Long Japanese Poems

This is the story of mad Molly Shaw
She might be mad now but she wasn’t before
she came home to find her man dead on the floor
She lay down her bible and let out a roar...

Read More

"Open Oceans"



Kneeling on pearls
wisdom preys

praying
preying

hungry hearts
count the days 

wasting away
in all that preying 

for prayers 
to be answered

children become
strangers

reading 
strange words

finding 
themselves puzzled

genuflecting to a deity
they do not know, nor wish to

fumbling
mouths closed,

swallowed hole
in the...

Read More

Zen Death Haiku

Brittle cicada shell,
little did I know
you were my life!
—Shuho, translation by Michael R. Burch

Returning
as it came,
this naked worm.
—Shidoken, translation by Michael R. Burch

As dew glistens
on a lotus leaf,
so too I soon must vanish.
—Shinsui,...

Read More

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...

Read More

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,...

Read More

Enola Gay

There on the ‘North Field’ tarmac of Tinian Island, Marianas;
Taxis the sleek designed ‘Boeing B-29 Superfortress’ to ready for take-off. 1
Glistening, polished aluminum under the blaring floodlights filmed for posterity,
Maneuvers' the ‘Enola Gay’, chosen...

Read More

These are translations of some of the oldest Japanese waka, which evolved into tanka, renga and haiku. 

While you decline to cry,
high on the mountainside
a single stalk of plumegrass wilts.
—O no Yasumaro (circa 711), translation...

Read More

To a Daughter More Precious than Gems
by Otomo no Sakanoue no Iratsume
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

Heaven's cold dew has fallen—
and thus another season arrives.
Oh, my child living so far away,
do you pine for me...

Read More

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...

Read More

Watching wan moonlight
illuminate tree limbs,
my heart also brims,
overflowing with autumn.
—Ono no Komachi, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

As I slept in isolation
my desired beloved appeared to me; 
therefore, dreams have become my reality
and consolation. 
—Ono...

Read More

As I slept in isolation
my desired beloved appeared to me; 
therefore, dreams have become my reality
and consolation. 
—Ono no Komachi, translation by Michael R. Burch

Submit to you—is that what you advise? 
The way the ripples...

Read More

Today, catching sight of the mallards
crying over Lake Iware:
Must I too vanish into the clouds?
—Prince Otsu translation by Michael R. Burch  

This world—
to what may we compare it?
To autumn fields
lying darkening at dusk
illuminated by...

Read More

Yosa Buson haiku translations

On the temple’s great bronze gong
a butterfly
snoozes.
?Yosa Buson, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Hard to describe:
this light sensation of being pinched
by a butterfly!
?Yosa Buson, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Not to worry...

Read More

~ Seek  The Lord  Everyday~ 
(Double Tanka) 


Extend God's  Love now 
Show to  others the right way 
In  bad  times  just  Pray 
Don't let  worries ...

Read More

~ Wear  His  Armor   ~
 ( Lanterne  )



~O~
 

 Feel 
 Much pain 
 But with His 
 Love I'll always 
 Walk 

~o~ 

 With 
 Lord help 
...

Read More

~ Love  Greatest  Gift~ 
 (Lanterne) 



God 
Creat'd love 
Is  a  great 
Gift from Him to 
You 

~o~0~o~

Love 
You can 
Feel  and  have 
It everyday 
Too

~o~0~o~

When 
You have 
Love...

Read More

~  Wear His Armor ~ 
 ( Lanterne Suite ) 



~O~


 Feel 
 Much pain 
 But with His 
 Love I'll always 
 Walk 

~o~

 With 
 Lord help 
 Crush evil 
...

Read More

He always brought the subject up at the most inappropriate time, usually when someone was trying to kill us.

Are you a believer now?

If I get out of this, I’ll think about it. We got out...

Read More

~ God  Sees  It  All ~
(Double Tanka)


God just sees it all
You can be sure He sees you
He sees you and me
God knows everything  you do
Your lifes open'd  book to Him

Lord...

Read More

He always brought the subject up at the most inappropriate of times, usually when some c**t was trying to kill us.
Are you a believer now?
If I get out of this, I’ll think about it. We...

Read More

"Candy Girl" - 2



He had been watching her from the far end of the Ice Bar, where he was sitting propped up on an ice ledge which was cushioned in plush Reindeer hide and Yak...

Read More

~ Wear His Armor ~ 
( Lanterne ) 





Feel 
Much pain 
But with His 
Love  I'll  always 
Walk 

~0~

With  
God's  help 
Crush  evil 
His Light shines day
Night


~0~

My 
True  Hope...

Read More

"The Crow Bar"

she said,
here I bury my dead,
you can hear them sleeping
somnulent forget-me-nots,
snoring blithely unaware,
in neat rows between 
the thick,
ink injected lines,
their soiled lives
ploughed and 
turned over 
replanted
sunnyside down
expunged and 
wrung out

eventually,
not totally oblivious, 
they...

Read More

~ Wear His Armor ~ 
( Lanterne ) 





Feel 
Much pain 
But with His 
Love I'll always 
Walk 

~0~

With 
His help 
Crush evil 
His  Light shines all 
day 

~0~

My 
True  Hope 
Is the...

Read More

World War II Poems and Holocaust Poems II - Bertolt Brecht



The Burning of the Books
by Bertolt Brecht
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

When the Regime
commanded the unlawful books to be burned, 
teams of dull oxen hauled...

Read More