your minds so easily
they dumb you down and you know it
they dumb you down and you let them
but it wasn’t coercion either
basically we have...

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Existential fear abandoned for the sake of delusion

Nuclear freeze in her heart of alchemy’s shivers 

Veiled shadows dancing to the echo of silence

Intemperance sounding choral confusion of fate 

Rosemary scents a bunch of renegade petals...

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Life, by which a mothers death begins my 
forlorn voyage of this forsaken life without hope, 
followed by dreadful visions 
of a world alone.

Death visits with a single slash of a sickle 
from witch an...

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God

1 “whom he hath appointed heir of all things”,
2 “by whom also he made the worlds“,
3 ”Who being the brightness of his glory”,
4  “and the express image of his person”,
5 ”upholding all things by...

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I punched you out for what it was
That small space we call real estate
Beyond the Island of doom the cock doodled at noon
Then I saw that time for you 
Became more urgent 
More urgent than...

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Trappings.


Flitting in,
and out, 
of malls,

Scouring the aisles,
for more,

always for more,

walking,
undead,
through glittering halls.

Seeking out,

Luscious fabrics,
softest silk,
satin velvet,
crushed denim,
faux-fur,
trinkets and biscuits,
sleek gadgets,
that perfect shoe,
a must-have accessory,
cars, curtains, silver-ware,
gold time-pieces,
that stunning set of pearls,
as empty desire, 
gleefully unfurls.

Piling...

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The Corona Virus 2020
copyright 2020 by jon gutmacher

They came in boats
they came in planes
they called themselves
by many names
and carried something 
quite unseen
so dark and dread
a nightmare dream

They smiled as the virus
spread far and wide
to every...

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 Parchment letter sealed with wax
Ancient communication did not fax
Addressed to me in elaborate style
The ink was crimson, it did beguile.

With hands that shook I opened it
Read the signature threw a fit
Seems I've heard from...

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~ Chzarisma is my Vaccine~

    

People are frightened of joyous, positive  souls. 
They cling to paper masks, sanitizers and paper towel rolls! 


They will not get near me for a chat....

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Don’t let me lose myself again
The violence feasts, as it tears in
A feeling worse than horror
Swallows
But tries, there is nothing there
Hollow
The itch follows
Without catalyst
Thoughts underneath paranoia
Gobble
And gobble
The magma rises beneath
As my bearings wobble
A realization of...

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The Mutterers of Mother's Charms

"Worldwide each year, natural disasters kill tens of thousands of animals --
yet billions if you count nonhuman animals."
-- Reality washing its hands on "God's green earth" 
made one red

*  ...

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Haute Prejudice.

Wrapped around manicured fingers,
Carats and ounces.

Flung over muscled shoulders,
Pin-stripes and silk.

Shoveled down open mouths,
Caviar and oysters.

Reeking from each pore,
Prejudice and hate.

The reeking odour is alive.

It is carried by the forlorn breeze,
Wafting through mansions and...

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The passage through life is like an unchartered river leading to the sea.
The uncertainty of the flow is always something that’s real
You may move very fast or hardly move at all. 
You may traverse a...

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I hover in a meditative state,
Delaying my awakening from this virtual cell,
A listless conscience mutates a myosphere,
Contemplating the zenith of an urban meme.
Unfettered by loose social structures, 
I channel energies to locate a pulse exact,
Murmuring...

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