Long Tanka Poems

The Original Sin: Rhyming Haiku!
 
Haiku
should never rhyme:
it’s a crime!
-Michael R. Burch
 
The herons stand,
sentry-like, at attention ...
rigid observers of some unknown command.
-Michael R. Burch
 
Late
fall;
all
the golden leaves turn black underfoot:
soot
-Michael R. Burch
 
Dry leaf...

Read More

These are translations of some of the oldest Japanese waka, which evolved into tanka, renga and haiku. 

While you decline to cry,
high on the mountainside
a single stalk of plumegrass wilts.
—O no Yasumaro (circa 711), translation...

Read More

To a Daughter More Precious than Gems
by Otomo no Sakanoue no Iratsume
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

Heaven's cold dew has fallen—
and thus another season arrives.
Oh, my child living so far away,
do you pine for me...

Read More

Watching wan moonlight
illuminate tree limbs,
my heart also brims,
overflowing with autumn.
—Ono no Komachi, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

As I slept in isolation
my desired beloved appeared to me; 
therefore, dreams have become my reality
and consolation. 
—Ono...

Read More

As I slept in isolation
my desired beloved appeared to me; 
therefore, dreams have become my reality
and consolation. 
—Ono no Komachi, translation by Michael R. Burch

Submit to you—is that what you advise? 
The way the ripples...

Read More

~ Seek  The Lord  Everyday~ 
(Double Tanka) 


Extend God's  Love now 
Show to  others the right way 
In  bad  times  just  Pray 
Don't let  worries ...

Read More

~ God  Sees  It  All  ~
( Double Tanka   )


~O~


God just sees it all
You can be sure He sees you
He sees you and me
God knows everything  you do
Your lifes...

Read More

~ God  Sees  It  All ~
(Double Tanka)


God just sees it all
You can be sure He sees you
He sees you and me
God knows everything  you do
Your lifes open'd  book to Him

Lord...

Read More

~Eternally And More ~
(Tanka Suite)



You just give us all
And Your Salvation is the best
With You all  is  Great
I can do what's impossible 
You're  so beautiful

~0~

My  soul  rests on You
You're giver...

Read More

~ Let's Thank God ~
 ( Tanka )



 Let's thank God for all

 His presence is always there

 Lets say a prayer

 Praise Him endlessly for all

 He gives us each day.



 Dorian Petersen Potter
...

Read More

~ Eternally ~
 (Tanka Suite)


 Lord,  You  give us  all
 And your  Salvation is the best
 With You all is great
 I can do what's impossible 
 You're so  wonderful!

...

Read More

Crazy Horse Monument

Up there! On the Black Hills Mountain, 1
A work in progress sculptured in granite,
Of a stern faced warrior, strong and determined, 2
Unadorned in a war bonnet, with his hair flowing in the wind,
And...

Read More

Haiku Variations
by Michael R. Burch

This is a poem composed of haiku-like stanzas:


Variations on the Seasons I
by Michael R. Burch

Lift up your head
dandelion,
hear spring roar!

How will you tidy your hair
this near
summer?

Leave to each still night
your lightest...

Read More

My First poem posted here May 2007 was  an enigmatic Lanterne

Viduage

Tall
nettles-
the dutch hoe
rusting in the
shed.

My First ekphrasis (poem no 2 here ) BELLA

Bella

He
opened
the window-
in streamed his first
love
with
flowers,
dressed
in white-
she haunted his
art.

An Ekphrasis in lanterne  sequence on Marc Chagall

MY FIRST POEM I EVER WROTE poem no 3 here. a favoured form  AN ALLITERATION

Connections
Confront,clash,collide
COMBAT !
Cold shoulder,chill,cool
CUT-OFF !
Cry,crave,collect
CALL-ON !
Constant,compassion,consider
CHARITY !
Confer,commune,converse
COMMUNICATE !
Convene,concert,consensus
CONCORD !
COVENANT ! CHRIST ! CHURCH !

MY FIRST IMAGIST POEM -REFLECTIONS

Reflections

Deep into the pool
A blue moon,ephemeral,
Below white-coated peaks,
Bleak and surreal,
The transient image too soon
Dissolves,and ripples into space,
As water though my grasp.

MY FIRST CINQUAIN (after Adelaide Crapsey)

Long days
Of August sun
Where nature blinks and shrinks
The dying grass,yellowed in sleep-
Held fast

MY FIRST HIKU 

On the wind,a bell
Muffled from across the square
Raindrops fill the air
why hiku ?

HAIKU means  the ' phonetical&cultural original 'in Japanese'

whereas HIKU

is the English language version(including translations)with similar economy of words without "telling all" thereby to ' show ' (conforming to the key to...

Read More

hearken to the sound
of reality come round
crowing to the sun
a brand new day just begun
much more mundane than profound

the universe hums
until eternity comes
shifting light plasma
moves through sparse cosmic miasma
the interstellar stanza

universe springs forth
actual mountains of...

Read More

These are modern English translations of haiku and tanka by Takaha Shugyo...

ochitsubaki ware naraba kyuryu e otsu

Oh, fallen camellias,
if I were you,
I'd leap into the torrent!
—Takaha Shugyo, loose translation by Michael R. Burch

dôkefuku nugazu tentômushi...

Read More

These are my modern English translations of Takaha Shugyo haiku and tanka...

hatogata horarete ichiju haya mebuku

A single tree
with a heart carved into its trunk
blossoms prematurely
—Takaha Shugyo, loose translation by Michael R. Burch

dôkefuku nugazu tentômushi no...

Read More

Philipp Reis (Deutsch/ English/ Español   (Sentanka)

Übertragung von Sprache
Mit den einfachsten Mitteln
Über große Entfernung 

Versagt blieb ihm der Erfolg
Viel zu früh kam sein Tod


Transmission of  voice
By using the simplest means
Over long distances 

Success...

Read More

The following is a tribute to all Native Americans. Please check the footnotes for
unfamiliar words.

A lonely man riding a tashunke
Toward the anapo
Where the yellow-gowned prince
Rises majestically
With an army of golden spears
Aimed at desert’s sandy heart
The...

Read More

Ono no Komachi Translations

These are my modern English translations of the ancient Japanese poems of Ono no Komachi…

"It's over!"
Your words drizzle like dismal rains,
bringing tears,
as I wilt with my years.
—Ono no Komachi, translation by Michael...

Read More

This is for you, Mystic Rose,
The closest cyber encounter family tree, my spree
Harry Horsman, Sara K, summer's gone, let's haiku and play.
Achoo contest, butterflies, Parise Pariku, and the awesomeness of Michael J. 
Andrea Dietrich, Debbie...

Read More

*WITHOUT THE SOUP.......

                                ...

Read More

Wrath
Here I stand, upon
This hill, this hell of gunshots,
Pouring blood, whiskey,
Cadavers made into walls;
Unashamed generals lead
Color-adorned men
To untimely demises,
No food, no water,
But you must not leave The Cause,
For you have been called to fight
On the...

Read More

He had do fight all odds
A man of unbreakable idealism
Alone with his ideas

A mysterious death at high sea
The truth will never be known
--------------------------------------------------
Gegen alle Widerstände
Ein Mann mit ungebrochenem Idealismus
Alleine mit seinen Ideen

Mysteriöser Tod auf hoher...

Read More

I walk outside and I see chaos
People killing people
War between the nations
And war in our own backyards
Kids exploding at school
And destroying our young life
Destruction all around us
The lost innocence of people
Where has it gone
Who can...

Read More