Long Ninth Poems

Juvenilia: Early Poems IX

These are early poems of mine, written in my teens as a high school student and during my first two years of college.

Shock
by Michael R. Burch

It was early in the morning of...

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The Song of Amergin: Modern English Translations

The Song of Amergin
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

I am the sea breeze
I am the ocean wave
I am the surf's thunder
I am the stag of the seven tines
I am...

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Still wrestling with impasse to contentment

Dispense sing with fidelity blithely agog
just me and mine dark shadow 
slinking along outer limits of 
the edge of night doth blog
passivity, the path 
of least resistance ohm my dog,
shocking...

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Bharathidasan’s “Pulikku nay enta muulai” (To the Tiger, the Dog knows no safe dwelling!) translated by T. Wignesan 

Bharathidasan (1891-1964) was a self-proclaimed disciple of the eminent Brahmin poet: Cuppiramania Bharathiyar (cf. two poems of...

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                 On the first day of yuletide my dear presented me

        ...

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genius?
sometimes you are in its minimal spotted light...sometimes!
other times you just know you've been touched and you freeze,
moved but frozen...like a stranger it moves in, does its work and leaves.

...maybe it's been a while since...

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Fascism lives in tension with holy optimism,
as hatred fades in presence of mutual love,
as WinLose evolutionary models
give way to WinWin sacred Energy
stories and songs and dances,
as patriarchal colonization
gives way to matriarchal creolization.

Fascism,
synonymous with Totalitarianism,
as written...

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Wrestling with impasse to contentment

Dispense sing with fidelity blithely agog
just me and mine dark shadow 
slinking along the edge of night doth blog
passivity, the path of least resistance ohm my dog,
shocking voltage surges an emphatic...

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Such Tenderness
by Michael R. Burch

for the mothers of Gaza

There was, in your touch, such tenderness—as
only the dove on her mildest day has,
when she shelters downed fledglings beneath a warm wing
and coos to them softly, unable...

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There is a new mythology emerging, 
Howling from the hind end of the pack, 
Scorching the composted leavings 
Of established orthodoxy as a pillar of flame 
Showing the way for true rock & rollers. 
It’s...

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Mahmoud Darwish English Translations of Arabic Poems



Palestine
by Mahmoud Darwish
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

This land gives us
all that makes life worthwhile:
April's blushing advances,
the aroma of bread warming at dawn,
a woman haranguing men,
the poetry of Aeschylus,
love's...

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Please Michelle Obama...
can you save American democracy?

I highly hugely grant 
Barack Hussein belated kudos
what with his wizardesses 
in tow wrought wonders 
to one nation analogous 
while an under dog
sweeping in like... 
It's a Bird... It's...

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DESCRIBE HEAVEN FOR THE BEAUTY

For the beauty of heaven Golden gates, made of gold;
Environment perfect temperature not hot nor cold;
Holy dwelling of the Most High Lord ;
For the beauty of heaven;
Can't even begin to comprehend...

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Here we are fans this fine summer day,
to watch Trash Can Cats, versus Downtown Stray.
The field is grand in this deep wooded glen,
pitchers are warming up in the bull pen.

Pitching for the Cats is Crazy...

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Whoever might with just free words beside
Speak of the blood and in full too of sores
Which I saw now, with a narration wide?

Any speech will sure fail to open doors
To our sermon and for the...

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I’m feeling that feeling
I felt in the beginning 
Times flying by 
my minds still spinning
I think I’m losing ground
And my patience is thinning
Getting tangled up in 
the webs Life’s spinning 
Further from where I’ve been...

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Well, here we are in the Araneta Coliseum
In Cubao, Quezon City in the Philippines
To witness two modern boxing Gladiators
Their prowess, stature, about to be seen

This will be the third between the WBC, WBA
Stepping into the...

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An anticlimactic sexual event...

with Barb Black née Beebee
to help set the ghost
of little Willy Brandt free
(a non German, but germane fellow  
courtesy Craigslist classified
personals of mine invitee
she replied, I took liberty
to Google her first...

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It was a day like every other day, sunny and warm they said
New Yorkers smiling and happy, looking for their daily bread
Taxis were darting here and there, planes flying everywhere
Children were going to school, parents...

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Botched and bungled interpersonal opportunities viewed...
(summarily iterated June 30th, 2020)

I share the following lines
with utmost delight
courtesy 20/20 hindsight
June twenty ninth
two thousand and twenty

corrigible, fallible,
and intelligible light
hearted fella (aging
baby boomer) usually polite
doth not trend toward
superficial nor...

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Alaska; the wilderness state, the last frontier:
Where majestic mountains,
Deliver streams into flowing rivers:
Down slopes covered in forests
Of Sitka Spruce and Western Hemlock,
That dominates the landscape.
The name Alaska originates
From the Aleut word ‘Aleyska,’
Meaning the ‘mainland’ or...

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On the first day of Christmas my hubby gave to me
A large whoopie pie

On the Second day of Christmas my hubby gave to me
Two fishing poles and a large whoopie pie

On the third day of...

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Centurio Romanus sum,
et nolite flere non commovebitur.

I am a Roman Centurion.I do not weep or tremble.
But I have wept some bitter tears before this end of week.
Yes, I have wept some bitter tears hot rolling...

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On the first day of Christmas, my honey bestowed on me
A reflection of the love he has for me.

On the second day of Christmas, my honey bestowed on me
Two dreams come true, and
A reflection of...

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The rainbow has 7 colors set in an order.
From the very top to the bottom of the arc;
Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet.
Such are the colors we see in every rainbow.*

When our skin is...

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