Long Foundations Poems

Where Does the Butterfly Go?
by Michael R. Burch

for the children of the Holocaust and the Nakba

Where does the butterfly go
when lightning rails,
when thunder howls,
when hailstones scream,
when winter scowls,
when nights compound dark frosts with snow ...
Where...

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Let Me Give Her Diamonds
by Michael R. Burch

Let me give her diamonds
for my heart's
sharp edges.

Let me give her roses
for my soul's
thorn.

Let me give her solace
for my words
of treason.

Let the flowering of love
outlast a winter
season.

Let me...

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World War II Poems and Holocaust Poems - VI - Chaim Nachman Bialik, Erich Fried

After My Death
by Chaim Nachman Bialik
translation by Michael R. Burch

Say this when you eulogize me: 
Here was a man—now, poof, he's...

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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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A lovely outcome for our recreational journey,
or Way
or Truths,
or LoveLives,
whichever you prefer to pick out
from among this graced array,
tells a multi-generational creation story
of cosmic sacred ecology
and Earth's evolution revolutions,
drawing on and with 
scientific deductive knowledge
both...

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I saw how martyrs longed for love, and so began the play of my flitting heart
A strange girl had I become, with airs of fickle dream,
My heart an embodiment of wonder to all that dared...

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Winnie, wild-eyed, went insane
and sang “Happy Birthday” in the rain, 
while she washed away her bloody pain.

Now all day long she sings that song,
she sings it loud, she sings it strong,
walled in where she does...

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Good new,good news He said to me
'I have the power to set you free'
'Come ,along this path we'll walk',
I listened closely as He talked;
Eternal life and 'new life' within
upon Him I place my sin,
peace,wholeness and...

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oh youth in all its callow shades
               is from our hope, precisely made
        ...

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DESCRIBE HEAVEN FOR THE BEAUTY

For the beauty of heaven Golden gates, made of gold;
Environment perfect temperature not hot nor cold;
Holy dwelling of the Most High Lord ;
For the beauty of heaven;
Can't even begin to comprehend...

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Overarching Genocide

Noah built the wooden Ark in his homeland instructed by God
to save his wife three sons and their wives from drowning a life 
raft rescue boat of sorts with three decks and only one...

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Dear Covenant to Empower Children, Inc.

I was in a Potlatch CoHousing Cafe
just the other repair-invested day
for both ego and eco therapy.

Our host introduced
this Potlatch SkillShare event
speaking to himself:

The less I share skills and resources
on cooperative...

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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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1st wind, childhood
2nd wind, jobs, career
3rd wind, elder life.

                          ...

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Earth dwelling mongeese are neither toys nor coins and pedalling backwards then forward is not considered the primary way of jet propulsion off a very high hill. So one two ping means fried rice coming?...

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I am reading my Resilience Systems Manual,
avidly,
like an underfed developer
hoping to strike gold
while laying healthy habitat foundations.

Today I see Community Resilience mention
Tipping Points,
dipolar appositional,
when exceeded 
on a WayTooMuch Yang OverInvested
Western dualistic
nature ain't spirit
so divine couldn't...

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Medicine and sickness satisfy each other.
MotherEarth is medicine.
Where do you find yourself?
     Zen Master Yunmen
     China, 800s

Therapy and trauma require each other.
Ecological Earth is nature-spirit therapy.
Where and...

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… as I child I heard these words by Immanuel Kant from my late Dad

over and over again …’you must act in a way that if everybody did it

your thinking and deeds could be the...

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We, the generation of '50,
Time-travelers with stardust in our hair, with memories planted in pockets,
Rooted in decades embraced by change, souls adorned with the dawn of the post-war world.
We spun on the carousel of the...

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Our country is full of hypocrites 
who stand up against nothing and bend over for everything 
the peoples amendments pushing European agendas upon us for change 
towards liberal law in our downfall
 
Unto our sovereignty...

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I got a text from one of my professors yesterday saying, ‘Please stop by my office at 6 pm tomorrow.’ It didn’t say why. This was the first day after November recess, had I missed...

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Leonardo more than a Renaissance man
artist? yes but - 
sculptor? yes but - 
musician? yes but - 
anatomist? yes but - 
cartographer? yes but - 
scientist? yes but - 
engineer? yes but - 
inventor? yes...

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Dear people,
A true Voice speaks pure truth in two tones. 
      Real Ears can only hear one. 
Get one half of two true whole truths, 
    ...

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A combination of Prose and Free Verse:

The most thrilling and inspirational piece of music ever to reach my 
ears is, without doubt, Handel's Messiah. I've never known anyone 
who could experience a performance and remain...

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According to The National Fatherhood Initiative, there is a father absence crisis in America. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 18.3 million children, 1 in 4, live without a biological, step, or adoptive father in...

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