Long Redden Poems

In the heart where your naivety resides
you wonder what haunts the sun
and why pain enjoys your childhood eyes,
when you see warm blood run
then you know that death can color
and like you, death loves a dramatic...

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I 

See the phone towers with the lights- 
Glowing lights! 
What a world of mischief and sorrow their pattern foretells! 
How they twinkle, twinkle, twinkle
In the icy air of night! 
While the clouds that are...

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The same speech before hardly could bit me
So that were redden both my cheeks for shame,
And after gave  me comfort as to free;

So used to be the spear, I felt the same,
Of Achilles and...

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The mask, with eyes brighter than the most brilliant star, 
Reflecting the sunshine & blue Ocean beyond, his eyes twinkle 
He smiles, I am dazzled, hypnotised...almost 
Powerless I am drawn to him, he is the...

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How thankful can one woman really be? Is there a limit to how deep gratitude flows- a way to measure how much love I hold in my heart for my family? Forty-years of Thanksgiving meals...

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Whistle does the lone desert winds, flowing downwards from
Boot hill cemetery, in icy chilling breeze full of echoing voices,
From the past, begging for redemptions last chance of salvation.
Roll does the crimson tumbleweed, towards the ghost...

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And to serve… how life is made to be in servitude for another
Be it humans, be it gods, be it myself with time lasting forever
Our journey through the Heaori Chamber had ruptured my faith
A journey...

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Sappho, fragment 155
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

A short transparent frock?
It's just my luck
your lips were made to mock!

NOTE: This is a translation/interpretation of an epigram by the legendary Sappho of Lesbos. Pollux wrote: "Sappho...

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I glimpse the tidal waves, rise high,
Sweaty brows drip, a dry.
surf boarders and  dipper are so many,
dolphin rides touts coerce you for just a few penny.

red vested lifeguards always on their toes,
A breath of...

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She is Dead
                 numbness
               ...

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Suspended . . . tormented, in a mind so distant
I arrive at the said destination with a sigh. . .
What I expect is mortifying
What lies ahead still remains a meddlesome mystery
The air is thin—the water...

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Genealogy
                 —The beginning of a family tree—

For my great, great grandfather was a son of a slave,  
he...

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I

The bell the Town Courier want to toll
To salute the day of reckoning in Getham City
Is now on the neck of the scary-witty cat her paws like dragon
Saints, Publicans looking on at each other nose
Of...

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In the delicate heart of the loving, no other can compare to the
Soft tender spirit of the one known as mother, what a cherished
Rose of tiffany glass, fragile, beautiful but in strength’s resolve,
A timeless piece...

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She was taken, dragged from the holy fathers
House of holy purity, against the free wills spirit!
The maiden weeps in the lunar night, a lone predator
Howling for redemption's reclamation, unable to slow
The pace of her running,...

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The aged gypsy woman speaks,
A curses ancient spell, a dark ruins incantation,
From ages long ago,
Beneath the full moons illumination, a single red
Drop of human blood is spilt,
Upon the blossoming wolf bang, turning
It velvet shin to...

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Duellem (The Duel)
by Charles Baudelaire
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

Two combatants charged! Their fearsome swords
brightened the air with fiery sparks and blood.
Their clashing blades clinked odd serenades,
reminding us: youth's inspired by overloud love.
But now their...

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Thick or thin, it is the Friday night order in special,
Supreme or meat lovers delight, whatever toppings
You like it, does not matter for it’s 
The all American favorite, Pizza!!
Roll out that dough, cover it with...

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Along the mountain pine valley did the Iron Horse roar,
A steam belching black demon, burning red hot coals
Within it's steel belly.
Speed's hell bound creation, driven by greed's insatiable hunger,
Faster, faster it moves at acceleration rush,...

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THE BLOOD MOON

In the crimson illusions of the blood moon,
The creatures of the night howl and swoon,
As the cursed emerge from hallows of the cryptic
Shadow realm, for it is the devil’s night, of incantations
Mystic spells,...

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They practise their guns on the land of the innocence, 
these loathsome creatures wipe out the lines of our army,
now we are what left to secure this homeland, 
"Come forth my soldiers" the cry of...

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Evelyn was a gorgeous woman, sweet tempered and fun.
Larry knew that the second he began to date her, three months ago.
She seemed to be everything he wanted except for one small thing.
She was rather plain,...

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The silence...
The stillness
Akin to shadows, long fingers reach
Warriors and I
Lie here in the hallow
Fear…beside us, beseech!

Where is the enemy?
Whispers seem to ring out
Lips from my fingers, keeps head from arise
To quell eager peering about

I am...

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Madame Mistress, ebonies princess,
Southern comforts golden jewel,
A golden beauty down south does dwell.
She hides many secrets beneath her,
Glittering mask of mystery's mystic spells.
A dark priestess is this Cajun queen,
Black widows magic women,
Known as Ms. New...

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So my friend said  his sister was saying her vows
In a low key church ceremony three weeks from now
No parties, no showers, no flowers, no muss
But I thought to myself she deserved a small...

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