Long Naples Poems

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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Yet at this very moment the cathedral was crumbling
down upon the cries of foresaken refugees, 
the monastery's walls wobbling from war's wreckage, 
and as the black bursts billowed into sun drenched brutality
with the bodies of...

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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 Moon Also Rises
The Midwatch

Harry Mayer


The X.O.’s in the shower
and the Captain’s in his bed.
The Chiefs’ are playin’ poker
as we’re steamin’ to the Med.

“I’ll take that bet and raise you”
is what the Bo’sun says
from the...

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The Serb Dog by Vee Bdosa the Doylestown Poet
     There was a bunch of soldiers standing around watching
a house burn and somebody said "Was that somebody screaming,
did you hear somebody scream?"...

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WHEN The WIND COMES DOWN LONG LAKE in OCTOBER 
 
(1 AM in the morning  -  Naples, Maine)

When unseasonable lake water balm 
meets you tripping out of Ricks’ Café 
after midnight
you know those...

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pure and simple
the smile and dimples
the vanity of being wanted

loved and adored,
 such admiration might
 cause one to be ignored

thus should such behavior
 cause others to favor
simply by the looks of the flesh

eyes can lie
and...

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What would it be like to start all over again, 
I mean isn’t that the reason, so many of us pen,
It just opens up every unknown possibility,
Some beautiful some dark, others downright ugly,

But alas the...

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Find happiness


There are so many things that are not as they should be,
That sometimes people think that everything is wrong.
I can only speak for myself, but I do still believe,
There is hope in many places,...

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War World II was raging over this
southern Italian town* spared by a miracle...
a deluge that suddenly occurred: 
a night of blasting sounds, of rising flames 
as American planes bombarded its buildings;
the Nazis fled to occupied...

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Enea's Pope!  (2)

I suppose it’s common knowledge
(and not tedious, I hope!)
that two-thirds of the Sacred College
must concur to elect a pope.        

With eighteen cardinals gathered,
twelve was the...

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Destination,
         Tampa
                a college party
       ...

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I was always late 
For you
And I never rushed,
never thinking I had
to
Time stalked me like
a wasp
I floated  through
life as if on a
cloud
Thin air masking my
mistakes
I was as elusive as
life gets
Time meant nothing
And I'm sorry...

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HAIL THE KING OF NAPOLI (1)
 
The Chronicles of the old king, Diego.
An epitaph of his statue reads: "When I go,
I go away from you then this badge
loses honour and beats dead with no urge"
Like...

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Once his brown alpargata shoes trod countless miles,
imagination burst from his vivid, traveler's eyes...
He traversed valleys leading to azure mountains,
and heard a chant sung with vivacious tones.


Like the invaders of the past that built sturdy...

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Mary was the poetess
who loved handsome Franco, 
the tall Neapolitan orchestra leader;
and in Naples they met:
at The Galleria Umberto,
under the surveillance of my father...  


Mary was barely eigtheen,
and writing was her only passion;
even her...

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Godfearing grandpa died over two decades ago,
he had an adventureous spirit bolder than any explorer of long ago;
and in his many voyages: from tumultuous Argentina
to Canada and America...he immensely missed
his faithful and beautiful blue-eyed wife...

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Irma Sunday Evening
By Franklin Price
9/10/2017 -  6:22PM

For six hours we've been watching
The eye of Irma twitch
As the winds and rains around it
Are making life a bitch

Since I last wrote her actions
She has twice come...

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Over hundred fifty years ago, the Italian nation was
divided, the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies
was more prosperous than the North, peoples lived in accord;
envious eyes looked down and saw a harmonious world 
and drew a...

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Demitrios the golden Spartan captain sets sail for Italy 
against the western wind; he will certainly mourn Piraeus,
and with sorrow-striken eyes, he'll invoke Poseidon. 
Then he'll depart carrying the long hunting horn.
The small vessel will...

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they dug deep trenches in the forest
cut down large trees
to cover these trenches
they made rooms
and covered the logs with clay
and piled dirt atop, and
used leaves to make it appear as if
they were walking on solid...

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It is my knee
It no longer is as it used to be
I used to be able to jog, bike, and run on cross country skis
Teach yoga for many years; do yoga on my own
Where ever...

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Body Casting

Standing there naked for all to stare
Or is it a pleasure to share
The days when before
Your body took a different shape and more.

A way of remembering the time
When pregnancy was progressing just fine
And your...

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