Long Eschewing Poems

“Clap your terrible wings, vivacious serpent of old!
Imagine my plight as dangerous as your spite,
Stomp your clawed feet on these prison floors,
Peace shall always follow the sink of your fangs…”

Silenced were the wailing demons round,
Crouched...

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Facial Recognition Blues

Physicists speculating about a cosmic hologram 
Anarchists debating about the next message from Uncle Sam
The archaic ageing of the technology of the Telegram
An innocent waiting for an answer from an Annogram

Images of scientific...

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Grab Bag Poems and Epigrams

POEMS

Less Heroic Couplets: Dark Cloud, Silver Lining, Dupes
from “Love in the Time of the Coronavirus”
by Michael R. Burch

Every corona has a silver lining:
I’m too far away to hear your whining,
and despite...

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Epigrams VII

A question that sometimes drives me hazy: 
am I or are the others crazy?
—Albert Einstein, poetic interpretation by Michael R. Burch


The Whole of Wit
by Michael R. Burch

for and after Richard Moore

If brevity is the...

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Further qualities of the King* the THIRUK-KURAL lauds: IRAMAADTCHI - Canto 39, K381 and K382

[*modern-day "kings": presidents, prime and chief ministers, governors, dictators and the like; K381 & K382 have already been posted.]

K383: thuungkaamai kalvi...

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That afternoon at Highgate
When my life had paused awhile, 
Old graves and headstones greeted 
With their sad and forlorn smile.

Smirched epitaphs stared at me
My call they wanted to know, 
Though vowed in pensive silence
With the...

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The Slide Ruler

As regulations rule this world from outside in and my time slowly
                 seeps away on this planet’s...

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La Isla del Encanto
			   (El Poema del Linda)

There was no Elizabethan
Changing of eyes
On the Isle of Enchantment;
No sudden moment of charm or bewilderment.
Rather, came a delicate awakening
Like soft dawn rising over groves
Redolent of...

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Thee Mister Re: Spouse...

In summer re: aye cannot whet till
this husbandry season will become
fallow -  mare riddle status no longer
honeymoon bridal stage covenant,
nuttin boot lame game of worm aye
go win round robin, since empty...

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Morality and self-fulfillment
attainable without belief in God
similarly yours truly
would figuratively crane
his credulity to ascertain Ichabod
mentioned in first Book of Samuel
as purported son of Phinehas,

I reject entire Biblical text,
and prefer to remain sacrilegious
eschewing faith no more,
(cuz...

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When Bobby was just nine years old,		
		folks loved his winning ways.
		He was a little gentleman
		deserving of their praise.

		His helpful nature and big smile
		were natural, they knew.
		His family was proud of him.
		Life bore a rosy hue.

		At...

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Giving advice is a great way to start;
they may not listen from the very beginning,
but ponder they will until their heart
makes changes and starts loving and living.


Helping partners grow in all their ability and amplitude;
it's...

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My Favorite Things comes to mind...


a random assortment, a jumble of words
a quotient of portions, quotidian served
quixotic strivings of the great deca-dense
obscured in meaning, eschewing all sense

visions and nightmares and hallucinations
erudite arguments, odd fascinations
old geezers...

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Even precious jewels cannot approach their value,
For the women of merit are priced beyond them.
Their beauty is found in the works of love they do,
And in their smile facing the future that is never dim.
Most...

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I did not set out to rise to the top, in fact
I didn’t even know that recognition existed,
Until one day I was exploring Soup’s sections
Found my name at Top 100 Community listed.

Having little else to...

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THE PASSIVE VOICE (Grammar series)

In Italy a glorious Voice 
Was employed by Pavarotti
In England of voice we’ve a choice
Which sounds a little dotty

When we sing our verbs of action
The way we do, it sounds as...

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WHAT IF I
by
 JOHN M. ARRIBAS



What if I would die suddenly, this day
What would kin and acquaintances  say
That I was smart, clever keeping my cool
That I was gentleman, quite hard to fool
That I could...

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Exceptional times call for exceptional measures
Great leaders know this to be an incontrovertible fact,
Some, making tough decisions, have become treasures
When they bucked pressures, not hesitating to act.

All presidents have sought what is best for America
Although...

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With the help of my heart I breathe..
With the help of my brain I see..
With the help of my conscience I speak.. 
With the help of my blood I sense..
With the help of my skin...

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January’s snow flows stealthfully through my fifth-floor apartment window, flung wide open to welcome in the new year.  The half-drawn curtains bellow with brisk salt air blowing in from the North Sea.  A...

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 Eschewing the catastrophic world
towards a tranquil place, I headed;
The heavenly aroma spread around
transported my soul into a place astound 

 A place where the music was born
A place where dawn chorus begins
A place where...

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To whom does the Jade Emperor,
The Sovereign of the Heavens above,
Bequeath the crown for all the lands,
Under divine clouds and starry skies?

Is it the mighty, scholarly or wealthy?
Is it a man of ancient and royal...

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On this bright Sunday morning, the first of February
My thoughts return to the subject of love --
I hope these positive thoughts are not temporary.

For constantly thinking about love can bury
Thoughts of vengeance, hate, push and...

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I will sing to you in Russian
Recite to you in Greek
Converse in any language
That you deign to speak
I will follow you through Hades
Protect you from its fire
Look at you adoringly
Object of my desire
I will save...

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What was sadder - my missing his passing,
Or my eschewing his saintly advice?
A precocious young man in his prime, with
A score of years on humanity's edge,
I was resolute to travel beyond.
My fate was sealed by...

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