Long Tang Poems

With my Uyghur poetry translations I am trying to build awareness of the plight of Uyghur poets who are being sent to Chinese "reeducation" concentration camps.

Elegy
by Perhat Tursun
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Asylum seekers, will...

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Sometimes faith lives on the edge of a knife
as Sviastoslav the Rus sacker came to know 
The Khazar Khanate knew how to cut a slight
his gilded skull stole the show,
The Vatican went from a marsh...

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It was glorious ...

A glorious, glowing morn ...
crimson crept up the sky, as if air-brushed ...
little round globs of fair-weather clouds tiptoed on the reach,
(so as to not wake the moon, laying down its head...

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1. The Welkin
Wind blows / clouds race / vast blue sky
Breeze tugs / trees sway / great green hills
Sun scourged / sand glares / small white beach
Skip stones / thoughts nag / mind fug stills

2....

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Figurative paralysis laid waste body electric of mine

This is Spinal tap 
bamboozling, binding, bleeding, bombing...
ripped from every dog eared 
and book marked page
recounting latest ill fated fiasco, 
now peppering my life and hard times
causing quite...

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Once upon a night so bleak,
frozen silent laid the creek --
air of death, pushed, swore
and swore...as if were fists
pounded the frail, wood door;

shutters noised, bolting and
banging; metal hinges oddly
clanging – cupboard glasses
adding more tumultuous tang,...

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What happened to Hip-Hop, how did it end up like this? 
the biggest song on the radio is by a rapper who didn't write it
And the ones who do write they repeat the same 8...

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Fragrance of Life  ©

Cool rain drums on blistering 
asphalt, the scent streams into 
the nostrils--hot, grassy smell of 
summer, freshly cut-smoky 
cedar lingers on the air 

Fresh popcorn drenched in 
butter, I sit in...

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Ms Agnes finally presented herself in front of me and ordered me to stand. I remember 
feeling small as I looked up into Ms Agnes' face, looking into eyes covered with an opaque 
blue film....

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Epigrams VII

A question that sometimes drives me hazy: 
am I or are the others crazy?
—Albert Einstein, poetic interpretation by Michael R. Burch


The Whole of Wit
by Michael R. Burch

for and after Richard Moore

If brevity is the...

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"Dissection of the Ass Whooping"
by:  Eric L. Boddie

Congratulations to you for winning the election
But when you campaign for this ass whooping, you hate the win section
My foot strikes cerebrals of people so they turn...

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Fruitful days are filling up the piles of treasure mesuring the misogyny it shouldn't be a topic of forgery while waiting for break outs throwing correction direction of stereotyping the tipicallity of capabilities in abilities...

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Fruitful days are filling up the piles of treasure mesuring the misogyny it shouldn't be a topic of forgery while waiting for break outs throwing correction direction of stereotyping the tipicallity of capabilities in abilities...

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Her lips dripped with honey.
Bee's nuzzled lovingly under her chin, 
And crawled across her ethereal face. 
Smooth white silk, 
Marble floors. 
Gardens full of flowers. 
Her steps were as light as a feather,
Her voice was...

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Maybe it was just a dream, a fantasy. 
A dream so sweet I could tang its scent. 
A fantasy roughly you and I on top of the world.
A dream so flawless nothing can relate. 
A...

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from conscionable, fashionable, 
and inimitable laudable official,
regal unequivocal x all did (re: exalted)
gratuitously justifiable management, 

this citizen banker does hint intend zealous altercation, 
but bestir commonwealth, dutifully engineering 
fairness, given hover into jaundiced keeper
LivingSocial lee,...

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Let's take it back to the days of Melle Mel & Grandmaster Flash
The Rap masters, who actually had swagger
Dr dre, When he was in N.W.A before Death Row records or Aftermath
Ice Cube, Eazy E, Mc...

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(alternately titled: impossible mission goes awry
probably mortal enemy cast spell binding jinx)

Both mental versus
physical tasks necessitate
laser sharp attentiveness
triggered within blinks
similarly on par when people toast
momentary instance utter silence

before more'n one
wine glass simultaneously clinks
cheering hurray, especially
if...

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Chinese translations Li Bai

These are my modern English translations of Chinese poems by Li Bai, who was also known as Li Po.



Zazen on Ching-t’ing Mountain
by Li Bai
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Now the birds have...

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Sometimes, I cannot help but sigh
and wonder--
wonder deep inside of me 
whether I could ever be like you.

I riffle through the pages of my soul
and find a lot of them empty
Unlike yours, which seem to...

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My life cant be helped but still strike a pose
punch you in the face call for a second dose
i got so much ice hell just frooze
light a fire up under all your noses
im the satanic...

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Growing up in care I never had my family by my side
I was damaged and lost as a child
Hood up to hide my face and I would never smile
But Hip Hop saved my life

Heard the...

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Hear the clip-clop of iambic beats
Sounds like Shelley with a side of Keats
Is that the scritchity-scratch of a goose quill flickin’
Or just the tippity-tap of some mouse you clickin’..?

So you a prophet poet, regular Marley...

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Finding Happiness in Everyday Pleasures

Happiness is bathing in glorious, golden sunshine,
absorbing the beauty of sunsets deliciously divine.
Dancing through cool droplets of silvery rain,
feeling cleansed, refreshed, and reborn again.

Happiness is inhaling the enchanting perfume of a...

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( Do you have a favorite poem of your own that you love, but that few others seem to respond to? I have posted this here and elsewhere before, but only received one short comment...

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