Long Sanatorium 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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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

Due to some rare, genetic disorder, Cliff was born with physical features that made him different from everyone else.  Although, most people would say “different” was a kind term to use to describe Cliff....

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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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Let me tell you a story on a midnight journey,
To a crematorium, through an undergrowth ferny; 
At my age between sixteen to seventeen,
In nineteen seventy eight; with a dusky scene; 
A time, when, young and...

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Nutty grandpa president
is talking crazy uncle Donald again
His little Chucky thumbs
is tapping epithet tweet nonsense
Batty grandpa’s been 
grumpily sucking 
on the hate hot sauce bottle
stashed in his KKK closet
Now he’s sporting a Commander-in-Chief cap,
dressed in...

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a short memory

There were and still are two airports on the flatland 
outside of our town, therefore many German soldiers 
where stationed here.
Since roads, and bridges had to be built and maintained 
there was good...

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Layered Cake pt 1
I’ve known many unsavory characters from my home city of Manchester 
There’s the ex-demolition guy who took a great dislike to me
Did he have visions of blowing me up instead of my...

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Debacle is not of a noble birth 
Like debris of steel without a worth 
A part of life which is so germane 
And earth remains his prime domain.

Debacle is lethal and so uncivil 
She births...

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Childhood.
I read, in a newspaper, with following black white &  photo  
of children used as slave labourers many years ago, I was
one of them, but I didn’t share the misery described. 
I was...

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Nobody observes her leaving her room
wearing just her nightdress and red felt carpet slippers
Shuffling silently she slips out of the front door onto the street
Rivulets of rain start to soak her to the skin
Her straggly...

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Hard times just like now? 
The looting in streets of Britain made me think back to my own childhood. 
Winter 1948, mother had two newspaper rounds one in the morning one in 
the afternoon. The...

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The People we don’t want to know. 

From pay check to pay check many working class people have two jobs,
 then it all dries up and there is no work and manual labourers are 
called...

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Searching somewhere beyond sight,
For miens and visages propelling into quotidian lives,
With smiles,blues and not so much to cry,
Swept away every scratch of soul,
This wave not seen, not felt, not known.

Sanatorium thronged disquiet,
Medics and Paramedics taxing...

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To lost friends
I have opened the window and inhale the summer
Some of the cottages I see, made of stone and lime are empty, their owners have gone home to their birthplace, where they died waiting...

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We faeries were a twitter for our houses were under attack in the crags.
Giant hunters had been capturing them, shoving them into bags.
Heard scared faeries screaming for help as they were carted off sore.
Mushrooms, toadstools,...

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Broremann the Boy 

The boy was eight years old and pretended to have one leg 
shorter than the other, by walking with one foot in the gutter 
and the other foot on the pavement. He...

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thermometer cold to the touch
absent of heat, patron
walks behind the taker

mirror image, the wall
the floors,
nothing at all

teeth chatter at base of my neck,
“You see nothing but death!”

goosebumps of fear,
I say nothing,
 nothing at all

laughter forests...

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God dwells in the sanctum sanatorium of my heart,
Even at death of mortal body he does not depart;
Ignorance is not the obstacle that blocks him from me,
Reluctance to see him stops me in his presence...

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Menage et Trois 

 On the farm, I was sent to when my mother was at home for tuberculosis, 
I was quite happy, the people on the farm consisted of a middle-aged couple
The sister of...

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Another Brick in the Wall

I went to St Peters School in Cambridge
The first time I ever heard Pink Floyd
Was at my friends house during lunch break
His name was Brendan 
And was kicked out of school...

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August and Snow 

I have opened the window and inhaled the summer
most of the houses I see are empty the owners have gone
back to their country where they have died while 
waiting for surgery, heart,...

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Sylvan surroundings of a Sanatorium 
With cold wind biting the boulevard...
In pallid rays of winter sun, I recuperated.

"Hey, I am your new nurse"...
A light blue scarf came in a tint of white.

Wow!, Wasn't she my...

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