Long Coaxed Poems

Villanelles

The villanelle is a poetic form based on repetition, with a double refrain. 



Villanelle: The Divide
by Michael R. Burch

The sea was not salt the first tide...
was man born to sorrow that first day, 
with the...

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Au revoir oh perilous freedom...

Since pledging my troth
to the missus July 25th, 1996
after the comma error
punctuated mein kampf with disequilibrium.

Ever since the notions
of life, liberty and pursuit of happiness
coalesced within the mindscape
attributed to one
or more...

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Bank rolled by billionaires

No matter Tuesday, November 5, 2024
still one hundred and eight days away,
(thank you Julian Date Calendar -
FOR LEAP YEARS ONLY),
I believe a foregone conclusion
that Donald Trump will win
based on the pathetic debate...

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Once a pawn a time within castellated bishopric

We purchased 2020 Hyundai Elantra
at Enterprise Car Rental
1207 West Ridge Pike
Conshohocken, Pennsylvania 19428
April thirteenth two thousand twenty three
witnessed greatest amount of money
I spent at one time.

The following day...

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I have to admit
The school where I work
Needs everyone to be
Able to speak Spanish.
Because the parents do.
We are an 82 percent
Spanish-speaking community.
I’ve taken Spanish 4 times.
And I have failed Spanish 4 times.
I have no idea...

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A Whistling Girl and a Crowing Hen
 
By Elton Camp
 
 
	“We keep thet big flock o’ chickens fer eggs and meat,” Milas explained to his niece Elvira visiting from the city.  “We git...

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Pasha Acremodios grew greedy,
discontented with the domain he dominated,
so he turned covetous eyes toward Farabia,
sending his soldiers to seize this ripened plum

Spoiling for a fight and fighting for spoils,
his army swept across Farabia
like a bloody...

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It was an early fall day, some decades ago, 
When three of my boys were still young.
Looking forward that year to the Rochester Fair,
An event that was always good fun.

A promise from me I would...

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The monumental bane of OCD - obsessive compulsive disorder

As origin of Homo Sapien species surged ahead,
harboring nascent predominance
asper said primate reproductively bred,
(albeit via incremental fits and starts)
evolutionary forebears didst dread
Tom Tom Club former members
an American...

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"With every fiber of my being, my eyes glimpse at my whole life gone avail and unjust; the sacrifice mother had made before birth was certainly not enough, wish I had gone through the flames...

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Unitarian Church returnee

After a hiatus of countless years
plus an additional 
almost three months 
since a major makeover,
(I experienced the magic
wrought courtesy
a bonafide big hearted 
beautician at Salon Nova
located in beautiful 
downtown Limerick, Pennsylvania

to render my...

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A civil war ferociously raged...

within complex edifice...
derelict hulking corpse delineated courtesy
seared, singed, smoldered smithereens
formerly robust warrior
slain during prime of his life
heavenly corporeal outstanding entity
subjected to fateful foragers
courtesy camping buzzfeeding carrion -
fancy feast for famished
uber twittering,...

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Back approximately half my life ago
dissociative disorder 
if qualified to self diagnose 
mein kampf psychological state...

I lacked emotions where others concerned.

That refrain replayed itself,
when wife picked up 
(like a broken record), 
where parents left off
before...

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Heterosexual married sexagenarian male...

Aims to trigger cerebral orgasm;

Other terms for said phenomena are 
"brain tingles" and "head orgasm." 
This sensation is described as a pleasant, 
even euphoric, tingling warmth and/or feeling 
of relaxation that comes...

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Stimulus check(up), visited mine local gastro-intestinal economy

Around high noon
today March 19th, 2021
fecal impaction I did plaintively croon
until effect courtesy amitiza, which
prescription medication
(in short a laxative)
served as amazing grace saving boon.

Once activated - impossible mission
to suppress...

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there were his baseball cards
collected in a shoebox,
his model submarines, and planes.
he paced in a restless waddle
from corner to corner in our bedroom.
he could beat me at any game
and always wanted to prove it.
the five...

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The tender ceremony with full honors welcoming baby light faeries was tastefully
And artistically played out on midsummers eve, an ethereal night, it would seem.
Her parents, and grands were dressed in full colonial faerie attire. They...

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Miracle ova fertilized cell...

Yielded pink bundle of joy
self determined autonomous millennial
relocated University of Pennsylvania
Engineering graduate class of 2019
calls Oakland, California home
(employed at Certified B Corporation)
lives with her lovely beau,
and two beautiful tortoiseshell cats.

December twenty second
two...

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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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*
I found a way to gracefully depart
for I could not respond to her request.
I held my breath and waited for my heart
to once again start beating in my chest.
And as I coaxed my senses to...

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How tenderly you cared for me
when you found me broken on the road
did lift me up gave me your own cup
removed from me my heavy load
 
You dressed my wounds with healing balm
every injury you...

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I will dwell in security
because the arms of your salvation
        have embraced me
higher than the mountains peaks
is the persuasion of your kindnesses
      ...

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(What have I done? This is 
all my fault. He has never left 
like that. What if he doesn't 
come back? What about Maya? 
Oh, shit! Maya!) I flew up 
throwing the chair behind me....

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The glossy fur and full body that Grunt
had taken on was put down to the care showered upon her.After realizing she was in fact a female
for a moment she was referred to as Gruntessa 
but...

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Otis Wheat was a simple man.  He didn’t have much to say and when he did say something it was worth listening to.  He was generally shy to a fault but when the...

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