Long Gentled Poems

No Mark
by Michael R. Burch

A wave implodes, 
impaled upon
impassive rocks...

this evening
the thunder of the sea
is a wild music filling my ear...

you are leaving
and the ungrieving
winds demur...

telling me
that nothing returns
as it was before...

here where you have...

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 enigmatically enlightened 
                   embodied essence of 
o__live imperceptible 
       ...

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1) Preamble

As breath’s created, sustained and destroyed,
we see trika, threefold aspect at play
through life, where we are by ego decoyed,
until we choose to make love our mainstay.
Beyond religions, scriptures and folklore,
let’s explore the direct path...

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Young like the Spring grass, smelling
Beautiful – so fresh and alive,
Trembling dandelions dancing in the light
Sunny whims caressing the thoughts,
Remembering the joy and kindness
She brought when she gentled the dreams,
With laughing honesty, sincerity
Wishing on the...

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“As God’s spark ensouling organic form,
I am that presence which cannot be named,
felt within as a magnetic bliss storm,
divine pulsation that cannot be tamed,
gentled by His touch, within body framed.
I am that which transcends both...

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"...one can never leave home... one carries the shadows, the dreams, the dragons of home under one's skin, at the extreme corners of one's eyes.. " - Maya Angelou, Letter to My Daughter, 2008

Healing all...

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Lisa’s dad has a visitor from out of town - a “very important man.” He came early. He was dressed casually, in slacks, and a jacket over a mock-turtleneck. He was genial, behind tortoiseshell glasses,...

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Poet, Hush!
The world says, "Hush"! I say no to the world.
Yes, I hear the poets.  Yes, I feel and sense 
the pain and anguish. The tears for the 
world agenda.
Power, greed from all walks...

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The wind blows through the ocean between waves and the sky
Through the islands where dragon of Komodo lives it will fly
Wild tiger the soul of India it will pass by
While arctic wind with it is...

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Ezekiel 11:19 “And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart...

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ON LOOKING AT SCHILLER’S SKULL
by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Here in this charnel-house full of bleaching bones,
like yesteryear’s
fading souvenirs,
I see the skulls arranged in strange ordered rows.

Who knows whose owners might...

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A little girl with flaxen hair
Curled up on my lap
She was like a mermaid, lovely
As she chose to nap

At a young age, I knew her worth
Cuddling up in a ball
She smiled elation, such an imagination
As...

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The mother dodged most of it; some connected and singed her hair. A shriek was the reply. As was a return spell. The air glowed red and shimmered. Mother Goddess didn't wait to see if...

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ROHRBACH CAFE

Intimacy.

A place
of shared warmth, an atmosphere of muted shadows and candlelight,
where
emotions, profoundly sincere,
softly glow,
flare,
then wane
until, fully consumed, they are dimmed
and gentled
by intrinsic breezes of serenity.

A cafe
of quiet murmers, hushed revelations
among tables close,
but afar,
where
evening lit...

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Written: April 18, 2025, for contest by Useeking Seeker

Suggested line of inquiry:

“As God’s spark ensouling organic form,
I am that presence which cannot be named,
felt within as a magnetic bliss storm,
divine pulsation that cannot be tamed,
gentled...

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Splendor of soft shoulders
caressed by sinking sun
Out my window the western slope
of the thick coated Rocky Mountains
Once upon a clear cold Colorado Chrstmas 
purple brushed horizon flecked with gold
filled my picture window 
Mesmerized I stood...

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It is surely wonderful…
	To not be found
In the parlors or diners
	At the water’s edge
Along the beach or river
	Where there are blessings
Foaming from the shores

It is surely wonderful…
	To find a passion
Thriving with warmth
	Welcoming joys
Inspirations so alive
	They...

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Our summer fellowships are over! We learned a lot - for instance - how summer’s a lot less fun when you’re hemmed-up, inside working. I mean, we preesh’d the clinical experience, the learning, and especially...

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The old stream doesn’t burble 
like it used to in Spring’s past -
rambunctious in youth  wild it ran
racing the sun and chasing the moon
splashing  leaping  and  tumbling 
over, down and around...

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The first time that you see her, She will steal your soul away,
And replace it with a being of her own,
Her white sands will glisten, underneath turquoise skies,
And make your heart always long, for New...

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OLIVE EYES

                                 ...

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I heard tell some folks think cowboys built the West.
The only thing I know for sure is I always did my best
to give a man a good days work for an honest wage
ridin' among tumbleweeds...

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She arose from within me,
in the quiet contentment of a day, filled with dogs and digging,
white fluff falling from the trees and blowing in the wind.

I did not see her coming,
had no intention of calling...

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When it left the Arctic it was as a wild angry wind
that stormed its way across the ice bound Arctic ocean.
Blowing the snow clad icebergs and whipping up the ocean.
As it crossed Alaska and into...

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we’ve been told, God is love 
and so it is 
the clear truth undisguised

for mind, love is a concept
ego may adopt it as a practice
because it is fashionable to do so
generating within a feel good...

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