Long Black haired Poems

Athenian Epitaphs

Mariner, do not ask whose tomb this may be,
but go with good fortune: I wish you a kinder sea.
—Michael R. Burch, after Plato

Does my soul abide in heaven, or hell?
Only the sea gulls
in their...

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My birthday gift, to me.
In prose 
   This night of November 27th , in our year of the lord, two thousand and one I decided to treat myself to a living birthday present,...

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Sharon
by Michael R. Burch, circa age 15

apologies to Byron

I.

Flamingo-minted, pink, pink cheeks,
dark hair streaked with a lisp of dawnlight;
I have seen your shadow creep
through eerie webs spun out of twilight...

And I have longed to kiss...

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CHAPTER 6 (continued, c)

Several of the primate children 
Sat together in the branches 
Of a tree; they did not notice 
Danger silently approaching 
 
Through the leaves a brown and yellow 
Shiny scaly serpent slithered
Closer to the young gorillas 
Eyes unblinking glimmered...

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Burke Bowden rode slowly through the piney hills
outside the mining town of Tillico.
Hiding himself there in the Montana woods
where decent folks would rarely go.
He had good reason for being out there alone.
The bastard Banks Grisby...

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Two souls searching ?

Inspired by a writing from my sixteen year old Daughter

This old man, sits in the shadows of his life’s plan, 
this fading shadow, of what once was a man !, 
who’s life’s...

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Georgie

His was a pudgy boyish countenance,
With rounded river eyes and an Alfalfa smile.
He wheezed like a sick tern with repeated asthma attacks, 
Playing hard at the various outdoor games and chases,
Of our fleeting childhood years...

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passengers gather while their turn awaits
  very few standing out
  except for one, sprawling along my seat
  room for me, just about
  awkward two-handed pillow cupping head
  beyond waking, no...

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Modest woman moderate woman
Your inner beauty strikes me
Like the tongue of noble eloquence
More than gold even refined gold
Or our purged fulgent silver.

Black woman proud woman
Your pride is not haughty
But a humble pride of eaglets;
Your black...

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** Summary: A high school boy finds happiness and love in a small, dreary town. Just when it seems like life can't get any better, he discovers that his new love interest may not be...

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Scent of men and sweat pervade this little space
away from vast expanse of exercise machines at this gym.
Here they strain beneath laden bars
or lift and lower black and silver weights held in their hands.

A delicious...

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As I was walking down lifes ' road one bright and sunny morn.
I espied up ahead in the crossroads a  black haired  beauty,
her dark locks blowing in the warm breeze.
There was a bewitching...

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Oh, you African!
 Of cocoa skin and black-haired 
Like your judgments 

You African!
 The lamb in the elections 
Son of the people, wandering in the dying neighborhoods
With your sweet and spoken worldly pretentions 
Hiding your...

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KIDS'  PAINTINGS  OF  THEIR  MOTHERS

A refined, young, black-haired woman who plays violin in the orchestra, 
Vassili’s mum, was  distinctly simeon-featured and aged,
Like  a  PLANET OF THE APES ...

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Simply for sake of conversation,
                              ...

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Oscillating fans here and there in the house,
Naps in a cool cement basement,
Folding fans on an evening porch,
Dry breezes after twilight.

The ice man with tongs holding a 50-lb cube,
Throwing it into a heavy wooden ice...

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The fibers of my heart are strung tight as a dream catcher
my soul pressed tight between crimson lips
a black haired Buddhist girl
whose very eyes spell out the Dharma
seized control of my consciousness

her slender fingers trace
a...

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My ears are ringing, singing
to the tune of invisible music
as I fall into bed after a
short, scalding shower after a
long, exhausting night of dancing at the clubs
after I left the game with that beautiful,
beautiful young...

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I write upon my twisted trails of fairytales
Whereby some arcane beauty is defined
As meek blonde girls sweeping the coals
No chance to dance at balls
Hoping only for pity from some magic elf
Or a royal's fetish for...

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Tha lil ugh-gy duckin...

...Waa-uh-uh...a BAT lookin baby!
An somMO (I don mean jus maybe!)
Growt up in a house-boat shack
Way downt-ere in ole MAN-chac
Ain lyin!! (An I AIN hat no toke)
Ugh-gy baby make BU-tam-ous foke
All LAFIN an...

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She is so beautiful
that my heart can love no other,
but only her;
she sees me for a ghost
and my heart has no courage
to tell her my own true feelings.

She so lovely,
when she laughs
she brightens the world;
when...

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To the black haired girl,
the foolish girl who lost me,
And made me lose myself
I have news for you...
Those pictures we took
Those notes we wrote to each other
Those paintings we exchanged
Those memories
you remember-

I threw all those...

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Decades of mystic dreamers have worn the path
trod across the leys, coupling pairs within Stonehenge.
Beneath the Wiltshire skies cornflower blue; they lust,
lotus-eaters, loose-limbed, seeking a blessed outcome.
With longing strides-- they reach, climbing earthen berms 
to...

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Your honey laden affections
captured me from the taste
of your first deep kiss
and my eyes melted into yours...

Your soft smooth hands
prompting my innermost desires
as you caressed my chest
with a soothing touch of adoration...

It's only you, you,...

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My blue hair women paintings are surprisingly fun,
But the most interesting are my blue black haired combo.
I know this because I am staring at them now.
Pony-tailed, hatted, hanging, one doing the mambo.

I always thought the...

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