Long Barkers Poems

The flames of the furnace (well-travelled by wind
slowly glazing the rags of gray women chagrined
at the sight of a hair fleeing tresses now thinned) 
sometimes billow like waves flooding naves through the night,
when the lightning...

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POEMS ABOUT POOL SHARKS

Shark
by Michael R. Burch

They are all unknowable,
these rough pale men—
haunting dim pool rooms like shadows,
propped up on bar stools like scarecrows,
nodding and sagging in the fraying light...

I am not of them,
as I...

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POEMS ABOUT POOL SHARKS

Fair Game
by Michael R. Burch

At the Tennessee State Fair,
the largest stuffed animals hang tilt-a-whirl over the pool tables
with mocking button eyes,
knowing the playing field is unlevel,
that the rails slant, ever so slightly,...

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.                                  ...

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Wally some call him Zip (fed em black duck) (crow actually) Kakadu song man of Gulf town
Karumba Australia

Stay alive in 55 and 56 said the roadside sign..
As the Ford Mercury whizzed by on local Brisbane...

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My Fourth of July memories are firmly intact.
We always got together with my aunt and uncle.
Which meant our cousins, and we had so much fun.
The day was about picnics, watermelon, carnival, parade.

Fireworks of course; and...

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Wally Brummell, fed em on Crow, ...
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Wally some call him Zip (fed em black duck) (crow actually)Kakadu song man of Gulf town Karumba Australia

Stay alive in 55 and...

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The posters said tomorrow
At eleven on the dot
The Mishkin Brothers Circus
Would be here ....on this spot

There would be no carnival or midway
Just one tent and three rings
And all of the excitement
That a good old circus...

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Cossack Cowboys
Riding Llamas
That they dress
In pink pajamas
Teeny boppers
Blowing bubbles
Biker chicks
Causing trouble
Nuns in Habits
Punks in chains
One or two
Of the deranged
Rubbing Buddha belly
Cravers
And the band
Harvey Danger
David Bowie
Elton John
Both of them
With Spacesuits on
Vegetarians 
Eating chicken
Love it fried
Finger licking
In...

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She sneaks into town
In the middle of the night;
Sets up before daybreak.
Her colors blind the town square.

Her barkers have games set up before the crowd arrives.
Her fantastic rides take two tickets;
Most kids lament they only...

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Life's a carnival ride, a bag of barkers and crabs
pinching the mind with pink toys and shiny swag
stuffing your mind with sweet soft fuzzy things
wraps you in heavy chains and a cold nose ring,
leads you...

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Those claiming their religious pride 
With snide invective speech, 
Insult all those who don't abide 
With what that pride might preach. 

These sideshow barkers blowin' wind, 
Who count the coin each night 
Are parasites who...

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eagles don't fly with vultures
they rise above the carnage of sadistic sub-cultures
just like angels headed straight into the sun
never lost or led astray cause they always fly alone
born to rule with iron wings 
while vultures...

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The flags are waving brightly, 
hypnotizing the naive, 
they shimmer like carnival balloons. 

There are merry andrews waltzing, 
to the themes of marching bands, 
they’re camouflaged to blend in with the moon.

The party’s getting started,...

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The wind did stir the thought in kind wanting - for if she knew my soul, just a spark 
of it, I would be a rich man...

So long this ribbon of love that flows over...

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The spring carnival will soon be arriving
With exciting rides and strange exotic shows,
Loudspeakers will blare with old disco jiving
Flickering neon lights causing nocturnal glows.

With exciting rides and strange exotic shows
Featuring the weird and impossible stunts,
Flickering...

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Late 1940s England

the square
   was packed
& the high street full
meat&veg seemed plentiful

market barkers
  drew the queues
with jokes
         impromptu

shoppers filed
     neat&...

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the square
   was packed
& the high street full
meat&veg seemed plentiful

market barkers
  drew the queues
with jokes
         impromptu

shoppers filed
     neat& formal
in sainsburys...

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Flawed Masquerade Carnival

Upon the midway of imperfection,
The traveling human circus, “illusion” of perfection,
A masquerading “mask,” in carnival unmasked,
Lies “cracked” in equinox
Like “torn” tickets discarded in the sawdust of dreams
As the “façade” crashes down into “flawed”...

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I watch carnival of carnivals quickly unfold
intense barkers are yelling as if their large bears are gold
seeing ultimate thin man and fat lady never gets old
fortune tellers are so unique, they’ve created their mold

tickets are...

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I can hear the screams of happy children a block away from the square
It is the fourth of July, the only day we have a carnival in our town
The tilt-a-whirl and the Ferris wheel are...

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A hypnotic effect is possessed by this gadget

It could even lead to a syndrome called pagets

Bent over and private its user spellbound

But unsocial and rude to all those around


Multiple noises are deftly emitted

With buttons to...

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A hypnotic effect is possessed by this gadget

It could even lead to a syndrome called pagets

Bent over and private its user spellbound

But unsocial and rude to all those around


Multiple noises are deftly emitted

With buttons to...

Read More

A hypnotic effect is possessed by this gadget

It could even lead to a syndrome called pagets

Bent over and private its user spellbound

But unsocial and rude to all those around


Multiple noises are deftly emitted

With buttons to...

Read More

We celebrate by slipping color into every glimpse and cranny
Our town square is ready for celebration, transformed into magic-ville
Excitement prances out of stranger’s smiles, joy leaps over herself.
It’s the annual fiesta, a carnival, a celebration...

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