Long Fountainhead Poems

Where art thou anonymous benefactor...to offer me succor?

Ah... methinks legal tender 
could be a boon to help me bolster 
mein kampf with necessary material equipage,
which prospect to acquire essential 
commodities sabotaged 
at the altar of...

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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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A Vain Word
by Michael R. Burch

Oleanders at dawn preen extravagant whorls
as I read in leaves’ Sanskrit brief moments remaining
till sunset implodes, till the moon strands grey pearls
under moss-stubbled oaks, full of whispers, complaining
to the darkening...

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Harriet Harris, née Kuritsky gave up the ghost...

~ May fourth, 2005
wedded bliss nearly fifty years
half a century almost
me not most favorite grown offspring,
she (when alive) did boast,
about youngest sister and her family,
unlike me – severely...

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Still wrestling with impasse to contentment

Dispense sing with fidelity blithely agog
just me and mine dark shadow 
slinking along outer limits of 
the edge of night doth blog
passivity, the path 
of least resistance ohm my dog,
shocking...

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MODERN SONNETS II

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.



In Praise of Meter
by Michael R. Burch

The...

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Wrestling with impasse to contentment

Dispense sing with fidelity blithely agog
just me and mine dark shadow 
slinking along the edge of night doth blog
passivity, the path of least resistance ohm my dog,
shocking voltage surges an emphatic...

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Goodbye six pack hello* poetry scribes

My poetic side COSMOFUNNEL
wordsmith thanks tumblr in his noggin
ofttimes triggering babbling brook 
to swell after deluge
becoming stream of consciousness runnel
carving, gouging, and liquidating topography 
qua zee mow toe natural formed...

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Harriet Harris, née Kuritsky gave up the ghost ~ May 4th, 2004

Often these days
(closing in on the eighth
anniversary of eighth orbit
around mister sun),
the following genuine sentiment
Matthew Scott Harris
doth wish to share 
how one and only...

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Awakened and degenerated, I feel I am clashing somewhere 
The clouds appear and then depart, just another face amongst billions  
Millions of colors of the rainbow at one point I thought I was rare...

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Severe surge regarding thou shalt not kill violations

Fifth commandment breached regularly
epidemic of gun violence in America
bullets fly, scream and tear into flesh
senseless rampant mass killings
rip across fabric of society
buzzfeeding, jump/kickstarting, 
paradigm of mortality.

Since January first
two...

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Upon a dark and stormy night...

as jagged bolts of lightning
tore thru the the midnight clear
and figuratively ripped the sky to shreds
(analogous to jumping Jack flash),
and ear splitting thunder crackled
testing the threshold of tolerance
zombies of Sugar...

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Asian Epicurean Quest

At the heart of China Town, Kuala Lumpur (capital of Malaysia) is Petaling Street.
  
Domain of hustlers, hucksters, cheap-jacks and diblers; purveyors of street food, rude t-shirts, and rubber sandles to put...

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Awakened and degenerated, I feel I am clashing somewhere 
The clouds appear and then depart, just another face amongst billions  
Millions of colors of the rainbow at one point I thought I was rare...

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Aspiration towards elusive apotheosis of enlightenment...

analogous to where
the fountainhead of knowledge
gushes forth unstoppable
as a result after Atlas shrugged
his head and shoulders
loosing bits of esoteric material
(and hairs - i.e. fluff
as the spouse would say
caught up in...

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Learning  How To Live...Courtesy, 
Sans Priceless Paternal Experiences
Bequeathed To This Papa From Precious Progeny

The greatest gift cherished, garnered, lamented...,
yet simultaneously recognized as utmost prized
constitutes mine declaration, that both benevolent
daughters (now metaphorically inflight) took wing
to...

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LAO TZU ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS III

The Valley Spirit
by Lao Tzu, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

The valley Spirit never runs dry,
the river to whom all waters run:
the Spirit of our Primal Mother.
Deeply rooting Heaven and Earth,
to...

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LAO TZU ENGLISH TRANSLATIONS I

Be Like Water
by Lao Tzu, translation by Michael R. Burch

The highest virtue resembles water
because water unselfishly benefits all life,
then settles, without contention or needless strife,
in lowly cisterns.

Weep for the Dead
by Lao...

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Somnambulant schlemiel schleps...and says Shalom...

to anonymous readers March 22nd, 2022
(blustery and chilly Tuesday)
reminiscing about mein kampf,
when precious irretrievable youth
frittered away within
emotional wilderness of mine.

Into lonely senescence -
more'n three plus decades 
plus three extra orbitz 
around...

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In Times New Roman, I font
to hitch wagon to a star.

Alias Adobe Jenson Albertus Aldus here
wed Alexandria (Algerian, an all around
American Typewriter gal) scattershot
with Antiqua ancestry, she told me
after I Aster while Aurora Borealis

shimmered overhead,...

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Schlerotic schlemiel schleps...and says Shalom...

to anonymous readers March 6th, 2021
(blustery and chilly Saturday)
reminiscing about mien kampf,
when precious irretrievable youth
frittered away within
emotional wilderness of mine.

Into lonely senescence -
three plus decades already elapsed
trepidation, hesitation, abdication... unbearably
tugging, shouldering,
remonstrating...

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Yours truly whiles hours away
reading out loud... tis not hearsay
cuz ears of mine relish... neigh
feast hearing spoken words, I do say
plus eyes (mine) drink one
or more letter combination yea.

Aforesaid pastime doth rarely
if ever tire hungry...

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Written: September 18, 2023
Unwritten Absence Poetry Contest              Sponsored by: Ink Empress
______________________________________________________________

In the absence of ink—in a nexus of poetic dreams,
Anathematized by disconsolate...

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Alias Adobe Jenson Albertus Aldus here
wed Alexandria (Algerian, an all around
American Typewriter gal) scattershot
with Antiqua ancestry, she told me
after I Aster while Aurora Borealis

shimmered overhead, while temporarily
embarking on long day's
journey into night
("yule Jean," I uttered
for...

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Helianthus annuus, heliotropic slow son dance

Stream of photons bathe
top heavy fountainhead of sunflower.

Analogous to Atlas
shrugging, hoisting, grappling...
with planet Earth, the heavyweight
discobolus buoyantly held aloft
upon robust stem
tracks the heavenly orientation
of said hypothetical nearest star.

This immense distance,
nonetheless...

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