Long Riverbank Poems

Suddenly, two Indian boys throw themselves into the water like meteors
swiming towards camp chatty as prarie dogs,
they hail from a Teton encampment of 74 lodges a few miles up river
most of the men are feeling...

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I finished work at noon on Friday and headed home to pack
Put my gear in the trunk and put my canoe on the roof rack
Headed out down the freeway and got off at exit seven
The...

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Four days have been spent going about like goats
following curves and ravines, climbing cliffs and being tortured by prickly pears
the cactuses from hell that I'm certain are alive and plotting to puncture our feet,
in many...

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Pleased playing flute upon a riverbank, 
He hardly saw the king's man approaching, 
E’en closer as he came to show his rank: 
I’m here with a message, a note from king. 

Among fortunate few ye...

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Chapter 3 THE RIVER continued (b)


Carefully they placed the children
In the small canoe amidships;
Pushing out into the current 
Han swam alongside to guide them
 
Kwona, as she stood and waited
On the shore now took the...

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the heavens had fallen 
woe coiled about the earth
excuse my very own tangent world of merriment
you never know what you're going to dream about
one foot in the past the other on the gas
while his muse...

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Chinese translations Li Bai

These are my modern English translations of Chinese poems by Li Bai, who was also known as Li Po.



Zazen on Ching-t’ing Mountain
by Li Bai
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Now the birds have...

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August is ending with a heat that gives no mercy to the land or man
so intense that the air swelters off the river into the tree tops,
looking ahead, its as if we are passing through...

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Community starts here
Under this tree of sprawling branches
With thighs pressed against sinuous gnarled roots,
Our heads nodding and shaking with whurring yellow leaves
Adorning our heads and fluttering off into the river beside us,
Only to stick to...

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As if the sun intended this habitual tendency to make the body healthy I do. First, the brain believes itself what a mistake if it's blue. The eyes blue breeze sky praise God some beautiful...

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Come As You Are
by Rabindranath Tagore
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

Come as you are, forget appearances!
Is your hair untamable, your part uneven, your bodice unfastened? Never mind.
Come as you are, forget appearances!

Skip with quicksilver steps...

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Our riverbank launch at dawn
where dense forest chills the breeze,
where cottonwood leaves flutter like wings,
and weeping willow penumbras tease.

Glistening, rippling turquoise water churns.
Crystal swirling pools symphonic and aglow,
elliptic aluminum crafts coast over craggy stones, 
riverbed...

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I am the center of raw and wild feelings.
Born from an ancient spirit of infant and child.
Falling back in a womb of darkness, myself I discover.
Hiding in an egg, I hear a whisper.
My shell is...

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"Bonjour, in the cocktail woods"
I see the waffled leaves of teal trees painting pink moon, 
With diamond dahlia arcs, flowering an orchid boon
Sprinkling love of french perfumed spells and cocoa mystique,
Flickering in neon scented star...

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Daydreaming holding your hands love 
we came to the great walls of Derry 
sitting on the riverbank arising dream 
awakening sweetly pointing out its guns 
felt like singing into your ear 
your an adorable dream...

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I am black magic, sprouting out of dark humus
The Shaman was Mother Earth, I was birthed strong
Black earthen pots on fire made from wet woods, smoking
And a forest of leaves sprinkled into water from Osun’s...

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The breeze broke free from cloud bonds above
And wove the meadow into a confusion of green
While the nearby stream talked in time trickling whispers,
And beneath her old stone moss misted bridge, wishes waited
In shadowed seclusion...

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one said that some cross the river paying the fare to Charon
the blunt old bearded ferryman, while others cross the waters 
with no money but the faith alone

it’s so simple and easy to step on...

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Ignatius Sprout pushed himself to the surface

As he was the foremost elected leader

Followers, Bamber, Gottre, Bovis and Night

were all reluctant to escape their prison

None could remember how or why they were trapped

Bamber's head popped out,...

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One may insist that spring will come if I just stand there,
I was, therefore, standing on the riverbank as he said.
The rain poured on the riverside where I stood
and when the water ran into the...

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On Nature's Beauty Soul Has Fed

Riverbank, watching waters flow
Living with aching pains in tow
Golden moon above shining down
Heaven above, its glowing gown
I ask, Lord what is left of me
Am I truly this fallen tree
Then heard...

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I awaken, alarmed by contagion’s dread,
by the advancing bubonic omen. 
My  muscular spasms unleash, involuntarily.
My astonished malediction yawns, cavernous.
I gawk vacantly in my remaining moments, 
at icy stones beneath my trembling feet. 
Just a...

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A riverbank located in the eastern lowlands,
once a year, it shines with spectacular verve.
White wax candles glisten and swerve,
blowing lovely, joyful music into the air expands.

The whip-poor-will whispers all is well,
all were bold, and the...

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Not only do i walk with God i cook with God. Everybody say's walking with God is 
great I agree, but have you tried cooking with God. You haven't well here's a 
recipe for you.
...

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Once a
jolly Drongo sat on
the riverbank,
sucking Go-anna eggs
till it brought
insanity,
oh he tried a bit of
thinking,
but his mind was
just a blank,
Fourex beer he'd be
a drinking,
But the Kiwis' are
owning that
so he chewed on some
burnt Damper,
and drank some...

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