Long Obscuring Poems

SELF REFLECTIONS

These are poems about mirrors, images, self-image, reflections, impressions and self-reflection. 

Self Reflection
by Michael R. Burch 

for anyone struggling with self-image

She has a comely form
and a smile that brightens her dorm ...
but she's grossly...

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Let Me Give Her Diamonds
by Michael R. Burch

Let me give her diamonds
for my heart's
sharp edges.

Let me give her roses
for my soul's
thorn.

Let me give her solace
for my words
of treason.

Let the flowering of love
outlast a winter
season.

Let me...

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Poems about Things that Break I
 
These are poems about things that break and/or shatter: a bubble, glass, a mirror, a twig or tree limb, a thunderstorm, cities and towers in times of war, old...

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Poems about Things that Break III
 
These are poems about things that break and/or shatter: a bubble, glass, a mirror, a twig or tree limb, a thunderstorm, cities and towers in times of war, old...

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A young girl who’s lost & wandering in the darkness cries out

“If there’s a God out there please save me!”

The darkness replied with silence

But she kept listening so intently to the nothingness around her,

Clenching and...

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This is my translation of Rainer Maria Rilke's second elegy from his Duino Elegies, which he began composing at Duino Castle in 1912. 

Second Elegy
by Rainer Maria Rilke
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch 

Every angel...

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As time passed on by, they settled and married
producing a fine brood of children
yet growing more and more unsettled
until one day they headed off again
this time going to the far north
where the lands were bound...

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During a bad storm one night I turned on my television
Grey and black flickering lines appeared, obscuring my vision
I went outside and saw the aerial had bent over but it would have to wait
Tomorrow I'd...

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Time for a road trip, my  dad, mom and us three kids all packed into our old station wagon. I guess it wasn't so old but it sure seemed that way at the time....

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Ongepatshket torqued skewed reflection

drawn courtesy lots of byte size chalk.

When e'er I summon fat chance
to empower me self with courage 
and steal a passing glance
in the mirror then instantaneously 
hairline fractures appear
than 'afore long 
snap,...

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Struggle to write

Witnessed courtesy the following poetic sight
especially when dark shadows foretell edge of night
twilight zone expanding
into outer limits of width and height
obscuring webbed wide world
subsequently where black tentacles alight.

This poetic prologue feeble exercise to...

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Mirror
by Kajal Ahmad, a Kurdish poet
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

My era's obscuring mirror
shattered
because it magnified the small
and made the great seem insignificant.
Dictators and monsters filled its contours.
Now when I breathe
its jagged shards pierce my...

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April 29— Looking Out My Window 

published as part of Tiferet Journals' 2018 Poem-a-thon  see my poetry blog https://theworldaccordingtocosmos.com for these and other poems

Looking out my window 
In Incheon 
What did I see 
The...

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I’ve died many times
And not been reborn.
Nine lives were mine; 
Now two.  Or three.  
Or one; 
This one, the last.
I am the cat,
But that’s not the answer.

I am for you to tell.

My kind...

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Dead Poet Two Thousand Fourteen
Dead Poet Two Thousand Fourteen
solyant green the 666 is money the dollar sign the number on the bill the id 
card the birth date and now the phone number all these...

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You saunter through the double doors
Head held high
Chest puffed out
Putting on airs
You think you’re so clever, so deceiving
Showing up baring the most ornate mask
But I see right through
The mask that you wear tonight
You think it...

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What do we know about the Coronavirus
The real risks behind the panic and human bias
Now let’s look at the facts that we have to date.
It not great news, its spreading at an alarming rate. 

Corvid...

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The looking glass and the reflection are broken,
but it does not lie
He has spoken
Yet, I do not recognize this who stares back
The moon was high,
the time was nigh,
after that, I would have to make my...

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Mist of the morning obscuring the dawn;
The veil of my conscious darkening my ken.
A battle ensues; the gods drawing their blades;
Gentle zephyrs ease the mist out to sea.
A strange arena of secrets morphing into a...

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Looking Out My Window

Looking out my window 
In Incheon 
What did I see 
The neighboring apartment buildings 
Obscured by the April rains 

And yellow dust of early Spring 
And in the distant the mountains 
Aflame...

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While I gaze in your eyes, cool cerulean blue,
Sifting night, straining stars through morning’s sweet dew,
I can fathom the depths of empyreal skies,
Angels fluttering by, riding wild butterflies

While I gaze in your eyes, changing, aqua-blue...

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This was a method employed,
By my last ex-wife,
Who enjoyed 16 years of 
torturing me,
The bane of my life...

See she sat and slept in
her recliner,
The power seat of the house,
And treated me,
Like an annoying mouse...
I was...

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Inspired by the painting Automat by Edward Hopper in 1927.

The painting shows a lone woman sat at automated restaurant table.

Viewing the painting will enhance the poem.

Centre stage yet unseen, star still observable when no longer...

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Positions: Part Three
Arabic Poem by: Bushra Al-Bustani
Translated into English by:
Inaam Al-Hashimi (Gold_N_Silk)
================

         (5)
The Position of Grief
 -----------------------

Was the sky blue in any day?
 I have never seen...

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If He ever left me, I would be so lost
Without a hope or chance,
No prospects, no promises or potentials
Without even expectation or anticipation
I’d be so very lost, without aspiration
It would be my finish!

If He ever...

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