Long Gauze Poems

Family Poems

Mother's Smile
by Michael R. Burch

There never was a fonder smile
than mother's smile, no softer touch
than mother's touch. So sleep awhile
and know she loves you more than "much."

So more than "much, " much more than...

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Epigrams by Michael R. Burch



Negligibles
by Michael R. Burch
 
Show me your most intimate items of apparel:
begin with the hem of your quicksilver slip ...



Negotiables
by Michael R. Burch

Love should be more than the sum of its...

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Poems about Mothers


Mother's Smile
by Michael R. Burch

There never was a fonder smile
than mother's smile, no softer touch
than mother's touch. So sleep awhile
and know she loves you more than "much."

So more than "much, " much more...

Read More

Fahr an' Ice
by Michael R. Burch

From what I know of death, I'll side with those
who'd like to have a say in how it goes:
just make mine cool, cool rocks (twice drowned in likker),
and real fahr...

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State of the Art (II)

These are my "ars poetica" poems about the art and craft of writing poetry. 



What the Poet Sees
by Michael R. Burch

What the poet sees,
he sees as a swimmer 
~~~~underwater~~~~
watching the shoreline...

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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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Heat Lightening
by Michael R. Burch

Each night beneath the elms, we never knew
which lights beyond dark hills might stall, advance,
then lurch into strange headbeams tilted up
like searchlights seeking contact in the distance . . .

Quiescent unions...

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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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MY PRAYERS ARE WITH ALL DOMESTIC VIOLENCE VICTIMS AND SURVIVORS MY DOMESTIC VIOLENCE SITUATION STEMMED FROM MY WEARING WIRES PREGNANT FOR THE FBI BUYING WEAPONS AND DRUGS FROM JUNK SICK COPS BECAUSE THE FBI WARNED...

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It is so hard to let go of love,
lovingly.

It sharks, 
unpeels more gut more quickly
than reel or reeler ever lost
in all those years of lazy inches
in and out:
casting,
winding in and playing out,
hardly fishing, rarely catching
anything
from...

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Three cousins played a “game’ of war
A map of Europe spread across the floor
No adults there to keep the score
As each of them wanted more and more

Three of four empires lay upon that map
As they...

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As I ascend the podium, a predator of piquant pontifications, my eyes ravage the assemblage of adversaries, their countenances a canvas of consternation and morbid fascination. The atmosphere is heavy with the miasma of malignant...

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As the sun shone in southern skies, I was finally on my vacation,
And I turned the pages of a magazine, with new fashion creations.

I lounged beside the resort pool, in a straw hat and sunglasses,
Sipping...

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"With every fiber of my being, my eyes glimpse at my whole life gone avail and unjust; the sacrifice mother had made before birth was certainly not enough, wish I had gone through the flames...

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{"I want to be at arm's length of people because I have met you. You reflect on what I believe and disbelieve. 
You introduce me to a sacred hollow shallow cage you call your childhood...

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I'm just enjoying the bells of Venice ringing (almost incessantly, but beautiful nonetheless) and admiring the way my friend snores to the tune of We Will Rock You

It feels so easy to see beauty in...

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Harumph To Holiday Hoopla – Phish Pshaw!

Relieved of fatherhood Saint
Nick schtick found me
to relinquish ratty outfit, and stow away zee bras
like padding and "FAKE flowing beard,
ah...don't remind me,
those well worn faux paws

of each dear deer...

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In a Stolen Moment
by Michael R. Burch

In a stolen moment,
when the clock’s hands complete their inevitable course
and sleep is the night’s dark spell,
I call it a curse,

seeking the force,
the font of candescent words, the electric...

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Cowpoke
by Michael R. Burch, circa age 16

Sleep, old man...
your day has long since passed.
The endless plains,
cool midnight rains
and changeless ragged cows
alone remain
of what once was.

You cannot know
just how the Change
will rape the windswept plains
that you...

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Author's note: This is an epic length poem that will have to be split into parts and will be serialized in successive posts.

Part 3


our subject awoke 
while still dark everywhere
dark with agony 
an amputee's life...

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Banks o' Doon
by Robert Burns
modern English translation by Michael R. Burch

Oh, banks and hills of lovely Doon,
How can you bloom so fresh and fair;
How can you chant, ecstatic birds,
When I'm so weary, full of care!
You'll...

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Flings and wings and rings rejected…
 Cupid’s arrows fly deflected…
“It clearly is too late” she signed, “to love, adore or pay me mind”

Penciled lines drew cruel conclusions
mocking mirror’s cracked illusions…
Sometimes, in time, I hang awhile,...

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TRUMP POEMS AND EPIGRAMS III

Trump's real goals are obvious
and yet millions of Americans remain oblivious.
—Michael R. Burch

Our awful unlawful "president"
will soon be a jailhouse resident.
— Michael R. Burch aka "The Loyal Opposition"

Teddy Roosevelt spoke softly...

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Morning came alive with rockets and missile pounding over my head and screams and shouts crying out like bleating sheep and empty vessels coming from the cemetery and everyone was in a hurry to bury...

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PAINTBRUSH 

Fingertips the bristles of a 
pagan paintbrush 
painting a Tree of Life
on pacified cheekbones 
instead of in liver
from whence it sprung
now it burns to feed
HeartSpace with witty
wood for Eternal Fire

From cheekbones
it slid to jugular...

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