Long Ascribed Poems

Q  Did they really make a practice sacrifice of a red heifer on the temple mount?

A  There's a great deal of speculation with both parties making their educated
    hypotheses: They...

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Epitaph for a Palestinian Child
by Michael R. Burch

I lived as best I could, and then I died.
Be careful where you step: the grave is wide.



Autumn Conundrum
by Michael R. Burch

It's not that every leaf must finally...

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"The Strange Case of F.T."



They say the dead don’t talk
the stories I have calculated
to deliver a saving grace 
confessional shared amongst 
my equal peers, or so I deem 
you somewhat sometimes seem,
less than me, you...

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Athenian Epitaphs II

These are ancient Greek epitaphs for lost family and friends, including dogs and other animals ...

Now his voice is prisoned in the silent pathways of the night: 
his owner's faithful Maltese... 
but will...

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Find your way
from brain stemmed
seed tree infancy
of glorious humanity
history

Find your way
From correct diverse limbic resolutions
back to shared soul temporal-health 
co-acclimating diverse struggling issues,
nutritionally resilient production
and root to branch to reroute transportation
and lack of wealth concentrating...

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Upon approaching advent of an early spring 2024
(alternately titled  GENESIS RESPLENDENT)

No matter the calendrical/official onset of vernal equinox takes places Tuesday, Mar 19, 2024 and transpires until Thursday, Jun 20, 2024, an intimation sensed...

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Present wedded bliss haint no touchstone...

Circa ~ late spring/ early summer 1978
twas at behest of Harriet Harris,
thus due credit mother dearest
(she long since passed away)
who tried, to bribe, coax, exhort...
(protracted effort not all in vain),
cuz...

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Preface: 
On February 4, 1861,
the seven states that had seceded
by this point convened and created
the Confederate States of America
under the leadership of Jefferson Davis.

Just under two months later,
on April 12, 1861, Confederate forces
opened fire on...

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Wordsmith's Veneration...

Methinks, I post literary endeavors inxs
but tis with blood, sweat and tears
in case ye did not guess,
who struggles to craft reasonable rhyme
ideally read by a pleasing poetess.

Aye willy nilly understate (trying to)
tantalize, hypnotize, galvanize...
with...

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We are the children of the Sun
We are the children of the light
We are a shadow yond the Sun
We are a shadow yond the light
The Sun sees us in the shadow
The light sees us in...

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Some thrive to be great having never defined what it really means.                       ...

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One time a barefooted pickney dancing on the street
I beat puhn pan an' wanda how life could be sweet
For my yai quadrilled to distant cling-cling roost and feel
A longing to change their parliament in my...

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PLATO EPIGRAM TRANSLATIONS

These epitaphs and other epigrams have been ascribed to Plato...

Mariner, do not ask whose tomb this may be,
But go with good fortune: I wish you a kinder sea.
—Michael R. Burch, after Plato

We left...

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Born into the lap of loneliness
Adam paced restless up and down
God knew he badly needed a mate
And willed the solitary man, a companion
Nonpareil in beauty and grace,
God wanted her to be the marvel of marvels
With...

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Sending the tending to an unfriended ending,
 yet somehow suspending from rending a newly offending recommending.
Logotype monotype linotype,
overripe stereotype,
 teletyped an unripe heliotype. 
Guttersnipe snipe,
 stipe snipe ripe,
 a wipe type a tripe, 
unleash a...

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Solitude breeds malignant nemesis
couched as woe seated heavily
within mine angst
riddled quavering psyche
blinding clairvoyance 
debilitates enthusiastic frequency
wavelengths propagate unfounded
probable future destitution

predicated upon intractable lifetime mired
within groveling penuriousness
"dirt poor" accursed fate
pervaded plentiful not ready 
for prime time...

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"Franklin, why do you want such a fat, ugly bird?
Are you getting senile, or just being absurd?"

"Clearly, Mr. Adams, you are not being a friend.
My dove, not the turkey, will win in the end.

Though Franklin's...

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It would seem, that, humans,
Too sensitive to deal with the harshness of life
Prefer to fly on clouds, even if temporarily
To make themselves believe
That existing can be made of goodness!

Opiates, making of them zombies,
Accrue! And selling...

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The Newburghers

(A Jazz Talk in Six Parts  -

   Dawn  -  Introduction
   Waking  -  Enter Von Newburgh 
   Genesis  -  The Development
 ...

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Avoiding Pain? Suicide Might Help!

I don’t like to get hurt, grok this path that most walk,
so write poems for strangers (I never will meet,
verse few friends do abide short of formal requests)
that reveal mind in...

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I am s p a c e …
… and I owe indeed my existence from God 
The Author of my breadth, depth, and height ---

With the Lord’s abundance…
I am bestowed with worthy meanings:
earthly residence, glorious...

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You have grown to be such a man
yet, I cannot help but see the boy in you
you are my Son, who wears many uniforms
as your father, I cannot help but be Proud,

I see you march...

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DISTILLED JAMAICAN ANTHEM
Eternal Father Bless Our Land
we dare to move from plantation puppets to freedom
and we who had no voice to speak before must find
in ourselves a deeper than the echo of words design
bless o...

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Like a missile I endeavor to send out these ill words that meet,
Skilled while the earth is grounded to my feet,
Onset I blend together sweet sounds using the alphabet,
No regrets what so ever, a gift...

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In this Garden, Eve took on the omnipotent 
knowing she lacks power to eat the forbidden fruit.

Her bite was great, as she tasted the fruit that
she offers to Adam, to do the same.

God told Adam...

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