Flower Racism Poems

Gateway town, Mississippi and Missouri river flooding confluence,
with its celebration of manifest destiny, its looming, iconic archway.
Stainless westward marker, its culture flowed southward for influence
within...

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It is so tragic and so strange
to still get tied to hate, so strong,
I think it’s time to make a change,
And all, in love, to...

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"The Children of Gaza" Lyrics: II

These lyrics were written by Michael R. Burch and were adapted in places to the music by Michael R. Burch...

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World War II Poems and Holocaust Poems V - Ber Horvitz, Yitzkhak Viner, Franta Bass

Der Himmel
"The Heavens"
by Ber Horvitz
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

These skies
are...

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World War II Poems and Holocaust Poems (I)

These are poems about World War II and the Holocaust, which is also called the Shoah in Hebrew....

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With my Uyghur poetry translations I am trying to build awareness of the plight of Uyghur poets who are being sent to Chinese "reeducation" concentration...

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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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The problem is in our upbringing,
We were told, "the only pretty is pale".
It's the fault of our upbringing,
We measure beauty in colour scale.

Why does he...

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Translations of Holocaust poems by Ber Horvitz aka Ber Horowitz

Der Himmel
"The Heavens"
by Ber Horvitz
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
 
These skies
are leaden, heavy, gray ...
I...

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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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for the mothers and children of Gaza  

Frail envelope of flesh,
lying cold on the surgeon’s table
with anguished eyes
like your mother’s eyes
and a heartbeat weak,...

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Epitaph for a Palestinian Child
by Michael R. Burch

I lived as best I could, and then I died.
Be careful where you step: the grave is wide.

This...

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The crinkle in her hair
The bends of her waste
The fullness of her lips
I recognize as she sits under  the shade of that tree

The dip...

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We are each and all Black Lives as small Deaths
inside our historical-cultural DNA emergence
into full-octave multicultural ecopolitics.

In Earth's ecosystem,
there can be no ecological entity perceivable...

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What is a rose to a weed,
The latter we fight,
The other we feed,
One grows in spite,
It takes over with greed,
What is a rose to a...

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