Long Collected Poems

Somehow, 
Forward, and headlong
I knew it was day again

There was a shift in the dark mutterings of the Devil,
Who now refused to sleep as I refused to sing,
Almost an anticipation in his voice,
As if he...

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Vacuum
by Michael R. Burch

Over hushed quadrants
forever landlocked in snow,
time’s senseless winds blow...

leaving odd relics of lives half-revealed,
if still mostly concealed...
such are the things we are unable to know

that once intrigued us so.

Come then, let us...

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Come Down
by Michael R. Burch

for Harold Bloom

Come down, O, come down
from your high mountain tower.
How coldly the wind blows,
how late this chill hour ...

and I cannot wait
for a meteor shower
to show you the time
must be...

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What Good Are Our Tears?
by Michael R. Burch

What good are our tears?
They will not spare the dying their anguish.
What good is our concern
to a child sick of living, waiting to perish?

What good, the warm benevolence...

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Damian Stood in the morning sun.
The sun felt good on his face.
Delilah was still sleeping. He
Kissed her face and caressed 
Her belly until she awoke.
Hey my Mrs. Me. Come on babe.
We will be leaving today...

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“The Remaining”

PROLOGUE:  “Terra Firma and The Bitumen”


"The slow descent into Hell
Had led Her mind to escape to Heaven
Her firmament was Her Mind
Her body just a Shell"


Heaven for Her existed in The Dream
She called Her...

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I.	  The Settlement

          Hickory bark bluffs
          at the blend of two 
    ...

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Veronica Franco translations

Veronica Franco (1546-1591) was a Venetian courtesan who wrote literary-quality poetry and prose.

Capitolo 19: A Courtesan's Love Lyric (I) 
by Veronica Franco
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

"I resolved to make a virtue of...

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THIS WORLD OF DEW

This world? 
Moonlit dew
flicked from a crane's bill.
—Eihei Dogen Kigen, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Seventy-one?
How long
can a dewdrop last? 
—Eihei Dogen Kigen, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Dewdrops beading grass-blades
die before...

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I will never ever fear domestic terrorists waving flags threatening and intimidation of severe PTSD survivors Army Veterans being stalked by enraged corrupt beasts attempting to blackmail him for medical benefits he receives from risking...

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THIS DATA BREACH ALLOWED HACKERS TO STEAL PERSONAL INFORMATION ACCORDDING TO THIS I HAVE SEVERAL COMPANIES CEO FOR CRHIST SAKE ON DISABILITY IN HIDING FROM TWO ABUSIVE SPOUSE HOWEVER THIS CRUELTY HAS GATHERED FALSE INFORMATION...

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As I awakened to the night terrors again it's 3am. I know I'm being monitored in my own home Ciro Gargano installs cameras to watch my every movement in order to know when I write...

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Is how it all began our beautiful thing we both knew it was arcade concealing it the way we did and was we wrong for protecting the jukebox the many simple pleasures hidden treasures would...

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- - Chapter 2: Adult Responsibility (With Some Breaks) - -     

By ten years old, no weekends off, 
Or Saturday cartoons, 
Although I did have cash to spend, 
I felt my...

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YOUR TERRORISTS THREATS INTIMADATION ONGOING 23 YEARS NOW AS YOU AND CIRO COLLECTED A STRUCTURED SETTLEMENT OF BEHALF OF MY TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY WHILE BLACKMAILING MY ABUSIVE EX HUSBAND OVER THAT ARSON MURDER TO FALSIFYING...

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Regret
by Michael R. Burch

Regret,
a bitter
ache to bear . . .

once starlight
languished
in your hair . . .

a shining there
as brief
as rare.

Regret . . .
a pain
I chose to bear . . .

unleash
the torrent
of your hair . ....

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justice 

What does this vastly misunderstood word mean to you? 

Too what ends? 

May we seek? 

Who(m) may guide us? 

Endless deliberation (spiss spiss spiss)

Debated and glorified by us all 

Beloved; instilled among (a) core...

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Greetings to those who would willingly seek admission to theater of the absurd. Zoltan Goliath and Otis Trench are masters of the avant-garde genre silent musicals for the imaginary stage, an art form sui generis....

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Juvenilia: Early Poems by Michael R. Burch



Desdemona
by Michael R. Burch

Though you possessed the moon and stars,
you are bound to fate and wed to chance.
Your lips deny they crave a kiss;
your feet deny they ache to...

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Juvenilia: Early Poems XII

Because You Came to Me
by Michael R. Burch

for Beth

Because you came to me with sweet compassion
and kissed my furrowed brow and smoothed my hair,
I do not love you after any fashion,
but wildly,...

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Date. August  2023 

Damian turned 22 and Moved  from his
 family's estate Into his own
 duplex apartment, 5 bedrooms.
One master bedroom and 
1 and a half bathrooms. 
Down town West Virginia. One night...

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'A magical lock?' Groaned Graygall in a voice of defeat.
    'We are doomed before even we are set to advance.
To defeat Trolls would be an almost impossible feat
    but...

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In the darkness of the night, 
a ruby gleams 
to contrast a slumbered eye awakened 
to feeling, 
reflection, light, 
Lady "Genie", eyes aglow
like a beast, in mid-stride,
lost in her midnight dreams is clothed in a...

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September  2051

End of  Autumn breeze sweet and gentle
Fluttering the garden as it passed. 
Holly was on video phone with her parents 8 morning time. "Mommy you and dad should be here for the...

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The festive furious festival of
Fifteen and fourteen year olds
Had functionally formed the
Teenage takeover brigade. 
The boy and girl gladiators they
Were everywhere. And DJ had 
His girlfriend there somewhere,
Ready to Introduce her to the 
Family. Although...

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