Long Estimated Poems

The Amistad Mutiny

Slavery, a dirty word no matter how it’s pronounced:
Abducted and herded to the slave fortress of Lomboko1 for trade.
To be tossed in chains below deck on the Portuguese ship Tecora,2
Sailing the Atlantic Middle...

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Limericks II - Nature Poems and Animal Poems

Dot Spotted
by Michael R. Burch

There once was a leopardess, Dot,
who indignantly answered: "I’ll not!
The gents are impressed
with the way that I’m dressed.
I wouldn’t change even one spot!"



Clyde Lied!
by...

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Enola Gay

There on the ‘North Field’ tarmac of Tinian Island, Marianas;
Taxis the sleek designed ‘Boeing B-29 Superfortress’ to ready for take-off. 1
Glistening, polished aluminum under the blaring floodlights filmed for posterity,
Maneuvers' the ‘Enola Gay’, chosen...

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Poems about Fathers and Grandfathers III




Success
by Michael R. Burch

for Jeremy

We need our children to keep us humble
between toast and marmalade;

there is no time for a ticker-tape parade
before bed, no award, no bright statuette

to be delivered...

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World War II Poems and Holocaust Poems - VI - Chaim Nachman Bialik, Erich Fried

After My Death
by Chaim Nachman Bialik
translation by Michael R. Burch

Say this when you eulogize me: 
Here was a man—now, poof, he's...

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Poems about Children IV

Salat Days
by Michael R. Burch

Dedicated to the memory of my grandfather, Paul Ray Burch, Sr.

I remember how my grandfather used to pick poke salat ...
though first, usually, he’d stretch back in the...

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The photograph that Tim had shown me a few hours earlier certainly did not do it justice.
From what I could see it was a large triangular shape on three legs which were all at a...

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DynDoeth with serious face and determined stride entered the room and advanced directly toward Joulupukki.  Standing to face the elf, Joulupukki, was intent on getting some answers, but before he could utter a sound...

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I have a friend, old and retired, who keeps busy helping the poor. Let's call him Ted because he wants to remain anonymous. Some of his ideas, he says, wouldn’t make many of his neighbors...

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Approximately three plus days elapsed...
without yours truly experiencing urge to defecate

Neither bloating nor constipation
arose, but one nondescript anguished
logophile anticipated intestinal blockage,
hence prophesying worse case scenario

I (predicated in direction for an adult)
ingested three Dulcolax tablets
and subsequently...

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A meadow for Autumn

Forest, I lay me down to rest
upon bed of moss.
 
Eternal sleep immediately overtakes me 
lichen kenning myself 
as Rip Van Winkle 
except being repurposed
as  oldest living species. 

With an estimated...

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Mighty Oak Tree, Its Acorns Fed Many
  (A Native American Food Source)

Hard-cast shell
flung down in Fall,
food for man and beast
nuggets of forested treasure,

Nature
sprinkles its bounty
majestic Oaks rain
fruited missiles to ground:

thy treasure feeds life itself
creatures...

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Ne soyons pas rancunier – Translation of Oodgeroo Noonuccal’s “Let us not be bitter” by T. Wignesan

(Note : The fiery fearless rebel of Where we going (1964) and The Dawn is at Hand (1966) –...

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William Branton has just run into camp as if the earth is falling away from his heels,
he has spotted a large cluster of Indians to the south moving towards us on horseback, 
an estimated 100...

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Victorian Poverty In London.
.
Slumming it in adverse poverty
In Victorian London’s  
Limehouse White Chapel and Bethnal Green 
Dingy doss houses packed to the brim
Narrow dirty streets with cobbles
And loud cartwheel din
.
Large families sharing one room
Overcrowded...

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Children's Poems VI

These are poems for children and poems about children and their mothers, fathers, grandmother, grandfathers and extended families. 



Springtime Prayer
by Michael R. Burch

They'll have to grow like crazy,
the springtime baby geese,
if they're to...

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Why did you come to see me?
Asked the witch,
In a nasal tone!
Are you yourself not made of magic?

I looked at her in silence,
Wondering if she could feel the pain
Dancing all over me
Running through my bloodstream
Pulsating...

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Here comes the snow, oh how beautiful, white and fluffy are the flakes as they fall from the sky. Not used to seeing this twice within a month’s time frame, yet still amazed by its...

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pause for a moment of silence
before continuing your day
to bless your lucky stars
that you were born within these 
borders
which increase every day their campaign
to keep others out or to send those back
whom have established families...

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Let us rest our heads upon the pillow of denial, turn twilight in the last clear reflection of the silent moon. Where vile droppings fell the freshness of the morning sea, turn to graveyards, lest...

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" Value of A Last Chance ... "

(or Value of A Last Choice)


( Matt. 16: 26, 27 / Matt. 6: 12, 19-21, 24 / Prov. 3: 5, 6
1 Pet. 1: 7 / Rom. 12: 19...

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This past summer I had taken some time to begin reading a newly acquired book, and went to a nearby park to do so.  Sometime thereafter I took a break from reading and noticed...

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When Pigs Fly
by Michael R. Burch

On the Trail of Tears,
my Cherokee brothers,
why hang your heads?
Why shame your mothers?
Laugh wildly instead!
We will soon be dead.

When we lie in our graves,
let the white-eyes take
the woodlands we loved
for...

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Fiction by Charles
Just prior to the end of the civil war, there were nearly 6000 men who were not 
accounted for but assumed to be alive.   Under truce, a secret meeting between Lee...

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A little piece I wrote for Flips Funeral
 There is an interlude to the beginning
 But the present has now passed
 As I record this passage
 Of a hero to the last
 So I beat...

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