Long Thrums Poems

Snapshots
by Michael R. Burch

Here I scrawl extravagant rainbows.
And there you go, skipping your way to school.
And here we are, drifting apart
like untethered balloons.

Here I am, creating "art,"
chanting in shadows,
pale as the crinoline moon,
ignoring your face.

There...

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Rejection
a roundel by Geoffrey Chaucer
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Your beauty from your heart has so erased
Pity, that it's useless to complain;
For Pride now holds your mercy by a chain.

I'm guiltless, yet my sentence has...

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Medieval Poem V

A Proverb from Winfred's Time
anonymous Old English poem, circa 757-786
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

1.
The procrastinator puts off purpose,
never initiates anything marvelous,
never succeeds, and dies alone.

2.
The late-deed-doer delays glory-striving,
never indulges daring dreams,
never succeeds,...

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Dream-worker 
delves deeply into my dream;

vibrations fondle anticipation
foreplay wakes wide-eyed 
swells of liquid libido quake the rendezvous edge -
a primordial being in his prime
a masculine ego quest for affaire d’amour;
her night-loving body 
c h a...

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Translations of the Oldest English Rhyming Poems

The Rhymed Poem aka The Rhyming Poem aka The Riming Poem
Old English/Anglo-Saxon poem from the Exeter Book, circa 990 AD
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

(excerpt)
He who granted me life...

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So cramped ...
Strain to move,
Flex and budge in tiny increments ...
That's the limit.
Constantly testing, trying,
Pushing, pressing ...
Constrict, exert, constrict, struggle,
Spin slowly, push ...
That's it. That's all.
Nothing more.
But it helps ... relief,
A body sigh ...
But only...

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I am home ...

oh, my heart
      pray, hush its cadence
         for the sacred sake of unsated thirst
   beg its thrums...

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wobbling
   earth
      Phoebus
          slipover
               &
...

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cold rain
to slow-streak the
glass I watch you through -
you and your
christ ...
the ginger bread man,
sugar daddy savior, all that
I was not, (and less) ...
choices of
compromise, to provide
the lifeblood of your
"needs" ...

you, admiring
your bullion reflection in...

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Why are there stars?

Without stars, how would we know that the darkness holds beauty and light in
     limitless value? Where would fireflies find the inspiration to put on their
  ...

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there thrums a void I can't discern
      the pounding echos thru my chest
         this hollow, empty, longing breast
   it beats...

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The brook thrums as it vaults over the piled rocks
Rolling on deep into the Zambezi valley
Twisting, flirting with the rigdes that compliment the escarpment beyond 
And the indigenous lass strolled to the rivulet a rose...

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I round a bend in the trail ...

And gasp, literally ...
The scene before me takes my breath away
And I stop, transfixed by the sheer breadth of the panorama
The shimmering span of Crater Lake ...

Clear, crystalline...

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I've courted luck, in countless ways
      Against the ragged judgments and self-umbrage
         I still draw breath, and the mirror has been charitable
...

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For centuries of ancient thought
cosmic harmonies have been sought
in the vast eternal motion
of the grand galactic ocean.

To some the twinkling sky inspires
poems about celestial choirs.
But if those serenades occur
it’s just as if they never were,
since...

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There, so long ago ...
Precious little one, hair of platinum!
If I could but speak to you from the "now",
From the heart of the man you will come to be ...

Oh, you have a pure spirit...

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Written: January 17, 2024
                          _________________________________

Delphic melodies on
elysian breeze
lustral chorales in...

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The clouds hang low, thick and dark
It reminds me of the suffocation I feel here
It is supposed to be my home, the secure native place
Drop me off in a corner here, and I should be...

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now …

I’ve seen you
you slipped up this time, but …
should I tell?
they think they know you so well
sunshine and smiles
the perfect motherly mother
the clothes, house, car
ages gone from the “secrets” …
from … him, (adored)
seemingly sorted...

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S - P - R - I - N - G

Ah! Harsh cold winter must be tired,
 his grip weakening, he breathes  his last.

The frowning skies finally crumble fast
 revealing downy blue clouds that...

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In a cynical realm where truth is tainted in black, rises she, 
amidst whirling vortexes veiling reveries where she walks.

Yet society thrums thick skinned lies, whilst morning moon sighs in-
silence, seeing sunrise through eyes that...

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Line of inquiry:

"betwixt the pulse of our heartbeat
simply present, head-heart linking
dwelling in time stretched blissful peace
awareness became unblinking"

For contest Sponsored by: Unseeking Seeker

            ...

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Cherished ...
Is the word I use to describe
The works of poetry that I add to my preferred list

That list is quite limited ...
I suppose you could say I'm picky
But those poems are the whole package
NOT...

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I stand at the precipice of remembrance,
Caught between the rotting crops of yesterday
And the crisp dawn of reality,
While a torchbearer beckons my soul to Dante’s Inferno.
Ashen raindrops drench me to my marrow.

For I’ve been cursed...

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“To be or not to be: that is the question” - William Shakespeare


I am ...
breath-to-breath the breasted thrums
a coursing quick to sear the veins
molten marrow, binding beast
to the neural tap-dance
bloated brains borne
a-back their own
self-indulgent
euphoric
ruin.

I am...

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