Long Collared Poems

My protagonist today,
a Gay Black Religious Mature Male,
not quite ready for silver-grey Obama temples

Is off this morning
to a new full-time job,
8 to 5,
Monday through Friday.

He has been out of his calming,
regular custodial collared routine,
for over...

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Nucleotidings
by Michael R. Burch

“We will walk taller!” said Gupta,
sorta abrupta,
hand-in-hand with his mom,
eyeing the A-bomb.

“Who needs a mahatma
in the aftermath of NAFTA?
Now, that was a disaster,”
cried glib Punjab.

“After Y2k,
time will spin out of control anyway,”
flamed...

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"Kaleidoscope" 

They say another
wrote the story, not I.
that I, mere I,
having little experience, shy 
and far removed from 
such an alien world,
would not possess the knowledge
of such terrible and ruthless, lusty 
characters of strong will;...

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Invisibly tortured courtesy existential nihilism

Psyche wracked with agony
impossible mission to extricate lovely bones
they wanna remain permanently abed.

I chiefly function to amass knowledge
courtesy assiduously, habitually,
and judiciously reading
an eclectic assortment of written material.

Yours truly woke
with ambition, disposition,
inclination,...

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Sometimes faith lives on the edge of a knife
as Sviastoslav the Rus sacker came to know 
The Khazar Khanate knew how to cut a slight
his gilded skull stole the show,
The Vatican went from a marsh...

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Come join the unraveling circus
quite soon to be passing our way,
with the clowns in a clamor to twerk us -
line up as they lead us astray!

Arriving, the elephant trumpets
agendas of aberrant acts
while the donkeys drool,...

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I walked in and was hit by the familiar smell of fear and disinfectant 
then wrapped my sweater tighter from the cold and discomfort. 
I glanced fleetingly into desperate, tearful eyes
bruised egos, painful cries and...

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Pallets, Jacks, and the Soft Sounds of the 70's
OR
My Summer Summed Up Summarily for a Small Sum
A constant beeping chirp echoes through the warehouse, strangely comforting the workers who walk these aisles and habitually straighten...

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High Collared, face powdered
nose held high above
Anybody else
Up-righteous flag waving bible bangers
Living in shadows, ignoring
Urban decay, misshapen society
Talking about life in whispers
Because everything is too vulgar
For your poetic eyes to bear
Only seeing

"The beautiful things"
Blind to...

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The dawn spoke her name like a silken secret
carried carefree by the tradewinds of lust and larceny
imported from the traderoutes of paradise and pandemonium, 
sequined with violet venom she venerates the virtue of volition
her love...

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BROKEN WHOLE
I watched her walk down the isle
Fragile figure, weakened by the weekends she spend
Kissing different frogs till her lips are pale and dry
The colored lipsticks are almost peeling off like the paints on an...

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Brutus Iulius Trois Page 03

Grey eyed Brutus was  truly a Trojan son 
as he attended his father upon a great hunt
Jealous Juno hated this Brutus this Trois 
her anger caused his arrow to slay...

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The Alphabet Contest
Sponsor: Alfred Vassallo

A Is For Anniversary

Their love story began on April twenty-third, nineteen forty-five,
    two young lovers vowed eternity before their family's eyes.

There were hard days ahead living through the...

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The air is crisp, cold weather
that you can sink your teeth into.
It's midwinter with a brief break
between rainy weather fronts.

My fat limping dog and I have
got to get out of the house and
find some wildness.
He...

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Cruising home from the driving range.  
My collared shirt free of cigarette burns…  
58  in November,  hit’em pure
Pushed back against the wind flirted with woods
Everything should be  peace  Turners...

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louisiana humidity chokes you. it takes a hold
of your lungs and squeezes tight. my parents
didn’t consider this when they moved into our
home of Bones and Skin. I dread the moments of my red
flushed face and...

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Initially, an attempt 
sought regarding Das scribe,
yours truly donning checkerboarded rawhide
collared, cuffed oversize raiment, pride
and prejudice obscured
courtesy hand-me-downs
couture also decking out

alley oop trapeze artist bride
of Frankenstein grooming in attendance
with her bonafide
circus motley crew, a veritable
monster...

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There once were masks 
Used in drama class 
One was happy one was sad 
After the lecture the students mastered the art to hailing a cab 

There once were masks 
Used in health care class...

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Three lying deacons 
swim in a handbag -
and a lone, celibate pastor 
paces longingly bemused.
Michael, the Arc Angel, 
poses silently,
in dusty Gabbana drag,
cursing the lipstick-painted laymen
writhing in rancid attar -
naked 
and intentionally 
unused.

Four wide-eyed boys...

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ii.

And the glands beside your heart
Some secret of evolution they couldn't understand
So they never troubled themselves to puzzle
Out why you, their sphinx, remained silent
Now begin to purr.
It frightens you.
You had purred after they scratched your...

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(The Clock and The Reaper)

Time, the adamant adversary 
of all that breathes 
and all that can be personified
 but meets perish 
at the end of an arduous linger,
The crowns of eminent royalty,
 the sweat of...

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The undertaker at Butcher's Funeral Parlor received the dreadful call.
Seems old Senator Cheatum keeled over and succumbed at the local mall!
His untimely demise spurred the undertaker to set a series of events in motion,
To ensure...

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"Howdy to you all from Colorado!  This is Cletus Schlunk reporting,
Where gossip is fair and balanced and there is little or no distorting!
It's the home of the Rockies, Broncos, Nuggets and potholes galore,
And old...

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Dry and dry, bereaving so
I wait for the sun to let it be
Words that didn't have far to go
Been a long time since you and me


Gross solitude with sexy scars
Careless, the crumbled sheet is torn
Muffled...

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I researched the earth's endangered species list and this is what I found.
There's everything on the list from A to Z - rare species just abound!
I'll highlight some of the more interesting varieties just to...

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