Long Furtively Poems

I always wanted to be a medieval jester,
the one who sneaks up behind the queen
and makes her guess who caressed her.
I always wanted to be the Lord of Misrule,
King Lear's sad fool,
and the one who...

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These are prophetic poems and apocalyptic poems ...



The Vision of the Overseer’s Right Hand
by Michael R. Burch

“Dust to dust ...”

I stumbled, aghast,
into a valley of dust and bone
where all men become,
at last, the same color...

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Blossoming 
Effulgent sun proffers love 
Clambering… 
My brain makes me wonder if you remember the times shared
Back to the blessed times, I recall that you would listened, be worried about me, and, at the time,...

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1
Though still within our infancy, 
we strive to thrive, but woefully 
we flash and flaunt our 'primacy',
display our trophies pridefully.
 
Our terra firma ecstasy
destroys survival's harmony,
lays waste to life on land and sea.
Mankind, thy name...

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No One
by Michael R. Burch

No One hears the bells tonight;
they tell him something isn’t right.
But No One is not one to rush;
he lies in grasses greenly lush
as far away a startled thrush
flees from horned owls...

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Christ!
A warparty of 60 Shoshone warriors has just stampeded into the meadow
faces painted red and white for blood and death, all sorts of strange designs,
bows and arrows ready to fly on us, skull breaking cudgels...

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Which are your points for living
if we all die into cold leaky stink or ash anyway?
What's the point of dying
if we could otherwise live continuously?

Heading down the river
on AAA rite of ritual passage.
Six years since...

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Tonight I heard a terminally cancered 
yet not cancelled
singer songwriter say
"I can't wait for life to not be hard
before choosing to be happy."

She spoke well from her own experience
and I remain moved,
but also curiously confused
about...

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*“Named after Pieter Both, who was the first Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies, Pieter Both is one of the most beautiful mountain peaks in Mauritius.” Mauritiusnow.com>blog>things-to-do>pieter-both
**************************************************************
        ...

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In A Suburban Paradise

I was to spend hours on my bed 
writing short stories in 1967;
with my left leg dangling over the left side, 
I sat on the right leg,
like I was some nosy bird...

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Spindleshanks Ain't No Legend...

But sits here donned in his foreign
aged (not so lovely) bag of bones
barely functioning surviving, but by
skin off his teeth, (which explains
dentures) regretting, revisiting,
ruminating hellacious bout with

anorexia nervosa, approximately
five dozen (multiply) orbitz...

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Somebody saw the enemy’s fearless leader
secretly slinking away
The battle in the blood desert field of Raqqa
was still raging on
Hell’s fury had more than a pound of flesh
left to take
But that fearless leader, 
who was seen...

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we our souls will spend our time repenting 
but the body of truth always comes to light 
in drawing an end to come with true believers 
so they can see the many faces of the...

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for Granny Letchumi (b. fin 19th C. - d. 1978)

Once i was a prince in your highbeamed palm-thatched house
  timber and stone
   of hardened mud and cold green shiny cement
in your village...

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we our souls will spend our time repenting 
but the body of truth always comes to light 
in drawing an end to come with true believers 
so they can see the many faces of the...

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Many fell in my charm, because in a few days,
Hundreds of people took me in their arms with many a happy face.
Nurses, doctors, clergymen,many men and women,
Hugged and cradled me as if I was for...

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I

how could i know him his eyes say
but my eyes reply which of us may speak to that
be busy in the house that needs fixing
despite histories in three
and homes as safe as the clicking of...

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CATULLUS TRANSLATIONS 3


Catullus VII: 'How Many Kisses'
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

You ask, Lesbia, how many kisses
are enough, or more than enough, to satisfy me?

As many as the Libyan sands
swirling in incense-bearing Cyrene
between the torrid...

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Lakes and beaches are wiped clean like a whiteboard, 
each day by waves, tide, wind.
Then marks of ripples and tracks provide transient tell-tales
of what has gone on since, of what is yet to come.
What caused...

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[3RD CONTINUATION]

Many fell in my charm, because in a few days,
Hundreds of people took me in their arms with many a happy face.
Nurses, doctors, clergymen, many men and women,
Hugged and cradled me as if I...

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Animal of the Night

The animal of the night has an evil courage as its defense,
And with simple lies it now catches the filthy beast easily,
And can now stand and bask in God’s purest of sunshine,
Whilst...

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The animal of the night has an evil courage as its defense,
And with simple lies it now catches the filthy beast easily,
And can now stand and bask in God’s purest of sunshine,
Whilst valor and glory...

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BAZAAR

Can you call it a bazaar
Where only one vendor
Her face strained
'Looks' pale, apprehensive
As if caught in a snakes' chamber
Yet searching for a potential customer
Desperate to sell products unheard of
Of human species, bizarre more bizarre

The seller...

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She senses before she sees
The manicured nails - the elegant fingers
Holding out the hundred dollar bills - enticingly - so temptingly
A generous nights takings of busking here
In one proffered hand
She grabs at it petrified it...

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The front bar of the Criterion is filling up,
It’s after five and the patrons are filing in.
Placed orders echoing off the old timbers 
Vying to be heard and adding to the din.

The Grand Old Lady...

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