Long Banners Poems

Poems of Recanted Bachelorhood

bachelorhoodwinked
by Michael R. Burch

u
are
charming
& disarming,
but mostly ALARMING
since my resolve
dissolved!

*

Disconcerted
by Michael R. Burch

Beth, my sweet,
fresh as a daisy,
when I’m with you
my heart beats like crazy
& my future gets hazy ...

*

What Goes Around, Comes
by...

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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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The Tender Weight of Her Sighs
by Michael R. Burch

The tender weight of her sighs
lies heavily upon my heart;
apart from her, full of doubt,
without her presence to revolve around,
found wanting direction or course,
cursed with the thought...

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I love you only because I love you
by Pablo Neruda
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

I love you only because I love you;
I am torn between loving and not loving you,
Between apathy and desire.
My heart vacillates...

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Poems about Things that Break II
 
These are poems about things that break and/or shatter.
 
 
 
Water and Gold
by Michael R. Burch
 
You came to me as rain breaks on the desert
when every flower...

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Date:   April  2045
 
An excellent April afternoon blooming.
Damali is now 19 years old this
Day. Damali was thinking of his future 
Stretched out at his study desk.
He had been enrolled for a year...

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The kid who often was lost in 
The sauce Joshua! His 
 birthday was in June. He became
The strong silent youngster with 
The youngest kids. 
 A small Celebration was held in
Josh's honor party at...

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HEROES

Near somber guards, units of children heap 
dead leaves, naive to any else fallen.
Friend, you chuckle, but your posture speaks
of duty on this day of contradictions.

Firefighters bow heads in silent paean, 
while polished trucks stand...

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Talk therapy
among braver angels
and curious devilish advocates,

Evolves natural contemplative thoughts
of healthy minds and bodies
felt sacredly neuro-systemic

Organic
dynamic systems
reconnecting sensory consciousness
and mindful sexual experience
with worldviews recombining
Liberal YangTruth and Conserving YintegralBeauty
in co-empathic compassion

Nonviolently hopeful
win/win bicameral intelligence
exploring why

And healthy...

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Constitution Street is where the Devil Meet
On constitution Street you can find many thieves
Pick pockets, phone snatchers, and money grabbers
Wine bibbers, idle men and youth, 
Hanging around with their hands in their pockets
Looking for something...

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But we of the Three Tribes live undiscovered 
   In the reverberating stillness of the 
 Three Gorges...
And are therefore unknown to the warring mongol;
    His impassioned lusts -- his...

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President Trump, 
shortly after his singularly smelly election, 
declared emphatic comparisons with Elder Republican
Abraham Lincoln.

Early on,
he described Lincoln as his kindred political soul,
admired mentor,
and the former President he was destined to most resemble
in spirit and...

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Part 7

The Atheist was a Man who thought much of himself
    And would not brook any measure of social compliance.
So no matter the 'who,' he would not suffer their views,
  ...

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being right all the time can be very boring ...
  if always right, perhaps you may have little to say
  that's problematic for all-powerful beings, godlike creatures
  the rest of us engage...

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"Truth are not from the valley of the shadow of death ... Lilith, like all mythological entities, are humanity's creation, to explain--what they cannot," ... by The Poet

Hawaii Nei, bidst Aloha, inoa Pelekane ke'o ke'o,...

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Brackish-gurgling days that
Unobtrusively slid along
Past tussock grass and curled up 
Balls of Fern...
Glued tightly onto structured vanes
Of outstretched frond.
Venerable Mosses reciting epic tales,
Measured throughout Metronomical 
Strains,
Chanting methodically in harmonious
Downturn - 
Wherein contained: 
Foreboding dialects delivered...

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They will not forget 
to this they swear
neither will we ever 
get near the end of 
hearing of it all, I fear
So it's with the dedication
Of a sinner to prayer 
that they dole out their
perceived...

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In a little ultra Leftist bastion called Berkley
a congregation of American Libertarians came,
it was March 4th and proud patriots marched forth
in solidarity for America's freedoms,
celebrating inherent rights with gratitude
most of all the 1st Amendment was...

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Light this fire of love within me for you lord.
Ignite the passion for fulfilling your purporse for my life.

A maddening disposition towards sin, I need.
A craving desire for your presence, I long for.

A living vessel...

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Privilege
by Michael R. Burch

This poem is dedicated to Harvey Stanbrough, an ex-marine who has written eloquently about the horror and absurdity of war in "Lessons for a Barren Population."

No, I will never know
what you saw...

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Hiroshima Poems I

Let Us Be Midwives!
by Hiroshima survivor Sadako Kurihara
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Midnight...
the basement of a shattered building...
atomic bomb survivors sniveling in the darkness...
not a single candle between them...
the odor of blood...
the stench...

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strife riven island corner, rough hewn by rival visitation
  vexed, looking in, looking out, on the edge of places to go
  thrang in thrall of other realms, banners furling, batons flung
  across...

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Was it just imagining
Which brought these eyes to see inside
Another world
We could have realised
A different story
For all our lives

Looking into this stolen world
Where the peaceful dream has unfurled
Its banner of love beneath the sun
A flag...

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Chapter..........1..........Part..........2..........1.

Now,
my Lords and Ladies,
the Dark Man and the captain,
stood apart from all,
The Captain's mount and Turvehr,
they were uneasy as they pranced,
the Captain reined in his charger,
Turvehr was given his head,
both these mighty warriors faced each...

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Otto`s life is not
their British
sickular motto
Grue is his banner
left by his
blue-eyed Brit mom
left long by one of
those hated South
African Paki
His guilty pleasures
in Green Street have
no recognition like
many such Aussies in
mulberry bushes
Yet he shovels the
stake of...

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