Long Discloses Poems

Lady’s Favor
by Michael R. Burch

May
spring
fling
her riotous petals
devil-
may-care
into the air,
ignoring the lethal
nettles
and may
May
cry gleeful-
ly Hooray!
as the abundance
settles,
till a sudden June
swoon
leave us out of tune,
torn,
when the last rose is left
inconsolably bereft,
rudely shorn
of every device but her thorn.


The...

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Poems about Poems (II)

Kin
by Michael R. Burch

for Richard Moore

1.
Shrill gulls,
how like my thoughts
you, struggling, rise
to distant bliss?
the weightless blue of skies
that are not blue
in any atmosphere,
but closest here...

2.
You seek an air
so clear,
so rarified
the effort leaves...

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Wonderland
by Michael R. Burch
 
We stood, kids of the Lamb, to put to test
the beatific anthems of the blessed,
the sentence of the martyr, and the pen’s
sincere religion. Magnified, the lens
shot back absurd reflections of each...

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The Making of a Poet
by Michael R. Burch

While I don’t consider “Poetry” to be my best poem—I wrote the first version in my teens—it’s a poem that holds special meaning for me; I call it...

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Sonnets XXXIII-XLI

The Folly of Wisdom
by Michael R. Burch

She is wise in the way that children are wise,
looking at me with such knowing, grave eyes
I must bend down to her to understand.
But she only smiles, and...

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To a Daughter More Precious than Gems
by Otomo no Sakanoue no Iratsume
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

Heaven's cold dew has fallen—
and thus another season arrives.
Oh, my child living so far away,
do you pine for me...

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No Mark
by Michael R. Burch

A wave implodes, 
impaled upon
impassive rocks...

this evening
the thunder of the sea
is a wild music filling my ear...

you are leaving
and the ungrieving
winds demur...

telling me
that nothing returns
as it was before...

here where you have...

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The State of the Art (I)
by Michael R. Burch

Has rhyme lost all its reason
and rhythm, renascence?
Are sonnets out of season
and poems but poor pretense?

Are poets lacking fire,
their words too trite and forced?
What happened to desire?
Has...

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MODERN SONNETS I

I prefer the original definition of the sonnet as a “little song” of indeterminate form and length. These modern sonnets vary from more-or-less traditional to free verse.


Maker, Fakir, Curer
by Michael R. Burch

A poem...

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Juvenilia: Early Poems by Michael R. Burch



Smoke
by Michael R. Burch

The hazy, smoke-filled skies of summer I remember well;
farewell was on my mind, and the thoughts that I can't tell
rang bells within (the din was in)...

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Poems about Poets I


The Wonder Boys
by Michael R. Burch

for Leslie Mellichamp

The stars were always there, too-bright cliches:
scintillant truths the jaded world outgrew
as baffled poets winged keyed kites—amazed,
in dream of shocks that suddenly came true ...

but...

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Pride and Prejudice: The Lacking Margins

Pride and Prejudice, a passionate novel by Jane Austen, published anonymously in three volumes in 1813. A masterpiece of English literature, composed with penetrating wittiness and exquisite character delineation, it...

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Renee Vivien Translations


Song
by Renée Vivien
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

When the moon weeps,
illuminating flowers on the graves of the faithful,
my memories creep
back to you, wrapped in flightless wings.

It's getting late; soon we will sleep
(your eyes...

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You’ve got by somehow so far without debt as 
You know this way of life is no good, but they won’t leave you be 
To manage the best way you can with what you have...

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ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING

My husband had a restaurant
For thirty two years,
Much frustration, kitchen hell
And staff in tears.
The Oasis was a place to dine
Of note,
When exhausted, we drove down, 
To the coast and surfed the waves on our...

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Black tears fell from my sky today, 
I can only feel it, is this blindness?
Its path of wetness burns, cold, and freezes,
In due time I hardly feel it, I can only catch it with my...

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Soul passion is not a simple task. 
This is grasped as a soulful bask,
To reserve one's sound mind and soul,
To your loved ones, but not a hack. 

They set down those blessed vows as rule,
In...

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On a cold and frosty morning I gazed across fair fields, woods and copses,
I heard a wood-lark sing a sweet song, so sweet, hairs on my neck raised,
Did I hear it earlier in the month,...

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Conscience And Surviving
       (*Shadow/Blitz poetry should be read rapidly)

     Clear the air
     Clear of conscience
     Conscience causes...

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"Road to Lovejoy - Piano for the Self Taught" (Part 1)



Liberation
of a sort
head out the car window
hair blowin’ in the breeze
I can hear the Crickets chirping
in the chilly winter freeze
I’m smiling 
it’s good to be...

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EVE

Never say “I don’t love you”
When you just mean give me space
Because it hurts me so much
Like a dagger in my heart
Never Say “”I don’t care”
When you just mean you hate it
Because I need to...

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Fallen needles soften passage into the forest.
Precise footsteps beckon her to him,

Like a portrait of symmetry in motion.
A kaleidoscope discloses awe-inspiring beauty,
As sunlight freckles tease fluttery fronds,
And stillborn dew splashes spongy mounded moss.

The green velvet...

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THE ANNIHILATION OF UKRAINIANS
Kyrie was struggling to overcome barriers of demarcation.
“Holodomor” she was facing.
This artificial famine was brutally taking Ukrainians lives.
In nineteen hundred and twenty-nine, the manifestation of human hate crimes would be a terrorist...

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Crows gather around the mysterious, abandoned castle, 
Its bastions and towers drowning within a mournful silence. 
Ghostly shadows loom within the dungeons and the murder holes, 
Screams of perished souls are locked within the castle...

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Inside the teardrop I see elephants roaming;
Voices echo across the waters as if moaning.
The elephants take the form of a child’s size,
They invade the teardrop under any guise,
Coloring the waters with feelings of deep blue,
Until...

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