Long Scarecrow Poems

These are translations of some of the oldest Japanese waka, which evolved into tanka, renga and haiku. 

While you decline to cry,
high on the mountainside
a single stalk of plumegrass wilts.
—O no Yasumaro (circa 711), translation...

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Poems about Poems V

Distances
by Michael R. Burch

There is a small cleanness about her,
as though she has always just been washed,
and there is a dull obedience to convention
in her accommodating slenderness
as she feints at her salad.

She...

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~The Boys Get In Trouble Again~Part 1- 
(A Narrative poem) 


 
Beth! Beth! Almanzo called out aloud for Laura upon entering their home., very late that afternoon, after so many long hours of work, since...

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~The Boys Get In Trouble Again~Part 1- 
(A Narrative poem) 


 
Beth! Beth! Almanzo called out aloud for Laura upon entering their home., very late that afternoon, after so many long hours of work, since...

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Whether you have come to possess this compendium of doggerel confessions by chance or by choice, should you decide to venture beyond this page, I politely suggest you consider the contents to be nothing more...

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Come post presidential election 2024... 

heil to the Wharton chief firebrand -
more worrisome than an ovarian cyst
every race, religion, nationality, 
gender, creed, et cetera with impunity dissed
brigand able, eager, ready and willing
to punch contenders throwing...

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We’re (Lisa and I) back in Athens Georgia (hometown USA), where it’s the halcyon days of summer. The south used to be the home of summer heat - not anymore. Now everyone has their little...

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When I think about October,                              ...

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The Killing Field”

Ariana nodded, tremolo fingers,
and they ran across the killing field,
watching the steel-toed kite ascend—
a fleeting instant of triumph in the vacuum.
Josh scoffed as it dipped,
both caught in the pull of the abyss,
falling but...

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The Killing Field”

Ariana nodded, tremolo fingers,
and they ran across the killing field,
watching the steel-toed kite ascend—
a fleeting instant of triumph in the vacuum.
Josh scoffed as it dipped,
both caught in the pull of the abyss,
falling but...

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Sometimes,
not often enough,
I stop my morning routine
to watch the feeding drama breathe feathered flurries in and out,
on, 
and under,
my side-yard bird feeder

Outside my kitchen windows
over this morning's sudsy sink,
looking across a twinkling white field
of early...

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Humus me? My vegetated chokes ingest!
(jokes all in jest)

Hard to believe, I orange in a lee
started life as barely visible speck!

Just in the course of healthy growing
season, this former minute nearly
microscopic entity developed into
quite pleasing...

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Dragon snuck in with the Basement Trolls, to watch a movie, one fine night.
They watched “The Day of the Triffids”, unbeknownst to us, creating our plight.
The next morning all Heck broke loose as we piled...

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Light da Roman candles
for da coming Chariots of Pharaoh holiday
Dem New Publicans
be back in pyramid power
Give a Caesar Palace casino hip, hip-hooray

Happy daze are here again!
Dem New Publicans bray 
dey be da common people’s friend

But...

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Dragon had the acting bug! He wanted that big brass ring.
If the Sheriff of CrazyLand could act, then… so could He!
I told him tryouts for the Wizard of Oz were going on, this week.
So Dragon...

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I'm an enlightened 
equinox, strolling in
faded universe, 
dreaming poetry in
susurrus serenades 
of rustling 
ruby-leaves which
whisper cool 
beamish hues
to my autumnal-
quartz heart, 
when the nucleus 
of unborn flowers, 
wishes for a 
meditative 
musing amidst 
this mocha...

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The raven knows, listen to his soundings warning,
Beware and listen to what he says, harken unto this
Messenger of death for he sees all things, be it dark or light!
Black ebonies feathered sentinel, warily watching, as
The...

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" Perhaps, life is just a disaster
wrapped in fairy-glow fragments ~
shimmering with stars of death... "

O' beloved moment of time,
take me where I belong,
in the henna haze of scentless leaves
draped in doves of lotus,
I'll whimsically...

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These are poems for my friend and fellow poet Kevin Roberts...

Nightfall
by Michael R. Burch

for Kevin Nicholas Roberts

Only the long dolor of dusk delights me now,
   as I await death.
The rain has ruined the...

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This world?
Moonlit dew
flicked from a crane’s bill.
—Eihei Dogen Kigen translation by Michael R. Burch

Seventy-one?
How long
can a dewdrop last?
—Eihei Dogen Kigen translation of his jisei (death poem) by Michael R. Burch

Dewdrops beading grass-blades
die before dawn;
may an...

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I was a productive, proficient painter, long captivated by the manifold colors,
An infinite parade of hues and intensities, like tales of a thousand summers.

I worked daily at this irresistible passion, which made long, golden hours...

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‘so glad ya made it out alright,’ she says.
‘i’m feelin’ a whole lot better knowin’ that the crops’re bein’ taken care-uh.”
you nod, smile politely
and step out of your car straight into drying mud.
‘i just don’t...

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Was as thin as a scarecrow, Though he had no straw hat
Though he thought himself as decent, no one else had thought that 
He was a runt to some big farmer boys, he never fought...

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He knew he would never find
another woman who was as smart
and as stupid as me
That was his reason
for hanging on to me for dear life
Keeping me around meant 
he'd always have a brain
Needing to feed...

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Ever Have One of Those Days?
(Try reading it to rhythm of  “Some Where Over The Rainbow”)

Some where over the rainbow, Dragon did fly…
It’ll never be the same again, you can imagine why…
Into a new...

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