Long Flecked Poems

Family Poems

Mother's Smile
by Michael R. Burch

There never was a fonder smile
than mother's smile, no softer touch
than mother's touch. So sleep awhile
and know she loves you more than "much."

So more than "much, " much more than...

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"The Payload" 

The payload 
came crashing down
like rain expelled
from the fat belly 
of a ruinous pregnant cloud 
bilious with buxom promise

it came crashing down 
like school fish released 
from the tight confines
of a course rope...

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Poems about Children


The Desk
by Michael R. Burch

for Jeremy

There is a child I used to know
who sat, perhaps, at this same desk
where you sit now, and made a mess
of things sometimes.I wonder how
he learned at all...

He...

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Poems about Fathers and Grandfathers II



All Things Galore
by Michael R. Burch

for my grandfathers George Edwin Hurt Sr. and Paul Ray Burch, Sr.

Grandfather,
now in your gray presence
you are

somehow more near

and remind me that,
once, upon a star,
you...

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"Dream 1: 4 Weeks in Positano"



Kisses long linger warm lips tasted intense
so sweet like cured Valencia Oranges
lips liquored triple sec not dry drunk on love
softly grazed, then held long

slow, deep, warm and wet

The story is...

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Saturday, September 23, 2023  

Coincides with first day of fall
and Autumnal equinox for said year,
where colorful splash kindled like tinder.

After I riff flecked about thee August
Autumn Equinox 2023,
this seasonal polymath teached you 
fall Equinox...

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PRELUDE.
When the sky and world are dark no sounds are heard in the woods. Perhaps the scrabbling of night creatures on the hunt fo food. But no sound of woodpeckers ra ta tatting, bird song...

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Fishing Boats On The Beach at Les Saintes - Marie’s-de-la-Mer

                  Vincent Van Gogh (1853 - 1888), Arles, June...

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Terrence the Turkey was feeling quite perky
Passing time in his rafter and doing no harm
No fighting nor squabbling, just gabbling and gobbling
Turkey talking turkey down on the farm.

Whilst having a natter, tame turkey type chatter
Before...

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When I was a girl, still on the island
I’d sit in the sand
and brood
and revel
in what I thought was utter enlightenment
a teenage rebel
with dime-store refinement
We were all this way, and there is no shame
In the...

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In the middle ages
these roughed and scuffed decades
between newborn crocus snow-melt-nursed and
dried hydrangea blooms sepia-skinned and papery thin
I earned the right to wear sapphires
and burn my mademoiselle mistakes with wisdom-fires

it took me a while to...

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Cooper was a large and curious tiger, the bright star of a motley circus,
Always out of step with others; like erring moon, of dawn skies, citrus.

He was well fed and got lots of attention, like...

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_____________________________________________________________

                              THE PRICE OF ADMISSION


So many...

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Children's Poems VII

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



Sailing to My Grandfather, for George Hurt
by Michael R. Burch

This distance between us
—this vast sea
of...

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Sheer poetry in motion with a picnic basket in hand 
Laughing brandishing a bottle as he lopes along the sand
His handsome features completely wreathed in smiles
Lifts and twirls me round - my squeal must be...

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wish! wish! wish for the sun!

       there, once ...
       in port on Captiva, slumbering
       the bottlenoses sang...

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Ch. 13 b (The whale, cont.)

Now the sardine hunt developed 
As they glimpsed beneath the surface 
Flashing rays of gold and silver
Of the dolphins and the swordfish 
 
That converged with blue-fin tuna
To the swarming sardine banquet 
Then not fifty...

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Invitations to the Gala
issued by a grave impala
were highly sought out missives 
by the bold and the submissive 
Those omitted uttered curses
shook angry fists or heavy purses
Had they but known that
the price of  admission
was...

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How I loved spending a week of the summer holidays with my grandparents. Gramps would come and pick me up in his old pick- up truck, dad would bundle my suitcase into the back and...

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I search for words
To describe this feeling...
After you told me
You hate me...

I remember when 
I went swimming in the ocean
One day in January...
Ice was curled in elaborate design
Of wind-blown swirls on the sand...
Snowflakes mixed with...

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Madmen leaked a rash of sky-blue puddle;
fatally cloistered the hat-flu's hubble -

To wit:

- the half-time half-life smile of she and the other half-wonder of me.

Far far ready to say maybe to love;
moved in half-dream to...

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Regardless of the ever slow and piercing passage of more than two centuries, her sapphire eyes still remain encrusted in my memory, like precious gems on an ancient fallen crown.

Only fractures and scars remain of...

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I riff flecked about thee august
     Autumn Equinox 2018,
     this polymath learned why,
September Equinox
     will be at 9:54 PM,
    ...

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Written: May 12, 2025, for contest Sponsored by: Kai Michael Neumann

Quote: “Set yourself on fire and seek those who fan your flame.” By Rumi
           ...

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Explain to me the language of your body, 
    Assure to me its ulterior meaning, 
       Pure like an angel's wing, or else, 
  ...

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