Long Bystanders Poems

The Original Sin: Rhyming Haiku!
 
Haiku
should never rhyme:
it’s a crime!
-Michael R. Burch
 
The herons stand,
sentry-like, at attention ...
rigid observers of some unknown command.
-Michael R. Burch
 
Late
fall;
all
the golden leaves turn black underfoot:
soot
-Michael R. Burch
 
Dry leaf...

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Zen Death Haiku

Brittle cicada shell,
little did I know
you were my life!
—Shuho, translation by Michael R. Burch

Returning
as it came,
this naked worm.
—Shidoken, translation by Michael R. Burch

As dew glistens
on a lotus leaf,
so too I soon must vanish.
—Shinsui,...

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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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Southern Icarus
by Michael R. Burch

Windborne, lover of heights,
unspooled from the truck’s wildly lurching embrace,
you climb, skittish kite...

What do you know of the world’s despair,
gliding in vast solitariness there,
so that all that remains is to
fall?

Only a...

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Poems about Poems IV

The Toast
by Michael R. Burch

For longings warmed by tepid suns
(brief lusts that animated clay),
for passions wilted at the bud
and skies grown desolate and gray,
for stars that fell from tinseled heights
and mountains bleak...

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Who am I? Am I even human? What is my place in this world?
I am confused, sometimes I do not even feel like a human being.
Like a boat in a stormy sea, I aimlessly drift...

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Suddenly, two Indian boys throw themselves into the water like meteors
swiming towards camp chatty as prarie dogs,
they hail from a Teton encampment of 74 lodges a few miles up river
most of the men are feeling...

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That is your job, the mama tells us at school.
We feed her child breakfast, lunch, and an after school snack free of charge.
We give her child a safe place to be, while she has seven...

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The music more or less acts as a sequel to the poem. 
Please click onto the music when cued in the poem and continue enjoying it. 

The Girl
She looks down at her shoes, they’re nice
An...

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NOT A BALLPOINT TO SLEEP:

I dare blame them for any detriment,
As I care more to rubbish these bait flip men.
So simple having their downfall predistined,
Can sense struggles thrown from their pritched den.
Easily showcasing their uproot's...

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VISIONS OF ME IN HANDCUFF

12 heads near the left center room, 
bystanders watching as the Man with the 
book determine to make my life heaven or 
hell As I stand with my head high in...

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Believe me,
                                 ...

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This is my best story in 
my mother tongue urdu 
which I translated and 
tried my best to turn it 
into a poem in english 

Luqman who was a 
merchant wiseman and 
his son
bought themselves...

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Courtesy of Marx (albeit Zeppo, Harpo, Groucho, and Chico) 
whose acts brought generations of laughter to Vaudeville and 
then the Silver Screen adlibbed, linkedin, and ransacked skits 
zoid material Bing very loosely based on writings...

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Today we have a list of seven best reasons
not to even think about talking gun control
after an automatic rifle out of control
critical event,
one for each day of the week.

Monday:
The automated guns might hear us,
and continue...

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There is not only a double standard prevalent in the USA between Christians and non Christians. It also applies between liberal left wing radicals and conservatives. Take the January 6th protest out of our Washington...

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Most of the girls (Anna, Sophy, Sunny, Bili, Leong and Lisa) are in the kitchen eating breakfast. “Where’s Anais?” Sunny asks, spooning some eggs onto her plate and taking 4 strips of bacon.

“She’s out by...

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If only you knew Poetry Contest
Sponsored by: Silent One

Rumi Quote: “If only you knew what bliss I find in being nothing.”

              ...

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Another Sky Diver

Two shrill little beeps in my phone..
An incoming message into the Whatsapp messenger  in  my phone…. 
Pick up my trusted phone and quickly finger traced open the Whatsapp messenger…
Not to disappoint,...

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Branches of beans wave most predominantly in stormy weather but heavily prevalent are the many climbing chimps whose antics please the spotted cloud and cause a clap in the sky. But half a cup of...

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Each town has it’s own Heart Beat: Thump, Thump- Thump, Thump.
And All can go astray when doing wrong feels so right.

A young man came in contact with the police… and has died.
So the town decided...

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Americans, Algerians, Australian aborigines,
Corrupt leaders of the world involved in illegal activities.
Bloodthirsty bullies brazenly bombing bystanders,
Militaries full of corrupt army commanders.
Charities for children, carers in communities,
Third world countries deprived of equal opportunities.
Doctors, dentists, drugs, disability...

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The first person shooter
did video confess:

It was just a little bang  bang,
no big deal ... wasn’t nothing major at all

Minor beef got some onions grilled,
cheap talk had turned dirt ill
And when the rumors started...

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"What a Lark"


I used to be inspired once
like a lark beating it’s wings 
higher and ever higher into a
golden and blue eggshell sky.
Hailstones hit me 
during ascension 
and I’ve fallen
into steep decline,
lying on a pavement...

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These walls are broken, 
termites eaten, the bricks crumbling 
clay, the remains of dust.
was this ever a house, ? 
Their first fire extinct, 
it was never real, 
The early smiles were deception
A makeup never truly...

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