Long Flinch Poems

Dad hit me only once, an upper cut to the solar plexus. It nearly lifted me off my feet. I was 17 then and already fairly tall, 6’1.” He was 48 and of medium height,...

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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."



Stage Craft-y
by Michael R. Burch

There once was a dromedary
who...

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Sonnets LXI-LXX

Erin
by Michael R. Burch

All that’s left of Ireland is her hair?
bright carrot?and her milkmaid-pallid skin,

her brilliant air of cavalier despair,
her train of children?some conceived in sin,

the others to avoid it. For nowhere
is evidence of...

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Enough!
by Michael R. Burch

It’s not that I don’t want to die;
I shall be glad to go.
Enough of diabetes pie,
and eating sickly crow!
Enough of win and place and show.
Enough of endless woe!

Enough of suffering and vice!
I’ve...

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Dog Daze
by Michael R. Burch

Sweet Oz is a soulful snuggler;
he really is one of the best.
Sometimes in bed
he snuggles my head,
though he mostly just plops on my chest.

I think Oz was made to love
from the...

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World War II Poems and Holocaust Poems - IV - Primo Levi

Shema
by Primo Levi
translation by Michael R. Burch

You who live secure
in your comfortable houses, 
who return each evening to find
warm food, 
welcoming faces...

consider whether this...

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[This poem 'No God Of  Mine' was seemingly confounding readers as
to its meaning. Ordinarily, if I felt a poem wasn't  cutting it, I'd delete
it, but on this occasion, I've been asked to explain it... so here goes.]


By...

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Flirt with Whitney
Flirt with fear 
Life is good
But I rather be anywhere but here
Body aches from pushing out tears
Driving on the road of life
Eyes is watery
So I can't steer 
And I'm getting dizzy 
Stomach very...

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Hey…did I ever tell you ‘bout the greatest baseball game,
Or should I say…the one that gave “Ol' Babe” his famous name?

Like several other great ones, there were many hits that day, 
And if it hadn't...

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Every day, ‘round 8 am, I climb up from the subway and pass a guy - a blind guy -  who is there to beg for change.
But one day, as I paused to watch...

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Ask your friend, neighbour or even a stranger newly-met
Have they ever been damaged by a ‘trust’ ….now turned ‘regret’?
Most men, if not all, have fashioned their character on personal experience
Yet these damned hypocrites are themselves...

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Cement, sand and gravel, blood, body and soul
Eternity bred from hell's darkest hole
Combine gruesome aggregates, hydrate the mix
Mould them and dry them, then stack up the bricks.

Thought in advance and precision laboured
Set automatic, eternity savoured
No...

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Sometimes pandemic people share
pieces of our unspeakable personal story

That no health care worker,
sex therapist player,
or green resonant systems organizer
wants to hear,
much less smell,
or touch,
or deeply feel...

I flinch, sometimes.

Wince.

Maybe flirt with longer-term
dissociation,
to protect myself
from suicide
to protect...

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you write your words and they make me cry
you write those word and you know i die
but i've died so often now

i held you in my arms while you smelled my hair
i saw that pretty...

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Gory video games are playing on the television screen…everyone watches excitedly without a flinch of fear…where’s peace when I need it? Where’s love when I want it? Where’s their sanity? Is it replaced with vanity...

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five decades of experience and vast global knowledge
he met and lay with all kind of ladies.
Intellectuals
Blondie
Women that sparks extreme desire
Some whose names he couldn't pronounce
Even those with no clue as to why God make a...

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The table is old and worn
nicks and scratches 
its red plastic tablecloth left over from a forgotten Christmas
its holiday pattern worn and forlorn
many a Thanksgiving dinner was hosted
the plump turkey as dry as yesterday

many wars...

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10:30 at night everything was 
peaceful in the Damian Hakim 
household. Children were
Safely in there dreams. But the
Seven were wide eyed and 
Would soon begin to let the
Parents know they were needed.
The racket began. Damian...

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Each English-speaker knows that funner means more fun than fun,
   and weirder means more weird than weird. And yet nary a one
of "proper" dictionaries has neologism words -
   the editors must...

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Green eggs, Spam and grits
Sam and Pam had their fill,
Then made their way to Main Street
Down WhoDat’s Whatsup Hill.

Waived "Hi!" to their neighbors
To show them that they cared.
All smiled except two who
Just stood there and...

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A pulsing motive met them in the sky
to paint his birds before they flew your way,
then talons reared, determined to deny
the devil’s flying wolves a win this day.
Your heaven’s filled relentlessly with fire
as deficit engulfed...

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A new day rises above my  Comfort Zone!

Now understanding had graced my fate to say to myself inside my bleeding heart moans in pain at what others thought of me before my birth came...

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Placed Second in: 
This or That, Vol. 23 Poetry Contest
Sponsored by Edward Ibeh


                      ...

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Let's dwell a tiny bit  on that  skill  most hanker after,
of mastering a language that especially enthrals,
infused with magic rhythm so fervent,
pulsing music lilt,  anthem-rich samba,
think for one ecstatic heady moment,
if...

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Make room for the light – twinkling in his eyes,
Music on fire, silencing the whisper of shadows,
Restoring the wonder, the grace, the feelings, so brilliant
Alive as the rising sun, who blends hope with expectation,
Grace with...

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