Long Ciphers Poems

Sonnets XVII-XXIV

Discrimination
by Michael R. Burch

The meter I had sought to find, perplexed,
was ripped from books of "verse" that read like prose.
I found it in sheet music, in long rows
of hologramic CDs, in sad wrecks
of long-forgotten...

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/by Vicki Acquah


Before, when we were young; 
We were together all of us.. 
Awhile back when you were young,
I was youthfully older-We were
together back then as space and time 
had arranged.

As some of us were...

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But breakfast’s subject beckons: 
the booster affair effect in Tumblr-
land? The digital map surveillance
co-sponsor the soccer mom sauce
minivan project, relay & speech 
to cell battery fiasco. Batteries 
have lives too, reads the cloud script.
FML maxims...

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Tight Spaces 

I wriggle through the tight spaces, 
moving between these fussy wise cracks,
all in forward motion, my forward goal,
moving towards a light beyond, way up ahead.
A dimming glow, like a watery eye,
lubricating and easing...

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My pregnant psyche labors over words
and somber fetuses embalmed in ink.
A restless scribble knots my burdened nerves
with these encrypted ciphers I can't grasp.
Interpretations drip from severed tongues,
absurd perceptions form a distant mood.

My prying, inquisition probes...

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The breaking,
 the shaking;apace
  my king's fall is rise
   my land is anon taken.
                  ...

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Becoming the man I have become
Raging with massive desires
To end the misery in my perilous life
Challenging the riveting ciphers
Ripping through like a sharpened steel knife

I bring the pain upon myself
Every moment in my days
I have...

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The invisible war, cataclysmic bombardments of frequencies,
digital layers, decrypted upon logical analysis with ease.  
The spectrum of light, manipulated by the thoughts of man, 
equations designed to deliver calculated back up plans.  

Through...

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Sonnet: Second Sight (II)
by Michael R. Burch

(Newborns see best at a distance of 8 to 14 inches.)

Wiser than we know, the newborn screams,
red-faced from breath, and wonders what life means
this close to death, amid the...

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Tongue touched, 
a diaphanous zephyr of ephemeral desire, 
rustles the parchment of our sepulchral scripture, 
where our connubial covenant is inscribed,
in the cryptographic ledger of the damned, 
and the whispers of the ancients,
echo through the...

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We are a species gnawing at the roots of existence, hellbent on self-immolation, our every endeavor a funiculus of futility. The argent legacy of our forebears, squandered by imbecilic hands that molded us into hollow...

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Most rigorous astrology can hardly divine
Why flamy galactic orbs often burning fall; 
Or the calm pull behind shiniest meteorites'
Hurtling lower from their neat nestlings tall. 

I own that apt eyes as of the lauded Magi...

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Image of Spring Flowers Colorful Flower Bed provided by Pixabay 

Beauty Briefs

Tulips escaping kisses
Yardbird noses ciphers scent
Poppies aim none are misses
Views gave letters of intent.

Orchids tropic heat enchants
Isle drums beat its ports of call
Crocus saying,...

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LIFELONG LAYABOUT AND CIPHER


What this title means to you,
possible thoughts are getting through.

Lifelong is from birth to death,
surely didn’t cover his every breath.

Then again, possible for a layabout,
on backside’s not a worthy tout.

Proclaimed a “cipher”,...

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a snail licks
         red dots

             a frog
        ...

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Over x steps we will plot
after y steps up to site.
This is the way we create a body.
This is the beginning and this is end.
One spot along outer curve after spot.

Over time we create form.
After...

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tattered leather boots eyes tethered
   with half a shoe lace
frayed socks hidden by threadbare pant legs
   rumpled shirt and jacket covering
   a tightly drawn torso
solitary fallen angel lost in...

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A blurry line divides the road,
You want to cross, but you don't;
Skeptical of what lies ahead,
A wonderland or a dead end.

You wish to fly with your wings new-found,
Weights of dilemma pull you down;
You need to...

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Knee-bones sunk in wet twilight soil,
  Welded hands in pagan prayer,
Stones sacrificial once draped in blood
  And ghosts of what was slaughtered there.
Hear the beseeching winds of time
  Carry the words from...

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I didn’t give enough gifts
I’ve said
Never meaning this one
Just those that showed small insight
And let you know my heart
Useful things, things of beauty plus words of truth and impact 
Emotion manifested in acts 
Simple gifts

Tell...

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Desire as fuel decants in my veins,
In search of some triggered ignition,
To spark a sequenced reaction,
Soul-driven fission,
Covert blend of ancient chemistry.

Forever the lost are lost, eclipsed
From the rigorous vision of hunters
In their loneliest hours,
Their darkest...

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Against wild dogma and feathery wit,
Shall your sound idioms and wisdom
Outshine fickle folios of mortal sages;
Proving verity in its irrepressible form.

Your arresting dictums shall outshine
Obtuse hallowed tomes devoid of life, 
Which erudition’s minions kissing die;
Sepulchered...

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The distant wheel revolves within the night;
its boastful stature begs to be subdued;
though comforting I find, its flashing lights
and its unwavering vivacious mood.

Its garland gleams from its circumference
in patterns that I cannot comprehend.
Perhaps I'm not...

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Is one’s destiny written on the winds?
When a seed is buried; is it set free?
Do ciphers resonate within the bends
of limbs; or are they rooted with the tree? 

I’m reaching for the stars I am...

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"Everybody has a dark side. Some of us are better at hiding it than others" 



This flank I guard that shadows daub

     So precious, rich and dark,

    ...

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