Long Despised Poems

They were gambling in front of the house.
Manservants and pages bustled about
Serving Suitors who just curse and carouse.
Few mix wine with water. I heard one shout,
"Clean down the tables with wet sponges! Rouse
Yourselves! And when...

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State of the Art (II)

These are my "ars poetica" poems about the art and craft of writing poetry. 



What the Poet Sees
by Michael R. Burch

What the poet sees,
he sees as a swimmer 
~~~~underwater~~~~
watching the shoreline...

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A Vain Word
by Michael R. Burch

Oleanders at dawn preen extravagant whorls
as I read in leaves’ Sanskrit brief moments remaining
till sunset implodes, till the moon strands grey pearls
under moss-stubbled oaks, full of whispers, complaining
to the darkening...

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Wovoka in the Feverland

In the Dying-Grass Moon came another winter to claim the old and sick.
This was when the first messengers came
To the desolation known as Pine Ridge.
They came riding in at the end of...

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THE DESERT THE WILDERNESS THE STORM

I am parched, my back is arched, 
my body racked with pain,
Nothing green in sight, 
my thirst, my plight, 
eyes playing tricks on me again. 

An illusion of rest beside...

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Last night I dreamed.

I dream--

sometimes too athletically,
fertile regeneratively,
viral, positive and negatively 
and in-between sub-climax performing 
some wins and some perpetual losses 
more ambiguously back and forth, up and down, in and out,
and not nearly sensual...

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LEONARDO DA VINCI POEMS, EPIGRAMS AND QUOTES

These are my modern English translations of the poems, epigrams and quotes of Leonardo da Vinci. I believe the first six epigrams pertain to the current American election crisis...

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I’m not saying my father hated the English, God forbid. If he were still alive, he’d hate to hear me say that. He’d correct me right away and say he didn’t hate the English. Truth...

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Lord Of Long Shadows, Master Poe And I 

Lord of long shadows had invaded hearth and home
sauntered in amidst cracklings of hot fireplace flames
Saying, " I like this sad place, may I freely roam
you know...

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It was going to be the best Christmas of the most spectacular, magnificent Christmases in the world.
Certainly, the best one we had ever seen, for Grandma Winslet was coming from England which is big.
She used...

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It was going to be the best Christmas of the most spectacular, magnificent Christmases in the world.Certainly, the best one we had ever seen, for Grandma Winslet was coming from England which is big.
She used...

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You crawled out of her innocent womb 
Kicking , begging and screaming
But it is too late for you to be redeemed 
You were born evil and corrupted 
and you have a  very  dirty...

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A piece of me has been torn apart
All of you have broken my heart
The tears are still coming and going
And I can still feel my heart burning
I know that this was coming
But I pretended and...

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(This is a lyric that is a rap, pop and rock song - 3 in 1. Have fun, reading!)

So, you think that I am weak
Oh no, you let spill the doubt leak
Times like these look...

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There was a noble sadness hiding in her eyes.
She wears a smile, though elements of insecurities
Trembled in its corners...
Dignity and suffering, combating
for the control of her expression.
Hiding the battle scars of her life; 
Intending to...

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"I am the wisdom of Greeks 
I am the gnosis of the savage barbarians 
I am the shrewdness of Greeks 
I am the prudence of the lawless barbarians 
I am despised everywhere 
I am loved...

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"Angel Eyes" 

that dark angel
standing in the corner
observing the shadows of man 
pass him by -

he has angel eyes

that shine high beam
bright bushfires that light 
the entire transparent 
padded room parade

dance cards lit 
he’s biding...

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The distress... fatigue, combined with restlessness, tossing, and turning. Assuming I possess more energy than I truly do because what is worse, exhausting oneself or lying there, depleted? Many of us meet our end wishing...

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Waiting waitng...... 
For the all-mighty godot 
godot godot.....I ask myself 
Where are you? 

I have searched the 
tempestuous seas 
I have toiled the arid desert 
All to no avail 
I have defiled timidity into the...

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Oh, how I wish that phone booths did still exist, so that you could call me up and tell me again how much it’s me that you miss
Remember back the way you used to do?...

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L'Assimilation – Non! Translation of Oodgeroo Noonuccal’s “Assimilation – No !” by T. Wignesan

Born Kathleen Jean Mary RUSKA on November 3, 1920, in the North Stradbroke Island, off Queensland, she was deemed as an aboriginal...

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How deserted lies the city, once so full of people!
How like a widow is she, who once was great among the nations!
She who was queen among the provinces, has now become a slave.
Bitterly she weeps...

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Image of Grandparents Country Home from my family collection

The Two Drivers In My Life

In my younger years ...
I got to know the souls of my parent's worlds,
were as distant as our known solar system.
Mom was...

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Clarence Goddard, Harvey Bell, Virgil Barnes and I met for coffee every day for close to forty years.
I was a school janitor...Virgil was a farmer...Harvey ran the lumber yard, and... Clarence managed Sears.

We always met...

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A Long Limerick Planned for Poems

This is my 6,466th poem. Shooting for 6.666
for some strange reason and time and season
and only teasing.

It sure seems much easier to put
all of my poems into one poem.

Put God...

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