Long Ant Poems

If God
is good
half the Bible
is libel.
-Michael R. Burch

*

Willy Nilly
Michael R. Burch

Isn’t it silly, Willy Nilly?
You made the stallion,
you made the filly
and now they sleep
in the dark earth, stilly.
Isn’t it silly, Willy Nilly?

Isn’t it silly, Willy...

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Willy Nilly
by Michael R. Burch

for the Demiurge aka Yahweh and Jehovah 

Isn’t it silly, Willy Nilly?
You made the stallion,
you made the filly,
and now they sleep
in the dark earth, stilly.
Isn’t it silly, Willy Nilly?
 
Isn’t it...

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Fate decreed sexting/texting while married abominable

Therefore karma caught up to me big time
and delivered yours truly sent to purgatory
(figurative speaking) by casting a spell,
whereby the government issued Safelink
Tracfone got permanently disabled
and all the data
(including contact...

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Beckoning
by Michael R. Burch 
 
Yesterday the wind whispered my name
while the blazing locks
of her rampant mane
lay heavy on mine.
And yesterday
I saw the way
the wind caressed tall pines
in forests laced by glinting streams
and thick with...

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When oppositional cognitive dissonance 
deflects focus from compassion,
I've learned to go back to when I deflected focus from her.
She sends me passive-aggressive messages,
bread crumbs leading back in time 
to where she began to feel alone,
marginalized,
siloed,
anxious,
neglected.

If...

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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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Winter Awakens My Care
anonymous Middle English poem, circa 1300
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Winter awakens all my care
as leafless trees grow bare.
For now my sighs are fraught
whenever it enters my thought:
regarding this world's joy,
how everything...

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It was 1986 I was setting in after giving 
birth to my first son after wearing wires 
pregnant for the FBI buying large amounts 
of weapons ammunition boxes the dealer
loaded hand grenades silencers scopes gun...

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Note to Readers of Previous Versions:
There are so many new vignettes scattered throughout the poem that I hope you will reread the whole thing! There are new GEMS, improvements to previous verses and improved footnotes...

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     by how many badbyes can you measure the length of your day

                 first comes...

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I guess I’m sorry I was leaving so soon
It came out of the blue,
It came out of the blue moon…blue moon…
I couldn’t find my left shoe

I could have been here 
For a little while, while,...

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Beware The Ides of March 2023
 
Ides simply referred to first new moon, 
which usually fell between 
the thirteenth and fifteenth day
of a given month.

The following events all occurred
fifteenth of March 
across span of millenniums.

One:...

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“The Scorpion’s Touch”

Under glass
the sound cuts out sharp
just like under water
and we run out of breath 
like insects running around 
frantically out of time
we are magnified 
in our tight enclosures

internally observed
the external turns away
two heart...

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It's weird
and sometimes wild
living with a non-LeftBrain verbal dominant
aspiring child,
now young adult

I find myself waiting for him
to nonverbally connect
and correct me
about my patriarchal domineering
economic and political ableist sins
of felt omission from commercial value
and, perhaps worse,
my...

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My most popular poems on the Internet (III)

A number of my poems and translations have gone viral, according to Google, and some have been copied onto hundreds to thousands of web pages. That’s a lot...

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I saw how martyrs longed for love, and so began the play of my flitting heart
A strange girl had I become, with airs of fickle dream,
My heart an embodiment of wonder to all that dared...

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Let my ears deceive me but I hear it, can't bother to drown it out
the taunting laughter at my misery
Fictional should they be but the reality has cleared the camouflage
which hath once shrouded me
Exposed and...

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I don’t know what I know
I fly like an eagle – just go with the flow!
I don’t know what I know
I don’t know what you’re thinking about 
But I can tell you’re puzzled in your...

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The Lay of The Best Man - Part Five


Have you heard about the bespectacled man who wore his glasses to bed?
Because when he awoke mornings his dreams were all blurry in his head.
And what about...

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Did I hear that wrong?

On my way for another appointment
with the vampire bleeding Quest,
big stage conversations on the radio
travel way too fast
for me to stay tuned in
to our nesty mess
at my normal liberal-conserving pace.

A single...

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I killed my friend,
I never wanted,
Do not see me cruel,
I did it for love.
We both ran naked
Under this influential shower.
No one uncoupled his lips
Against this faint madness,
We were indebted,
Either had to earn the prize.


It was...

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Book 2
“Next we will use and abuse, the wedge of doubt.  To place a misgiving, a slight of hand, an apprehension into the day,  to mold the day thoughts of these apes, these...

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Your drinker's doom
Turned out to be a tranquil tomb
Is there any room
To bring out your brilliant, legitimate bloom?

You linger around my restful haven,
My darksome and lonesome, yet pretty satisfying bedroom
You stared at me vacantly and...

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Bee-Real


As I flew up, into the air, 
I looked back one last time at the hive.
All the bees were standing there.
Some were happy and proud to see me go; some were still crying.
As they held...

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Jaded by a few 
If only you knew...
What it feels like...
To be neglected like a rusty, old bike...
I'd hike a thousand mountains
I'd cry a thousand fountains
Just to see you flourish 
That is my only wish

My...

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