Long Ball and chain Poems

Poems about Poems (II)

Kin
by Michael R. Burch

for Richard Moore

1.
Shrill gulls,
how like my thoughts
you, struggling, rise
to distant bliss?
the weightless blue of skies
that are not blue
in any atmosphere,
but closest here...

2.
You seek an air
so clear,
so rarified
the effort leaves...

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State of the Art (III)

These are my "ars poetica" poems: the ones about the art and craft of writing poetry in a modern world that doesn't always recognize the artists or their work. 



Come Down
by...

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"The In-Between"

I ripped the pages of 
that tired old story 
from the heart, a body of work

buried the misdiagnosed slanders
then wiped their mouths
with the back of my spoon

the feed they found,
passed the disingenuous time;
some found...

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I've noticed
since early years on the family farm
with large matriarchally planted and harvested gardens,
that food,
for moms,
is a natural,
and yet also spiritual,
communion relationship.

Nutrition evolves from and for communal relatives
of which we are ourselves made
and nurtured into...

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My man’s veiled message unclear
I’ve dallied for four long years
Sis, have I ever been
Fooled!
Turns on the charm on a whim
Parades what you saw in him
Just a tad so you are
Fooled
There’s not a ring
not a vow
no...

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So take your rose colored glasses off
And see this battle for the withered tulip it really is
There is no leaving this town,
It's got the best heights to fall from 
And the best milestones to lose...

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Inapropos trois faux pas jokingly blurted out...

yesterday August 30th, 2022.

The following fictitious account
predicated upon words spilling
out me mouth before taking time
to think through how sarcastic remark
would affect primary listener.

Comments about marital matters
particularly ours (yours truly...

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beMUSEd
by Michael R. Burch

Perhaps at three
you'll come to tea,
to have a cuppa here?

You'll just stop in
to sip dry gin?
I only have a beer.

To name the "greats":
Pope, Dryden, mates?
The whole world knows their names.

Discuss the "songs"
of...

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Poems about Poets IV



The Princess and the Pauper
by Michael R. Burch

for June Kraeft

Here was a woman bright, intent on life,
who did not flinch from Death, but caught his eye
and drew him, powerless, into her spell
of...

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On Tue, Sep 25, 2018, 11:54 AM M Mc  wrote:
ENEMY ANONYMOUS 

So many forms, so many names 
Im Tina, Dope
No ing joke!
Let's start with Mary Jane.
First some weed, "it's not a need"
Now were escalatin'
toc...

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“The World’s Playground”

"Ring around the roses. Ring around the roses".

Jack the ripper, he slept with a whore, and became deadly ill 
Awhile his wife Jill became suicidal dependent on the Prozac pill 
Mother Goose lost...

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They sea me without.


I carry a raven upon my shoulder,
A sundial on my back.
The hat I wear is made of ash;
Sunlight is what I lack.


I drag my feet behind me on sandy beaches.
The ball and...

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We ain't lived the blues yet
How the hell would we know
We ain't been there dying
How the hell would any of us 
Ever hope to know

We never even felt it
The hunger and the crying
The orphans and...

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would you guide me?
be my golden thread, lead me through the labyrinth of my own mind,
help me travel through the deadly twists and turns,
would you protect me from the beasts inside?
i am empty, a shell,...

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You left me without a reason why
You said you loved me, it was a lie
Now I sit in the dark and just cry
Folk notice my demeanor and pry
I shut them out tell the goodbye
I just...

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well, there you go, sweetheart; 
i have done it at last - 
the unthinkable, the reckless, the bold 
and possibly suicidal thing...
i have gritted my teeth and hurled myself out into the 
void, 
into all...

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I dreamt that you were there,
In a haze, I could see your familiar face
The sun providing a spotlight for our awe-drenched moment

As I drew near,
Your features became more and more clear
You were smiling from ear...

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Eradicated, exquisite, hypocritical, and divine
Given your own heart --- but not given your own mind

Slaving through this lifetime to just rush to the next
Disqualified, degraded, and generation-hexed

Unintelligent, psycho, and deranged
When you open your eyes ---...

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If I could just let it free
Just for a second
To let loose the ropes and chains that bound
The ball and chain on my feet, the hangman's noose
that I have tightened

The recluse;

The young lady who cannot...

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It’s the secret game of truth and lies
In that moment when your soul starts to fly
Take a stroll 
Fill the void
Lonely Footsteps 
Daily Grind 
Got it on cruise control 
Shadows cross the county line 

Face...

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Emotions in motion


Emotions in motion, 
Changing from frozen to broken,
To joyful and delirious!
There are words to be spoken.


I’ve been up and down and messed around,
But now I am found in the dirt with her.
Her love...

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He went away,
She was alone,
You came into the picture;
Because she chose you.

A new life was good,
Then change came,
And there I was in a frame;
Uplifted, upheld.

First I was unaware,
I was just a child,
A slave became I;
The...

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Virgin Brain is my name,
Served on the Disneyworld choo-choo
'Til my supervisor came,
and tore up my time card again...

In the summer of '95...
I joined the Templar Knights
Kind'a dig that kind of  jive....
By August the tenth,
My...

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I couldn't be much happier than the day you left me
I can go back to being miserable and lonely
It is much more enjoyable doing this by myself
No more stomach ulcers, you leaving me has improved...

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Consuming my mind constantly is what I had with you is burning something fierce
You have a strange hold on my heart, every essence of you is in my soul forever pierced
Thing is even through all...

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