Long Eave Poems

THIS WORLD OF DEW

This world? 
Moonlit dew
flicked from a crane's bill.
—Eihei Dogen Kigen, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Seventy-one?
How long
can a dewdrop last? 
—Eihei Dogen Kigen, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Dewdrops beading grass-blades
die before...

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Spouse cannot forget mine suppressed flatulence upon our first date

While yours truly sat here 
at the desk housing MacBook Pro,
pondering his next idée fixe apropos
for gamut of anonymous readers,
he unexpectedly, noisily and effectually
exploded out rear...

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Self-Addressed Stamped Envelope

Horrid tin on wet paper. Coastal fragments of an empire twilight. Nonsense to corners in a deck along the warped cabin. Would you be silent for a moment? Afraid it seems, all these...

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Me very late mum, a funereal day...

courtesy latitudinarian, nonestablishmentarian, 
sexagenarian, and Unitarian son
and modest mastermind maven maverick.

Another anniversary of her death occurs
upon advent of 
May fourth two thousand and five,
not quite seventy years since her...

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Run run run frm ya demons run run run its duck season 
Run run run frm da wizard run run run frm da blizzard 
Da lizard king skin ripper
Run frm ya visions 
Run run run...

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FREE VERSE VI

Reason Without Rhyme
by Michael R. Burch

I used to be averse
to free verse,
but now I admit
YOUR rhyming is WORSE!

But alas, in the end,
it’s all the same:
all verse is unpaid
and a crying shame.



What the Poet...

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In the Winter of Night of Darkness -
                           ...

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My thoughts wander as I wonder what I'm running for. 
It's like I'm hunted cos I'm wanted for the chalk under juggernauts. 
Now I ponder what I'm running from.
I took shelter against an atomic bomb....

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World Comes Alive  Spring Is In The Air  

Pleasure in the Spring it springs in the air.
Whiff scent of nature's breath upon my cheeks
while buds unfurl into artistry flare.
Grace upon agents to pass...

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A handy dandy family thing, I did not know from Adam

Monstrous disembodied giant hairy hand...
reached out thru Macbook Pro
Lenovo external screen
"no way can this be real,"
I muttered to no one in particular.

Bug eyed, slack jawed,...

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Way back before this baby boomer waz astute
countless decades before aye became long in the tooth,
and also prior tomb ma sporting dentures to boot
fond memories rush more than so far back
envisioning illusory wind blown steppes
(wait...this...

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------------------------
 Dialog of 2 poets:
----------------------------------------
1. Lonely Soul
-----------------------------------

Between heaven and earth,

between summer and winter,

Lonely Soul rushed,

rustling her wings.

Up to the stars,

again downward

from eave to eave,

from window to window

and again, she is in flight.

The fires burn somewhere;

somewhere...

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I am a blue Swallow.  I was born in the late summer, and
my parents taught me everything they could before leaving
me to fend for myself.  I spent all autumn gathering food and...

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A - rresting beneath dancing fingered fronds palming zephyr's touch.
B - each building sand castles throughout dawning sunlight.
C - rumbling granules of fate in the noonday sun.
D - esigns creating a new look ashore.
E -...

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sans to stand proud and tall 
   (all five and a half feet, but blunted maximum height 
   topped off just shy of seventy inches - 
   in reference...

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This is midnight, all slept indeed,
  The factory bells do chime,
Ding-dong dong, thrice the sounds arise
  From yonder darkling clime.
No one is there, two faint lamps glare,
  Who rang the rusty bell?
It...

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Bygone recollected reflections while perched atop storied roof...

years gone by now with a poof
constituting one garden variety generic goof
bolle yours truly sprawled himself aloof

The celebrated sailing frog
     from Montgomery County
 ...

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I like to sit and sing on the edge of your roof,
or on a high tree when I am feeling aloof;
sometimes-   my songs are a humorous spoof.
      ...

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When I was just a young girl, long ago,
     for me, the grand debut of spring became
my special mission in the month of March-
     to see a...

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Zip pose zing the weather forecast
     donned wafted air
fragrant with flowered flora
     visibility for miles
     if ether crystal clear,
this high da way countless...

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On a broad street 'neath spreading sycamores sits a stately dwelling.
Its elegance and surrounding grounds are so very compelling.
Gracious gardens and towering pines enhance its wide expanse,
All girded by a charming, yet sturdy, white iron...

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Lately, as sure as the sun rises on the eastern horizon 
A certain cheery robin [the same one every day] sits 
On my porch railing and tells me Spring has arrived, 
When I have acknowledged...

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The old house is crumbling now
I soon must walk out of it and go
Love feels it vulnerability in every joint
Creakings that pain the heart so
The shingles are missing, bald as the sky
The sun tortures the...

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Eavesdropping

A good man is hard to find
Said my Nana,
That was the day I saw tears in her eyes
As she nervously stuff the monthly tithe in the envelope
And headed to church that Sunday morning
Before, screaming at...

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The torch is raised
To the height of an elbow

Its flame pronged
To the flicker of a pitchfork

The sunrise charges over a hill
For old man
Winter

And under this sun on March One
The eave troughs of our house
Still cling...

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