Long Pinions Poems

THE INNER CHAMBER

Please.  Stop holding back on me.

Like a child standing at the neighborhood ice cream truck, arm outstretched, eyes huge, mouth watering.

I stand here longing to slip underneath your decades of cold-rolled steel...

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The Raven and the Bard
-Daniel Henry Rodgers

The Raven's quill drips shades of blackest night,
Its haunting words, a melody of fright.
The Bard's natural lines, like "Evangeline's" fair hair,
Shed history's warm light to chase away all care...

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Through shadowed trails beneath the moon’s cold stare.
     Its Amber gaze: a burden hard to bear.
This feathered prize found peace in my gut
     No slumber dreamt; no...

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CRAP MISSION :
This is ANDERSON WALKINGSHOES.... 
VERSE 1:
Well, all the signs I saw,
Were stroke for us all.
Expressing ourselves in accord,
It's simple for me coming forth.
Their fallacies knocking my door;
Screaming my name based on plots.
And I'm...

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Your voice kisses the breath of the morning wind
Snapping in the solemnity that bears a cry unto God.
Angels have come to earth; that in slumber seemed,
Like the wind creaking among the faith we once had.

Life...

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Nothing much though will the heathen's heart accept from the duties of the eye,

Dated back to some years,this man was seen in a very dirty cloth and a slipper, 

No one bothered to speak to...

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Cypress trees like evergreen steeples
rise above rows of gravestone woes,
their shadows lie side by side like railroad ties 
across writhing paths banded like snakes;
gravel birth cords sinuous 
sensing the ground   seeking the sun
crossroads...

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“Well I am indeed honoured dear Owl” replied Dumpty, thoughtfully he perceived this might be a good time to enquire about what he had witnessed by the river, so without preamble he asked the learn'ed...

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A perilous flight

I do so want to take wing and fly so high with you.
At every attempt, you took the opportunity, clipped my wings
until not a feather – nothing but flesh on pinions that do...

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Wave a sea softened
                  and a pain and a tenderness
        ...

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Sappho, fragment 58
loose translation by Michael R. Burch 
 
Pain
drains
me
to
the
last
drop
.



Sappho, fragment 130 (Lobel-Page 130 / Voigt 130)
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Eros, the limb-shatterer,
rattles me,
an irresistible
constrictor.



Sappho, unnumbered fragment
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

What cannot be...

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Which late afternoon/ early evening
today adventuristic, edenic, and idyllic
April 13th, 2021
pitch perfect weather
serves as temporary tonic
to balm away blues.

Like a tumbleweed
aimlessly blowing in the wind
across infinitely wobegon open wide
prairie home companion land
(which wasteland famously
epitomized by...

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Like a tumbleweed aimlessly blowing in the wind
across the infinitely open and wide prairie land
(which wasteland famously epitomized by T.S. Elliot)
a barren vista ravages the metaphorical landscape 
of one measly mortal malcontent male
bumping and scraping...

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Hymn to Aphrodite
by Sappho
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Immortal Aphrodite, throned in splendor!
Wile-weaving daughter of Zeus, enchantress and beguiler!
I implore you, dread mistress, discipline me no longer
with such vigor!

But come to me once again in...

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When empty bubbles of stillness brimmed the place
Upon an emerald carpet of meads, she genuflected with gathered grace
Of languished bones and reverence plucked from nunhood hearts.
Mighty potentate dear, the wonted beseeching starts. 

Oh! May the...

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Like a tumbleweed aimlessly blowing in the wind
across infinitely open and wide prairie home companion land
(which wasteland famously epitomized by T.S. Elliot)
a barren vista ravages metaphorical landscape
of one measly mortal malcontent male
bumping and scraping along...

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‘Sankofa’ In 'Safranbolu'

This bird from Ghana’s legends flies forward looking backward
                      In the Twi...

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Akin a tumbleweeds  
aimlessly blowing in the wind
umlaut punctuation 
courtesy of let herd Mother Nature 
nsync with markie mark, 

(or other faux nuke heads 
on silent auction 
ajudicating bidding chopping block) 
or getting sparred...

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OH NO!  We're all alone again. 
      No Master to tell us when
or even what we must do 
      We're all sad and feelin'...

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She walks among you – the Valkyrie
Silent and diminutive, flitting through your lively ranks, 
Parting your shallow throngs of harsh color and raucous mirth
A somnolent angel of death and destruction, gliding 
Sensuous on marble limbs,...

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angel ...

    tread soft near me ...
 pray thee, tread light and soft
shall I yet awaken to the buffet of your wings?
 come, night, those diaphanous pinions
    to enfold...

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He who dwells in the shelter of the Most
High,
who abides in the shadow of the All
Mighty,
will say to the Lord," My refuge and my
and my fortress;
my God in whom I trust."
For he will deliver you...

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Roots to fly with and grounded wings perpetuate the moment

We live looking forward into the past when we tell our story to make 
sense and give meaning to comprehend where we head over heels
feel our...

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How many friendly faces do I see in my chambers of recollection as I call up retrospect,
Cherished scenes rush to mind as its pinions bear me to the times which won't ever return,
Scenes now changed...

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it is my lady
it is my love
and so the story unfolds
of the passions fervor holds deep
where the heartbreaks searching
for a modicum more time
between the decision does the
nightingale or lark sing
repeated over and over
an echo of...

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