Long Reddening Poems

Winter
by Michael R. Burch

The rose of love's bright promise
lies torn by her own thorn;
her scent was sweet
but at her feet
the pallid aphids mourn.

The lilac of devotion
has felt the winter hoar
and shed her dress;
companionless,
she shivers—nude, forlorn.

Published...

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Auschwitz Rose
by Michael R. Burch
											
There is a Rose at Auschwitz, in the briar,
a rose like Sharon’s, lovely as her name.
The world forgot her, and is not the same.
I still love her and extend this sacred...

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I love you only because I love you
by Pablo Neruda
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

I love you only because I love you;
I am torn between loving and not loving you,
Between apathy and desire.
My heart vacillates...

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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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Sonnets X-XVI


Archaischer Torso Apollos (“Archaic Torso of Apollo”)
by Rainer Maria Rilke
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

We cannot know the beheaded god
nor his eyes' forfeited visions. But still
the figure's trunk glows with the strange vitality
of a...

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World War II Poems and Holocaust Poems (I)

These are poems about World War II and the Holocaust, which is also called the Shoah in Hebrew. 



Epitaph for a Child of the Holocaust
by Michael R. Burch

I...

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My most popular poems on the Internet (III)

A number of my poems and translations have gone viral, according to Google, and some have been copied onto hundreds to thousands of web pages. That’s a lot...

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I inherited a restaurant, from my parents who had retired.
It was a classy one, and only the best of staff were hired.

Overseeing its operation, was genuinely a labor of love,
As the noon warming sunshine, oversees...

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“Thank you again for your hospitality, Raðulfr.”  Joulupukki stood and lifted Jessica to her feet.
     “Do not argue with me child,” Raðulfr knew he was starting a battle when his...

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Joulupukki began, 
     “I have been thinking about the causality and the circumstances surrounding the events that occurred this morning.”
Gwaldon made a display of searching around with his head turning it...

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Love in Kyiv
by Natalka Bilotserkivets
translation by Michael R. Burch

Love is more terrible in Kyiv
than spectacular Venetian passions,
than butterflies morphing into bright tapers–
winged caterpillars bursting aflame!

Here spring has lit the chestnuts, like candles,
and we have cheap...

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The Heights of Machu Picchu, Canto VIII
by Pablo Neruda
translation by Michael R. Burch

Ascend with me, my American love!

Let’s kiss these mysterious stones together!

The Urubamba’s torrential silver
lures pollen to fly from its golden chalice
while above this...

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had a hankering for praline pecans &
so, as one with a hankering for praline
pecans will do, when the appropriate
funds are available & one has the time
to go praline pecan search, 
off to the grocery he...

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LBI, Drifting Sands

Good Morning, Spring.  I know you’re awake.  I see your color rising with the sun.
Through the open balcony door of our third floor suite, the sea breeze coolly streams into our...

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Poppy
by Michael R. Burch

“It is lonely to be born.” – Dannie Abse, “The Second Coming”

It is lonely to be born
between the intimate ears of corn . . .
the sunlit, flooded, shellshocked rows.

The scarecrow flutters, listens,...

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When I am drowning I want you to be the water crushing down on me, escaping my 
last breath. When I am shot I want you to be the stinging bullet the pierces my skin....

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Aye, what a revolution in red and orange against the
venom of society and culture
With the flowers of right palm though a gesture of dance
in fact covers her tears
A story of blue tension and deep emotion...

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where are your eyes in the 11th hour?
do they roam to and fro, roaring
with insipid power, baiting the hook,
fishing for retractable men?

where is your nose in the 11th hour?
is it sniffing out a cesspool of...

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rudiments of the day progress like every other
matches burning 1 by 1 so quick 
one can lose count &
if the practice is to tally up the path to death
step by step by step
(as if the...

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something that doesn’t speak out loud
at parties, but creeps across the fine 
dinner table,
through glances, faint touches,
laughs & intentional momentary stares &
changes in the tone of one’s voice,
when s/he makes eye contact,
letting one know that...

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The moment I am out of the box
Foxes and hyenas surround me
Needy greedy aggressive seekers
Those who even a second before
Lay hidden in hibernation
In the tightly closed boxes of steel
On the verge of elimination
Thanks to the...

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Bleeding Paloma

He sees her in the tree, high up
Hidden among the mango leaves
Her egg-shell coloring peer through
The dark green.  He scatters the 
Seeds upon the earth and waits 
Until she flitters down, at first
Untrusting...

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I endure my arrogance like a leftover twin  
absorbed during gestation,  
seeing myself in everything, not only the eyes  
that watch me rocking back and forth in a corner 
in order to...

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Please don't tell
About the ashes now

Lips on lips
Sips on sips
Each other we eclipse
Mounting far and far
We are now  shooting stars

In every rise
There is a fall
After every call
However tall
There is a silence

We don't
Embrace present and...

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'Twas the day after Christmas and all through the house, 
The toys were all broken...the kids started to grouse.
And Momma in her apron, and I in my shorts, 
Were just cleaning up after making strawberry...

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