Long Countermand Poems

Auschwitz Rose
by Michael R. Burch
											
There is a Rose at Auschwitz, in the briar,
a rose like Sharon’s, lovely as her name.
The world forgot her, and is not the same.
I still love her and extend this sacred...

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(In a 19th-century legal judgment studied by all who 
learn the English common law, Sturges v. Bridgeman,
the court found in favour of a "nice" doctor over a
"common" manufacturer, for reasons of pure snobbery.)

The Candyman Can’t

Some...

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War is Obsolete
by Michael R. Burch

Trump’s war is on children and their mothers.
"An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind." ? Gandhi

War is obsolete;
even the strange machinery of dread
weeps for the child in...

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Hauteur brigand bound for gratuitous strand
Knows not he is country's chattel, enemy's contraband
As gallant marauders o'er ages spanned
His quest for glory fate will countermand
Gleeful lad starting out on quick, definitive errand
Becoming grizzled veteran in war...

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Sycophants, thy future.
On what does it depend?
Gold upon the ground, be pure!
River, yield thy bend!

Tormented, ye prophets?
Pleiades, rescue me!
Toolshed, art thou Tophet's?
Fly, O fancy-free...

Gain upon in rhythm?
By what right, friend and foe?
Onward, black abysm!
Dark backward,...

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Harpsichord in heaven?
Cubic or spherical?
Bread, O baker? Leaven.
Just flicker as you fall...

Dancing lights apace in space?
Watch them in her face.
Ghost, vanish without a trace!
Gold, case, carapace!

Desert floor in winter?
No more than one inch, snow.
Shredder, got...

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Tread not on me, brother!
To live is to expand.
Deterrence! Slay the Other!
Cold core countermand!

Boots a-click-clack, cobblestone.
Midnight raid and how!
Help the boy to hold his own!
Sacred, O my cow!

Written in the ancient s blood?
Time to cause...

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Night, drape deep in slumber.
O dream, to nightmare turn?
Multitude, legion, number!
Death, dearth to discern...

Rule of law in wasted land?
Show them, when ye stand.
Orderly, cold countermand?
Break before bed, band.

Young fools making with the schtick?
Candle, burn out...

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Cataclysm, disaster!
Calamity, come!
Fate of mankind, I, master!
Doom and Death, thy drum...

Gore upon the altar?
Somebody needs to go.
Nerves within, do not falter!
Cease, heartbeat, post slow.

Tunnel subterranean?
What in there was planned?
Hell and Heaven, sane again?
Orders countermand!

Yellow skies...

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There are no shades of white and black, only gray.
Though you may think they are balanced, they will never be;
For even basking in the light, the dark is merely on its way.
No matter how overpowering...

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 Quiet quibbles with silence and hushed wind’s quackery.
Have nonsensical need for an ice cold daiquiri.

Chicanery of leafy season, coursing slowly,
before its blustery countermand uplifts wholly.

Monotonous quarrel needs a quaff of arctic air,
an unquestioning brisk...

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In Nature's ordained sphere
No chalice, vial, or bioengineer
Earth's mantle only doting peer
Sun's warmth growth to cheer
Heaven's tap nutrients to steer
Only providence, stalk will shear

Covetous hands beauty, scent desire
Manufactured warmth to inspire
Coiffed petals sprout love's devotion
Fragrant...

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