Winter Prison Poems

the ghost mind is a curious space
    a gulag held in wire
haunted huntress, somber sky
coldest winter sun defy
Cossack, Hessian shadow churn 
maze...

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SOLITARY CONFINEMENT 1 : Number Four


Many chains, many locks and bars
clattered at four in the morning 
black bitter coffee drugged
a single bucket of cold water...

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ice shapes a prison
	translucent gothic spirals ~
		prickly passageway

Inspired by but not entered in* the Ice, Snow or Frost Haiku Poetry Contest sponsored by Tania Kitchin

*I...

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‘Twere me an’ Ol’ Dan, on a cold winter night - whilst ridin’ the streets o’ McGiven  
Who noticed a couple o’ fellas ride...

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Here We Shall Remain
by Tawfiq Zayyad
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Like twenty impossibilities
in Lydda, Ramla and Galilee ...
here we shall remain.

Like brick walls braced against...

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Charles d'Orleans: a Medieval Marvel


Spring
by Charles d’Orleans (c. 1394-1465)
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Young lovers,
greeting the spring
fling themselves downhill,
making cobblestones ring
with their wild leaps and...

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Cleansings
by Michael R. Burch

Walk here among the walking specters. Learn
inhuman patience. Flesh can only cleave
to bone this tightly if their hearts believe
that God is good,...

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a passageway assembled in perfection
hues claim blue for reflection
conjured depth’s ensue 
a violet isolation
the design of oblivion
no fleeting moment can abscond
all must fall or fly...

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A culture steeped in retribution
becomes blind to freedom's contributions
accessed best through healing restorations,
trust,
virtual stuff
for democracies most resilient.

A society resisting love's innovative brilliance
comic and jazzy improvising...

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Who owns my heart dungeon? 
To prison all my lovers
To prison my heart inside my heart
But where is the key? 
Certainly the key is my...

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