Long Red tailed hawk Poems

Native American Translations

Cherokee Travelers' Blessing I
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

I will extract the thorns from your feet.
For yet a little while, we will walk life's sunlit paths together.
I will love you like my own...

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Juvenilia: Early Poems XI

Myth
by Michael R. Burch

after the sprung rhythm of Dylan Thomas

Here the recalcitrant wind
sighs with grievance and remorse
over fields of wayward gorse
and thistle-throttled lanes.

And she is the myth of the scythed wheat
hewn and...

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Salat Days
by Michael R. Burch 

(dedicated to my grandfather, Paul Ray Burch Sr.)

I remember how my grandfather used to pick poke salat ...
though first, usually, he’d stretch back in the front porch swing,
dangling his long...

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He was mighty as could be venturing down by the sea,
revered as the king soaring over his golden throne-
He was respected yet felt neglected and could never see,
all the beauty he held and sadly felt...

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The Stop & Shop strike v. Game of Thrones. 
In Game what’s not made plain
is the condition of the people
compared with warriors and queens.
There’s no mention of land-clearance, tree-felling, 
pruning, chopping, digging, hoeing, 
weeding, branding,...

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A Walk in the Park

                              ...

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1

Last night dinner
with four couples
points out the difficulties in living together
and apart. 
                Even the
son of a wealthy doctor, disdainful...

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Feather to feather on a branch, this early winter morning,
Are they planning outings for the day or of grave dangers warning?

A predator comes swooping by, a red-tailed hawk in plunder.
As of one mind they fly...

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Afternoons the sky shuts down around the swamp's warning tapes
propped up with restoration piping and dirt leak fencing.
We’re fleeing toward the wild, seeking the names and shapes, 
the same way the Cedar Waxwing flit and...

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Amidst Mystic’s art and craft show last May I was wandering.
By a stall with wildlife photos malingering,
Where my new beau Greg caught me beaming. 
A gorgeous red tailed hawk photo I was unashamedly oogling.
 
“What...

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Chilled days and crimson ways-
I brought forth fragility into 
                your helpless ways-
I shed tears of remorse since
the day you...

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Long before the white man came 
to the Black Hills of South Dokota,
in a teepee made of buffalo skin
lived a young Sioux warrior called Akecheta;
he hunted with a hawk that spotted the slowest
horse, his friends...

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Where are the birds? They should be feeding.
Did they  come and go while I was reading?
Or is that pesky cat out there?
Oh no, she’s here, right by my chair.
Something’s disturbed them, there’s no sound.
I...

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Said the Chipmunk to the Hawk

Said scared, little, tail-striped chipmunk to red-tailed hawk,
“I am hidden over there where you will not find me.”

Said hawk in a swoop to another branch, “Jiggle that
tail again, so I’ll...

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Crazy Horse's Naming Vision
by Michael R. Burch

Earthbound,
and yet I now fly
through these clouds that are aimlessly drifting...
so high
that no sound
echoing by
below where the mountains are lifting
the sky
can be heard.

Like a bird,
but not meek,
like a hawk...

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Song Link:

http://soundclick.com/share?songid=7096456

A Matter of Degree 
Copyright Corinne Curcio April 27, 2008 

Oil slick rainbows on asphalt streets 
But no pot of gold waits at the end 
Unless you make sure you don't ignore 
An enemy...

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I take an unhurriedly walk
through the virgin forest
with paths fully covered with brittle leaves,
its trees emit mournful laments
to protest its anguishing fate until spring arrives
and transforms their dullness
into a liveliness loved by a novelist;
and walking...

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A tree line affords temporary shelter-
a wintry abode-
hedge-rows define the horizon-
the interphase of bright green winter wheat 
and melancholy sky. 
Just beyond- warmth, safety- 
a fireside hearth and warm imbibment.
A chill descends- naked tree limbs
weave...

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    Talk about strutting your tail-feathers, 
and using your assets to get what you want,
when calling card
is no gambit or bluff to flaunt-
In the crimson sky, read taled, 
"Glinted Eye", air siren...

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The sun is up, the sun is yellow, shining bright.
Reflection of chrome, pointed nowhere in particular.
Where there should be peace, it’s high noon.
A breakdown in communication, shrieking bars.

Reflection of chrome, pointed nowhere in particular,
until an...

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The faithful sun rose in the eastern sky 
Slowly over the swamp and the mist on the water
Bringing the breeze that whispers through the cattails 
And the dew-covered grass…

The sound of wing-slapped water as geese rise...

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A journey into inner space, via Meditation .

In a relaxed state, of beauty, meditative reverie,
visions of you, upon crystal petals, came to me.
In this beautiful dance, across space – Meditation -
with you, I love to...

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Soaring high above the grassy terrain,
Which renders much more than daily grain.
The waving grass is inviting me aground,
But cautiously first I'll just look around.

Effortlessly floating aloft on thermal air,
I soar in large circles as below...

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Peonies and cannas are blooming along my walk
While birds are tweeting messages to one another,
I suspect the small animals are taking care of young
A newborn spring fawn stays close to its mother.

I am certain the...

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I glide with agility and swiftness from azure height
With keen eyes intent on finding a morsel to devour
My screeching cries are echoed as blaring screams
On pinioned wings, I fly where hidden quarry lies

My shadow is...

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