Long Agave Poems

Sonnets LII-LX

The Endeavors of Lips
by Michael R. Burch

How sweet the endeavors of lips: to speak
of the heights of those pleasures which left us weak
in love’s strangely lit beds, where the cold springs creak:
for there is...

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A Vain Word
by Michael R. Burch

Oleanders at dawn preen extravagant whorls
as I read in leaves’ Sanskrit brief moments remaining
till sunset implodes, till the moon strands grey pearls
under moss-stubbled oaks, full of whispers, complaining
to the darkening...

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For the daughter I love and miss.

There’s a change that’s like a season that I’ve noticed in the air
I couldn’t tell what niggled me but now I have to share,
I feel it in the morning...

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Mere Minutes Into May Sixth, 2019

Heron entombed within b44 man cave
at Highland Manor Apartments sitting
in catbird seat after shower and shave
attuned to silence permeating airwave
wondering what comprises silence music

to these keenly attuned ears as agave
tastes...

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No llores por mí Costa Rica
Don’t cry for me Costa Rica

Me llamo Cabuya de la familia Agave.
My name is Cabuya from the Agave family.

Yo tengo hojas largas y verdes con forma de espadas dentadas como...

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You hoped she'd be strong like an agave;
instead, she bruised easily like a rose,
feelings like silken petals carelessly
scattered along paths she finally chose.

Full of daydreams, she was given her room
to search until able to find...

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When I was skinned

I made a little list-

Call it (Something Here) :

It started out,

'I am getting older,

what should I do? '

Like go on the road,

Actually join the Legion or

Take vows for the ashram of Guru...

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AntiPoem 19
“Apache”

(Poet’s Instruction: Softly play “Apache” by Jorgen Ingmann, 1961, while reading)

Olathe and Yamka
Cochise and 
Mescalero 
Varlebena - forever
Ya’ateh – Hello to
These streaming flower gardens 
These feathered priests of Gaan 
Their white flags of truce...

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In the obscurity of the dark opaque night
across the frozen silence of formidable forest
you need to take the ordained journey forsaken
for you have promises waiting to be kept,
but the winding track of illusive time you...

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To Flower
by Michael R. Burch
 
When Pentheus ["grief'] went into the mountains in the garb of the baccae, his mother [Agave] and the other maenads, possessed by Dionysus, tore him apart (Euripides, Bacchae; Apollodorus 3.5.2;...

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The band's trumpeting out the Bose 
A dozen red roses for thirteen chicas 
In that old cantina
Looks like one's left cold
But it's colder still out that
Crooked oval door
As Jorge keeps 'em entertained
With his liquid tambourine...

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When the full moon's light starts to fade.
The sun also gives life to all of the glades.
Natural World views life as a charade.

The bloom time of spring is underway.
Azalea flowers come in a vibrant pink...

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To keep my movements moving, 
I begin each day,
with a doctored bowl of oatmeal, 
bland stuff, some'd say.

But not for me I spice it up, 
creative — like them poets.
(Really! Like the finicky ones,
the ones...

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Roses are red, vodka pours clear, 
I need words bled, and high proof can steer. 
Shot after shot becomes tumbler til Tumblr 
As I wanted, unless I fumble words and become a bumbler. 

Violets are...

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Doubly twisted
Hating thine existence
tremors of a neurotic hand
Violent and bitter
Consumed by Ashen sands

Like the phoenix 
I’m reborn
Rebranded
Undoubtedly divine
My wings transform to arms
My beak into lips

I walk amongst the giants of the land 
Hands stretch outwards...

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unaccompanied
I set out to traverse the hinterlands
perceiving myself as a blemish on society
all eyes averted from my unsightly visage
the pernicious shadow of doubt's cloud 
casting an ominous apparition that darkened the mood
  but failed...

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Chartreuse waves of ocean,
Grains of ivory shore, 
Drown another memory.
Citrus smothered whore.
Lemon-lime and bittersweet,
Icy hot and burn,
Swallowed pain, lies and truth,
So easy not to learn.
Salty veil of innocence, 
Tattered, torn, a demons kiss,
Virgin, verdant, in twice the...

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Her touch the warmed delicate Mojave breeze
Whispering love through dulcet Agave blooms

Her bronze skin a perfection of the desert spirit
A hot gossamer breath that intoxicates my soul

Lost in her embrace of the balmy deserts nights
Drawing...

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HERON SONNET

Betty spoke of god’s face seen through puddles
A mirror on the way from bad to good
In puddles of my overgrown troubles
There is little ebb and flow, air and food

Yet each morning and evening without...

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