Long Doltish Poems

Poems about Dogs

This Dog
by Rabindranath Tagore
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

Each morning this dog,
who has become quite attached to me,
sits silently at my feet
until, gently caressing his head,
I acknowledge his company.

This simple recognition gives my...

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Doggerel II: Doggerel about Doggerel, or, More Nonsense Verse

The Board
by Michael R. Burch

Accessible rhyme is never good.
The penalty is understood:
soft titters from dark board rooms where
the businessmen paste on their hair
and, Walter Mitties, woo the...

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Dog Daze
by Michael R. Burch

Sweet Oz is a soulful snuggler;
he really is one of the best.
Sometimes in bed
he snuggles my head,
though he mostly just plops on my chest.

I think Oz was made to love
from the...

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Withered leafless trees
Clinging to old roots
Sway fearful of the wind,
Murmuring among themselves 
With dull nonsense
About the rains.

The doltish deceive themselves 
That winter is a prelude to the Spring.
Have they ever learned the truth
Or have they...

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There's Something I always Keep With Myself ,
Wrap It Up And Place Onto My Shelf ;
My Secret's Land In These Extravagant Books,
Each Connected To One Another Through Angelic Brooks .


I'm a very Shy Person Though...

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Everything is Free
and I Don’t Want it
6-4-2016

They’re targeted at any seeking cheap or free,
Offers come by email, phone, TV or printed.
Somehow all offers always seem to include me,
It’s always gimmick, gadget, or misrepresented.

But I’m not...

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"The body, like the oak, is bent and gnarled,
The shallow-rooted mind is overthrown,
When we are near the evening of the world."
---From, 'Runes for an Old Believer", by Rolfe Humphries

Facebook post: "Respect your elders!"

My mind may...

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Micro-Feasting
                          by Odin Roark

To propagate the dung heap of ignorance,
Is...

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Behind those hidden marked wrists
Are lies, skepticism and fears
Behind those calloused, clenched fists
Is a cauldron of uncontrollable tears.

Behind those evident scars
Is a constant cycle of sorrows
An imaginary fiend that mars
A twinge that only herself knows.

Behind...

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Our ecosystem and wildlife can no longer be ignored
The devastation caused by the Gulf oil spill must vastly be restored

As anger and frustration surges across the Coast
The depletion of our environment, indeed we fear the...

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His thoughts a noose round the neck
That betrays progress into better ray,
Prisoner self-chained to surreal wreck
Of diamond burdens beyond their say.  

His pulses another swift drift away 
From lanes of wit and clear sense;
Obstinate...

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The Shepherd asked the poetess-
Who are you?
Twinkling her eyes, the poetess
said-who am I.

Am I a breath or a death;
breeze or a storm;
am I soothed or havocked?
I am blazed and ashed.

Am I a flower or a...

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We need to organize, demand the right to be mindless.
Deserve we compensations,
        restorations for the witless who riot.
Compassion and pardon for all moronic mobs.

The right to choose death...

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in the twilight zones
of the ocean
you will find me
dimly lit from within
for camouflage, for
spotting those I fear
would steal my hazy glow

I am surrounded by
others who linger here,
half-blind, swimming aimlessly,
waiting for the brightness
that never comes

would that...

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You just don’t want me to talk about it
You hate it when we talk about it
You know you are a sheer hypocrite
Why do you think it is such an unmentionable affair?
All you know is how...

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Tethered by life's boundless gyre;
doltish in the headlong plunge.
Swirling in its turbid mire;
mock demur feigns to expunge.

Inchoate thoughts swell pathos' rosters;
errant guides whose hack beguiles.
Pay scant regard to such impostors;
debar with glee their rueful smiles.

Then...

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