Long Estrangement Poems

Where art thou anonymous benefactor...to offer me succor?

Ah... methinks legal tender 
could be a boon to help me bolster 
mein kampf with necessary material equipage,
which prospect to acquire essential 
commodities sabotaged 
at the altar of...

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Dear Siblings Three,

I was reading a story
in which some siblings became estranged
after their parents died,
while others moved toward greater solidarity.

This is a variation on a diaspora story.
But, here growing physical distance
is seen more as a...

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MOTHER

Mother is a very meaningful word.
Mother is a person that carries a lot of weight.
When I think of mother,
Mother Mary comes to my mind.

The understanding, courageous, protective Mother.
Understanding the responsibilities of a mother,
having the courage...

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Harriet Harris circa November 13th, 1935 - ~ May 4th, 2005

untimely death sentence ordained 
approximately six months prior 
to mother dearest celebrating 
her seventieth birthday,
though the last three years of her life
impacted courtesy hysterectomy
to remove...

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Emotional fatigue courtesy exhaustive vituperative harangue...

Lobbed and unleashed upon the heads
of (yours truly and the missus)
so called selfish "monsters."

The evening of Wednesday April 19th
witnessed us (birth parents of our first born)
weathering blistering telephonic brickbats.

She (unnamed...

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Approbation Deeded Gratuitously Just Because...

(this endeavor more self directed to progeny,
whose psyche wounded, strafed, and nicked.)

Incumbent upon me own
     purring impetus, a sincere
desire arose NOT to ask
    ...

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Harriet Harris née Kuritsky circa November 13th, 
1935 - ~ May 4th, 2005
(untimely death sentence ordained ~ early February 1935)

I trot out a poem acknowledging birthday
of dear ole mom, who succumbed, 
lost lease on life
nearly...

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Bane of dyschezia

Constipation spoilt rare visit
with eldest daughter
(yesterday - November twenty sixth
two thousand twenty two)
currently housed near
Rittenhouse Square, Pennsylvania.

Less than twelve hours
after a cocktail comprising
handful of prunes,
four psyllium husk capsules,
plus three dulcolax.

Myself and missis
privy to...

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Der Abschied (“The Parting”)
by Bertolt Brecht
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

We embrace;
my fingers trace
rich cloth
while yours encounter only moth-
eaten fabric.
A quick hug:
you were invited to the gay soiree
while the minions of the "law" relentlessly pursue...

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Where art thou anonymous benefactor...to offer me succor?

Castaway stranded on figurative 
deserted island pitted with absolute 
zero salvation, sole recourse 
finds scant consolation with prayer 
lifetime atheist draws futile faith 
within himself grudgingly accepting

feeble accomplishments...

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Harriet Harris circa November 13th, 1935 - ~ May 4th, 2005
(untimely death sentence ordained ~ early February 1935)

Test teasing prophylactics embarrassing
purchase never made at local drugstore
unsurprisingly, obviously, invariably...
birth control taboo subject, best to ignore
subsequently intercourse...

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Die Bücherverbrennung ("The Burning of the Books")
by Bertolt Brecht
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

When the Regime
commanded the unlawful books to be burned,
teams of dull oxen hauled huge cartloads to the bonfires.

Then a banished writer, one...

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Mine Mean Mien, Hence Deserved Cross To Bare

Upon reflection of fatherhood,
onset of hands-on schooling 
fraught with narcissism
a role I lept in unaware 
with slim success
unknowingly portending how fatuous

frolics spelled ultimate doom
with theoretical strings attached,
when snagged,...

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Ever the gracious recipient of largesse!

Estrangement swiftly harries stylishly tailors
mine psyche courtesy family of origin, plus
eldest daughter, whose doth rage against this
human machine, albeit yours truly, beatle
browed, black crows, foo fighter (biological
daughter), a presumption aye...

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Serious sibling subluxation... 
rapprochement somewhat salvaged dislocation

Truth be told about following poem 
mostly written quite some years ago, 
and revisions made to recreate
and revise a more satisfactory literary product.

This trademark ungainly, unsightly,
and unwieldy title essentially
huzzah...

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Dear son,
              I have no prologue, nor epilogue, only dialogue
            ...

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Serious Sibling Subluxation... 
Rapprochement Somewhat Salvaged Dislocation

This trademark ungainly, unsightly,
     and unwieldy title essentially
     huzzah mask queer aid,
and accentuates tendency
     (mine) to administer
...

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"No One's Betrayed Me Like You!"

At first blush, one might feel this 'curse' meant to condemn
but I beg you, take courage and listen with Soul,
for it isn't said often (though million times thought),
but with love...

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LVI Elapsed October 17th's Bore Witness To A Girl Born With True Grit

Tuss ben big goo me newt to write
and how though trite
thine complex edifice immersed in spite
which doth nobody any good RIGHT
hence hie exerted...

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It’s too late to shatter the cold distance of silence with a ‘sorry’,
For I stand full of regrets ever since you became the elements,
Just one moment in time, that is all I need; that we...

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share this burn, this cut,
this scrape, the scraps of
fight that’d been experienced 
only yesterday, get it out,
scream it in this direction,
for to be left alone isn’t 
really possible if you 
demand it.

share these tales, your...

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Magnanimous Man My Papa – Ha!

Flagrant red hot poker rage
lacerated upon the head of this sole
male offspring, sans he who did
help to sire me, his vitriolic baggage
inflicted like graped shot,

and deployed barrage
also akin to inflicting...

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Ere ever I send to her;
She whom I love; 
Any of the apologies and explanations of most bittersweet love:
An accounting of those regrets and remorses that I have, 
My fooleries and follies and fallacies, fair...

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The Fault Line

My son sent me a message from the Grand Canyon and a boyo he is
                  ...

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does bound by marriage appeal, yet the
missus would be left high and dry, (or low
and wet if she dwelt closer to sea level), this
bleakness especially pronounced as role of
fatherhood no longer viable, enjoyable, applicable
aware how...

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