Long Civility Poems

Epigrams by Michael R. Burch

If brevity is the soul of wit
then brevity and levity 
are the whole of it.
—Michael R. Burch

To write an epigram, cram.
If you lack wit, scram!
—Michael R. Burch

Conformists of a feather
flock together.
—Michael...

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Epigrams

Autumn Conundrum
by Michael R. Burch

It’s not that every leaf must finally fall,
it’s just that we can never catch them all.

Piercing the Shell
by Michael R. Burch

If we strip away all the accouterments of war,
perhaps we'll discover...

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In these United States of America, there is a little town not very far off the beaten path. Neither gold nor silver has ever been mined in or near this town of fertile delta soil....

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Despite the day-to-day signs of man’s bitter degradation, there were many in the South who somehow still failed to see the endless pain of segregation. From the viewpoint of those who never lived there as...

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At first, it wasn't my father's Oldsmobile.
Then, there came a longing for a new identity
with an invasion of one morphing after another.
Next thing I knew, there was 'no' Oldsmobile.
It seems that so many things started...

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Interesting
how dominant or repressed,
predative or victimized,
winner or loser,
positive or negative,
show up in so many paradigms
of light,
beauty,
truth;

And/Or predetermined
prejudicial shadow
stories
too bipolar--

Not enough dipolar both/and
complementarity,
cause/effective co-arising nuanced circles
[not lines 
much less militaristic vanquishing bold squares]
recycling civility,
repurposing cooperative humanity,
destiny,
integrity...

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Plant the seeds you wish to reap.
I have planted my seed in the soil of my people.
I have no home, no earthly land,
I have no food sometimes, sometimes,
I must find the white spot in my...

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President Trump, 
shortly after his singularly smelly election, 
declared emphatic comparisons with Elder Republican
Abraham Lincoln.

Early on,
he described Lincoln as his kindred political soul,
admired mentor,
and the former President he was destined to most resemble
in spirit and...

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I came to AllSouls
looking for permanent sanctuary.

Sanctuary,
not only from a Rumpian absence of 
civility
and non-violent trust
and integrity
and compassion,
but also pro-actively for an orthodox health eco-school 
for learning to secure these passioned gifts
through cooperative
pro-active
co-arising practice.

A permanently...

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My Heart Died A Little Bit Today
 
My heart died a little bit today
I watched the news and felt it skip a beat
Seeing the death and destruction on the streets
I remembered back when things seemed...

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This self-explanatory English poem of mine was originally drafted Monday (evening) August 5, 2013, while I was still in Independence, Missouri. I revised it a bit in November and December of 2014, while “traveling” in...

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I don’t have the financial muscle
To wrestle the American State President intellectually
If the truth be told ;
I don’t have half enough in my savings account
To ridicule the financial dry seasons I went through to this...

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The People from Those ****-Hole Countries

The people from “those” ****-Hole countries, eh??
Really?? Really?? You don’t say?? I didn’t know that!!
 
This is a recent stream of consciousness comment, which
constitutes a new low in the American...

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Life is sacred and not a sport, but                           ...

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In the blackness of night, stars of wonder, so gloriously bright;
With our God-given eyes, terrestrial wonders for us to see.
With these words, may there be a most vivid portrait of:

A beautiful universe whose vastness is...

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A definite bonehead moment

since revised when das scribe 
made laughing stock of himself 
(circa ~ 8:30 post meridiem 
December twenty eighth, 2022).

A retrospective account
revisited courtesy the following 
honest to dog doe eyed, 
doofus dopey dilemma
allows,...

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I see and hear a great overlap between
left-brain dominant education,
straight white male privileged political power,
and capitalist win/lose 
Elite ballistic gamesmanship.

But, as importantly,
what do you hear
see
feel
believe about ingredients for violating plutocracy
and for degenerative
fading public health
and competitive...

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"Be one to understand this, it cannot be by gist alone, for it starts through many doors via the following poems/stories, be what may will be your choice. Start, end, middle, or what draws you,...

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"Voluptuous Bullets"



In the game of Love and War
voluptuous bullets
penetrate a mouth of warm words

Lacking defence lines 
boundaries come undone 
in the valleys of a body let loose

Depth charged oceans seduce
and submerge the sensual mind
civility replaced...

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It was a nasty war.

To call it an UnCivil War
is to avoid an obvious oxymoron
as embarrassing as Military Vitriolic Intelligence
through lack of Anger and Fear Management,
violently over-industrious absence of mutual civility.

We were too optimistic
about democracy's...

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At the request of none,
Nor the behest of any, except for me.
But it's more than a guess that he has
Contributed to the success of my life.

I sat with an aged man when I, but a...

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Poems for Poets X
Poems about Poets X



Sinking
by Michael R. Burch

for Virginia Woolf

Weigh me down with stones ...
   fill all the pockets of my gown ...
      I’m going down,
...

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The robbery of the soul...
The trampling of boundaries 
like a frenzied stampede of 
elephants..
The cutting of ties that bound 
us with reckless abandon.
 Emblazoned with it's name, 
PRIDE, across the blade,  
It's a slash...

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Mama, mama ...
I got a triangular problem
And I need you
to give me the square deal truth
Straight honest for real, lying foolproof — 
it’s a rectangle of a mess
I’m trapezoid in a love box,
never thought it...

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As the odyssey in the skiff continued a more sentient being begun to appear,
At times feeling as a eunuch who was unable to change anything,
In zenith of toxicity as miasma on a cold misty morning.
What...

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