Long Woodpecker Poems

The first soft snow: 
leaves of the awed jonquil 
bow low
—Matsuo Basho translation by Michael R. Burch

Come, investigate loneliness! 
a solitary leaf
clings to the Kiri tree
—Matsuo Basho translation by Michael R. Burch

The cheerful-chirping cricket
contends gray...

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Dusk-gliding swallow, 
please spare my small friends
flitting among the flowers! 
—Matsuo Basho translation by Michael R. Burch

A bee emerging
from deep within the peony's hairy recesses
flies off, sated
—Matsuo Basho translation by Michael R. Burch

That dying cricket,...

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Grasses wilt:
the braking locomotive
grinds to a halt
—Yamaguchi Seishi, translation by Michael R. Burch

Oh, fallen camellias,
if I were you,
I'd leap into the torrent!
—Takaha Shugyo, translation by Michael R. Burch

The first soft snow:
leaves of the awed jonquil
bow...

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We need to talk.

Is this one of those times
where you need to talk
and I must pretend to listen
while you rant?

Well, yes,
if you could extend this favor.

Your topic?

Social Darwinism.

Isn't that the birthplace of unfettered Capitalism
and Fascism
and...

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I'm off on the beaten path
with Little Rosey in my grasp

There's palm fronds like a giant clock,
twenty hands instead of two
And there's the honeysuckle bush
that suddenly broke through
the gap in my neighbor's greenhouse

"Bonnie!" she insists
"Bonnie...

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The Parrot and the Woodpecker may turn...
    [Sung by TEnicayccal Cellappa]        Translated by T.Wignesan
 
mAnkiliyum marankottiyum         ...

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(A reply to “The phenomenal woman” by Abul Mayen, “Hope John”)

This breezy morning
I have caught the right worm
Basking on a rock like a lizard
She twirled her waist in her briskly walk
A mile ahead of mature...

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Brave people 
I grow...on...
Weeds surround me...
Beads falling playfully...
Rivers, like vines, entwine...
Roots of moist seep in so fine

Because I cried
In this wilderness
I grow, I grow (x2)
Happily, I glow,
You know? You know?
This tree I am
Never a free...

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Neftlix, Hulu, autumn elaeagnus
thorns, small hairy buds, twigs hyper-lenticelled
fruits supposedly edible, leaves elongated, oblong
xerophytic but found in wetland
introduced species, some say invasive

Xbox is invasive
Hulu is the best source of foreign films
and foreign films represent reality...

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People once said I was a homebody, and I guess that was me,
Often curled up with a good book, I loved watching movies.

Like blooms of sunlit meadows, are joyful where they stand,
Stained in the world...

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So many, maybe millions
No, billions. Trillions?
Of stars, a quiet, hot snowfall
of white stars; sandal season squall.
Each birch tree here outdoing 
January's record accumulation.

Weeks of hour after hour after hour
upon day upon day upon day of
birches'...

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I was a zealous environmental scientist, preserving green on our blue planet;
To benefit all animals, plants and people, under sunset skies of pomegranate.

I strived hard to reverse pollution, found in vast seas and in azure,...

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I was a famous, American actress, who adored performing for live audiences,
In stage plays, both modern and classic, like velvet time, which often rushes.

Rose acclaim filled long, chaotic days, of colorful masquerades and fulfillment,
Like Sleeping...

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I re: egret forsaking gull friend where, heron eye twitter

Fictional account related
courtesy one pink flamingo.

Aves lusting for verboten tweet 
reed lubricious sin after giving
Twiggy another peck on the cheek.

Whenever this birdman 
alone with his thoughts...

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A diverse array of flora and fauna reign majestic 
in vivid tawny imagery of shifting sand dunes 
and barren rocks-- sixteen miles
from the golden rays of western tomorrow.

Time is played out in crucial moments of...

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Dedicated to my dear friend Sarah (with an H) for pointing out God's creation of nature in Isaiah 55:12
There are many trees in my yard
Beautifully made by our creator
Those admired most have names
All of the...

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In a windswept vale the tree had spread its branches
Its shale like trunk defined by weather had many wounds
One in particular had hollowed inside this stanchion
Braced against pervading skies and silk-watered lagoons
So clearly defined a...

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Lead me to the place where I can glance at your face, lead me to the place where I can in sit in solitude and reminisce the days of my youth.

 I felt like an...

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History contends that on that score
hing hot summer at 6:00 pm June sixteenth 
in the year 666 after the Devonian era, 
two lovers - a Mister Belmont Me 

and Missy Bryn Mawr Hu felt the...

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The most awaited result got announced, but 
Internet hadn't landed the soil of my country then.
Televisions were tabled in few pocketed places,
Still they worked, minute and achromatic.

With huge audience circled, signal was word alien,
Viewers would...

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The most awaited result got publicized, but
Internet hadn't landed the soil of my country.
Televisions were tabled in few pocketed places,
Still they worked, minute and achromatic.

With huge audience circling, signal was word alien,
Viewers would holler in...

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Nobody walks here anymore
Nobody listen to them anymore
The grass has grown out of control
And the wind  has battered them to the ground
In the midst of the dense woods 
the road lingers between the tall...

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I was a marvelous ophthalmologist, impacting how others saw this world,
As tomorrow one day sees yesterday, on lanes where hued leaves swirled.

I corrected hazy, crazy vision problems, with eyeglasses and with surgery;
Like a second look,...

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I took a walk along the old country road looking desperately for a story that is not yet told, I search in the bushes and the trees but there was nothing waiting for thee.

The morning...

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Although I greatly loved socializing, I really enjoyed being alone,
Like ebony evenings of magic, with no ringing of the telephone.

Since my young childhood, I had been, an introverted extrovert,
Like one with eyes to azure skies,...

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