Long Calmly Poems

My protagonist today,
a Gay Black Religious Mature Male,
not quite ready for silver-grey Obama temples

Is off this morning
to a new full-time job,
8 to 5,
Monday through Friday.

He has been out of his calming,
regular custodial collared routine,
for over...

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A good time was had by all at
Mother Daughtry's. The next 
Day Damian was in his usual 
Mood with Molly in her cozy
But large room. He layed on her
Bed she layed on top of him.
"Hmm,"...

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10 o'clock am the morning 
Quest: A country side bike ride.
Molly woke Dolly and Damian.
Woke Everyone on that July 
Morning of 2038. They had a Bicycle 
Expedition to tend to plus a newly
Minted swimming pool...

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Enough!
by Michael R. Burch

It’s not that I don’t want to die;
I shall be glad to go.
Enough of diabetes pie,
and eating sickly crow!
Enough of win and place and show.
Enough of endless woe!

Enough of suffering and vice!
I’ve...

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Late evening March 2045

The Teenagers were adventurous 
They were venturing.  DJ and 
Damali Trech were both 18 years 
Old. The Copy Cat Club was the
Place to  be for teens.  It mostly 
Served...

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The young lady's car slowed to a stop ...

As she pulled as far off the highway, (onto the shoulder), as she could
(Allowing for any snow plow that might come along).
She had chosen poorly this time
Believing...

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March  2026
The final weeks of the CCC plan:
Damian and Polly planned the
Copy Cat Club convergence with
Molly and Dolly. The meet was postponed 
A few times until everything was set.
Damian and Dolly knew one another...

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World War II Poems and Holocaust Poems - IV - Primo Levi

Shema
by Primo Levi
translation by Michael R. Burch

You who live secure
in your comfortable houses, 
who return each evening to find
warm food, 
welcoming faces...

consider whether this...

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Reveren’ Carlton Whitney was the pastor of our church, and someone I looked up to as a child. 
Six foot six, with piercing eyes, a booming voice, and yet…his disposition, thankfully - was mild.

The very...

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[This poem 'No God Of  Mine' was seemingly confounding readers as
to its meaning. Ordinarily, if I felt a poem wasn't  cutting it, I'd delete
it, but on this occasion, I've been asked to explain it... so here goes.]


By...

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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A new day begins and new promises made
The child guiding his way
Finally warmed he seemed less afraid
As through the snow they slowly made headway
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

     “Who is this child?” he whispered to...

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Hey…did I ever tell you ‘bout the greatest baseball game,
Or should I say…the one that gave “Ol' Babe” his famous name?

Like several other great ones, there were many hits that day, 
And if it hadn't...

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This is, as indicated, the 1st HALF of this fairly lengthy poem. The 2nd half had to be posted separately due to Poetry Soup's file-size limitations. No other way I could manage to make it...

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This is a tale of one of the orneriest dudes there ever was, and how someone much smaller, but easily more clever than he was, managed to cope with his belligerence.  

  ...

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Justin Case - the weirdest guy in the all of Buxton county - did a lot o’ crazy things that most would never try,
And even weirder - just before he’d do the things he did...

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Brian’s Poet of Note – ‘Herman Hesse’ Week 2

This week I thought I would discuss translating poetry from another language. I just finished retranslating from German this poem ‘Stufen’ from Hesse’s famous novel ‘The Glass...

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Hopefully these two young boys stayed out of trouble after getting a wonderful break like this.

                   ...

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These two old geezers have definitely worn out their welcome with Betty-Joe -


“NO, IT DOESN’T!” 
“YES, IT DOES!” 
“NO, IT DOESN’T!” 
“YES, IT DOES!”       The two old geezers argued...

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The Company was set and all were prepared
    for a journey that was true cause for alarm.
But their spirits were high and as much as they dared
    still hoped...

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What words do we choose for maximizing our ultimate accomplishments,
achieving our healthiest goals,
measuring our 100% successful therapeutic outcome projections?

Why do these words, 
and our feelings about these choices 
wave in and out of optimal happiness...

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Colin is a cabby with a proper taxi cab
He drives for all the passengers an Uber didn’t grab
Which means he has a lot of time to kill most every day
And lots of evil folk to...

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Justin Von Depathos strode across the ballroom floor 
To sit with Carlton Vishizwa and Charlotte Genivieve, 
While I watched, in silent fascination, from the door,
The “major players” waltzing ‘round the room that Friday eve.

Thurston Beaumont...

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I. The Love of Minds

The volume on the desk,
The one not claimed by dust or burned
By light, will follow her to bed tonight.
Its pages will be turned and smothered,
Each in turn, so as not to...

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“Please allow me to answer that question,” he offered.
 When Rian saw him his face went white.  Is this a ghost? He questioned himself.  Could it be?  It looked like Erlenkönig but...

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“Now, if we can get these proceedings under way,” began Seileach.
     “No,” exhorted Rian!  “I demand to have more information about what is occurring here before we proceed.  It...

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