Long Evangelists Poems

First they came for the Muslims

after Martin Niemoller

First they came for the Muslims
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Muslim.

Then they came for the homosexuals
and I did not speak out
because I was...

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Various Heresies 2

You
by Michael R. Burch

For thirty years You have not spoken to me;
I heard the dull hollow echo of silence
as though strange communion between us.

For thirty years You would not open to me;
You remained...

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The problem of military reactions
to territorial control issues
is not merely that violence breeds further strategic development
of violence,
although this is no small,
nor amoral, 
concern.

This primal problem of militarism by historic default
is that it is an intrinsically...

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...cont

Breath...
You once said to me,"I'm a man of extremes," and I understood immediately what you meant.  When you drank, you drank hard.  When you worked you expected perfection, in yourself not others, because...

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My thought for this day,
although still early,
is respect for hope.

Respect for our interdependence
and respect for our challenging differences,
important, yet hopefully not as powerful
as our interdependent love for healthy life.

Yesterday
I noticed a brown cardboard box
in the...

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Jesus taught and lived
Those who follow the Way
Truth
Life, rather than punishing death,
would be known
by our love,
especially for our enemies.

He did not say, or live,
Those who punish themselves and others with death threats
and war planning
and technology...

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Self-pardoning rights of predators and pirates
emperors and kings
CEOs and wealthy competitors
follow our over investment
in separating natural land and bodies
from oceanic surfing inside spirits,
yang ecopolitical strength of communal sight
from yin personal flow of sound,
resonant orthodox positive
and
negatively...

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I think it might be John Rawls
who writes about
thick and thin justice sandwiches.

Thick justice
may be more deeply embedded, richly spread
in regenerative pursuing time,
producing and serving healthy wealth relationships,
often digestively motivated
to achieve nutritional communion goals,

While thinner...

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"Small Mutinies"



So what if my point of view
is not that which wraps 
you in comfortably warm
fluffed-up silky 
cashmere blankets 
of insecure insincerity
simple scribbles 
bleating from the 
chirping crickets 
and frog croaking
symphonies 
muddying waters
cutting pristine lines...

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MY WEDDING DAY

I called her honey, baby, 
My best friend, my bride,
You are so beautiful. 
She looked at me with smile face, 
Smiling loudly.

I said, 
“Oh, God bless me with a wise 
And humble woman!
Today,...

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It is my Taoist maxim
HereYang is
Where Yintegrity of SilentNow.

In my TaoSearch mission,
I reach an outside summer vulnerable peak
at YinNow
when we revolt into people
who transparently unveil
We long to vulnerably heal
cooperative Yang
as more competitive YinFlow
fractured revolutionary nuts

In...

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Luther Vandross recorded a song
that says something like
"We had the best love around...
We were the talk of the town."

I can't think of the last time
a greatly famous and resilient love affair
was the talk of even...

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While there is no story at all
unless it has at least two sides,
when it comes to ego's narrative lines
and epic paragraphs,
we have great difficulty in casting ourselves
as other than a one-sided protagonist story,
which others might...

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Twelve step therapeutic environments
are probably as old as resonant light and color,
measured in resilient octaves,
and double-bound fractal half-octaves,
learning to listen deeply and widely well,
speaking after listening with integrating honesty,
compelling transparency, vulnerability,
open trust attendance.

Integrity includes accuracy...

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Honey. 
A question.

One?

For now.
Subject to chain-reaction change.

As long as we're clear
about our lack of restraining rules.

Quite so, dear.
I'm wondering about that line
"Jesus is the reason
for the Season."
What was the reason
before JesusSeason?

I mean,
Joseph and Mary
and their...

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I know this preacher
Big and famous
Books and hooks
Got good looks
The gals all love
Dudes are glued
To his words
Though some think
He’s a turd

He’s got so much money
He stopped counting
Talks about his legacy
So he can buy
The universe 
And...

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A  stunning scene. Edited for our insatiable reading pleasure.  High on a tight-rope.
The debutant wearing her 2-piece at one end. The isis general at the other.The plot is for them to tip-toe, slowly...

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Rudolf is mysteriously born in a manger
with a flaming red nose,
and eyes,
and ears,
and hair,
everywhere.

Gingers are rare
among his DeerTribe
as is his empathic capacity to know he is going where,
how to get there,
and about how long it...

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Sogyal Rinpoche
tells a Doors to Perception story.

Positive and negative feeling individuals
bear witness to a river.

Those more goddess-like
see this river as great
savory
fragrant
nutritious
beautifully resonant
musically harmonic
multiculturally rich,
a transporter of karmic mediation
preferring win/win cooperative
ecofeminist
green energy conservational
and black lives matter...

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My mother-in-law
drinks her morning gin
out of a pint-size Mason jar,
and self-righteously prides herself
for not wasting water by adding any in
and for not pouring or drinking
before her biscuit and red-gravy breakfast,
usually about eight a.m.
now that she's...

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Non Believer:

I have heard, others talk about your god
He doesn't sound like a god I wish to know
Sitting in heaven high on his throne
While I'm left to suffer here all alone
Guilty of sins for which...

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(There’s a song for this: ‘Confessions’ by Sudan Archives)

I remember it like it was yesterday (it was yesterday).

I arrived on a cool (42°f), blindingly sunny New Haven afternoon. It was as if they’d opened up...

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When guys get so old
pubic hairs
are as long as penises

It's not time to grow
a longer and fatter, more drivable,
penal delivery system
promising retributive rape
of an entire planet.

It is time to trim back
over-Yanged investment hedges
blocking more pedestrian-friendly
RightBrain...

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I have heard, others talk about your god
He doesn't sound like a god I wish to know
Sitting in heaven high on his throne
While I'm left to suffer here all alone
Guilty of sins for which I...

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I currently conjoin with AllSouls,
a sacred green communion of saints
and sometimes sinners.

A few live together,
couples,
extending families
reaching multiculturally out
through AllSoul roots
regenerating pasts,
transforming future generations
now repressed by fear of global climate pathology
as thick and toxic
as lose/lose ecopolitical...

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