Long Activist Poems

“Son”...”say goodnight to grandpa”

Spurred by mother dearest 
as well as other politesse
drummed into her second born
fobbing blandishments as incentive
tumbled off fingers of prodigal son
tripped wordsmith to splutter forth
forthwith the following lines.

Back in the day 
quaint...

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Limericks III - Grab Bag

Being a peace activist, I once wrote a limerick in an attempt to stop needless wars:

Of Tetley’s and V-2's
(or "Why Not to Bomb the Brits")
by Michael R. Burch

The English are very...

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I Have Labored Sore
anonymous medieval lyric (circa the fifteenth century)
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

I have labored sore / and suffered death, 
so now I rest / and catch my breath.
But I shall come /...

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In Ayn Rand's "Atlas Shrugged"
she paints a nationalistically wealthy saint
where also lives a monochromatically utilitarian narcissist,
sucking on attachment to fame and power
for bought and sold ZeroSum accounting Souls.

If the perfectly powerful pure patriarchal patriot
were your...

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The Story
by Kamal Nasser
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

I will tell you a story ...
a story that lived in the dreams of my people,
a story that comes from the world of tents.
It is a story...

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I'm not much of a writer,
more of an activist,
a doer,
timeless doing.

Anyway, my Yang side,
which you AnthroTribes might recognize as EcoJustice,
emerges from my PositiveYang/NegativeYin Balancing 
compassionate/revenge YinFractal-Dialectical DiPolar
appositional
negative co-relational,
co-arising side.

Just as my Yin Compassionate/Immune Empathetic/Aptic Elation
emerges...

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In America June 14th equals flag day
and in Pennsylvania a federal holiday.

"...I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. And to the republic for which it stands. One nation under god...

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Human history is difficult;
hard pressed,
discovering
and rediscovering,
connecting
and reconnecting feelings
about therapeutic needs
and sacred wants
for trauma-prevention peace
trust
joy

Through co-empathic singing passions
which may,
too often, 
feel stressful

Irritating
depressing
stormy
before unconditional win/win regard
for Self AND Other
reconnect,

Like EgoTheistic re-ligion
and EcoMatrimonial
indigenously multicultural
ecowomanist wisdom

Of Ego/EarthTribe mutual MeWe...

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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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When the StraightWhite Patriarchal President
sent out his Praise and Thanks Message
"We love you"
to those who would cathartically enjoy beheading
VicePresident St. Peter's Pence 
loves homophobic St. Paul,

This felt like too much tolerating
an unconstitutional intolerable
absence of basic...

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STOLEN ILLUMINATION OF THE STAR

This journey has not been a fanciful adventure, 
we're all settlers in  these dynasty of neo-colonialism 
united only by what divides us. Victims, yes 
victims of civilized inducement, 
terms of...

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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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The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence Chapter L.A.

I like to think of [the habit] as a bonfire or a lighthouse, so that light can shine out into places where there are no resources and there isn’t...

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By Stanley Collymore

Never speak ill of the dead we’re constantly and solemnly
exhorted regardless of who they are or the life that
they freely chose to live, as they’re no longer
around, is the lame and unconvincing excuse
that’s...

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This self-explanatory English poem of mine was originally drafted Monday (evening) August 5, 2013, while I was still in Independence, Missouri. I revised it a bit in November and December of 2014, while “traveling” in...

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You say all lives matter
Bringing up all these colors 
Like red, white, orange, and blue
But when a black life is taken, where on Earth are you?
Where's your sympathy and support when the takers of our...

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Goodbye and good riddance 2023

Commencement writing this poem
began December 31st: 2:24 PM
ended December 31st: 03:53 PM.

The best geriatric effort I apply
twittering, ushering, and 
albeit wheezing Auld Lang Syne
crocodile done deed tear 
will yours truly cry
bidding,...

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killing her song
(for Adhimu aka Lawrence Hamm and Sheila Reid*)
by ‘bro. zayid’

“I'm gonna stay on the battlefield
“I'm gonna stay on the battlefield
“I'm gonna stay on the battlefield,
Until I die…”
--Freedom Song

this is not rocket science…
no experts...

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killing her song
(for Adhimu aka Lawrence Hamm and Sheila Reid*)
by ‘bro. zayid’

“I'm gonna stay on the battlefield
“I'm gonna stay on the battlefield
“I'm gonna stay on the battlefield,
Until I die…”
--Freedom Song

this is not rocket science…
no experts...

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EPIDEMIOLOGICAL NAME: Donkey Pox

ORIGIN: First detected in insane asylums and faculty lounges across America.               

TRANSMISSION: Pathogen mostly attacks highly sensitive unhinged...

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Growth should be the ultimate criterion,
nucleus and kernel of every annual pledge,
for myself and other people who might gain,
from a heartfelt commitment such as mine,
that monumental new year down the clock aptly named,
global village stepping...

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Insomnia welcomed courtesy high test coffee

consumed later at night than usual
finds me bright eyed and bushy tailed
amply lively to learn 
about an American radio 
and television personality and pioneer
Wee Willy Weber,
who prominently and popularly reigned...

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Not wanting to make anyone nervous,
pandemics can be unsettling enough
without economic and political surprises,
inconvenient systemic insights,
more expansive circles of empathy
positively impressing 
more than negative deep
steep hierarchies
practicing neglectful shallow sympathy
for Others
remaining NonMothers
on distant drowning pagan shores.

These...

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Dickens Christmas carol revisited by nicked saint

Frigidaire - from upper atmosphere 
hammering and whipsawing debris 
ferociously with an angry flare,
cuz mother nature - fed up to here
(re: envision me hands indicating 
over top of head)...

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I told the nun in charge
of Religious Education
If asked about sexual orientation
I will say
I'm gay.

I want to teach
deep listening learning
not how not to lie.

She wonders why
such forthrightness
feels so important
Are you a recruiter
for gay pride?
Are you...

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