Long Eiderdown Poems

The Original Sin: Rhyming Haiku!
 
Haiku
should never rhyme:
it’s a crime!
-Michael R. Burch
 
The herons stand,
sentry-like, at attention ...
rigid observers of some unknown command.
-Michael R. Burch
 
Late
fall;
all
the golden leaves turn black underfoot:
soot
-Michael R. Burch
 
Dry leaf...

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My most popular poems on the Internet (II)

A number of my poems and translations have gone viral, according to Google, and some have been copied onto hundreds to thousands of web pages. That’s a lot...

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Poems about Fathers and Grandfathers IV



Neglect
by Michael R. Burch

What good are your tears?
They will not spare the dying their anguish.
What good is your concern
to a child sick of living, waiting to perish?

What good, the warm...

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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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Poems about Children V

Pan
by Michael R. Burch

Among the shadows of the groaning elms,
amid the darkening oaks, we fled ourselves

Once there were paths that led to coracles
that clung to piers like loosening barnacles

where we cannot return,...

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Sandy Hook Call to Love
by Michael R. Burch
 
Our hearts are broken today
for our children's small bodies lie broken;
let us gather them up, as we may,
that the truth of our Love may be spoken;
then, when...

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Haiku Variations
by Michael R. Burch

This is a poem composed of haiku-like stanzas:


Variations on the Seasons I
by Michael R. Burch

Lift up your head
dandelion,
hear spring roar!

How will you tidy your hair
this near
summer?

Leave to each still night
your lightest...

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NOTE: The Natchez Trace is the Nashville bar where I met my future wife Beth. We invented a game called "twister pool" which involved billiards, drinking and a fair bit of physical contortion ...


At the...

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Oh look here— behold a dandelion woman
the original wild flower!
I go where I want to go
I grow where I want to grow —
don't matter if   y o u   say no

dandelion wine...

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CHILDREN OF THE SUMMER GARDEN

In the lazy days of summer
 When heat streams up in afternoons
Come into the season’s garden –
 Nature’s outdoor living room.

Early riser, blue Morning Glory vine
 Opens at dawn and sometimes...

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My heart is empty, Jeffrey.
I’m standing here transfixed 
within the threshold 
of a vacant bedroom.
The air is still
but the delicate scent 
of your passing soul 
invades my nostrils. 
The aroma travels deep 
inside the tunnels...

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Lisa, a freshman in our residential hall sister-suite, and I have become fast friends over the last couple of weeks. Before we began hanging out I penned a piece about her that she thought was...

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Daytime has downgraded joys into sorrow and fearful shadows lead the way

The stars above have abandoned me and heaven has closed down for repairs

Once there had been a comet a rising star lighting up my...

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NINTYTHREE 
NINTYTHREE 
 
 
 
 
CharlaXFabels 
 
Level Of Intention 
 
eye had to pay for internet by the hour the word the line 
eye ran out of money in 1995 
the Computor had...

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This one goes out to you, Mr. President

This one goes out to you, and your wonderful regime of terror spread 
enthusiastically around the world. Policing the entire planet is a tough job, 

Mistah
President,

and there is...

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In riming realms 
of crystal contemplations -
frozen water-vapor meditations
and chilled flutes 
filled with zodiacal-light musings 
of ancient cosmic dust 
dancing in the arms of Sol..

windswept operatic reveries
rise and fall
as her stirring soprano
tickled by the chanting...

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"50 Words for Poe: Seagulls"


He was an Albatross
She taught him Seagulls 
Another language

LAX was nothing on 
Heathrow, decision made

She had decided to catch 
a flight over to old Blighty instead
Haunt the Hell 
out of some...

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He pulls 
the eiderdown 
Over his skinny 
little head 
Flashbacks in his mind 
Of a nasty video 

One which scared him 
Almost out 
of his little mind 
If only he could rewind 
Starting back 
at...

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Awaking from Stupor 1-16-24

It's not desire per say but the clinging
That stifles soul and stops heart from singing
Enlivening silence sets our souls free
Vibrant in the now, joyful and carefree.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Awaking from Stupor

Winter haze beats upon the...

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a poem for Christina-Taylor Green, who
was	born on September 11, 2001 and who
died at age nine, shot to death ...

Child of 9-11, beloved,
I bring this lily, lay it down
here at your feet, and eiderdown,
and all soft...

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Old Mildenhall 

Beyond the sprawls 
Of sleepy vales, 
Behind the stacks 
Of woven bales, 
Lie the dwellings
Of souls that fall 
In the decaying ruins 
Of Old Mildenhall. 

A mish-mash mosaic 
Of glass and stone,
The eerie...

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In the middle of the night
When everything is still
I awoke to hear a tapping noise
On the window sill

Tap, Tap, Tap
And tapping once again
I cowered under my eiderdown,
Hoping it was the sound of rain.

My imagination
Was running...

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Grapes of wrath despite the fire
In your bosom they burn
Can’t coalesce or coerce pressing problems to retire
Alongside frustrations and disappointments in the urn

That your world turns upside down
In lean times
That your pillow eiderdown
Limes in slimes

Raining...

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Confidence
Poem 
Lionel Derbyshire

A waste of wonder time
In camouflage
Will wear you down.
No pace , less value
It does not comfort you
Like a warm eiderdown.

Time waste 
You drown standing.
Rapid roots grow 
In your boots.
In a worthless place
Where it...

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At the end of the day...

When you are tired
When you have worked too hard
I will take your hand and lead you
Through the woods to the mountain pool

I will undress you
And carry you
Into the cool refreshing...

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