Long Orphan Poems

I Know The Truth
by Marina Tsvetaeva
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

I know the truth?abandon lesser truths!
There's no need for anyone living to struggle!
See? Evening falls, night quickly descends!
So why the useless disputes?generals, poets, lovers?

The wind...

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I’m broke without your love to repair me…

My young heart breaks into two and you push on the brakes…

Three strikez…you’re owt…. Get lost….that is my only plea

Our lives were at stake and we were taking...

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I’m A “Street Fighter” 
You see the “Wings” CHUN 
LI
“BRUCE WAYNE”
 “LEROY”
“LU”
KAME
“THE LAST DRAGON BREATHS”
You don’t want “NUN”-CHUCK
NORE IS ANY ENTITY
Check my IP MAN
my Impulse 
 “Ki”
I’m the “1ONE” Fearless 
Jackie’s First Strike “Unleashed”
In a...

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Living in a war- wrecked, grass thatched hut,                           ...

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Her small angelic face ...

Once a place where broad smiles bloomed like butterflies on marigolds,
is streaked with the furrows that countless tears have etched into the
layers of dust and dirt and explosive residue that now...

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They weren’t thinking things all the way through as I weren’t able 
They took me for granite and used me in the wrong way possible 
I need some reassurance tonight to get through this plight...

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Please, save me!!
Solitude is speaking, oh so lonely...

We have plenty of gain 
In our pockets, overflowing with light
You are like an airplane,
Landing safely from a fantastic flight 

My beating heart can't take this anymore
The moment...

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Many of my favorite poems
How About This for Veterans Day

A monthly Monday morning military meeting
Would be great for them as way of greeting
Talking about things happening another day
Of past successes and prices they had to...

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How About This for Veterans Day

A monthly Monday morning military meeting
Would be great for them as way of greeting
Talking about things happening another day
Of past successes and prices they had to pay.

Enlisted Term of Service...

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A Poetic Interview with Nancy Clutter

(This poetic interview is fictional and imaginary, and is based on 47 years of study and repeated readings relative to Truman Capote’s novel, In Cold Blood, published in 1965).


An honor...

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I’m on my way, I’ve got to go
(the reasons why you’ll never know),
whisked away in winter’s winds, your sleeping sighs remind me.
And I’ll ramble where I please,
sometimes slipping to my knees,
phantom memories a’ chasing close...

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Once wars were fought with sticks and stones
to flog the flesh and batter bones
and conquer lands, defending thrones -
though gods provoke, not one atones. 

The multitude (by hordes beset
with battle-ax or bayonet)
braved blades, dyed red...

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I don’t feel good at this
I’m feeling so hopeless
I need some happiness
I’m feeling dread instead
I’ve been consuming sorrowful bread
I’ve been feeling rather dead

I want to repent of being sinful
I want to repent of being resentful
I...

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I feel rather empty…
Flushed, confused, free me?
I’m feeling kinda dirty
To be honest, I’m fake happy

Wearing a smile like the rest of us
But, there’s a million rivers and fires between us
So, don’t throw me under the...

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Winnie, wild-eyed, went insane
and sang “Happy Birthday” in the rain, 
while she washed away her bloody pain.

Now all day long she sings that song,
she sings it loud, she sings it strong,
walled in where she does...

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COMPARISONS

I sit here now back on my bed
Bandaged and still quite sore
I think back to my Mum and Dad
And all they both endured

My Dad he died of cancer
My Mum of MND
Both were unpleasant ways to...

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Introduction: one of the nice aspects of having an oeuvre as a poet is the ability to see where you have changed over the years. this is such a poem where i can see the...

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A child lights our way in life...
The greatest gift there is to be.
They suppress our selfish inclinations...
They set our passions free.

They give sense to our mortality.
They put narcissism in its place.
With a child... you're a...

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UNQUOTABLE QUOTES: XLVII - Tongue Twisters

If you want to « have » your cake and « eat » it at one and the same time, simple enough, just split it into two equal parts like...

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My sweet mother of pearl struck a ruby eyed reef. 
Then quickly sank into the deep, just shy of the cay of life. 
Don't remember much about her,
Daddy never had much to say... about the...

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Sipping in solitude inaudibly,
I feel left behind like an orphan child, 
Waiting for a stranger’s ride, 
I was left on the front steps of someone else’s house and I’m left to be
An introverted child, brokenhearted,...

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I awoke early that morning

to an unfamiliar familiar sound.

I rose from the bed with cacophonous singing

ringing in my ears, separated the curtains

with the breast stroke of an Olympic swimmer,

and opened the blinds to the on...

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Mary; After entering the room, the sounds that continue to cry on the phone are heard from three doors in Joseph's room. Joseph; He knew it was downstairs and after a few days, he agreed...

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The blind man waited, 
at the intersection, for someone
to help him cross the busy boulevard...
and he was accustomed to live in twilight,
fumbling for a hand on his right;
and he finally found mine!


Judge humanly...not pettily,
you could...

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A Taoist's View of Bill Plotkin's
Wounded Southern Orphan.

Really, dear,
that's too long for a co-inviting title,
How about just-us for
Wounded Taoist Anawim?

Oh
I don't think we want to go 
grieving back there,
Those early teenage years
of viral WinLose hurts
and...

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