Long Thunderbolts Poems

Radiance
by Michael R. Burch

for Dylan Thomas

The poet delves earth’s detritus—hard toil—
for raw-edged nouns, barbed verbs, vowels’ lush bouquet;
each syllable his pen excretes—dense soil,
dark images impacted, rooted clay.

The poet sees the sea but feels its meaning—
the...

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Turkish Poetry Translations II

Çanakkale Sehitlerine
"For the Çanakkale Martyrs"
by Mehmet Akif Ersoy
loose English translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Was there ever anything like the Bosphorus war??
The earth’s mightiest armies pressing Marmara,
Forcing entry between her mountain passes
To a...

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These are poems about Dylan Thomas, as well as poems "for" and "after" Dylan Thomas. Dylan Thomas was one of my favorite poets from my early teens and has remained so over the years. I...

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Myth, after Dylan Thomas
by Michael R. Burch

Here the recalcitrant wind
sighs with grievance and remorse
over fields of wayward gorse
and thistle-throttled lanes.

And she is the myth of the scythed wheat
hewn and sighing, complete,
waiting, lain in a low...

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Mehmet Akif Ersoy: Modern English Translations of Turkish Poems

Mehmet Âkif Ersoy (1873-1936) was a Turkish poet, author, writer, academic, member of parliament, and the composer of the Turkish National Anthem.



Snapshot
by Mehmet Akif Ersoy
loose English translation/interpretation...

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PART 1:          THE MEETING

Alone one night neath lantern light, I trudged a weary mile.
Forlorn, I went with shoulders bent (the storms around me howled)
until I met...

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THERE IS NO GREATER LOVE THAN THIS


"For God did not send His Son
into the world to condemn  the world,
 but that the world through Him might be saved...-John 3:17 "
-----------------------------------------------------------------

"Crucify Him! Crucify Him! CRUCIFY...

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A Storming Symphony

                            The calm before the storm...

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dark matter(s)
by Michael R. Burch

the matter is dark, despairful, alarming:
ur Creator is hardly prince charming!

yes, ur “Great I Am”
created blake’s lamb

but He also created the tyger
and what about trump and rod steiger? 


The Echoless Green
by...

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The first years of my ruling I was 20 years in the earth. The people were of the first races. There was no famine or death cause the age was renewal. The rainbow shown 40...

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Nero the god! I had a dream. 
There I was at the foot of Mount Olympus.
 Mother was with me as usual. 
As we reached a cross-roads, Agrippina said: 
"Come Nero, here we turn left"...

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Yo what's up bro, how've you been man? I know I haven't talk to you in a while. That's my fault. I just get so tied up with life and all the negative vibes that...

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Each poem I birth
Is a child of my heart
Flesh of my flesh
Bone of my bone
Word of my soul
Conveyor of my emotions

Each one is unique
Different….
One is always happy
And sees the bright side of life
The eternal optimist
With...

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Holograms and hieroglyphs

The whole weighs heavily
touched caressed lightly 
brushed on feather canvass
granite marble marvellous papyrus 
innocence rejuvenated
partial and impartial

Chiselled in and out
of comprehension angled
layered facets facts
subjective trueness 
ciphered and deciphered

Snow flakes teardrops
ink on paper hailing...

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Archetypes flash straight from a pack of Tarot cards
anti-terror Jing Jang synthesis with neuro-spiritual precision
implants explosive animation from the deep unknown
like a taro rootstock growing wings to fly with found suspension

Stereotactic stereotypes archetypes semi-circling soothing...

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HARLEY DAVIDSON

The roar of the victorious twins that spark,
Enigma of the spotless glint in the dark,
The riders, symbolic of rare brood,
Tattooed with insignia and bandana as hood.

Third year of the twentieth century, there starts a...

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Simple things like love arent easy to understand
My pen trembles, my thoughts scramble 
All my monsters are weak in her presence
Its sad how they no longer seem ugly
she says I do not write poetry for...

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Flowers climb the branches
exhibit their full blossom
flowers visit drawing rooms 
They visit temples 
and then they vanish.
defying fixed shapes
rivers hasten to no destination.
carrying countless goals
roads get lost in a maze. 

Unceasingly
I stand
holding the selfsame earth.

Many...

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Nature, Friend and Foe

Speak out the words to the soft petaled plants, 
that grow wearily in the distant corners
It is there that the scrub jay alights,
squawking and gorging on berries.
This habitat has brought the wildlife...

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THOUGHTS OF A JAMAICAN CHRISTMAS

I remember Christmas of yesteryear
Of John Canoe dancing with fife and drum
Horsehead would approach, it was scary but fun
And Scrippy scrappy looked like a real bum

Of Christmas breeze and Poinsettias red
Mixed...

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This is the third in a trilogy of steeler poems and while it is good on its own.I really had fun with this one. All three need read for the full story to be told.

Oh...

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The royal chambermaid and the young warrior, fleeing the wrath of the heavenly palace, were flying low, their robes trailing through the air like colourful ghosts. Their elopement to the earthly domain had been condemned...

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TWO AVENGER'S BOXING BOUT
 
Midst rings of thunder and a vibrant haze,
Two titans clash, in a gladiatorial gaze.
Their presence makes the cosmos sing.  
Immortal meets might in a mortal boxing ring.4

Thor, the Asgardian, with...

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Prometheus had erred and caused great ire
when stealing in stealth secrets of fire.
But Zeus could not forgive this deed.
The chieftain of gods punished his greed.
The lightning zigzagged across the sky,
in anger he let thunderbolts fly.
Instructions...

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TROPICAL  SUMMER 
                               ...

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