Long Frayed Poems

Sonnets LXI-LXX

Erin
by Michael R. Burch

All that’s left of Ireland is her hair?
bright carrot?and her milkmaid-pallid skin,

her brilliant air of cavalier despair,
her train of children?some conceived in sin,

the others to avoid it. For nowhere
is evidence of...

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Poems about Butterflies and Bees



Flight
by Michael R. Burch

It is the nature of loveliness to vanish
as butterfly wings, batting against nothingness
seek transcendence...



Album
by Michael R. Burch

I caress them—trapped in brittle cellophane—
and I see how young they were,...

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I used to dream of a dark hall. Dim. Empty with thick cheap navy curtains. 
The breeze. It felt hot and old. It shivered in the curtains that lined the walls on both sides.
The breeze....

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I used to dream of a dark hall. Dim. Empty with thick cheap navy curtains. 
The breeze. It felt hot and old. It shivered in the curtains that lined the walls on both sides.
The breeze....

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Beckoning
by Michael R. Burch 
 
Yesterday the wind whispered my name
while the blazing locks
of her rampant mane
lay heavy on mine.
And yesterday
I saw the way
the wind caressed tall pines
in forests laced by glinting streams
and thick with...

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FORTUNES READ the sign displayed
TRINKETS, CHARMS AND SPELLS
The store had not been here yesterday
shades of candles, books and bell
Drapes were hung from side to side
The windows all were dark
Where was this place a day ago?
Just...

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WINTER, 1948 [40 Saxton Street]

for W.W

The winter nights that pass now
are so unlike the winter nights
that passed before, that I often
struggle back in those suspended moments
when sleep grapples for a hold,
to once again hear the...

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Forty-seven years ago I went abroad for college, then - after graduation - chose to live across the sea.
I called my parents often, and I mailed them many cards, but rarely made the trip back...

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uncomfortableness, and hesitation arose that you might reassess a possibility for friendship or.... whatever with me.

A disappointment set in place in the event that based on some facet of my being (inexplicable flaws within this...

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Temporal incarnation of Aphrodite...

induces idyllic reverie
delight evoking similar surge,
when skirting, and eluding 
fidelity defining the marital law
on par with courting in flagrante delicto.

After reading about 
Greek goddess of love
fancy notion woke whereof
warmth suffused me
snug as...

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The flames of the furnace (well-travelled by wind
slowly glazing the rags of gray women chagrined
at the sight of a hair fleeing tresses now thinned) 
sometimes billow like waves flooding naves through the night,
when the lightning...

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We'd laid old George to rest the week before,
at ninety-one he now rejoined his wife,
no heirs to his estate, so one thing more
to do, and that's clear where he'd spent his life.
Downstairs had been quite...

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Galley slave to obsessive compulsive disordered behavior announces...

Fore score minus xv orbitz ago
from being centenarian
strong contractions forced me
to pass thru cervix,
buck naked bare lady,
I ranked as only grandson sharing
same surname as Aaron,
(mine paternal grandfather)
me the...

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Achooo!
It begins, almost always, with a sneeze, 
Which, in some cultures, 
Invites blessings, 
But, in some others, a curse,
As it’s held to be ominous!
Blessing or curse, soon the frequency
And the decibels increase—
Incredibly, irritatingly, inconveniently, and...

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Lady dearest, fair Romeo, is this the name
the title you wish to bestow upon me
or is it one shared among multiple hearts shot at by multiple nets
I ask only in truth, in search of truth,...

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Keep Me Good Company…

TODAY MY MATE SAVES MY DAY... 
From spiraling into unconstructive decay, 
Plugging my volcano of negative gossip & hearsay, 
Planting productive advice to direct my way,
Removes pokey cacti from under my feet,...

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I wonder ?, have pondered ?, have analyzed the boxes, 
the cages, the walls my little Girl, my young Woman, 
finds herself packaged in, trapped in, stuck behind, 
believing that they have come into being...

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"Seeds"



Blue reaches reflections
touching ripples 
tears in time ephemeral
caresses fragrant Green my canopy

opens the light
inside me 

cracked eggshell 
golden-yoked sunshine
pale turquoise kintsugi
splintered paths inside my mind

in the smallness
of me 
something 
quietly blooms 

ragged yet refined
a gecko...

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Unquotable quotes: Beggars - XXX

Who said beggars cannot be choosers?

Who chooses for them the place, the moment or the people they choose to beg from; the hours of the begging day; the alms they refuse;...

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This is a tale of ancient times
And a knight of valiant heraldry
Who followed true his knightly code,
The weight of righteousness his load,
All sheathed in heaven's grace he rode,
And practiced naught save chivalry.

From the Pope a...

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She stares at the paper not a word comes to write
Surrounded by peace on a dark rainy night.
Like the page in her notebook her mind remains clear.
Not a word to be written, her pen she...

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There's an event in the country that few city people ever know,
It's called the Greasy Pig Competition held at the local show,
It's a novelty event put on when the riding's been all done,
A greased up...

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The wails that disturb very few in their bed
Reach only the ears of the psychic… or dead

                  ...

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She killed me…she killed me…
I’m drifting into darkness
Melanie…Melanie…Melanie…
Did she ever really know how sorry I am
how I meant every word of my bleeding apology
what I meant when I said things were never to go this...

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One day in my shop, as many before,             
there appeared a beggar at my back door.   
His dirty old hand held...

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