Long Unwieldy Poems

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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Neigh say being  corralled & cult shod 

"Sic semper evello mortem tyrannis"
translation = thus always I 
bring death to tyrants.”

Above the fray of twittering, 
squabbling, and madding crowds,
an arrogantly belligerent creature deified, 
yet vilified...

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“Goooood morning!  I’m Wade, and I’m having a fantastic morning here at Starbucks! What can I get started for you today?” 
I look over at the Starbucks drive-through lane from the Goodwill donation drop-off...

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Come sit and I will serenade
A sad, colossal flub,
A tale about a marinade.
(Well, truthfully a rub)

It is a long and sordid tale;
Not sure where to begin.
My sensibilities assailed,
Yet I must jump on in.

The task at...

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The new roves are not like the old,
They purvey an unwieldy aspect
To their elderly kindred folk;
Even on this steep hill forms encroach
Upon an edifice grand of bygone grandeur;

 So to ‘Ghurt Muire’ that Jacobean domain
With...

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Serious sibling subluxation... 
rapprochement somewhat salvaged dislocation

Truth be told about following poem 
mostly written quite some years ago, 
and revisions made to recreate
and revise a more satisfactory literary product.

This trademark ungainly, unsightly,
and unwieldy title essentially
huzzah...

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Serious Sibling Subluxation... 
Rapprochement Somewhat Salvaged Dislocation

This trademark ungainly, unsightly,
     and unwieldy title essentially
     huzzah mask queer aid,
and accentuates tendency
     (mine) to administer
...

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The sharp knife of simplicity 
cut a transverse incision through my scalp.
The hands of hope gutted out my psyche,
deconstructed my mind,
and organized it into a coherent tumor
that fills the gap once deep in my brain....

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(alternately titled “How art thou dear reader?”)

(Inexplicably triggers domino effect
and doth indirect
lee send favorable
     ripples vibrantly unchecked.)
vagaries of an uncertain
     today or tomorrow
    ...

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The corpus millennia has crawled down the vale,                           ...

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Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces 
(INF) Treaty nixed, asper (gasp) infinite
wisdom (quite unsettling) trumpeting  
commander in chief de facto gave green

light, thus signals fasttrack, sans arms 
race activating Armageddon churning 
noble nuclear warheads damn the...

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On life’s rebound mere months ago
caught head to toe in throes of woe
the youngest in my fam’ly crew
with insight to my rescue flew
she wrote me in, the caring mite
as member of a friendship site

From every...

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ULYSSES

Full fathom five thy father lies;
Of his bones are coral made;
Those are pearls that were his eyes:
Nothing of him that doth fade
But doth suffer a sea-change
Into something rich and strange.
Sea-nymphs hourly ring his knell:
Ding-dong.
Hark! now...

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Oh, for the love of God... 
      Why must you always stay 
 Tethered to me? Sever your strings.

     You keep creeping behind me;
  ...

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Spring necked victim 
                  Will be decked again
          ...

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Genesis: God’s plan unfolding
Father, with the Word, creates;
Spirit on the water hovers
God, how great and wise you are!

          Caterpillar - slow, unwieldy
    ...

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Words as offensive weapons
dwell on ugliness of bad-humored life.

Words as effective tools
dwell on beauty and truth
of good-humored health,
empowerment,
love.

Yet, swords become plowshares.
Plowshares are repurposed as unwieldy swords.
Regenerative intent becomes degenerative chaos.
Degenerative discontent becomes regenerate
tipping points
within silent...

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The ship of state lumbers along the horizon
Like a gigantic seagoing vessel, she struggles
To stay afloat in turbulent waters she lies in,
A pilot must keep her afloat during troubles.

Like a gigantic seagoing vessel, she struggles
With...

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Life leaves scratches
        her fear of limitations
        in an unwieldy gait
        uncertain in her...

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Pummelled intensity, underneath we face her force
Exhaled wide eyed in white, witness rainforest exhibit
Splashed grins enfold a third tongue, waterfall
Her glistening christening combines us in sublime


Drilled by severity, her embrace as strong as yours
Like waterfall's...

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Watercress  Heaven

Thirty-five years I've travelled these backroads,

.....renewing my soul, while being nourished by local artisans, I now call my friends.
Bread they've baked, milk coaxed from unwieldy goats in the wee hours,
beauty defining paintings, in...

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If We Don Need Um-Why Feed Um
 
We do not need to feed -
who we do not need
Every since they yelled
thar's gold in dem dar hills
dars oil in dat der groun
there's
diamons in dat der mine
there...

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I woke up to see such a ginormous granny.
I woke up to inhale the aroma of the gravy.
I woke up in a surrounding full of grouchy.
Though am little grumpy but am like a guppy.
I woke...

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A lonely path across the hills
Calls back to me on nights of woe
In hope that its fair scent fulfills
More needs than even I would know.

A lonely glimmer in the vale
Reminds me often of your life,
And...

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I’ve already packed
Everything you need
For your trip, Little One.
“Yes,” she said,
“But I’ve never been 
To Chicago before,
And I just might need
My old hairbrush
And this book I used to like,
And…” it all went
Into her backpack

I smiled...

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