Long Snapshot Poems

Mehmet Akif Ersoy: Modern English Translations of Turkish Poems

Mehmet Âkif Ersoy (1873-1936) was a Turkish poet, author, writer, academic, member of parliament, and the composer of the Turkish National Anthem.



Snapshot
by Mehmet Akif Ersoy
loose English translation/interpretation...

Read More

Turkish Poetry Translations I



Ben Sana Mecburum: "You are indispensable"
by Attila Ilhan
translation by Nurgul Yayman and Michael R. Burch

You are indispensable; how can you not know
that you're like nails riveting my brain? 
I see your eyes...

Read More

(5)   At the same time, the US was exploring space, and we were able to view the stars for the first time in space above the atmosphere. Earthbound telescopes have to look through...

Read More

THE VALENTINE PHOTO--2014
  Bubba was tired and his feet were aching from walking so
much. He and Carly had walked up and down the block 5 times
looking for his wallet. It only had $46 in...

Read More

Here I lie in this cooler, this fridge where I would rather not be, but the truth of the matter is you’ve done it, you got the best of me
I lasted as long as I...

Read More

SPRINGTIME MEMORIES



Mountain sentinels
By ancient town;
Clear waters cascade


Cobblestone streets
Winding pavements;
Trade offerings buzz


Fertile plains
Crystal clear waters;
Shady trees guard


Treasure-hunting stroll...
Through Lijiang Old Town;
Curiosity detours


So many things to see
Pleasant fare tempting;
Buying spree bargains


Artisans at work
Township flings open trade;
Silver metal...

Read More

Bottom feeders flourish

When the economy's a bust

When bad times are the norm

And good times turn to dust

When neighborhoods go south it's sad

But a sign of their demise

Is when a bunch of pawn shops open up

Before...

Read More

Hanging pictures today February 5th, 2021 with the missus...
(in an attempt to cover up (overlay) fruit fly waste byproduct)

At four feet eleven (fifty nine inches),
the spouse longitudinally challenged
hence she browbeats her husband,
(who only stands five...

Read More

"Papyrus, Lapis Lazuli and the Valley of the Kings - Part 1"
 
“Tell me about the Valley of the Kings”, her lips moved speaking 
to someone, 
sitting somewhere 
on the other side of the Glass...

Read More

Only God can see perfectly what is ahead four years up the road.                      ...

Read More

These are poems about shadows, poems about darkness, poems about shades in the form of ghosts and spirits...



Shadows
by Michael R. Burch

Alone again as evening falls,
I join gaunt shadows and we crawl
up and down my room's...

Read More

As one grows old, when evening approaches, memories too lengthen like shadows. Now I remember more often my parents wondering how much sweat and toil they had shed to make their children comfortable, how much...

Read More

As if there were a tightrope on which we walk
a perilous pathway strung down the middle of our lives
balanced by a blindfold
each footstep to be placed when and where we're told

Children with guns made of...

Read More

As the odyssey in the skiff continued a more sentient being begun to appear,
At times feeling as a eunuch who was unable to change anything,
In zenith of toxicity as miasma on a cold misty morning.
What...

Read More

While rifling through outdated poems of mine
some written quite a number of years ago,
the following mewing effort, I decided to post
for all purring cyber surfers linkedin 
to the webbed, wide world to read.

Prince Of A...

Read More

In the bleak midwinter, frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow,
In the bleak midwinter, long ago.

- Excerpt from A Christmas Carol by...

Read More

Speak to me in iambic pentameter
and weave Shakespeare sonnets with Milton anecdotes.
Read me riddles and rhymes divulged 
over uneaten dinners and swing-sets with broken chains.
Allow me to lip-synch to your ballad of broken piano-fingers
and I...

Read More

Lady Shutterbug had doubt
Spent hours that coulda been ‘bout
an environ pro-activist devout    
Spotting celebrities, scoping it out
Not keeping abreast trendy starlets 
Kylie, Mavee, Cardi B, or Scarlet
Yet little does she regret, 
out...

Read More

Long miles of tedious journey,
Missing my darling honey.
Travelling impatiently, spend thousands of 
money, 
Hope god will bless me with ma lucky soul 
at this season.

Equatorial island exploring its amazed 
beauty, glittering with immersed grasses.
Wrapped by...

Read More

      In the void of my transitional mind, 
the aimless scatter-shots of snapshot in kind 
finding itheir way.through pokes in the brine.
Saran wrap bindings of biased memories, invent orys, 
and...

Read More

Zooming out, I take it all in- the big picture
Is this what you thought it’d look like from the outside after everything was said and done?
A flawed image of our wasted youth
I pan in; seeing...

Read More

his last gasp was quite lengthy
trying to go out with a bang as usual
a rationalist manifesto covering his face
accompanied by a cotton field work song
his grip went slack under the torrent of images
fortunes have been...

Read More

Ernie was a hell raiser
A daredevil of sorts.
He was popular in school,
A natural at sports.

A kid in a candy store
Is the way Ernie felt.
All he had to do was smile,
And every girl would melt.

But he...

Read More

Schwenksville, Pennsylvania
Earthdate/starttime: 11/04/19 01:10:26 AM
Earthdate/endtime: 11/04/19 02:55:46 AM

Poetic snapshot regarding immediate
actual, physical, spatial... environment
pertinent, relevant, salient... yours truly
commenced within fleeting electronic

date/time stamp indicated above bereft
attempts to describe character sketch,
whereat I sit within Apartment B44:
taking immediate...

Read More

My name is Spencer Byron.
My first wife Addy died tragically in 1991.
A devotee of surprise. She was so much fun.

The breadth of love is unchartered territory.
Not all loves can be explained.
There are many aspects of...

Read More