Long Seventy one Poems

Today, catching sight of the mallards
crying over Lake Iware:
Must I too vanish into the clouds?
—Prince Otsu translation by Michael R. Burch  

This world—
to what may we compare it?
To autumn fields
lying darkening at dusk
illuminated by...

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THIS WORLD OF DEW

This world? 
Moonlit dew
flicked from a crane's bill.
—Eihei Dogen Kigen, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Seventy-one?
How long
can a dewdrop last? 
—Eihei Dogen Kigen, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Dewdrops beading grass-blades
die before...

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The Alaskan Oil Pipeline

Nineteen sixty-eight confirmed the year
Of discovery by ‘Humble Oil’
To North America’s largest oil field,
On the North Slope of the Brooks Range;
A west to east Northern Alaskan mountain chain.
An area forty miles wide...

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I write this prose for my dear, fair lady wife
To celebrate her Birthday on November 29th
She’s my partner, my best friend, the love of my life
Without her my life would be as dark as night

From...

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David Jones, the best rat catcher Shropshire has ever had
must take some criticism for young Molly turning bad.
Even though his daughter found rich co-incidentals,
no credit could be taken by rat catching Dad's credentials.

At nineteen she's...

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I know you've heard the story.
I think everybody has.
About the Downey boy who won second place
In everything that was.

In that Southern California city,
Downey was its name,
In every city-wide contest,
Dave's results seemed just the same.

Second place...

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Martin Luther King junior was the inspiration
For the Northern Ireland, Civil Rights association
Protests were held and they marched peacefully
The unionist majority tried to stop them brutally.

The campaign gathered momentum it was nineteen sixty nine
The unionists...

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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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ZEN DEATH HAIKU VIII

These are my modern English translations of Japanese Zen Death Haiku. 

Had I not known
I was already dead
I might have mourned
my own passing.
—Ota Dokan, loose translation/interpretation of his jisei (death poem) by...

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When Marcelino Manuel da Graca aka Sweet Daddy Grace came to town.
 At an early age, I must admit that I was excited along with the majority of the Black community of the South East...

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The Bass Strait sealing rush began in eighteen-o-three,
where at least a dozen vessels were wrestling with the sea,
for the China trade was booming, for the want of skins and oils.
This was the first real export,...

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(Written in 1970 when I was a junior in high school)

Kyle’s only three and quite the tyke
And he wants to ride a two wheel bike
But his mom and dad say he’s too small
And they’re afraid...

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Alan Shepard, astronaut, took golf balls to the moon
He whacked them only when he knew that he’d be leaving soon
‘One flew two hundred yards,’ he said, ‘and as I recollect
one came down in a crater,...

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I grew up on the right side
          Of the wrong side of the tracks
I hit the ground running
        ...

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The Alphabet Contest
Sponsor: Alfred Vassallo

A Is For Anniversary

Their love story began on April twenty-third, nineteen forty-five,
    two young lovers vowed eternity before their family's eyes.

There were hard days ahead living through the...

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310+ & 71.1 billion dollars

if you live in the US,
the belly of the world’s policeman,
you live with over 
310 tax exempted religions---
that’s over 310 groups of 
idiots, who get to practice their idiocy
without paying taxes---
it’s...

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WATER

Water Invigorates the Human Body

Hydration is so important for our body’s  creation
to maintain as we play, run, and exercise
Our fluids start leaving  our body through sweating
Dehydration can be life-threatening

Requisite is so important for...

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(For six days in mid-August, 1971, at Stanford 
University near San Francisco, a psychological 
experiment was conducted in which students 
took on the roles of prisoners and prison guards. 
The experiment had to be cut...

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I immigrated to Canada from Greece, in nineteen seventy-one
It was the best thing in my life that till that moment I had done

Nothing was easy for me since I did not know anyone, I confess
The...

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In the darkest of days back in nineteen sixteen,
Daisy worked in a factory where she often saw,
men march to the port embarking for Egypt
to fight for King and Country in a terrible war.

Along with her...

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71(sventy one)
7days 1person,
from monday to sunday,
you work and toil,
all to make a liveing,
in a world like an illusion,
where the mentality of men ,
control the true nature of life,
money introduced as the only necessity to trade,
like...

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In a few weeks I will forget that I had a wonderful summer tan.
It will be a stretch to remember what the beach felt like.
The rich lush flowers will turn brown, and their heads will...

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In July last, that certain barrier I passed,
I reached the age of seventy at last.
Now then, as far as I am concerned,
Certain things I can do that I have earned.
Retired from work don't need the...

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one two three four five and six
severn eight nine ten eleven and indeed twelve

thirteen fourteen fifteen sixteen 
seventeen eighteen nineteen then twenty

twenty one twenty two twenty three twenty four
twenty five twenty six twenty severn twenty...

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We got married on October tenth of nineteen seventy-one. 
We had a great honeymoon, lots of giggling, and a lot of fun.
We actually eloped, and were married by a really nice judge.
I wore a brown...

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