Long Sparingly Poems

Yosa Buson haiku translations

On the temple’s great bronze gong
a butterfly
snoozes.
?Yosa Buson, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Hard to describe:
this light sensation of being pinched
by a butterfly!
?Yosa Buson, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Not to worry...

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In London Town, a girl was born
Who lost the crown, but won the scorn 
Of Lady Margaret's deep disdain
For something proud, she cannot reign

Her daughter's name was Mary Grace
An angel with a beaming face
Who blessed...

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 *        *    *       *           *   ...

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I love women who gracefully dance
And sweetly sing; and women who 
Avidly read and who brilliantly think;
I love women who love to love—

And who despise to hate—and who 
Receive and give of themselves, as well....

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A
fine
Parrot Tulip
in vibrant intensities 
with unique undertones
of green acquirable only in a 
few forests. A ruby red swirls within 
its petals beckons awareness of those very 
strokes that live in the lustre of your shapely...

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"He made a difference."

Gramps, my mother's father, 
Dave Luke -- my grandfather, 
a tall unlettered white (decidedly white) 
Louisiana man -- was born August 1888.  
He lived 87 years.  He grew under 
the...

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Some place somewhere,in nowhere
Oh! come dearly wind,come to the place and everywhere
Were it not bad of you to bend and bypass us in your haste
Eternal it would be-had love been bethrothe'
To the valley,slummed with valour...

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Let no one despise your youth
May all disciples tell you the truth 
In Word,
Not just the first, second, or third, let your thoughts be heard
And your feelings unstirred
Your heart Misguided and Misheard
Let no lesson go...

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It is generally thought of to be one of the myriad,
Guiding, governing, binding principles and precepts of all 
Mature civilized countries that what horrors that they unleashed in
Vilest, bloodiest, convulsive conflictual combative martial 
Confrontation, on their fellow...

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Our Father Loves Us..
We our Precious & Priceless in His Eyes
Wants the Very Best things for us…
Wants to give us Blessing and Promises
In this Life we Live
And also… in Glorious Eternity
 He wants to give...

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Fragile long I’ve been 
Broken like a split wind
Leaves blow through the doorway into the hall 
Another scandalous fall
Desperately trying to fight the call to split 
Some wit I’ve nurtured 
An insecurity blanket I’ve carefully...

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I

I have learnt
To be always, myself
For no one can ever be me
And if am not myself
I will be nobody, for I can’t be anybody

I have learn 
To learn as much from
Great people from the past...

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The white statue rested above the dying woman's head,
A ray of light shone thinly onto the old talisman.
Carter watched silently at the old gaunt wrinkled woman.
He would be brave, prepare his last rites, 
For he...

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"you are more than I deserve. It's a love I never dreamed I'd find. Happinesd like this is worth dying for..."
- Yasunari Kawabata-

Looking down, while flying midway between sky and earth,
I saw a dog on...

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By the light of a window sits an old man, his pennies he does count.
His hair is gray, his eyes are old, and there’s little in his bank account.
He has lived his life by the...

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It doesn’t hurt just explains a lot of my relationships with males I guess
I don’t ask for your forgiveness or your pity
I just want to understand:

“OH, Brittany! You’re so blessed to be living with both...

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The day my life went ape ‘chit’ in no more than three-hundred words

Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch counts

And pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis works wonders

When I am asked to write a poem that is either precise or reductionist


Thus I report from my personal...

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Unfettered flying floats free of restraint,
free from radical or erratic containment
or even perceptual direction,
free of focus,
free to become most any conjecture of mind,
disembodied.

Yet also trapped in unboundaried integral potentialities
unwilling-unable to choose
to decay further into holistic-straining...

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To start with I part it and sweep each side back
Tucked over each ear is this guy’s hairstyle hack
Brynner and Willis and Johnson are cool
But I keep my hair on… I’m nobody’s fool

Bald suits some...

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It sits in a glass case in our bookstore…for all our customers to see…
It is old and It’s expensive and must be handled sparingly.

I’ve often wondered about the route this book has taken…from the frontier...

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MARRIAGE AND LIFE

People marry in search of a new life
expectations are high, hearts soaring, 
unlocking closed hearts ready for the new adventure
aching to give and partake in the new experience

Talk to me of people in...

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He begs to know "what is that smoke,
it smells like burning human skin?
and then he begins to choke
and was there to witness the madness begin

i can see him
a tattered tot in tattered cotton slacks
a child...

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Written: April 4th 2025, for contest sponsored by Brian Strand
 
        ****************

April arises with a gentle promise  
crocuses awaken from their winter dormancy —
while vibrant purples adorn...

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All is still and quiet on the drill pad.
Even night still sleeps at zero dark-thirty.
Celestial bodies lend their light, but sparingly.
Though their contribution will hardly be noticed once
she begins their day.
In her head she goes...

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"When people treat you like they don't care, believe them."

time is the most valuable commodity
at the end of the day
there’s never much to spare
every second counting

the time it takes
for a smile or kind word
says it...

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