Long Unruly Poems

Chinese Poets: English Translations II

These are modern English translations of poems by the Chinese poets Tzu Yeh, Lin Huiyin, Xu Zhimo and Huang E. These are poems about love, passion and beauty. 


Tzu Yeh (circa...

Read More

Year One -

Tell me Eve,
does this Garden have everything we need,
do you think the walls are too tall,
are the gatekeepers reasonable, tolerable, right about it all,
what did Lilith know, where did she go
far past the...

Read More

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...

Read More

With these lines I’ll relate an intriguing tale of dubious accuracy
For I Hope to unveil sordid affairs of more than one conspiracy!
Be warned, that though you might be disturbed by the facts I relate?
They are...

Read More

A born lioness my untamed heart? ha! 
a mouse, this pulsing token ruled by unruly wants
at times given, traded or stolen - sometimes
thrown down on a dare to be won or lost 
till it became...

Read More

Potawatomi language,
says Robin Wall Kimmerer,
does not verbally divide us into masculine and feminine.
However, unlike most English verbs,
Potawatomi verbs distinguish between animate and inanimate objects.

For example,
we use sit down
when speaking to an unruly son
and set down
when...

Read More

Jesus taught and lived
Those who follow the Way
Truth
Life, rather than punishing death,
would be known
by our love,
especially for our enemies.

He did not say, or live,
Those who punish themselves and others with death threats
and war planning
and technology...

Read More

Hold the phone, hold the freakin’ phone. Lisa’s got a boyfriend!
I’ve never seen Lisa with a boyfriend. Lisa draws men like fireworks on a dark night, but I’ve never seen her keep one. I mean,...

Read More

The Tale of the Bumpalump

After the Knight had unraveled...Flagan decided to travel
    and get away on a long holiday.
He thought it quite grand to visit a new land
    and...

Read More

I wait with bated breath for... C. Cure T. Clarence

The following crafted 
approximately midway 
into the administration 
of forty fifth president,
whose crass, gutsy, lewd,
repulsive yawping finds
him squarely poised to
nab the nomination as
Republican front runner
come the...

Read More

The scenery was magnificent, and the morning was slightly hot,
Our land cruiser was windowless, and sitting in a lovely spot.

The giraffes were splendid, and much bigger than I'd expected,
One could hardly gaze at the vast...

Read More

Mentors with the BeeTrees

From NorthWinds
come darkening winter
as newborn discontent
waiting to spring forth.

From SouthWinds
come summer's diastasis
climax of full-born wisdom,
contentment for and from all four directions
spread across sleeping hearts
of each nighttime regeneration.

From normalizing WestWind toward East colonializing
patriarchal...

Read More

When he reached the courtyard DynDoeth stepped from the shadows and greeted him.  One by one each of the Elders also stepped forward.   Erlenkönig greeted each in turn.  There were only...

Read More

As I watched my daughter playing with her son, I couldn't help but see myself in her. I still think of her as a child, but I guess parents always see their grown children as...

Read More

I see you looking at me
There is an old pang in my chest
there where your hands used to caress
where your lips loved to roam
there where you called your home
There is an old flutter now
What is...

Read More

I see you looking at me
There is an old pang in my chest
there where your hands used to  caress
where your lips loved to roam
there were you called your home
There is an old flutter now
What...

Read More

("The Visit", Part I)

My name is Lemon, without the 'ade'.
Not for my colour though, hue or shade,
For I'm a pinto with brown and white,
Said to be pretty from distant sight.
But up close is a different...

Read More

Spawned from the loins that 
Perpetuated the loyal serfs mongrel
Seed:-
These peoples of a conditioned and
"Resigned-To-it-all" breed.
Born into the enveloping tedium
Of interlocking days...Interwoven
With interlocking days -
Victims of stark circumstance
And vague promises unmade.
Gregariously living out their lives
When...

Read More

The Cry Of Dolores

A popular priest in 1810, Spanish rule he spoke against
those who had overthrown the Spanish Viceroy José de Iturrigaray
A speech calling upon the people to protect in angst
Their King Ferdinand VII was...

Read More

The year has finally yawned and turned       
Upon a half-revealed shoulder.
A vibrancy, intrinsic to a reemerging 
Enforcement of the strengthening light, 
In its deliberate and unconcerned   ...

Read More

As I awake this morning
I remember a Barney song 
for my more oppositionally misaligned daughter.

I love you
and you love me
even if I couldn't realign my four B's,
Brain,
and Branches,
and Belly,
and Butt, 
these four aligned
good government.

If you...

Read More

Man: 		woman do not with me begin this morning,
Don’t want to go through the day with mourning.
Look I’ve got enough woes on my desk and shoulder
So I don’t need words that sting like adder.
Your mates,...

Read More

"Understood"




My feet stand solemn
grounded they're barefoot 
sinking in the undertow,
feeling what’s real

my toes grip the past

while the slow words 
wash it irrevocably away 
the ego sashays
and hangs that Faust in the wardrobe

Locks it away
turns the...

Read More

In times of a virus spreading its unruly truths I wonder why

	What matters most seems to be toilet paper

Loops and loops of the stuff and people care about their bum

Three ply of course because thin...

Read More

In numerology twelve has special meanings - they’re twelve days of Christmas, twelve months in a year, and Taylor Swift’s had twelve number-one albums. All we care about at Yale, are the twelve days until...

Read More