Long Boston Poems

Instruction
by Michael R. Burch

Toss this poem aside
to the filigreed and the wild tide
of sunset.

Strike my name,
and still it is all the same.
The onset

of night is in the despairing skies;
each hut shuts its bright bewildered eyes.
The...

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Winter
by Michael R. Burch

The rose of love's bright promise
lies torn by her own thorn;
her scent was sweet
but at her feet
the pallid aphids mourn.

The lilac of devotion
has felt the winter hoar
and shed her dress;
companionless,
she shivers—nude, forlorn.

Published...

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Juvenilia: Early Poems XI

Myth
by Michael R. Burch

after the sprung rhythm of Dylan Thomas

Here the recalcitrant wind
sighs with grievance and remorse
over fields of wayward gorse
and thistle-throttled lanes.

And she is the myth of the scythed wheat
hewn and...

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For All That I Remembered
by Michael R. Burch

For all that I remembered, I forgot
her name, her face, the reason that we loved ...
and yet I hold her close within my thought:
I feel the burnished weight...

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Fortunately, when I was young, what I perceived - 'my kingdom' - 
spanned - and I'm not kidding you...seven - city - blocks!
But being neither worried about - nor having fully mastered - 
the tricky...

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"The Call of the Grimoire" 


when Exalibur was retrieved 

from the rock, then foolishly 
and irretrievably lost 
in that dreadful battle most worthless

the imps encouraged 
the once good Poesie folk 
to jeer and throw pebbles

the...

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One seat back from where I sat in almost every class was where this wimpy, red-haired nerd, I’d hated from the start,
Made a point of sitting, thinking - if he played it right - because...

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He was born in backwoods Missouri.
1840 the year he arrived.
Conflict, sickness and hard times prevailed.
Through it all he grew strong and survived.
Skills to live were a gift from his father.
Faith in God from his mother...

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On the plane I meditated or at least I tried to.  Most of the time I get a seat to myself.  These days it’s just a ****ing Greyhound in the sky.  I...

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Hannah, I haven't seen or heard you cry
not in the gray of winter day
or in the cold silence of our prisoner nights,
the others can hardly keep up with you on the marches
your face is changeless...

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GUNSHOT WOUND TO THE HEART 


From a two-room schoolhouse high on a hill over the Fundy Bay, I sat at an old wooden desk daydreaming. The ink stains and etchings which were dug deep into...

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Lisa and I finally tested covid-free! When we saw our results, we began an impromptu dance that felt like levitation.

Although my covid case seemed much milder, Lisa’s been nothing but supportive. Why just yesterday morning,...

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Far too many small towns are slowly dying out, how incredibly sad...


On a run we took to see our brand new grandson last July, 
we’d left ourselves some extra time so we could veer off...

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Lisa and I went to a reception, yesterday evening, for students who’d landed summer fellowships at a particular hospital in Boston. (Yeah us!) It wasn’t formal, so I wore a crimson cropped sweater, a beige...

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I’ve only been at my fellowship gig a week, but It’s official, I’m a candy-striper. Sort of, I wear a blue vest, not the old, red-striped dress, but it’s the same job. I shadow my...

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Allegheny rail train has been rolling along since dawn.
I can hear the patchy sounds of the horn ushered by the wind.
Sounds at first are muffled but become distinct as the train gets closer.

Gulls hovering over...

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Plenty of sleep, no more tv, the wars in the Middle East
are resource wars, disguised as religious debates.
So Dad would say.

A beautiful winter day, hunting
season. A Gun In Every Home, in light of U.S. mass...

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American Pies and Porkies

I’m not American though I spent a year in California the land of beaches Hollywood 
‘flower power’ ‘Big Sur’ with dopey dreams and have walked ‘bear’-foot in Yosemite
thus I followed the elections...

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Hellboy danced with the best of them,
With a record here, though incomplete...
Winning almost all of the time,
What a miraculous feat!


Date Opponent Location Result
----------------------------------------------------------------------
XXxX Hecate L (fatality)
2004 Rasputin W
XXxX osiris club W
XXxX Witch L (fatality)
XXxX Dragon...

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Born in the Goshen ghetto,
bound by an Ashkenaz forged umbilical chain
Beloved mother was Jim Crow lynch poor,
adored father was the Uncle Sam same
Third-generation slaves,
pauper freed allegedly
But royal blood their ancestors  
sweaty tears did bleed
From...

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In Ouachita's murmurs, where pine needles sigh,
I trace the mountains' ancient, weathered crown.
Silvered river forgotten secrets float by,
And fills my heart, a sonorous chamber now.

A flame ignites, dispelling shadows deep,
A beacon for lost souls on...

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Jimmy Rigg - this dork I know, from Billings, Pennsylvania - always carries doo-dads in his pockets, front to rear,
Just in case some unexpected problem might arise...bent on having what he’d need to fix the...

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I had two cousins Mike and Ike who were air heads that stole
using their slippery butterfingers to snatch up anything in sight. 
They thought they were clever smarties, but one crazy night
they were driving and...

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(Written for both the Boston and 
Afghanistan bombings)

Who am I?...
Do I look like a terrorist?
Am I dressed like the soldier with 
frightened
hands and panic connected to a 
trigger?
I am just a boy hoping to marry...

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“50 Words for Poe: Phantasmagoria”




“Darling, there’s someone here 
who would like to meet you...”

This was how it all began -

‘twas the night of the Ghost Ball
the room was pumping
and the Lothario put on a good...

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