Long Frightening Poems

Humanity keeps looking forward, toward the coming of a birth,
and we’re all deemed as equals on our first day on this earth,
but as the years go quickly by our lives become our own;
we’re seen as...

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Poems about the Coronavirus I


yet another iffy coronavirus haiku #1
by michael r. burch

plagued by the Plague
i plague the goldfish
with my verse



yet another iffy coronavirus haiku #2
by michael r. burch

sunflowers
hang their heads
embarrassed by their coronas

I wrote...

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"Open Oceans"



Kneeling on pearls
wisdom preys

praying
preying

hungry hearts
count the days 

wasting away
in all that preying 

for prayers 
to be answered

children become
strangers

reading 
strange words

finding 
themselves puzzled

genuflecting to a deity
they do not know, nor wish to

fumbling
mouths closed,

swallowed hole
in the...

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"The Payload" 

The payload 
came crashing down
like rain expelled
from the fat belly 
of a ruinous pregnant cloud 
bilious with buxom promise

it came crashing down 
like school fish released 
from the tight confines
of a course rope...

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This is for the Contest - 'Titanic - Fare Thee Well' Sponsored by Tom Woody.
                    ...

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Epigrams

Autumn Conundrum
by Michael R. Burch

It’s not that every leaf must finally fall,
it’s just that we can never catch them all.

Piercing the Shell
by Michael R. Burch

If we strip away all the accouterments of war,
perhaps we'll discover...

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Erin, for a girl who embodies Ireland
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...

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Can you make any sense of
systemic racism?

No more common sensory sense than
too much patriarchalism--
all leftbrain-rightwing dominance
oppressing sacred Earth's
polyamorous win/win systems
promoting resiliently wealthy
resonant polyculturing health

Care given
as kind received
in fruitful wombs,
like apple cores in transition
from refuse
toward rebirth

Maybe...

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IN THE WILD

Early morning, we go for a drive,
An awesome feeling as we arrive,
At our camp gate which, opens 
At 6 o’clock, 
Now we are in the African bush
Which, will unlock,
Moments that we have missed...

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IN THE WILD 
( Re Post)

Early one morning, we begin our drive,
An awesome feeling as we arrive,
At our camp gate which, opens 
At six o’clock, 
Now we are in the African bush
Which, will unlock,
Moments that...

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The Old Dark House

This tale of “The Old Dark House” is one that’s replete with a
most horrid sense of pure evil and macabre, and is worth being
retold each year during the deep-dark hours of All...

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This tale of “The Old Dark House” is one that’s replete with a
most horrid sense of pure evil and macabre, and is worth being
retold each year during the deep-dark hours of All Hallows’ Eve
before the...

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THE INNER CHAMBER

Please.  Stop holding back on me.

Like a child standing at the neighborhood ice cream truck, arm outstretched, eyes huge, mouth watering.

I stand here longing to slip underneath your decades of cold-rolled steel...

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This tale of “The Old Dark House” is one that’s replete with a
most horrid sense of pure evil and macabre, and is worth being
retold each year during the deep-dark hours of All Hallows’ Eve
before the...

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I DON'T FEAR YOU BREAKING INTO MY HOME PUTTING STICKERS ON MARRIAGE CERTIFICATES I GUESS YOU'RE STILL STALKING ME WHAT 23 YEARS YOU ARRIVED WITH THE GUNMAN WHAT A BLESSING YOU ACTUALLY CUT YOUR HAND...

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SADLY THIS TERROR BEGAN WITH A JAMAICAN GUNMAN ARRIVING TO END MY LIFE WITH MY STALKER JAY TOWNSEND JOHNSON HENRY TONI HENRY TOWANDA HENRY FINALLY SHAKEELA HENRY ATTEMPTING TO IMPERSONATE ME AND EXTORT MY AMERICAN...

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"I hope you enjoy this true story.  While I'm unable to emulate Hitchcock, the tale reminds me of that great director." ~ The First Grader

In 1965, on a corner lot, four or five children,...

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That color vileness painted on my face
When coming back my duke to me I saw 
His new squeezing inside much more took place.

He heedful stopped as man hearing to draw;
Because his eye could not reach...

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Rosalia - The Evil Black Witch of the Harz, Part Two

Rosalia’s Instruments of Evil and Debauchery
Rosalia needed certain tools or instruments of evil and debauchery to successfully pursue her nefandous plans of bringing the people...

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  I feel so damn trapped in rage 
Like a rainbow lion in a cage 
I feel so much pain in my brain
And it's driving me quite insane

Numb my solace shame
Get me feeling more...

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POEMS ABOUT EROS AND CUPID

These are translations of ancient Greek poems about Eros. Eros was the Greek counterpart of the Roman god Cupid. While today we tend to think of Cupid as an angelic cherub...

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“I don't know anything about that.  I just do what I must.”
Bréagán's smile was sad but understanding.  He knew what it was like to be pushed to do what seemed impossible.  He...

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Misanthropic melodies played from a broken violin
Prehistoric prophecies that ignite new ideas before they begin
Telescopic telomeres that formulate a scientific grin
Endoscopic X-rays and a doctor drunk on gin

Valiant human beings with virtue among the discord
Salient...

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YOU ARRIVED ON CUE I SUPPOSE RIGHT AFTER THE CHRISTMAS DAY ARSONS MURDERS PROCLAIMING MY LIFE WAS IN GRAVE DANGER WHAT DO YOU KNOW ABOUT ARSON MURDER 8 ELDERLY PERSONS PARISHES PROCLAIMED MY EX HUSBAND...

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Always respect this combination of fire and wind,
she tentatively said,
after having listened for healthy and pathological winds
regenerating and degenerating,
investing in and divesting of,
yeasty flames of fertile dopamine.

They, like you,
co-arise of and from the landscapes
in which...

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