Long Abandoning Poems

Sappho fragment #155
translation by Michael R. Burch 

A short revealing frock?
It's just my luck
your lips were made to mock!

*

Sappho fragment #156
translation by Michael R. Burch 

She keeps her scents
in a dressing-case.
And her sense?
In some undiscoverable...

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Juvenilia: Early Poems VI



An Illusion
by Michael R. Burch

The sky was as hushed as the breath of a bee
and the world was bathed in shades of palest gold
when I awoke.

She came to me with the sound...

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It was at this point 11 o'clock 
At night. Damian Left Molly and 
Checked on the seven. Everybody 
Was fine. He returned to 
Business. Molly was no longer 
Afraid she knew she was in the...

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The language and images of Mario Vitale's poetry are so closely bound to the natural cycles of seasons, of generations, of the body's functioning, that is surprising to realize how many of his poems deal...

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Used As an Experiment

THE SILENCE IS BREAKING MEEEE….CAN’T YOU SEE?


V.1: Strong AS STEEL, wrapped up with silver, heartfelt ribbons
Give it to me – the rope of hope
You smoked me out like a cigarette…
Used like I’m...

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* This poem was written for a contest originally, but was used by Professor Anne-Marie Thornton of Bilkent University in Ankara, Turkey, to teach her WAR POETRY class in the spring semester of 2017. My...

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Her small angelic face ...

Once a place where broad smiles bloomed like butterflies on marigolds,
is streaked with the furrows that countless tears have etched into the
layers of dust and dirt and explosive residue that now...

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Goodbye six pack hello* poetry scribes

My poetic side COSMOFUNNEL
wordsmith thanks tumblr in his noggin
ofttimes triggering babbling brook 
to swell after deluge
becoming stream of consciousness runnel
carving, gouging, and liquidating topography 
qua zee mow toe natural formed...

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After serving six long hard years at Methacton State penitentiary...

as mini reunion number 
XLV fast approaches 
Saturday, April 30th, 7:00 pm 
until 10:00 pm
at The Trappe Tavern, 416 West 
Main Street, Trappe, PA 19426
regarding graduating...

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I finally finished retiring four years ago,
a process that started in my mid-fifties
due to late adopting kids with special needs,
including needs for me to be home
to personally walk them on,
harness them in,
and wheel them back...

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See
   Did You See him when he walked into the large dimly lit room and sit at a table, Alone, on fringe of the dancing and laughter. Did you See his eyes light...

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Congress shall make no laws respecting
[or disrespecting]
an establishment of religion,
or prohibiting free exercise
[orthodox praxis] thereof.

hmmm, who writes this stuff, anyway?

Religion and its healthy exercise
are exempt from acts of Congress.

What is this religion that needs freedom...

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Look no further than the nose on your face...

for Mutualism among Homo sapiens
long thought to be a pipe dream
case in point sited by a couple of recent
purportedly natural events possibly
exacerbated courtesy global warming
namely present conflagrations
include...

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O beloved chevalier, 
cloaked in shimmering champagne armor,
tonight I long to feel your sultry skin,
embroidered with emerald embellishments 
and twinkling teal topaz, 
tailored to tempt,
veiling these tanned desires.

My soul sways to a chained string 
of...

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Mighty White the US!

How ‘white’ whites are who worship Sun and think a tan line’s fine
though folks whose skin is darker tone won’t see a valentine!
Let’s say proof’s real, fear’s justified, and poverty breeds crime,
but...

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We’re in NYC - at last - on Christmas vacation, and it feels like a pardon.

It’s amazing what can happen in just a few wild and change-filled hours. One minute, seemingly, you’re in a picture...

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Mossy vines served as camouflage for a  d
                          ...

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Her soul cracked, cheeks burned, eyes swollen with sorrow.  
She saw her cheerful past walking by the corridor, head held high.  
She once bloomed like spring’s lavender, fragile yet vibrant,  
But she never felt it—not...

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IF EVER I HAD A COUNTRY : LXIV - LXV


NOTE (facts to bear in mind while reading) : Under the French Penal Code, harm done to the infirm, minors and seniors (i.e. over 65) is...

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You’re nothing, but scum
You’re nothing, but waste
You’re nothing, but trash
You’re nothing, but lies.

Loathing around the house
Ear stuck to the phone
Keeping dirty secrets 
Vanishing half the day.

A hollow shell of a man
A hollow shell of a...

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Once upon a time in the lands from the north, south, east to west    
Navigating on the cold white sands formed of sugar and ice       ...

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Under the Moonlit Canopy of Forgotten Dreams,
I drift through corridors where shadows whisper the untold,
You, my dear man, a phantom presence within,
A figure engraved in the fragile tapestry of my past.
Oh, forgive the storms I...

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Eccentric kook's reasonable rhyme zigzags

Doggone poet laureate
wannabe his index finger wags
nonverbally naysaying those,
who doubt mine posthumous
fame and fortune, which snags
eternal renown within pantheon
of storied writers such foolhardiness nags
yours truly keeps bad company with hags
unemployed day...

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Hiroshima Poems 2

I lived as best I could, and then I died.
Be careful where you step: the grave is wide.
-Michael R. Burch, "Epitaph for a Child of Hiroshima"



The intense heat and light of the Hiroshima...

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They left me in the woods…a simple game of hide-and-seek, only there was no reciprocation. I’ve been here for so long, the imprints my knees have made are now pools of mud from the rainstorm...

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