Long Astringent Poems

Listen
by Immanuel A. Michael (an alias of Michael R. Burch)

1.
Listen to me now
and heed my voice;
I am a madman, alone,
screaming in the wilderness,
but listen now.

Listen to me now, and if I say
that black is black
and...

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Vexation at self - regarding avoidable altercation...

Today May 12th, 2021
at Royersford (Pennsylvania) LIDL,
when spouse stepped into checkout line
(minus her horse drawn grocery cart -
pushed courtesy yours truly).

While passively standing stock still
I (think Stonewall Jackson)
let scenario...

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The people surrounding me keep asking “why are you going back and forth uneasily on the empty stage shedding crocodile tears, and telling the stories of negative effects on others, though you are not of...

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I am the environmentalist in love with wine,
my shoulders carry and reside in the cutting edge side of life,
the establishment craves to be the human race
while I stroll the memories of “Sailor fields”
amongst ancient Jurassic...

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The task begins with awareness, and freedom without it is harmful. So let us not look back in fury or forward in panic, but rather around in awareness. By Poet



Let me tell you a story.

Can...

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Delicately WEAK she knew not of happy days, 
          dramatically tweaked she had broken ways-
Inside her coma she lost all her sane light,
hiding, her innocence paid...

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I’m taking control, making changes.
Some for the worst, others for the best.
I don’t like to evade or retreat.
My secrets are inconsequential.
I’m taking things into my own hands
- I kissed my therapist. On the lips.
Life is...

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Simply Savagely Scathing,  
Your words how they bleed 
Spewing bitter astringent, still 
Assimilated by a voracious, vampiric me.

You-
Dictate, Mandate, and Inundate 
Like an immortal; 
Dispensing positional orders.
With acrid tones, and
Gaslight  Introductions.
Direct the Directives Direction 
Push...

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Among the mango groves
                               ...

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Why you scrap me in history, 
Using your astringent and twined lies?
You may now trample me in the soil
But just like dust, I'll fly.

I see my defiance upset you
And makes you surrounded with gloom
Just because...

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Seraphic, turbid waves in turgid waters; turning

Amid my spindrift Soul wherein loves tumult rages....

Crashing through this pulsing heart that knowingly craves her ~

Aneath these turquoise tides, which tear burnt pages?!

Washed upon the shore to feed...

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My parents may skip a workday—
Just for the heck of it.
But I shouldn’t—
Even for having to watch a Tennis Finals! 

My fights with neighbor Viji or Vicky 
Are acts of violence.
I must be disciplined.
But their...

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When fishing is slow, there is time to think,
or I go for a walk, kneel down for a drink,
take note of the trees, the vines or a shrub,
exhibiting berries in - West Gippsland scrub.

Some of...

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An indissoluble overcast
hazes stark starless skies,
submerging neuortic Atlanta's
shapely, contrasting shadows.

Peering through magnetic stratus
neon flashes a stuttered stammering staccato.
Silent voices scream out 
from their calico maze.

Treacherous felines prowl roof tops,
searching with iridescent eyes
for unway soaring eagles
jetting...

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Why do we exist? That's a query I hear quite often
It's jocular with loved ones, according to many
For others, it's a roller coaster of swings and turns
I had never entertained such trivial notions
Yet all I...

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Seraphic, turbid waves in turgid waters; turning
Amid my spindrift Soul wherein love's tumult rages
Crashing through this pulsing heart that knowingly craves her
Aneath these turquoise tides which tear, burnt pages
Washed upon the shore to feed the...

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--Anacreontic Verse--

Dry heavens build 
Temple to the North
Fluff billows up from
Crags to stratosphere
Midnight cover 
Issues forth
Engulfs solar orb 

Cloud King’s dance begins
Footfalls fill the sky
Grape press of the Gods
Now drowns our sins
Monsoon rain’s vintage 
Pours...

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the tears clearer then the flawless dew 
born in a dawn came to gather together 
to become an overflowing spring, flowing 
as the water in the brook each carrying their own stories 

all tears are,...

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Astringent virtue, antecedent's hope,
a calling from the Master denotes scope
to fire away my vestige interlude,
the sanction seems belittled by intrude!

And my ears plug with cadence, not my feud
that blaring indignation sensed to rude,
the grave occurrence...

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Astringent virtue, antecedent's hope
a calling from the Master denotes scope
to fire away my vestige interlude
the sanction seems belittled by intrude!

And my ears plug with cadence, not my feud
that blaring indignation sensed to rude
the grave occurrence...

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Helper for heartbreak's dissipation
           Coat of slick paint covers pain
        His younger hair longer temptation
   ...

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I am a tree, so I wish to be,
but not just any tree you'd find.
I love the heat and not wet feet,
so there are few options in mind.
I'm not too sour or great in power,
so...

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I am lost in a swamp
of adjectives, gooey, sticky,
boggy, messcatastric (don't bother looking that one up),
longing to rise above the mess, excretion, digest
completion, Gobblystinko (don't bother) – and
fly into a sky of non billowy, yet...

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Life is what you make of it.
Happy or bittersweet it can be.
Approach me with a pale of stones
and I shall reproach you with a whisper of faith.

Never speak of your negative qualities.
Man can change his...

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these petals unfold
like thoughts of mind
heavy as the weight they bear
this benumbed september day

in the crux beyond a seed's gather
viscid drops of crimson red
carried off by wings of time
now daffing in the cooler air

the hive...

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