Long Conceals Poems

Rejection Slips 3

Rejection Slip
by Michael R. Burch

Whenever my writing gets rejected,
I always wonder how the rejecter got elected.
Are we exchanging at the same Bourse?
(Excepting present company, of course!)

When editors reject my poems, did I slip...

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Near Sainthood
by Mirza Ghalib
translation by Kanu V. Prajapati and Michael R. Burch

On the subject of mystic philosophy, Ghalib,
your words might have seemed deeply profound
and we might have pronounced you a saint...
if only we hadn't found
you...

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Juvenilia: Early Poems IV
I wrote this around age 17.



Bible Libel
by Michael R. Burch

If God
is good
half the Bible
is libel.

I read the Bible from cover to cover at age eleven, ten chapters per day, at the suggestion...

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Translation of Mahakavi Bharathiyar’s poem: “Asai Mugam” or “Beloved Face”
                         ...

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Jefferson’s Reply to Rev. Jonah Stoughton


					Monticello
					July 1, 1826

Sir, I have before me your letter of 
the second of June, and I thank you warmly
for having taken the time to write me. 
I have read it...

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There are times in life when we deal with strife
    And are helpless to the powers that be.
Where we are sequestered by doubt... and still tossed about
    By others...

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#w/thisrebellioninside~

Seems you’re abiding by his side, side, side, my love
I tried to save you from giving in, but I had to save me 
Appears I’ve been crucified, now I hide like a wingless dove
I’ve fought...

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Pied tidings of suburbian 
Magpies,
Squawking and squabbling,
Quarreling ferociously among 
Themselves - 
Rush to steal
From off the beleaguered bird 
tables,
To the annoyance of all concerned,
A much begrudged meal;
Before scurrying away into 
Unfrequented woodlands,
Marooned like islands in...

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There is a sadness in her smile, 
a sorrow that conceals itself within 
the curl of the corner of her lips.
It's like watching someone discover 
the
small good in a series of bad 
memories.
There, she sits,...

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I know    
I tell you this instant
I am under surveillance  
my life is being recorded indefinite
every movement
private or ordinary
including this moment
every event
big or insignificant
without my consent
there is no instant
when i am...

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With lone intent, all freedom it will wrest
if obstinance you let these wolves deny.
As tonnage sinks beneath the torrid crest
your struggles for survival magnify.
Each flailing ship that ferries surety
is fodder for the fathoms of abyss.
Their...

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There is the presence of grace, the presence of faith, the presence of God,
In the flowers, the rain, the beauty, the pain, all over the night…
Where light doesn’t fade, because His love made a way...

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As the peacock-sage 
waves of whimsical peace
faded in silence's 
pale watercolors, 
I masked my 
eerie eyelashes, 
with drifting 
angel-mist smog. 
For, I sensed the 
wistful wailings of 
ambrosial lilies, 
encased in my 
heart's crystal casket,...

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First off, there's no place like that 256! 
We are a base of divergent cultures 
with a space enough for each to partake and taste of the mix. 
Mehn there's no place like the 256...

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Your ropes are a fuzzy memory
It resonated deeply in my heart
with eyes as calm as the moon
Shepherd of the endless mix
White and glistening wilderness
Vast clouds kneel before your desuetude.
A thin smile that conceals deceit
A halcyon...

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Neti Neti, I am not the Body
Neti Neti, I am not the Mind
If I am not the Body and Mind
Who am I? This must be defined
Tat Twam Asi, I am the Divine Soul, I find

If...

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The mirror reflects a lifetime etched upon my skin; a canvas of stories whispered through maturity. I stand before it, middle-aged and exposed, my nakedness laid bare. My image holds no judgment, only truth—an unyielding...

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The people surrounding me keep asking “why are you going back and forth uneasily on the empty stage shedding crocodile tears, and telling the stories of negative effects on others, though you are not of...

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Eyes are the windows of a soul and they say ‘Love is blind’
But how do you describe colour to a sightless person?

Such depths to your violet eyes
The windows of your Soul
A flickering source of emotions
Speaking...

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A Life in a Day

Alarms pull me from my sleeping
The demand of their incessant routine undermining
The peaceful thoughtless dreaming
Where for a time I had forgotten
Everything

And like a vulture perched upon my pillow
Squawks all the separate...

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A nubile young vicar named Jude
Was seen swimming, totally nude
The bishop said WOW
Just look at you now
Your assets - they need to be viewed!

Fiction write!

07-05-17

Invited him home for a drink
A toast as their glasses did...

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Here, this day, on this inglorious
Field
Thy vain struggles will count no
Valour.
All hope now abandoned,
Imminent defeat unconcealed;
Erstwhile countenance display 
Such waxen, languid pallor.
Surround by your dwindling 
Forces
Ye will but sadly find...
That the stout keep of your...

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A view of the ragged woodland from
The window:-
Slender branched trees that shed
From high above to low below;
The faint, mauven peaks
Smattered with barely visible
Scatterings of drifted snow;
Across the matted undergrowth
A bronzed carpet of copper coloured
Leaves
Whose rusting...

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Vishwamitra was enraged 
how he been duped 
by Deity King Indra
felt ashamed of 
lost all the virtue
gained through years
after penance and asceticism
distanced from mother so child 
got back to penance. 
Menaka birthing queen melody
left newborn...

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El Dorado
by Michael R. Burch

It's a fine town, a fine town,
though its alleys recede into shadow;
it's a very fine town for those who are searching
for an El Dorado.

Because the lighting is poor and the streets...

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