Long Tokens Poems

"Oak" 

The guardians
stood around and 
shook their heads

great thoughts 
quivering 
from the ground, roots up, 

as if to walk 
confidently 
with great armies

yet hesitation 
was witnessed
in their waving gestures

perplexed 
and touching 
green crowns, 

there they...

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Come, You
by Rainer Maria Rilke
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

This was Rilke’s last poem, written ten days before his death. He died open-eyed in the arms of his doctor on December 29, 1926, in the...

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Archaic Torso of Apollo
by Rainer Maria Rilke
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

We cannot know the beheaded god
nor his eyes' forfeited visions. But still
the figure's trunk glows with the strange vitality
of a lamp lit from within,...

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The Panther
by Rainer Maria Rilke
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

His weary vision's so overwhelmed by iron bars,
his exhausted eyes see only blank Oblivion.
His world is not our world. It has no stars.
No light. Ten thousand...

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This is my translation of the first of Rilke’s Duino Elegies. Rilke began the first Duino Elegy in 1912, as a guest of Princess Marie von Thurn und Taxis, at Duino Castle, near Trieste on...

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"The Call of the Grimoire" 


when Exalibur was retrieved 

from the rock, then foolishly 
and irretrievably lost 
in that dreadful battle most worthless

the imps encouraged 
the once good Poesie folk 
to jeer and throw pebbles

the...

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"Conceits"



Such conceits
as veils between 
our windowed worlds 
torn torrential incomplete

mayst thou watch and learn 
the one I spawned, 
strength beats weakness
carried soft and harsh

one direction or the other
strength and weakness
both carried soft and harsh
ego and...

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Suddenly, two Indian boys throw themselves into the water like meteors
swiming towards camp chatty as prarie dogs,
they hail from a Teton encampment of 74 lodges a few miles up river
most of the men are feeling...

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"Don't get too close"

(Squeeze, squeeze, squeeze ...)

We are taught from day one
Not to get involved ...
"Don't get too close to your patients,
Or the emotions will get the better of you"
Don't get too close ...
Don't get...

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THE CITY AND THE STATE OF PLAY TODAY

No one worries about morals today 
They follow the rules they create
So to them all is ok
Those on the outside looking in 
Are the only ones feeling queasy...

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My friends have always hated Valentine's Day.
They ridiculed the pimply-faced boys
Whose hormone-infused offerings
Smell of Axe cologne and sweaty palms.

Greater the mocking of pubescent princesses
Who prance and twirl and collect tokens
From admirers like shells on a...

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"The Monochrome Echo Chamber"




How many Roads
to "IT"
Black 
as Black & White? 
or Unicorns and Rainbows?

Unitarian 1 and only 1 
Trinitarian 3 exist in 1 
An answer 
arrives 
unheralded 

Reversed in Time
Something 
has lit the fuse
Something...

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I remember waking up to the melodious sound of my mother singing happy birthday,
the aroma of bacon and pancakes wandering through the hall, invading my nostrils,
my sister having no regard for my annual celebration and...

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                              Supine, Looking at the Sky

...

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“Gods Like Men”



you the small men 
who war like gods

mystery that never was
in a likeness formed

through the mirrors
of the soul of God

a darkness
and a light 

the next star rising
after Sunset comes the Morning

you the small...

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If time is money
then time is capital
so maybe healthy time could also become capitalized wealth.
If money is a token of time’s value
and capitalism commodifies time’s human value,
then human values commodify equitable,
as well as more competitive,...

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Christmas Morn, Night Still Paraded Its Cloak,
A Christmas Narrative

Christmas morn, night still paraded its cloak
dawn had not our dear earth with its rays soaked
yet something magical was in the air
for beneath barren tree, presents a...

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I'm not sure Shem
the Lord said he was sad,
he told me that a long time ago
the angels had done something terrible
that they had compromised their divine command
for carnal caprice, that their offspring had become offensive,...

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A MESSAGE TO EINSTEIN
Originally Composed in Persian Language by:
M. H. Shahryar (1904- 1988)
Translated into English by:
 Abdullah Bageri Hamidi

Einstein! An unspecified greeting! Well, pardon;
Running in the twilight of moonlight, fair;
With the curl of the wavering...

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Dominion / Noun/sovereignty or control 

Rev 4 NIV









The Dilettante Diaries: "Dominion"



Something wicked this way comes
Can you not hear it banging on it’s drums?


March on sweet innocent
35 is just a number
take a seat on the bench
catch...

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What golden fevers disease drives the madman’s insanity,
A toxic yellow shines metal, that glitter beneath the polar Aurora,
Of greed’s horded treasure of the Klondike’s curse!
By sheer brawn's heaving and hoe, did these fortune hunters so...

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America
I´m here to bring you
What you don´t need
Another heartfelt poem
Another heartsick plea
Worth less than
Chewed gum
America I’m tapping
At your window
At 3 am
With a bag full of
Sour wine
And a shopping list
Of grievances
America wake up
It´s me and I...

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THE BLOODY TOWER

I am so trapped a phantom princess, on an ethereal plain, spiritually
Forgotten in isolation's domain, in hell's chamber of brick and mortar,
In this imprisonment of the unjust, I'm the innocent accursed, in England's
Bloody...

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When Ricky Nelson said “Hello” to “Marylou” I knew - that rock ‘n’ roll was in my heart to stay,
And no one with a soul can argue Orbison and Presley aren’t among the greatest still...

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Dear Pastor

This morning, as I thought upon the goodness of God,
tears began to fall from my eyes and sobbing sounds came forth.
I was alone in the kitchen, and only The Lord saw and heard.

I was...

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