Long Asphalt Poems

I feel in führer rated and envious...

entrapped within webbed wide world
weft as a rump pulled stilts skein
at warp speed exhibiting
my heroic trumpian wiles
cuz he (johnny come lately) a then 
exemplary hedonist, narcissist, 
and polygamist dons
comical,...

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Juvenilia: Early Poems IX

These are early poems of mine, written in my teens as a high school student and during my first two years of college.

Shock
by Michael R. Burch

It was early in the morning of...

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For All That I Remembered
by Michael R. Burch

For all that I remembered, I forgot
her name, her face, the reason that we loved ...
and yet I hold her close within my thought:
I feel the burnished weight...

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“The Remaining”

PROLOGUE:  “Terra Firma and The Bitumen”


"The slow descent into Hell
Had led Her mind to escape to Heaven
Her firmament was Her Mind
Her body just a Shell"


Heaven for Her existed in The Dream
She called Her...

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Sonnets XC-XCVII

Artificial Smile
by Michael R. Burch

I’m waiting for my artificial teeth
to stretch belief, to hollow out the cob
of zealous righteousness, to grasp life’s stub
between clenched molars, and yank out the grief.

Mine must be art-official?zenlike Art?
a...

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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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DJ and  the Damian squad rushed
The house. "Dad we're gonna 
Play CRUEL BALL!"  Amadeus 
Gave notice. Damian said, "Oh
Yeah." He put his hands on both
His sons shoulders and said.
"Fellows first of all it's...

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Everybody moved out of the country to get a taste of the shining city
Ripe banana, ripe plums, are perishing in Uncle Sam’s broiling sun
I cannot stand the scorching heat that is swelling up from the...

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* Examples for the contest

Jack and Jill (the real story)

"Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water
Jack fell down and broke his crown and Jill came tumbling after..."

Of course, neither...

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Time for a road trip, my  dad, mom and us three kids all packed into our old station wagon. I guess it wasn't so old but it sure seemed that way at the time....

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...the village shivers   a hive of restless souls
skin pricklin' with anticipation
as costumed runners fixin' to gather — hearts a-thrummin'
              ...

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C.O.M.S

Colors
Black, brown

Something that has been an issue since the beginning of time

Colors unite 
Colors causes actions out of spite
Colors are all different shades
Colors has been one of the leading causes of death for decades

See i...

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"The Unicorn and The Sticky Asphalt Jungle"



Bedtime stories
now walk through fog
The Unicorn skips 
on lines of sticky Asphalt

The father writes his play
The mother seen as absent
becomes deus ex machina
she will be the only one 

to...

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My boots, still burdened with the dust of Carpathian trails,
Silently slip over the gleaming tiles of an urban temple,
Where hipsters sip artisanal nectar on lazy Tuesday afternoons,
Under the impassive gaze of a Bucharest wrapped in...

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[Note: You will see in the work below connections to other poems I have posted here.  Those poems are tangents to this poem that more completely tell the tale of rise, pride, hubris, fall,...

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Who suggests a trip back...rides to this bit of nostalgia in the middle years of the Great Depression aboard a Chicago elevated train, "the El." We hurdle head-long above asphalt blanketed streets that are determined...

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within these times of war
Within these times of war


Within the times of war

Silence of its terrors calling
Children play within their laughter
Now recedes in cries of torture
Screeching whistles scrap metal clusters
In murderous heat of summers day
rage...

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Thirsty

I could tell right away he was up ta sum thin.
I could see it in doze beady eyes!
His wordz were smooth in a snake like sorta way,
my pappy says heze city smooth.
He don't look like...

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Life 101 was taught to me in an old mansion in inner-city Chicago.                      ...

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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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This poem is featured on YouTube (The Convergence point with Dr. Ivan Edwards), bringing its words to life through spoken expression.

A gas station on the edge of the city,  
Neon lights buzzing in the...

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Candy floss, seaside rock, smoothies, and flags sporting
Union Jacks
Replace the old traditions of striped deckchairs 
And Kiss-Me-Quick hats.
Chipwicks for our salt and vinegar fries
And their pole-and-line freshly caught local Cod;
The Vintners Parrot: For thick sizzling...

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In corners of the world, where rays smile bright,
There are furry friends, speaking souls in the light.
Cats that prance and dogs that bark,
In every heartbeat, they wait for us with a spark.

Dogs with a shining...

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We have tree traditions,
still accessible in diverse backward
and forward
reforesting cultures,
of planting a commemorative tree
when a great and portentous series of loving events
comes to its untimely rest.

Recently
my middle son's lifetime friend
decided it was time to travel...

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