Long Fogged Poems

R.I.P.
by Michael R. Burch

When I am lain to rest
and my soul is no longer intact, 
but dissolving, like a sunset
diminishing to the west...

and when at last
before His throne my past
is put to test
and the demons...

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MODERN SONNETS I

I prefer the original definition of the sonnet as a “little song” of indeterminate form and length. These modern sonnets vary from more-or-less traditional to free verse.


Maker, Fakir, Curer
by Michael R. Burch

A poem...

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Sonnets XXV-XXXII

Archaischer Torso Apollos (“Archaic Torso of Apollo”)
by Rainer Maria Rilke
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

We cannot know the beheaded god
nor his eyes' forfeited visions. But still
the figure's trunk glows with the strange vitality
of a...

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I believe that I am..., but I dare ask the question.                        ...

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Over harvested fields —

I walk beneath the fading afterglow
of a forgotten lantern   a path worn
by wanderers older than the scroll of Zeno
its damp salve seeping through my coat
into my bones

Fog an Erebian curtain...

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I woke up from a dreamless sleep 
My vision came through fuzzy and confusing 
A cold, sharp ringing painfully pierced my ears 
And irritated every sense 
The familiar numbness stung my brain 
And caused a...

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I'm curious if I'm still endowed with words
Like never seen on this site from me
Words that won the computers for my high school
Words that were written by my hand so quickly
But not my own so...

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On a rural Pequot River,
with steady New England flow
toward Long Island's warming Sound

Then on and out, 
whispering drowned memories
of Atlantis

Slumbering on eastern bank,
surrounded by Native Elder spirit grounds,
ruined medicine's monolithic altars
worship insanely leviathan 
brooding bruised...

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She was lost and cried all night, heart broken and sad
Old wounds ached from countless jagged scars and flaws
It was an evil monster, abusive and powerfully bad
From its sadistic, tormenting ways, never did it pause

How...

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She sat upon shiny, cherry wooden flooring spread out across the ground in a small house of confined detachment; the windows were fogged with a sort of icy breath that exhaled down upon the aura...

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Long ago in the short-time lively spring
In the grassy plains of a small island
Came from nonexistence a young sapling 
Nurtured by the love of her mother’s hand

The world accepted her newfound nascence
Fueling her a love...

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There were no monsters nor creatures of doom, nor were there fellow humans torturing me in a combat zone. There was just me, entangled by battles of my body, soul, and spirit.  Just me,...

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One fine, hot, summer day
My brother Scotty and I, were held back, from play
Angered mother
She sent us, to our room, bothered
In our opinions
It wasn’t the best decision
Immaturely actively singing a song, that was seemingly, very,...

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GOT AN EMAIL JUST THIS MORNING NEARLY SWEPT ME OFF MY FEET.
I OPENED IT UP AND READ THE NOTE ADDRESSED TO ME.
I COULDN’T BELIEVE MY EYES, SO I BLINKED THEM ONCE OR TWICE.
AND WONDERED IF...

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I remember you kissed me inside and out
Against he confines of a foreign couch
Drag your finger along my jaw line here
I love you so much. I feel like i'm going to get sick
I look around...

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Dog Star

The clarity with which youthful vision perceives the world
Is increasingly fogged by the successive days of life.
Simple magnanimity is replaced by complex reservation.
Knowledge is replaced by uncertainty.
Hope is replaced by the leaden awareness of...

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hi I'm Baxter Belknap Mandible IV
the Ninth Earl of Burneydick
I'll be heading your inner assault team
would you like the wine list
we have a nice Retaliation 666
somewhere over the rainbow
where every two-bit overheard whisper is an...

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I had a dream last night
fogged by an uneven frost of the morning
guessing if the sun rose.

It dawned on me
it was night still
with forehead engulfed by the fallen hair.

I figured her out
against wealthy gold streaks...

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Under the enchanted curtain of the night, where the stars whisper ancient secrets,
I no longer desire everything, just an ethereal caress,
A stellar thrill and a minor love to soothe my dreams,
Fragile desires woven into the...

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As usual frozen seagulls fly above us every night,
blind I approach our bed in the darkness,
tracing the linear surfaces of the embroidery,
as their long-winged spans shadow the pillow mounds.

The salty residue found on your lips,
Falls...

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I cannot believe I can see
my own breath.
To amuse myself, I try
making shapes;
it doesn't work.
I see how fogged up
the glass on the door is.
I consider drawing on it,
and realize my fingers
will stick.
I wait about fifteen...

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Heading to a cauldron in the dry sea of sands
Far afield the Sahara shores devoid of life
With an array of dexterous army riding further North
Our horses neighs as honed swords beholds Amir al-Mu'mini's hands
Death on...

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It came this day
As I journeyed south
That I happened upon
An old man
Filling water bottles
From a small pond
Fed from water
That gushed from rocks
Half way up
A mountain

It must be special, I said
If you’re going to lug this...

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I just don’t know…..and yet I am called by the dark void of emptiness before me which with returned piercing glare refuses to release me from my own inward gaze  

For I stare into...

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Massive, gray, these leaden waves
bear their unchanging burden—
the sameness of each day to day

while the wind seems to struggle to say
something half-submerged planks at the mouth of the bay
might nuzzle limp seaweed to understand.

Now collapsing...

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