Long Reserves Poems

Sonnets XXV-XXXII

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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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...

Read More

Come, You
by Rainer Maria Rilke
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

This was Rilke’s last poem, written ten days before his death. He died open-eyed in the arms of his doctor on December 29, 1926, in the...

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~  Seek  The  Lord  ~ 
(Star  Of  David  ) 
 


~O~




God 
For sure 
Knows  sees  all 
Wants best  for  you 
He  sure loves...

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As I look back across more musical times
of rhythmic reflections,
ceremonies and commemorations
of each dawn and dusk eremitic liturgy,
if that is not an oxymoron
of sound and sight,
song and dance,
tragically sad, yet also bilaterally bound with happier...

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Ali's Song
by Michael R. Burch
for Muhammad Ali

They say that gold don’t tarnish. It ain’t so.
They say it has a wild, unearthly glow.
A man can be more beautiful, more wild.
I flung their medal to the river,...

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I don't know what came over me that day - an instant of weakness after years of resistance, I suppose.

My beaming spouse leads me, a dog on a short leash, into the forbidden citadel, the...

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Pay heed to those deeds from whence the heart must confess...
You're far from Rome Proconsul Caesar...
As they say, "All roads lead to Rome" Ariovistus
and all tresspasses are treated as threats of war...
My recent conquest of...

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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...

Read More

I got friggin heebie jeebies

Cuz buzzards circle o'er me
eyeing these lovely bones prithee
id est Roy L. T. Canard, Si
hence impossible mission 
to be lovey dove vee.

Vague remembrances of dream  
which recurred with frequency
transfixed by...

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There is more than one value of a Browned-Coin
and no matter how hard it may be to accept and appreciate their worth
I unlike you
have decided to keep both coins
Shiny and Darkened

Today 
I choose the Browned-Coin...

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THREE WAYS of Swiping the World Cup

"It is sweet and fitting/glorious to lay your life down for your country » - from a poem by HORACE

(See my story selected to represent France in the 2006...

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Such Wonders Are Breathtaking To Behold

(NOT FOR CONTEST THAT INSPIRED THIS POEM)

The morning dew on red rose does glisten
As early dawning sun beams brightly down
Such beauty, bees decorate that soft gown
As Nature's music plays, creatures...

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How much simpler
and yet vastly more complex,
diversely resonant,
past decisions to hire the credentialed professional elite
also choices not to hire a charismatic
brown-skinned
ecofeminist,

And how much more resilient
urgently cooperative
corporate win/win covenant repercussions might have been
if we stopped compartmentalizing,
and...

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I seldom indulge in letter writing 
Because I consider it 
To be a cold and illusory 
Means of communication. 
I will only send someone a letter 
If I'm certain it's going to serve 
A definite...

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Dreams of The Battle of Thymbra, Lydian-Persian War

In the midst of a battle I awoke thrown
walking over the crimson red dead.
Found and drew the shaft from solid stone
standing on soil blood soaked in red!

My heart...

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[Continued from ‘Terror Bugs: Part 1 - A Freezer Mice Adventure’]
__________

Three man sized ‘mice’ and Stanley Dann stood gawping at the screens
Churchill muttered, “I don’t want to tell you what this means.”
Crocket shook his head...

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Unquotable quotes: Gals, Dolls, Bitches and Broads – XXXVII

( No aspersions are being cast here, willingly or otherwise, on the fairer, stronger and infinitely more sagacious sex. Even if these over-used words are somewhat overloaded...

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I do not have to go far away
 but just look within canada     to see
there is starvation      poverty      and death

now, this...

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GROGGY BEDHEAD NO COFFEE SHUT THE BLINDS .... PRESIDENTIAL NO GOOD CHOICES TELIVISION SIGNAL GLITCH SMEAR ART CAMPAIGN... LATE NIGHT REHEATED RERUN RETWEEKED RETWEETED MORNING NEWS?....
MORE RAIN TOO HOT BROKEN LEFT WINDSHIELD WIPER.... SAME OLD...

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One of Life’s indisputable facts:
Government reserves the right to tax;
And tho’ they waste far more than they should,
It’s supposedly done “for the common good.”

Economists use the word “propensity,”
Just a fancy word for “odds”, you see:
The...

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WORLD WAR 11 THROUGH THE EYES OF MY DAD
POEM NO 2 OF TRILOGY

My father was one of six children, whose family
Had no financial reserves, so explained to them amicably
That he had decided he wanted to...

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PAY - for AIR...are You Kidding?



My wife and I, when we were kids, watched television programs, including movies, never being made to pay a dime.
That was in the fifties, when a lot of things were...

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chinese food dripping sauce
spicy beef and noodles
steaming vegetable rice
eggrolls and plum dip
spareribs and garlic
delightful
food


oh so delicious-    most of us have all the food
we want      but wait...

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Come, You
by Rainer Maria Rilke
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Come, you--the last one I acknowledge; return--
incurable pain searing this physical mesh.
As I burned in the spirit once, so now I burn
with you; meanwhile, you consume...

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