Long Passport Poems

"Who Put Luebella down the Wych Elm?"

There are rumours
about me, some 
come seeking me
with their geiger counters
and ouji boards
with their heart 
shaped planchettes

unanswered questions
in the woods, crackling
within the sounds of leaves
invisible dead things speaking 
underfoot...

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With my Uyghur poetry translations I am trying to build awareness of the plight of Uyghur poets who are being sent to Chinese "reeducation" concentration camps.

Elegy
by Perhat Tursun
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Asylum seekers, will...

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Is how it all began our beautiful thing we both knew it was arcade concealing it the way we did and was we wrong for protecting the jukebox the many simple pleasures hidden treasures would...

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All things that scrub the ground like an old musty couch I saw you there seated with my very abusive ex husband wearing my under garments wrapped around your head I wondered just what you...

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Prizes for Ultimate Sacrifices


    prizes for the abstemious  for abstinence  chastity ?
                 the countless...

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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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Diary from 1984 I witnessed thee unthinkable this resulted in the fbi warning me my life was in danger my children lives were in danger that's when I began wearing wires pregnant buying weapons and...

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Tim’s father had been a refugee once he put down his fight and his gun

The story is that he embarked on the very last ship leaving East Prussia

Under siege tanks and bombs from above fireworks...

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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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I'm dying and it's okay because I get to die my own death being me without my identity thief jay townsend johnson henry climbing into my window searching for my passport birth certificates marriage certificates...

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I Jumped up suddenly out of my bed
With Jack the ripper spinning in my head
And the word cabinet kept floating in my bed
I had a very serious message to deliver
But I don't know who to...

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It's the weekend (Friday night). Lisa and I are hangin’, music’s playing, and we’re rummaging through my suitcase, for an outfit option, for me, tonight. Call it cliché, but we like going out - and...

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"The Immigration Officer Asked Me."

I was asked where are you coming from?
I answered I ran away from the war in my
country.?

I was asked how many years the war lasted?
I answered there was war for sixteen...

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I've been having the nightmares for a while now each night,
      Although I know in my heart there is no chance of escape;
I really pray that this night will be...

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We came walking blind bends at dusk, 
An overhanging fig picked fresh.
No pavements, just a nervous trust 
that drivers would skirt our single line.

Hugging the roadside with torches lit, 
Phones swung glowing to the ground...

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I'd finished work early so I went, to pick the kids up from school
I thought this time tomorrow, we'll all be bathing in the pool
We were travelling tonight on a family vacation to Spain
I put...

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and my CNN opened on a breaking news on a dark street in Libya, about Nigerians chained to be sold as slaves.
the television slide and roved over,
their tears shattered and their blood spoke of pains...

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The uniform on the floor was to be washed, dried then ironed but the scones that the pig ate meant that a walk to some hidden caves was achieved but only after the recycling was...

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No more faxes, no more phones                             ...

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No more faxes, no more phones                             ...

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Do you still wonder 
now that you’ve been washed out
into fate’s unforgiving seas
why you were sentenced to a life
you swore was in the wrong body?
Living in the wrong body is a natural crime
The price
To live...

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Call me little miss Dorothy from the wizard of Oz fame, for today I’m
Clicking my ruby red shoes, on the golden bricks on the sunshine path,
Ain’t no wicked old witch going to slow me down,...

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They left their lovely home to fulfill a promise that was not found, one big happy family board up their house pack their luggage in the back of a truck and went in search of...

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Hope in me and mine
Surrendered to Christ's lifeline
The gospel design

Satan's stronghold fell
His counterattack to quell
Standing saints repel

Just two percent more
That competition calls for
To heighten your soar

Debtors on the run
For His water, soil, and sun
Only the...

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They gather in groups waiting to go through the border; missiles are flying in the air and people are running everywhere .

They have been standing there for a couple days waiting to cross over but...

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