Long Ceilings Poems

Various Heresies 3

Breakings
by Michael R. Burch

I did it out of pity.
I did it out of love.
I did it not to break the heart of a tender, wounded dove.

But gods without compassion
ordained: Frail things must break!
Now...

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Poems about Adam, Eve, Lucifer

Eden
by Michael R. Burch

Then earth was heaven too, a perfect garden.
Apples burgeoned and shone, unplucked on sagging boughs.
What, then, would the children eat?
Fruit indecently sweet,
redolent as incense, with a tempting aroma...



Outcasts
by...

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These are prophetic poems and apocalyptic poems ...






Beast 666
by Michael R. Burch

“... what rough beast ... slouches toward Bethlehem to be born?”?W. B. Yeats

Brutality is a cross
wooden, blood-stained,
gas hissing, sibilant,
lungs gilled, deveined,
red flecks on a...

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It was September 
Of one thousand 
Nine hundred seven
The end of summer
With apples lying thickly
Under the apple trees
And the smell of Autumn
Covering the grass
Filled with ripe yellow
And orange squash
He was born in a little
Wooden house...

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"Small Mutinies"



So what if my point of view
is not that which wraps 
you in comfortably warm
fluffed-up silky 
cashmere blankets 
of insecure insincerity
simple scribbles 
bleating from the 
chirping crickets 
and frog croaking
symphonies 
muddying waters
cutting pristine lines...

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Her cognition is sporadic
Longing for her to relax
And display calm tactics
Lay on my chest like it’s a hammock
When she isn't calm
I can't stand it
Cause behaviors like these in women
Can easily become habits
It won't happen to...

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While flying through a cloudy sky, a blank and thoughtless glance
Exposed to me this big old house, so brief, and quite by chance.

I’d seen enough to know that it was large, and very grand,
A place...

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Woven are these pages in poetic verse,
With bare threads of our deepest feelings,
You will find laughter, tears and remorse,
and words of wisdom, prayer and healings.

What compels their pens to shed poetic ink?
What forlorn moment inspired...

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I posit picayune propensities prevail among pesky management

Most favored renter status imposed on us
i.e. meaning myself;
(one tarnished prince of Highland Manor)
and the missus, his princess consort
who must abide by rigorous writ
of tidiness, whereby
every flat surface...

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Every step feels like a hurricane or twister, and it’s not child’s play
I keep letting go of the notebook, guess it’s time to review the frames
You can never walk on water if you don’t first...

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In times of a virus spreading its unruly truths I wonder why

	What matters most seems to be toilet paper

Loops and loops of the stuff and people care about their bum

Three ply of course because thin...

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“Gerellenpoe’s Department Store” - Cincinnatti’s largest and most prestigious ‘five-n-dime’ in 1883 - 
Carried almost everything a human being could want - and if you’d spend a buck or more...they’d give you something FREE!

Mom was...

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Last night I had a dream, 
                            ...

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I am driving Dad to his appointment
In a city more than two hours from home
They will spend a month watching behavior, 
(We realize that he needs a savior
Or for this testing we would never come.)...

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EARTHLY TO HEAVENLY MANSION 

When I think of a Mansion I think, 
of one with “Vintage appeal,”
Stone architecture, welcoming pillars, 
A monumental royalty feel.

Great palms and great magnolia trees,
Defining the estate’s history, 
Pathways of fragrant...

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Le Balcon (The Balcony)
Charles Baudelaire
trans. Michael R. Burch

Paramour of memory, ultimate mistress,
source of all pleasure, my only desire;
how can I forget your ecstatic caresses,
the warmth of your breasts by the roaring fire,
paramour of memory, ultimate...

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I couldn’t hold back my tears…
                       When I got off the train, took...

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The sun upon my face blinds me as my boat rocks gently
through the rolling swells that lap against the hull.
The sound of the droning engine mesmerizes my mind
bringing a dreaminess to this bright cool...

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hip hip hurrah, herc shot hera
sick sad era, tri city terror
dirty land lover, lips hit terra
karma bent over,  messenger error
never say neva, davin say better
no pain no gain, accept the rainy weather
paint a pic...

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This is my modern English translation of a French poem by Voltaire, one of my all-time favorite writers. The poem is followed by two translations of epigrams by Voltaire.

Les Vous et Les Tu (“You, then...

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My life used to be a journey.  The destination of my journey was heaven and the current 
landscape mattered not.  
Now my life is a ride.  Rides are destination-free.  
Some people...

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White Cliffs of Dover now sponsored in daydreams
Reading each billboard that rusts on the sky
Checking a map though it’s for the wrong city
She sends a smile to the wink of his eye

Overhead cords hang to...

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"What is this?"

"What is what?"

She points above my heart, to reveal a smudge of something.

"....O! I think that was the ice cream that fell on my shirt earlier today."

....O no, why did I say that.
I...

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Wendy Tawker - Caldwell County’s one and only realtor - called me up last Tuesday to inquire - were we ready
To sell our home and build, or buy, a far much smaller place...and I’d informed...

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We were extremely delighted when we picked up the keys to our brand new house and starting at the front door, we made slow anticipative steps desirous of testing the key making sure it was...

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