Long Shortened Poems

The first soft snow: 
leaves of the awed jonquil 
bow low
—Matsuo Basho translation by Michael R. Burch

Come, investigate loneliness! 
a solitary leaf
clings to the Kiri tree
—Matsuo Basho translation by Michael R. Burch

The cheerful-chirping cricket
contends gray...

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Dusk-gliding swallow, 
please spare my small friends
flitting among the flowers! 
—Matsuo Basho translation by Michael R. Burch

A bee emerging
from deep within the peony's hairy recesses
flies off, sated
—Matsuo Basho translation by Michael R. Burch

That dying cricket,...

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Our lusty voice was in the tramp of narrow, winding,
     Scree-littered, deep-rutted roads;     
 Ravens, uttering guttural croaks, slow-wheeling above      
 ...

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Fall Of Berlin

There on the wall hangs a mixture of paint on linen,
Leaving the impression of a city besieged, encased in ice;
Purposely frozen in horror to remind the living,
Of blood oozing from the rubble into...

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DynDoeth with serious face and determined stride entered the room and advanced directly toward Joulupukki.  Standing to face the elf, Joulupukki, was intent on getting some answers, but before he could utter a sound...

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This piece was inspired by a similar conversation I had - only with my father - when I was in my teens, shortly before he passed away from cancer. This was tough to write -...

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Jake’s Two Week Stay

Jake Castle began to think about Giant and Maddy. Looking in his case he decided to write a melody for when he brings his family, which include Nefa (his wife) and his...

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Spawned from the loins that 
Perpetuated the loyal serfs mongrel
Seed:-
These peoples of a conditioned and
"Resigned-To-it-all" breed.
Born into the enveloping tedium
Of interlocking days...Interwoven
With interlocking days -
Victims of stark circumstance
And vague promises unmade.
Gregariously living out their lives
When...

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Coercion began
as the ground surrounds the seed
baring life and truth
A kingdom of soil
An army of soiled crickets
A pubescent king
Presenting Jo Jo
the leader of the region
and sire to the throne
Forced to lead the masses
basis chases hatred
Bandaged...

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Allen “Gene” Claibourn
08.12.1932-08.05.2013
 
Grandpa showed me the way to 
get things done and how to do 
them right,  he showed me how 
to make a knot but i could 
never get it quite as...

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Part 2

The passengers were a well-heeled lot who
    Had no experience to the rigors at sea.
And their disillusionment grew... on seeing the crew
    Entirely encrusted with earwigs and fleas.

But...

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A BIG BAD WOLF
Once upon a rhyme and time, 
Lived a wily wolf
Whose only thought,
Was to dine,
He looked greedy
And lean and a little mad,
And his yellow teeth
Looked very bad!
One day in the early morn,
He spotted...

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--------------------
How do I find myself here again
On a couch one more time
Another call that I should make
An irony sublime

We split a few weeks ago
A party I've been having
But She just called me so I'd know
What...

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I resided in a beautiful old home, on the sunny side of the street;
And I had friendly neighbors, offering hellos whenever we'd meet.

Often when I was off from work, I puttered in my house or...

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“Fire burning in a hill
The lines are rocky rough
Red angels wait to pick remains
The cindered shoulder
Of confused men” 
(Peter Murphy)
 





"On the Cindered Shoulders of Confused Men"



Close your eyes it was all just a bad...

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49 years past; a puppy was bought, picked up out of his pen on a pet shop floor;
he had honey brown eyes & an inquisitive way. He grew to be so loyal and true, how...

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Coercion began
as the ground surrounds the seed
baring life and truth
A kingdom of soil
An army of soiled crickets
A pubescent king
Presenting Jo Jo
the leader of the region
and sire to the throne
Forced to lead the masses
basis chases hatred
Bandaged...

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Continued from The Eye of the Sea part 2


The heaving swell and the waves from hell
Soon swamped our valiant vessel,
With the holds in flood: tattered sails above,
We were in the direst of peril.

In a meet...

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Odyssey from Africa, Chapter 11 (d) cont...

Thus the boarding of the parties 
Was a speedy operation 
Very soon the whole flotilla
Sailed toward the open ocean

This wide bay from which the ships set
Sail is called the...

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Nostalgic Nights.
The smell of gas in the vintage moped I drove an hour to buy, 
Driving down that small-town street at night,
Lit by the dim bike light on that streetlight-less street.
Mixing gas with oil and...

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He always got a Fantastic Four story to tell,
like how yesterday
        he Stretch saved 
all those people from dying
When he ran into the Torch-ed, burning building
		  ...

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I have realised just now” added the Owl, “that you were destined to know me better, and I believe I was destined to teach you something from my modest store of knowledge. Does it not...

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Poem shortened due to size limit
Full Poem: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/softdevlife/contributed_articles/master/Poems/thinkbeforeyoudo.md

"Hold on my child! Watch your step!" 
My father could say enthusiastically to me
"Think before you do!" 
"The more you think first, the more abundant your life will...

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When I think of them, shortened lives
Filled with anxiety, depression, sacrifice
I wonder at their self-destructive survival
Once, each one, such an innocent child…
Never knowing that most would be cut short
By drugs, addictions, suicide – dark and...

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He said I alone can solve it all:  
The Mexicans will take the fall,
Rapists and murderers one and all. 
I'll keep them out with a beautiful wall.

He claimed Muslims on the Jersey Shore
Cheered 9/11...

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