Long Gong Poems

In one sense,
the Cafe CoOp
started as my therapeutic retirement dream.

But,
in quite another
the CoOp goes back to when I was eight,
and I thought,
assumed really,
everyone indulged in Thought Experiments
about what would my optimal Eden Paradise.
restoring peace and...

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I am fairly new to this Norwick community.
If I recall correctly
we have about forty thousand households here
where the Connecticut River
conjoins the Mohegan and Iroquois Rivers;
originally deep rich virgin eco-forest 
of and for harmonic rhythm and...

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Yosa Buson haiku translations

On the temple’s great bronze gong
a butterfly
snoozes.
?Yosa Buson, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Hard to describe:
this light sensation of being pinched
by a butterfly!
?Yosa Buson, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Not to worry...

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Identity Apples

iam a fat skeleton, resurrecting 
from the sad memories of dada 
and dark mysteries of aminism 
iam buganda 
i bleed hope 
i drip the honey of fortune 
makerere, think tank of africa 
i dance...

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I have a lot to write and say, buddy, so hear me out some more
Don’t make me feel lower than I have ever felt before…
Listen, understand and stay quiet until I say no more…sorry if...

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In the darkness of the night, 
a ruby gleams 
to contrast a slumbered eye awakened 
to feeling, 
reflection, light, 
Lady "Genie", eyes aglow
like a beast, in mid-stride,
lost in her midnight dreams is clothed in a...

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The three enigmas of Turandot

The well of souls run deep in fabled lands of old.
Of China's ancient dynasty and the lost Great Tartary, 
a ballad of love and loss that must be told.

The Emperor's daughter,...

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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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Choices my dear one,
So many choices, 
So few voices,
Some near,
Some far,
Some to fear.

A path.
Clear and chosen.  
The erasure of a closing.
The logos of math.
The trajectory of wrath.
The conciliatory legislation blindly ruling the cosmos of...

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Our topic for this morning
said Professor Glory
to her sleepy class of bicameral scholars,
is "Attraction v. Addiction to Peak Experiences."

Addictions are wanting more than attraction therapeutically invites.
Addictions suboptimize the Peak outcomes they promise.
Unlike the continuous resonance...

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My life hasn’t always been easy...
                             ...

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My daughter - my love - my darkness - my only care.
Oh how I miss you dear, wish you were here.
But wishes cannot turn back what has been done;
can they - can they bring you...

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A meadow for Autumn

Forest, I lay me down to rest
upon bed of moss.
 
Eternal sleep immediately overtakes me 
lichen kenning myself 
as Rip Van Winkle 
except being repurposed
as  oldest living species. 

With an estimated...

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The People's Coop
is a warm inviting place,
for some
a reading and meditation
and arts practice and performance space,
for others
a place to ride sleek bicycles
with self-and-other improvement book racks
while peddling energy into the cooperative Grid,
sheltered by solar panel...

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Wednesday, September 2021 at 3:20 PM...
eastern standard time Autumn Equinox arrives

That seasonal occasion twill arise
when darkness and light doth bring
equilibrium between night and day
raking leaves will constitute exercise
espied and witnessed by observant earthling
namely me who...

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Taming a tropical topical tree? Taking a trunk? Telling a tailor? Traversing a tale? Many ideas. Much like the ideological dramas of a beach front. Wavelength of winds. Movements if the tides. Coconuts can jump...

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ALUTA CONTINUA : FORCED REMOVALS 

( Poet’s Note : I’m posting this poem here as a South African history student recently asked to interview poet on Forced Removals. I read this poem which he enjoyed....

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" You saw my tomorrow, seated on your yesterday's laps,
Dirty-duty rusty and arrogance humming, 
Bathing in the smokes of marijuana, basking it malodor, 
Yet, you didn't bother to wash me your words of corrections. 

Did...

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The stage is set
The audience fixed their eyes
fitted to the scene, to feed

Sun lit the early morning clouds
And It disappeared, gold appears
Spraying warmth fragrance
On dews of still sleeping leaves
To paint them dry awakening the greens
Yet...

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As a youngster he had dreamt of moving to a potato farm in Ireland

To escape from the brown rot of German post-world war II contamination

Just another plot on the map to sufficient existence and to...

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When I entered the City Senior Center
with my Open Mic proposal
to increase resilience
and decrease apartheid dissonance

I could hear no music,
see no dancing.

The quilting room
and the game room,
even the pool tables,
were as quiet as the library,
which...

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Day 1
I am a wheelchair warrior
It is August-Hel's rune ,Ear is here
What needs to die in the next 5 days?
That which hinders  growth anyways
US sends USS Georgia to Hell's Armpit
Bad move by America, I...

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Graces for the Loved and the Lost

To the sweet graces afforded to us from above 
To the hand of tender guidance that is only born from Love
To the broken boxer taking off his boxing gloves
To...

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A shadows passes over me today and something in the skies tells me that you are going away and bid this country goodbye, this time you are leaving for good and you will never look...

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Villanelle
by Michael R. Burch

Is poetry mere turning of a phrase?
Has prose become its height and depth and sum?
What happened to the songs of yesterdays?

Does prose leave all nine Muses vexed and glum,
with fingers stuck in...

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