Long Ridges Poems

"The Strange Case of F.T."



They say the dead don’t talk
the stories I have calculated
to deliver a saving grace 
confessional shared amongst 
my equal peers, or so I deem 
you somewhat sometimes seem,
less than me, you...

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Postcard 1
by Miklós Radnóti
written August 30, 1944
translated by Michael R. Burch
 
Out of Bulgaria, the great wild roar of the artillery thunders,
resounds on the mountain ridges, rebounds, then ebbs into silence
while here men, beasts, wagons...

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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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...cont

As is the case with all of life's special moments
this one had to end when she again became weak.
We strolled the beach one last time
our toes curled in the sand
as the sun warmed our backs
and...

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You, Mariana—deepest trench of my knowing  
   I call you by name not to possess it
but because it is the only prayer  
   I have ever known how to...

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World War II Poems and Holocaust Poems - III - Miklos Radnoti

Miklos Radnoti was one of the greatest of the Jewish Holocaust poets. He died on a Nazi death march, shot to death in cold...

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Cascading off the winter chill
leaving warmth wherever it traces
the edge of the daffodil, tulip or crocus
spring shines its brilliant rays across
the windowpane that mirrors the friendly praise
coloring the seals with such sweet appeal 

lavender lilacs...

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THE CHIMNEY
The once fine air, refreshens with dust
Between the village horizon and crest
Since the sailing of a death chemical chimney.

Young green plants seedlings growing on slope
Are left to sip these  carcinogenic dusts, sapling
And entwined...

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Child of the King, 
Who is my everything.
He makes my heart sing.
To His love I’ll forever cling.

Although I’m not a real beauty, my heart is sincere and tender.
Though I’m less than perfect, my soul always...

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margins stimulate and juxtapose
  edges greet with troubled, disturbing friction
  faraway forces exert influence and combine relentlessly
  how the Sun and Moon dance together about the planet Earth
  their grasping hands...

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My boots, still burdened with the dust of Carpathian trails,
Silently slip over the gleaming tiles of an urban temple,
Where hipsters sip artisanal nectar on lazy Tuesday afternoons,
Under the impassive gaze of a Bucharest wrapped in...

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“Sacred Lakes”



There is magic 
in your shaman bones
stories shaken like strange mojo 
busy under cover of autumn leaves 
turning burnished topaz gold 
idling unrushed roll over

in honeyed slumber

turning back hands
to face a time of 
blushing...

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Sounding like the goosebump tickles,
on the edges of naked breath,
awaiting the solace of prickly feelings
hesitant as the gossamer gentling
each hue of delicate blossoms and blooms,
each bud caressed by the night’s quiet dew…

Glistening like the star...

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Cascading off the winter chill
leaving warmth wherever it traces
the edge of the daffodil, tulip or crocus
spring shines its brilliant rays across
the windowpane that mirrors the friendly praise
coloring the seals with such sweet appeal 

lavender lilacs...

Read More

The Great Falls of the northern Plains is actually a chain of five seperate waterfalls
varying in height and majesty extending over 12 miles,
they also confirm that the right river was chosen,
we had hoped that the...

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The moon has groaned home;

And soon the shadow’s drum,

Resonates the rhythmic silhouette,

To the ferocious pains of the spine;

Hear the heavy throbs of the drum,

The panting steps of the trumpet,

And the singing sage of the flute.

See...

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   It is not so much for its beauty that the forest makes a claim upon men's hearts, as for that subtle something, 
         ...

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In the past, where I seldom visit
There is a soul I’d like to remember
He was a preacher who traveled the mountains
The ridges of North Carolina and Tennessee
Going back and forth to alters across the hills
Reaching...

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My hair has always 
had a mind of its own
Stays doing whatever
it wants whenever 
it pleases
Just never bothers to do 
any of it, at my convenience
Will take its sweet time 
to grow 
When I'm most...

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I do not at all understand the mystery of grace - only that it meets us where we are but does not leave us where it found us. ~ Anne Lamott

In the still of a...

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Candied dreams, burning away the twilight
Sandcastle memories, taken 
By the softest glow of a Southern moon,
Coloring the thoughts in reflections of sincerest
Beauty, rising like the breathless winds
Roaring through the pines, whispering sighs,
Risking moments bought by...

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It was here,
On the heart of Appalachia
Where the moon and stars shimmer
Across the blue gray ridges,
Where the sunlight reflects the whisper
Echoing through the pines and laurels
Struggling to be heard through the stillness
Darkening the whimsical thoughts
Quieting...

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Shouting, over the sounds of rain, feelings
more commanding than the season’s pain
erasing the hope from hearts, but who’s to blame
for the night’s lure in pieces of yesterdays
wondering, unclear which prayer to plead
will the season tell...

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An aching sun falls, hesitant
Against the hills who tremble with autumn
Leaves, both gentle and fanatical,
Dancing to the melodies of truth, erasing
All of summer’s golden muse…

Twirling through the moments, peaceful
Ever changing, exchanging fresh green
For the hopefulness...

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Nine years my leave had spanned
            travelling to my island in the sun.
A native son returning his native land
     ...

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