Long Forbidding Poems

Juvenilia: Early Poems XI

Myth
by Michael R. Burch

after the sprung rhythm of Dylan Thomas

Here the recalcitrant wind
sighs with grievance and remorse
over fields of wayward gorse
and thistle-throttled lanes.

And she is the myth of the scythed wheat
hewn and...

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Sonnets XLII-LI

Distances
by Michael R. Burch

Moonbeams on water?
the reflected light
of a halcyon star
now drowning in night...
So your memories are.

Footprints on beaches
now flooding with water;
the small, broken ribcage
of some primitive slaughter...
So near, yet so far.



A Surfeit of...

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Premise
The great poem by the italian poet Dante is the DIVINA COMMEDIA
I have tried to translate in english verses of INFERNO (HELL).
It was a very difficult task. 
I expect criticism.

When just the midway of my...

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(A somnambulistic drama in four acts)

Actors:

Jean-Paul Marat; 
Charles Barbarou;
Charlotte Corday;
1st Philosopher;
2nd Philosopher;
The Commentator’s Voice.

Act 1. A tavern. Two philosopher sit at the table; 
Marat sits at the other, some distance away.

1st Philosopher 

…or even worse:...

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Juvenilia: Early Poems by Michael R. Burch



Desdemona
by Michael R. Burch

Though you possessed the moon and stars,
you are bound to fate and wed to chance.
Your lips deny they crave a kiss;
your feet deny they ache to...

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I see a rose wilting by the darkness of an abusive husband/
And I feel guilty just standing by and not doing something/
I’m proving nothing with my inactivity and hollow words/
Truth is hard to swallow but...

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Ah... tis nothing greater than...

malfunctioning heater 
on that brisk winter day
recorded here as proof positive
regarding following reasonable rhyme.

While scrolling thru 
poems crafted yesteryear,
I chanced to jog my memory where
there
occurred power outage necessitated 
more than divine...

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As dawn unfolds today beyond my fractured windowpane,
a breeze beguiles the ashen drapes. Like snakes they slip aside,
revealing wanton worlds that race and run aground, insane,
immersed in scenes obscene that savants strive to mask and...

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Feeding the soul glimpses of grace,
Treasured hope and lasting light, feelings
Forever penetrating the soul who knows…
Love is like the most beautiful star, glowing
Always showing its intentions, bound by emotions
Yet colored in hues of the most...

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For the third time Pandora stands before the box
Inlaid with jewels ivory and gold
In her hand is the key – she closely examines
Intrigued by its intricate patterns - so ancient- so old

Her Creator’s mandate she...

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A psalm to solemnize pure tin forefathers/mothers...

Who didst unknowingly, unquestionably, 
and unwittingly script vitality
and the prologue to Thanksgiving,
(which theme poem initially written)
about three hundred and ninety seven years, 
and nine months after February third 1621,
yet...

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we came from different worlds
cowboy boots and motorcycle
she carried pen and paper as did i
hers was to communicate with the world
mine was the labor in poems
i walked the high iron
she taught the deaf to speak
a...

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There once existed, upon this lovely earth.
A people, happy~ not possessed with dearth.
Depravity, destruction of cities, murder by injection,
Became a way of our lives!
Then~ an evil being and his unkind, infected mind!
With full knowledge, arrogant,...

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Mayst tell them, though they leave a sacred land,
Where every inch with rich conception spanned,
With diligence, in Hades mayst they find
A path that to Elysian Fields doth wind.

So many burdens, all the Earth now mars;
So...

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I often think  back to that care free age and those wondrous six weeks of school holidays, 
The Prison was out , 
nothing more to learn and with any luck the place would burn .

It...

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It is filled with cultural and geographical interests.                           ...

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~Echoes Of The Heart.~
                               ...

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The Naked brazen placid blue
Meets its foe the dark forbidding nemeses
Who unleashes his growing anger and fury
Obliterating and defeating his enemy
Proclaims a victory and unrolls his miserable shroud
With utter contempt
And spews his venom
Impregnating his virgin...

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Come join the unraveling circus
quite soon to be passing our way,
with the clowns in a clamor to twerk us -
line up as they lead us astray!

Arriving, the elephant trumpets
agendas of aberrant acts
while the donkeys drool,...

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What does it cost
to love a degenerating Earth,
home,
habitat?

Where NO TRESPASSING signs
speak out for natural sound
defensive silence,
for spiritually medicinal fragrances
only,
in sacred space and times
forbidding mechanized transport
across Earth's MotherLands
and feminist HealthCare Oceans.

Degenerating natural landed bodies,
spiritually disconnected minds
cannot...

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IS THIS...?             Poem 8/17/

Written for Jim Eslinger , 37-year anniversary

What are these specks we must trudge over, 
Transplanting ourselves from one wilderness to
Another?...

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Inspection took place February 17th, 2023...

At 1330 hours (indicated
courtesy notification slipped under door
less than twenty four hours)
hence foretold ill fate
by property (crooks and quade) management
the head honcho zaftig, wanker,
(who replaced the warden)

and Rich (BOLD FACE...

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I conversed with the lone demon,
Who had asked for redemption on an earlier day
On this day her voice was mightier,
More brave, and powerful
She dared not sing in the presence of the Dark Prince,
But spoke freely...

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I never told anyone how my ears reverberate in a silent room.
The whirring drone ever present, a conquistador of my private spaces.
This is my cohabitation with an industrial generator.
But I’ve graduated from the torment. 
My...

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Still stunned with disbelief...

that our apartment unit B44
received thumbs up
meaning that we passed
the grueling, and harrowing yearly inspection
three days ago - May 28th, 2024.

About a week prior,
when notification circulated
(validating horror about to befall us
as averred...

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