Long Clawing Poems

The excitement mounted as we rummaged around in the attic looking through old steamer trunks for discarded clothes and props to make Halloween costumes. With an old suit and hat of Granddads, I became a...

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So bridge to bridge, of other things speaking
Of which my comedy does not take care,
We walked; and reached the top, when seeking
For watching the next slit, then we stopped there
Malebolge to see and crying vain;
And...

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The Pictish Faeries
by Michael R. Burch

Smaller and darker
than their closest kin,
the faeries learned only too well
never to dwell
close to the villages of larger men. 

Only to dance in the starlight
when the moon was full
and men...

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Goodbye six pack hello* poetry scribes

My poetic side COSMOFUNNEL
wordsmith thanks tumblr in his noggin
ofttimes triggering babbling brook 
to swell after deluge
becoming stream of consciousness runnel
carving, gouging, and liquidating topography 
qua zee mow toe natural formed...

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This is how it starts
the decline of who we are, the decline of something more
the start of wars
Installed in us is confidence
confidence, a blessing or a curse
Without confidence we stand degraded, disenchanted, alone
while with too...

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His words stung me, as the cries from the maelstrom seem to retort
Their scattered, foreign words and wails retching their say
I listened, almost mesmerized,
Pulverized

“Come,” Said he,
With threatening authority

Upwards, higher than the balcony from which we...

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The day was fine and sunlit,
Decorated by several clouds 
drifting aimlessly in the radiant ocean-blue sky.
Chorused by gentle puffs of the morning breeze,
Sending leaves on the streets twirling like
ballerinas in a dazzling and mesmerising dance.
and...

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Quietly, the memory of my grandfather manifested itself,
In the colors and shimmers of the Holy Spirit, 
I saw his human face,
The familiar lines, the flesh,
The pair of oceanic eyes, slowly blinking 
Smiling,
Like a heavenly beam
Splashing...

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The day was fine and sunlit, Decorated by several clouds drifting 
     aimlessly in the radiant ocean-blue sky. Chorused by gentle 
         ...

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Ancient sinister fires dwell in the savage creator's eye,
Soon his fire starter will be coming for a second try,
Choosing to believe, that which cannot be seen cannot be rude,
A cloak and dagger God who spies...

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Ancient sinister fires dwell in the savage creator's eye,
Soon his fire starter will be coming for a second try,
Choosing to believe, that which cannot be seen cannot be rude,
A cloak and dagger God who spies...

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“Strange Ways, Here We Come”




the devil’s advocate
came waltzing 
through my doors

“I had no choice”
the supercilious harbinger said,
“to intervene, to parlay away

something 
not 
mine

now 
you're 
doing time 

not the criminal recidivist
nor usurping interloper
and their profound lies

every...

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At the final stroking of saint Halloween eve, it seems not so long ago,
That my trusty SUV, transport vehicle unceremoniously broke down,
Right outside the local pet cemetery, what a marvelous place to
Spend the spookiest night...

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Dead Man Tales
shards of glass pearl the emperor's rise,
his arms embracing upon our sins and lies, 

do not deceive yourself , my friend.
in the twilight of our beings our corruption merges and blends.

there is no...

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(continued previous part 1)

The duke then: “Tell now: of others indeed
Some Latin among sinners do you know 
Behind pitch?”. And he “I  had to secede,

It’s not much, from one who near had to stow.
I...

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"The Unicorn and The Sticky Asphalt Jungle"



Bedtime stories
now walk through fog
The Unicorn skips 
on lines of sticky Asphalt

The father writes his play
The mother seen as absent
becomes deus ex machina
she will be the only one 

to...

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I feel I am drowning
In open air,
Clawing at dirt that isn’t there
No one sees my distress—
No one really cares
Clacking, scraping sounds
Of glasses and plates
Echoes of breathing and voices
Assault my senses,
And still I cannot breathe…

Even as...

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Of Him and not me?
Muttered the dragon, full-formed, wretched, 
Stench unfathomable, seething and snarling
His great lungs expanding and exhaling puffs of darkness
Slanted, shining, scorching eyes burning into my own

What light shines but His own? 
Have...

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I love spending nights on the lake.
Once the oven-like sun disappears,
things get suddenly quiet, except for
the occasional hoot of an owl, crickets, frogs
and the soft lapping of the lake on the boat.
When the moon rises...

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There's an animal deep down inside me, deep in at the depths where my soul lays to rest.
And no, it's not a bunny, or a cute little puppy dog, or even a tiger.
It's more like...

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* Content Warning: this poem touches on physical/emotional abuse*

        ~

        “dabble, dabble
         roiling...

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Take my lips from me, steal my teeth
Rip my voice from my throat
Throw a wrench at my voice box, there's no point in the lock
Sorry for being abrupt, carrying this halfway through a morning tune
But...

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Cypress trees like evergreen steeples
rise above rows of gravestone woes,
their shadows lie side by side like railroad ties 
across writhing paths banded like snakes;
the gravel birth cords sinuous 
sensing the ground   seeking the...

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There is a reason though that we met when we did in that time, and the answer to that question is what still burns in my mind
See you never showed me this version of you,...

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Tears fall, soundless memories, silent as dew,
Struggling from the morning’s gentle eyes, clawing
Through the promises, feelings blooming,
Like the blessings of roses, soft petals bathing
In the sun’s clever glare… 

As she erases the silence, the dew,...

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