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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Li Bai translations

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



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

Now the birds have deserted the sky
and the...

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Siddhartha (The Buddha) 
by Hermann Hesse
translation by Michael R. Burch

In the house-shade,
by the sunlit riverbank beyond the bobbing boats,
in the Salwood forest’s deep shade,
beneath the shade of the fig tree,
that’s where Siddhartha grew up.

Siddhartha, the...

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Hermann Hesse English Translations

Secretly We Thirst…
by Hermann Hesse
from The Glass Bead Game
translation by Michael R. Burch

Charismatic, spiritual, with the gracefulness of arabesques,
our lives resemble fairies’ pirouettes,
spinning gently through the nothingness
to which we sacrifice our beings...

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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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V 1  At that time Michael shall stand up, (Rev. 12:7) The great prince who stands
watch over the sons of your people (Jude 9) And there shall be times of trouble,
(the great tribulation) Such...

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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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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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It serves me well to remember my early years
when home was a plot of land, my family's farm.
Toes in the mud, hands planting in the dirt.
Humble beginnings taught me not to want more
than I thought...

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17 of 442
(bishwabinarabe bishwajon mohichhe)

The cosmos unison delighting cosmic a flight of a heartsong
The cosmos unison delighting cosmic a flight of a heartsong
O’er the land and the seas touching ashore, the horizon and greeneries of...

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A few things you should know about the things I love
like the magic of watching asteroids above
the fact that I was born on Easter Day
the joy of buying a summertime bouquet

off-hours where I quietly sit...

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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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Her grandpa’s funeral was over…but she still hurt inside
so she ran into her bedroom…closed the door…and cried.

On her bed…her face lost in her pillow…is where her Grandma found her
and with the gentleness of an angel…put...

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Dust shrouds the peeling varnish on the old church pew as Noah
(first of his namesake, last of his namesake) thumbs an overripe
orange in his patchwork coat pocket. The preacher, made an obelisk
 by distance and...

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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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As I walk around the cottage nestled at the river’s edge, I am greeted by the splendor of nature. The river gushes through the rocky bed as its roar echoes through the valley.  I...

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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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                         Why do you haunt me dear cousin of mine

 ...

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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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