Long Grease Poems

Sonnets XC-XCVII

Artificial Smile
by Michael R. Burch

I’m waiting for my artificial teeth
to stretch belief, to hollow out the cob
of zealous righteousness, to grasp life’s stub
between clenched molars, and yank out the grief.

Mine must be art-official?zenlike Art?
a...

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These are prophetic poems and apocalyptic poems about the earth, climate change, global warming, extinction events, and mankind's role on an endangered world ...



Polish
by Michael R. Burch

Your fingers end in talons?
the ones you trim to...

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We are the days that we’ve become. 
moments dripping gifted from
the lounging clocks in rolling melted sightings, 
given by the gifted madness of a soulmate’s fightings. 

Our lives wrapped up in phrases coined
in books like,...

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Part I.

Harvest time was winding down, 
I was taking lunch in town, 
After spending six long hours plowing stubble.
Washing up I met a man, 
Guessed he was a harvest hand, 
His combine crew, he said,...

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*** Notice to the residents of Milton Creek ***

Tom serves as mayor. never complaining, so he gets what he requests 
No blood in his steak, apple pie with sweet cream. Aces cooks that meal
to perfection...

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RESURRECTION OF A HEROE:
This is ANDERSON WALKINGSHOES... 
CHORUS:
Far from comparison, far from fear.
Failure part of the journey; shed no tears.
Man...do... the best you can do.
Talents in your hand's only for you. 
No body cares...what you...

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Overrun by stuffed subdued teddy bears...

of diverse and sundry sizes engaged 
in woebegone wild rumpus
as a last hoorah 
for diversity, equity and inclusion,
whose somber bowed heads
(hide their snickers
just a kiss away)
their backsides mimicked 
tufted heavenly...

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When We Were Young

He left for work each morning, 
Wearing steel-toed boots and a tin hat.
He took long strides that were three times 
The length of mine.
In one hand he carried a lunch pail and...

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I Jumped up suddenly out of my bed
With Jack the ripper spinning in my head
And the word cabinet kept floating in my bed
I had a very serious message to deliver
But I don't know who to...

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Sand in my lungs and in every nook and cranny possible, nothing out here not even a simple bush or tree. Everything is dead and dry as a bone. My own skin holds no life,...

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The Killing Field”

Ariana nodded, tremolo fingers,
and they ran across the killing field,
watching the steel-toed kite ascend—
a fleeting instant of triumph in the vacuum.
Josh scoffed as it dipped,
both caught in the pull of the abyss,
falling but...

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The Killing Field”

Ariana nodded, tremolo fingers,
and they ran across the killing field,
watching the steel-toed kite ascend—
a fleeting instant of triumph in the vacuum.
Josh scoffed as it dipped,
both caught in the pull of the abyss,
falling but...

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Who suggests a trip back...rides to this bit of nostalgia in the middle years of the Great Depression aboard a Chicago elevated train, "the El." We hurdle head-long above asphalt blanketed streets that are determined...

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I posit picayune propensities prevail among pesky management

Most favored renter status imposed on us
i.e. meaning myself;
(one tarnished prince of Highland Manor)
and the missus, his princess consort
who must abide by rigorous writ
of tidiness, whereby
every flat surface...

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Land Is A Loom
I sailed the fiord like inlets between Powell River and Drury Inlet.
The land itself  spoke from mountains, torents, islet
From bird song and bear splashing fishers
From rutting moose and cougars sharp incisors.
The...

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Got caught in a shimmering, glimmering summer haze
Gone through anxiety and hallucinations — hate this phase
Don’t discard me when I’m trekking this road
This road of God’s abode…I admire and abide in it — He’s my...

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Who actually is like us
The modern world you see today
Right before your eyes,
Who done this and who done that
Well you’re in for a wee surprise.

From the Bank of England to the Bank of France
Then we...

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“The songs are casual and careless in a satisfying way, like the used condom your latest lover left lying on your bedroom floor, a souvenir you’re not yet ready to dispose of.” Candy Cotton, Modern...

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There is a poem I wrote several years ago that several people have written me saying how it helped them decide not to take their own life. Several people have asked me "How can you...

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When you wear a dirty shirt,
You're a book getting judged by its cover.
People think you're really poor, or nutty,
Or that you have a menial job.
Or that you're all three of those,
And then they throw in...

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( a college life vignette)

It’s Thursday morning, usually no one’s favorite, but this one seems sugary new, as if beamed in from a different, better universe. The clouds look fluffy and freshly washed.

Even the freshmen,...

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A long, long time ago, there lived a family of tin-beings,
in an underground basement in a garage. Oil and grease
were their favorite delicacy. Mechanics always wondered
where their oil and grease vanished to.

One night, one of...

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Chorus 1:

Damn girl,
If you need some grease,
Why can't you just
Squeak a little,
Squeak a little? (1)

Take time,
Let the voices cease,
Your life adjust,
Breathe a little,
Breathe a little! 



Squeaky wheel will always get the grease they say,
Never has...

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I can't sleep.
Or, I can
and did
for three hours
but I continue waking
into a Stephen King nightmare
too real to ignore
because I feel isolated
in this quagmire
of hopeless history.

In this my collective nightmare,
President Trump goes to Saudi Arabia
like Mr....

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And then the Head Elephant rose from the dead 
Surprising and shocking everyone
All cheered, “He is alive!” they shouted
“He lives!”

The opposition wrung their hands, 
Beads of sweat poured from their brows.
They had been so sure,...

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