Long Hangovers Poems

Rejection Slips 3

Rejection Slip
by Michael R. Burch

Whenever my writing gets rejected,
I always wonder how the rejecter got elected.
Are we exchanging at the same Bourse?
(Excepting present company, of course!)

When editors reject my poems, did I slip...

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Villanelles

The villanelle is a poetic form based on repetition, with a double refrain. 



Villanelle: The Divide
by Michael R. Burch

The sea was not salt the first tide...
was man born to sorrow that first day, 
with the...

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Footprints in the sand.


It’s quiet now; it’s not like it was last night.
All the hangovers are asleep, they have never seen the morning light.
They are dreaming of last night’s fires 
And drinking away the days...

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Feel me standing there
on the draw bridge
that stands stubburn and erect
over the rushing waters blown by the wind
back and forth.
I listened to the crows
posted on gargoils designed
of eightenth century Gothic architecture
singing their death songs,
when the...

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Prolog:   This poem is about how much you need to struggle to ‘survive’ as an accountable and matured man. Child demands what he desires and the man sacrifices his desire, to fulfill the...

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I got drunk by my self last night
There was just nothing else to do
I told myself that itll be alright
If I could just get that memory out of sight

My eyes are half closed
From staring down...

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Cloistered within the restroom stall
eavesdropping on my peers
soft whispers echo off tiled walls
revealing secrets, hidden tears

Somehow this restroom has become
a sordid confessional booth
a place of refuge, safe for some
to air their inner truth

Co-workers cluster, confiding...

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Raised to believe she was beautiful and special
a look in the mirror reveals a ferocious beast,
with empty eyes and a sinister smile.  Wicked
thoughts fill the head of the angel
in disguise whose eyes used to...

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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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That's not my elephant!
The man  dressed like a modern day hammlet or Lady Ga Ga screamed 
in his best Justin Biber voice once told me one thing.

It was a good time to make my...

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By the afternoon I was back-on-my-toes. 

Almost every night my roommates and I sit around a low table in the common room of our suite, crossed legged, on cushions and do our homework. It’s less...

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The Liquor Bottle
       
     Conical at the top beautiful sides offers it support
     Like a forest of oak trees in a...

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Hang Over Reflections


Last night a Korean friend from Virginia came for a two week visit He brought with him a 30-year Bottle of Ballentine whiskey.  Of course, we must drink it and then we...

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This is my story about Menudo, and not the boy band Menudo
Mexican Menudo soup, known as the breakfast of champions
It’s what borracho’s, and Ricky Martin and all el mundo saludo
Chili mix, cilantro and lemon or...

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They’ve all gone those singer songwriters of yesterday 
or are in the process of leaving 
But their songs remain in our hearts and psyches
their words forever embedded in our souls

They came like a breath of...

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If only I could be five once more
With all the knowledge en wisdoms from distant shores
Oh what a time I would have
At only five, I would be a devilish lad

I would file tax returns just...

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365 days of the Alcohol Experiment
After 30 days the need to continue was evident.

Italian adventure to Rome Florence and Venice, cosy restaurants and no wine a penance!
Elation on completion of a holiday with alcohol deletion.
Real...

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There is a place,
a magical wonderland
that sits at the end of your mind,
and everybody dead and living
goes there when they are tired.
It is a place that is special
and is diffrent to stand to your approval.
It...

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Yeah Im feeling a lil too native tonight like Im on da rez like a youngster drunk and suicidal
 Poppin pills like Im poppin at my own people like they my culturalistic rivals 
I'm dying...

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I’m chilling and doing homework tonight. Leaning into it.

Last night one of our suitemates (Julia) turned 21 - she’s barable. Not that we get carded anywhere - I’ve never had trouble getting into clubs or...

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For one night only satan decides, to offer me a look around hell
An open house, I’m able to walk in freely roam about come back out 
No strings attached no tricks, or punishment 
I ask...

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When the thought comes a callin
That's when the guilt soon sets in
Cause that's when I know
I'll be drinking again

Whether up on the counter
Or in the front of my fridge
I'll only leave empties
I'll be back on...

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we awoke to five machine guns
staring at us
all were American made
therein a comfort
another American in a foreign land
the caveat, Federales were holding them
we were naked
Sally from the Alley and i
wanted to ask us a few...

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Weekly this sorry procession
rolls out a parade of wannabe
kings and queens,
heirs unapparent to the realms of nothingness.

Girls with elaborate hairdos,
boys drenched in cheap cologne;
drawn to the main drag pubs,
solitary ventilators of the monochrome kingdom.

Factory gates...

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Take life for an escalator
Go both through its ups 
and downs
Ride it like on an elevator
Expect both smiles and 
frowns.

Take life for a suspense 
novel
you and I unaware what 
the next day will hold
Meditate and...

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