Long Foolhardiness Poems

Epitaph for a Palestinian Child
by Michael R. Burch

I lived as best I could, and then I died.
Be careful where you step: the grave is wide.



Autumn Conundrum
by Michael R. Burch

It's not that every leaf must finally...

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Athenian Epitaphs

Mariner, do not ask whose tomb this may be,
but go with good fortune: I wish you a kinder sea.
—Michael R. Burch, after Plato

Does my soul abide in heaven, or hell?
Only the sea gulls
in their...

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Recherché poetic themes stock in trade of yours truly

No surprise, rhyme nor reason,
I tease out extraordinary threads,
sometimes deliberately writing
about current calendar day or season

for instance today July 28th, 2020
another hazy, hot, and humid summer day
and...

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Worry knot chokes out the living daylights

I know from personal experience
the foolhardiness of
courting, flirting, honeymooning...
worse case scenario,
particularly when just a wee lad,
yours truly internalized
unfamiliar bodily aches and pains
as a death sentence,
slept with one eye opened
against...

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Epigrams/Epitaphs

Childless
by Michael R. Burch

How can she bear her grief?
Mightier than Atlas, she shoulders the weight
of one fallen star.

***

Laughter’s Cry
by Michael R. Burch 

Because life is a mystery, we laugh
and do not know the half.
Because death...

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Eccentric kook's reasonable rhyme zigzags

Doggone poet laureate
wannabe his index finger wags
nonverbally naysaying those,
who doubt mine posthumous
fame and fortune, which snags
eternal renown within pantheon
of storied writers such foolhardiness nags
yours truly keeps bad company with hags
unemployed day...

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I laid me body stomach down atop a grassy knoll...

here at Highland Manor Apartments
earlier today Juneteenth 2022,
(a pitch perfect spring day)
with serious intent to read
seat of the pants suspense thriller
The New Comprehensive
A-Z Crossword Dictionary.

Invariably, yours...

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Where it Leads

Chaotic arrangement of words
beaten with the mind
fall into place as tetris blocks
where it leads none may know
ready to organize a show
unveil the curtains
open the window, let the breeze
carry your blind mind to see
in...

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5:02 AM Eastern Time Monday,
December 21
Location: 2 Highland Manor Drive
Schwenksville, Pennsylvania
40.2562° N, 75.4638° W
Daylight 7:21 am – 4:39 pm
9 hours, 18 minutes

Mine circadian rhythm pulsates bright
imperceptible increments of daylight
increase fantasy fanciful heavenly flight
as I imagine...

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10:27 Post Meridiem 
Eastern Standard Time,
Thursday December 21
Location: 2 Highland Manor Drive
Schwenksville, Pennsylvania
40.2562° N, 75.4638° W
Sunrise time: 7:31 am?(121°) 
Sunset time: 4:46 pm ?(239°)
Day length: 9:14:42.

Mine circadian rhythm pulsates bright
imperceptible increments of daylight
increase fantasy fanciful...

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To all who have been faithful, and also those who’ve sinned,
everything is meaningless, it’s like chasing the wind!
I have seen all the things that are done under the sun;
seeing what I had achieved from all...

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Pained am I with the waste of life,
Of dreams that lie like myriad shards,
Of hopes and love left far behind,
Taking flight on withered wings of
Unrequited expectations.

Sad am I that young roiling blood
Is stilled, silenced, with...

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“... betrayal begins with trust.” ~ Phish

Nothing is more hurtful than betrayal--
The traits of Cain, Delilah, Judas, Brutus;
In their darkest hours they all led astray
those they vowed to be loyal to and protect,
spawning events that...

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He pledged not his love
N more happy she couldn have been
For love is more than jus pledges..
Love is a breath of the unseen!

Days many, too many, flitted past..
Unmarked, uncelebrated, an unspoken of affair..
She walked the...

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They start out in youth as marionettes,
often as their own puppeteers,
clasping unseen crossed sticks
with unseen wires attached,
sometimes getting twisted in their own strands.

Once people get past the adolescent plagues
unique to to them,
they find the way...

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To all who have been faithful, and also those who’ve sinned,
everything is meaningless; it’s like chasing the wind!
I have seen all the things that are done under the sun;
seeing what I had achieved from all...

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Unsure of the wisdom of getting married that day,
the young woman stood in the garden
of her groom-to-be.
Rarely entirely confident of any big decisions,
she trembled underneath
her beautiful white sequinned wedding gown.

She pondered and pondered,
but anything bad...

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Feeling forlorn at being fully forsaken by His Father
Christ was cruelly crucified by His own creation
Yet He forgot not to forgive their foolhardiness
And I am one of those impertinent idiots
My misdeeds too marred His majestic...

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  Purple spots buzz by
  Chatter inside his head
  The air is quivering and thick
  - no rush
  "Stretch out your tongue"
  "why, give me seven reasons"

  Blessed...

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Following the stupefying sensation of my heart
I take a long and high flight
With the wings of self-deception.
Having some kind of foolhardiness,
I fly in search of green fields
Leaving behind the dreary desert
To sing sweet songs of...

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Do you wake up well jungle juggernaut?
If the forest wakes up well, it's to me egal ;
if the forest doesn't wake up well, it's to me egal; 
if the tusker has woken up  well,...

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The ancient tree stood in the clearing

majestic in its full leafed beauty 

its old branches reaching up to the sky 

roots stretching deep down into the earth 

what different things it had seen 

during the...

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