Long Altogether Poems

Enough!
by Michael R. Burch

It’s not that I don’t want to die;
I shall be glad to go.
Enough of diabetes pie,
and eating sickly crow!
Enough of win and place and show.
Enough of endless woe!

Enough of suffering and vice!
I’ve...

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I would imagine Adam Smith's invisible cooperative economic
self-and-Other-investment hand,
at least during Christian Sunday morning services,
looked and sounded and felt very much
like the One Invisibly-Organic-Holistic-Enlightened MindBody of Christ.

I would further imagine
both he and George Washington,
at least...

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Skin of Terror
- Daniel Henry Rodgers

(The stage lights come up slowly on Michael's face, which is crisscrossed with wrinkles from his fuming anxiety. He peers out into the gloominess at the wheel and tightly clutches...

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He just appeared to me, like wispily curling 
Chimney smoke, 
One grim and early morning in the very midst of 
Decembers briefest days, on the highest slope,
Toiling through my daily round; where, slowly 
Driving up...

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Let's say I am an antro-privileged terrorist.

What would we be saying? 
And is human nature supremacy
over all other less sacred nature/spirits
as monotheistically redundant
as anthro-industrious militarism?

If you are a HolySpirit panentheist,
is "religious terrorist" as oxymoronic
as using...

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{Poet’s Note : I wrote this poem for the passing of my very dear friend & comrade, Cecyl Esau, Umkhonto we Sizwe Commander in 2021, as a contribution to his memorial service. Cecyl was given...

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Brian’s Poet of Note – ‘Herman Hesse’ Week 2

This week I thought I would discuss translating poetry from another language. I just finished retranslating from German this poem ‘Stufen’ from Hesse’s famous novel ‘The Glass...

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Date:      August   2051

The 3rd of August  2 morning time.
Holly had labor signals. Her and 
Molly's accommodations were now adjacent. She buzzed the com. Nobody
Answered. She struggled to...

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Birthday of beloved buxom babe I betrothed

Pardon my hyperbole if in fact such embellishment can be sifted out amidst the pretentious poetry and/or prose NOT aired to appear superior, but more so as passion for...

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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...

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Hello. I was born after the Civil War and met my fate after much civil unrest. You may have never encountered me, but some things you might already know. My name is Jim Crow, and...

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A Dark Identity

Days into nights... time without time
Normalities of everyday life beckons to remain
Shadows with lights.... to find to define
I am he who goes by without a name

The world is only up to date
And I’ve...

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Product of Dave the Brave

Product of Peace
Product of Poverty
Product of Happy
Product of Charity 
P-Product of crazy...weightless envy...bipolar blues...etc. etc.

Product of selfish ambition ...
A shameful sin in disguise 
Turning my cheek to this decision
Discussion goes beyond...

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I heard a story being told by a traveling man. He told of a story that was passed down from father to son for generations This story journeyed from country to country and was translated...

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There is more than one value of a Browned-Coin
and no matter how hard it may be to accept and appreciate their worth
I unlike you
have decided to keep both coins
Shiny and Darkened

Today 
I choose the Browned-Coin...

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Poets Collective multi-site network 
Canzone
The canzone is an Italian form with strong similarities to the sestina. There are no rhymes; instead there are five keywords that determine the structure of the poem. Every line of...

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The distress... fatigue, combined with restlessness, tossing, and turning. Assuming I possess more energy than I truly do because what is worse, exhausting oneself or lying there, depleted? Many of us meet our end wishing...

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DESCRIBE HEAVEN FOR THE BEAUTY

For the beauty of heaven Golden gates, made of gold;
Environment perfect temperature not hot nor cold;
Holy dwelling of the Most High Lord ;
For the beauty of heaven;
Can't even begin to comprehend...

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Your life is a sandwich with many layers
Your knife slaughtered me as you bewitch my mind with thought-slayers
Coming undone by this bleeding hate-love relationship 
You tease me with insults that make me wanna cry, but...

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Long Bridge/final verse:
I need you to move on for me…and I will be free somewhat
I want you to motivate me the way you used to be as you ought
Be gone from the place you were...

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You wonder why, my love
These memories flitter in the hallways of my mind
Knocking on the door
of every room
Where I’ve hung
Do not Disturb Signs
For I don’t want to remember you
My Paradise Lost and yet….

Oh, you wonder...

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Kaotic kleverment gets me in double trouble 
You're juzz jealuss cuz I can make a sky full of precious slangs and beautiful rubble 
You wanna bet I'm the opposite of a crazy witch with a...

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(a poem I've written back in 2013)

I've encountered something quite odd
I'm receiving brand new information
I've given up too many times to count on my underestimated fingers
Trying to think rationally...I've been tricked by your lies that...

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What do I project? Some of what I have
Absorbed. Also, that which I have
Reflected upon and have parts of rejected!
I am aware there is a so-called church of
The Devil – I am cognizant of the...

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Suicide isn't an option but I can't say it has never been,
I'll admit, I tried it once, way back when.
I was only a teenager,
And things had just piled too high.
At first, I just did designs,...

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