Long Surpassed Poems

Sappho fragment #155
translation by Michael R. Burch 

A short revealing frock?
It's just my luck
your lips were made to mock!

*

Sappho fragment #156
translation by Michael R. Burch 

She keeps her scents
in a dressing-case.
And her sense?
In some undiscoverable...

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So bridge to bridge, of other things speaking
Of which my comedy does not take care,
We walked; and reached the top, when seeking
For watching the next slit, then we stopped there
Malebolge to see and crying vain;
And...

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"Artificial Iris"


Orwell was lurking in the background, somewhere;
the dream was eerily familiar, 
the words and their meanings, read in Syntax,
once read between pages of hardcopy in school 
were aptly ignored - 

however, 
our Overlords were...

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Kentucky's late summer sunshine
sunk deep into their skin
as the boy rode on the back
of his Grandfather's coppered horse,
the tobacco harvest would begin soon,
aromas of sweet leaf darkness
were wafting in the field heat,
to the big barn...

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"The Emasculation of Man"
 


The world goes by loudly
emasculated man 
sees nothing 
for what it’s worth
ignorant and 
pumelling chests
gorilla armies 
neanderthals
small brained 
with closed fists 
power hungry 
greed-fuelled 
knowing all 
blind to the 
supernatural
natural course...

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The Silence In Me
I have been on this road several times, and I have been contemplating 
the movement of the clouds, the direction of the trees, and the depth of the sea. The heart of...

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I inherited a restaurant, from my parents who had retired.
It was a classy one, and only the best of staff were hired.

Overseeing its operation, was genuinely a labor of love,
As the noon warming sunshine, oversees...

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*

  Up until the summer of 1999, I only knew of the words "Jesus."
  I knew what was being taught in church.
  As I sat in the pew, I heard the Bible...

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As the sun shone in southern skies, I was finally on my vacation,
And I turned the pages of a magazine, with new fashion creations.

I lounged beside the resort pool, in a straw hat and sunglasses,
Sipping...

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Here I am waiting, 
Still waiting to cross over
Here I am waiting with hope in my hand
And listening to the people singing a new song
My heart is a little heavy 
And I am not happy...

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My umbilical scar is hollowed out
Now it's like a tiny wormhole on my belly 
Its a cherished remnant of the coil that nourished me into existence 
I still feel a little tug through my bell...

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Himalayas

Eons ago in the planet’s evolution,
During tectonic plate movement: 1
The Indian Island Ma moved northward
Crashing into the Eurasian continent,
To form the Himalayan mountains. 2

Out of the chaos, towering peaks arose,
Piercing heavenly soft, white cotton clouds,
Bursting...

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~~~
Dappled grey horses
sweat crusted and weary
hooves drifting dust
lift a day
passing dreary
The harness bells faded
reigned in at the rill
a cool running brook
near the base of our hill
~
My eyes
I'm a lad
scant older than four
brought visions to mind
full...

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Tim was a poet but lost for words as he pondered the meaning of the cross

Sat by the road side of his inner world and wondered which way to proceed

His bones were weary his skin...

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Hope to get back here soon, but I have been consumed with the care of my son who has cancer... this is an older write of mine done when my grandson asked if I had...

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James Joyce:
In winding streets of Dublin, I did dwell,
found Ulyssean tales to weave and tell.
In this modern age, voices rise anew.
What themes thrive, Margaret, in works like you?

Margaret Atwood:
Ah, James, your stream, like a cerebral...

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There’s a new American Holiday, guess what it is my football loving friends,
It’s a classical sport of champions, where helmet headed, game geared
Warriors challenge raw brawn against skill’s swiftness, to conquer and win,
With screaming fans,...

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he was not dumb 

but he struck his thumb

now he was dumb-struck

and screamed jolly good

his hand in plaster

and bad luck his master

he could not drive his truck


to bide his time

he drank some wine

set out to...

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While on the topic 
of blood kith and kin,
I relate another 
fabricated poem about 
blimey bloke of a fisherman. 

Trawl tale of a fictitious seaman told to ye...

Courtesy webbed whirled wide net wit
cursing thwarted life,...

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When a little girl,                               ...

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Tim’s resolution surpassed all shadows cast upon him

they had grown longer over time and hell had frozen

Rain had relegated him to a trough of his own making

He sat in a muddy pit once ice thawed...

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This SoothSayer's Warning – July 24th, 2021

Dire prognostications 
(terrestrial inhabitants blithely heeded)
with contemporary age
fortune tellers foretell day of (w)reckoning,

sans total mortal kombat annihilation
when human (and many) other innocent species
(stalwart cockroach adept to survive)
pitch headlong toward...

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born two days 
after ole Punxsutawney i.e. the Doctor Phil - 
of woodchucks Latin Name = Marmota Monax 
nest resembled Rastafarian hair weave, 
which creature rattled with ire and peeveishness, 

when rudely roused from his...

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#Here WE are, There WE were...

I AM Your Seed. 

Today, I won't UNRAVEL the Damaged Weeds...
There's An ABUNDANCE Of New Ones That Multiplies At OUR Feet....
STEADFAST. 
"THEY'LL OUTLAST US."

Where A ROSE And A BEE
Once JOINED,...

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`

The last breath expelled from my lungs called your name
as I fall to the ground on this dark battlefield
Weary and worn from the conflict so senseless,
I reach now in search of your locket concealed

It has...

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