Long Headstone Poems

Epitaph for a Palestinian Child
by Michael R. Burch

I lived as best I could, and then I died.
Be careful where you step: the grave is wide.



Autumn Conundrum
by Michael R. Burch

It's not that every leaf must finally...

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I.	  The Settlement

          Hickory bark bluffs
          at the blend of two 
    ...

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Lumi smiled and reached out to grab his shoulder.  They passed over the ridge where, as Joulupukki had said, a small hamlet clung to the side of the mountain about equal distance to the...

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Tea in the afternoon with his wife of many years is usually peaceful, Hubert thinks before he makes his announcement. Then he says it. 

"I'm going upstairs," Hubert tells Ruth as he hoists himself out...

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The appearance of his old friend brought new thoughts of his mother and, Nordgrend, the town in which  they spent the last few years.  Raðulfr, was a truly kind man and he was...

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Two days passed without event before the ceremony to re-inter Joulupukki's parents began.  Because of where it was being held, the number of elves to participate had to be limited.  With the last...

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She watched the demolition team enter her old school. In the next few days it would be raised to the ground. The end of an era she thought, Christ, it was depressing.
Suddenly a thought entered...

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DynDoeth with serious face and determined stride entered the room and advanced directly toward Joulupukki.  Standing to face the elf, Joulupukki, was intent on getting some answers, but before he could utter a sound...

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“I’m sorry that it’s been so long,” the old man told the tombstones, scanning them that brisk fall day, in 1969.
“It’s not that I’ve forgotten you.    It’s not that I’m not proud...

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	I
Friend, whatever brought your life to end
had no appetite for mouse flesh, nudged your
small gray body on its side with a thorough sniff
and left your corpse exposed on the asphalt path,
then, for reasons of its...

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HEADSTONES AND CHATTELS 

‘Twas pure chance that I discovered
Just the other day,
A place passed 
Countless times,
Never had the thought of calling in,
Inner thoughts and misplaced fears
Oh there must have been countless other reasons
For one to...

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Oh to vacation behind the heavy metal door
To escape another election year.
All news is stopped at the door by the guards
Whoever sit in the same place
Waiting
Always
Waiting to retrieve all banned goods
And outside time. 
Between med...

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You narrators from far, from my chamber I call. Take the story that I've told & may you tell it to all...

& so it began, that this poor little man
Took off through the bog with...

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She is searching for the son taken  from her arms 
 simply because she was believed to be a child herself.
She was unable to stand up to her parents’ wishes -
those GOD fearing upright...

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Sy Roth - 3 Poems
12/17/20130 Comments
 
Picture
Silence

I’ve dreamt often that she crept deep
Into my cellular structure, 
Some time in the nightfall of my being
And planted deeply into my mitochondrion,
A magical silence pill,
Drowning the kittens of...

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Mossy vines served as camouflage for a  d
                          ...

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Your devoted adoring Loving hands
Shields the abyss with trance
in utter bewilderment
As every hand is first an apprentice 
That slaves beneath The Temple Of LOVE
Your Loving hands have valor and daring
to weave my sorrow into a...

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October 7th, 2023 upon third anniversary of mine papa's passing...

Death no longer jars, nixes, 
and rattles mine sense and sensibilities
without pride nor prejudice
no matter (even with marginal persuasion) 
wit and wisdom of Jane Austen ill...

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October 7th, 2022 upon second anniversary of mine papa's passing...

Death no longer jars, nixes, 
and rattles mine sense and sensibilities
without pride or prejudice
no matter (even with marginal persuasion) 
wit and wisdom of Jane Austen ill...

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Enough Angelina, drop the bouquet of harebells.  
The flowers wilt as your graying hands stiffen. See, how grave
is our newborn son. We gift him a black crêpe layette.
Say Darling Edward, say, Golubushka, make me...

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*********
From my new blog..

Illuminations, Temptations, Life's Travails Endured 
 
Weep for Truth that man's inherent evil betrayed
Zeus hurled lightning bolts, paradise dreams delayed;
Intriguing words, those tales of mythological beasts
Sirens tempt, alluring songs, dark orgasmic feasts:
Man...

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I walk alone 
in The City of Stone
Head down
Heartbroken
This path well known
Chaotic thoughts
abound in my mind
Trying so hard 
to remember better times

Memories haunt me still 
Though I try to let go
My feet leave a lonely...

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D
   e  e  
          p    vines embrace the  TOMBS that lie disgraced in the old...
   ...

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Dead Winter Stray~ By: Poet Destroyer

Nearby paces, Combatants lost under the cemetery walls,
“Blessed Men and Heavenly Remedy Women of Ages,”
Feelings of dance at the beginning of nightfall,
Scenery of fire, sadness passing this history page,
In that...

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Vivid flashbacks from bloodshed battles
his soul still ravaged by devious dictators,
cries from fallen comrades still echo in his mind,
but he continues to walk upon a path of pandemonium. 

Reluctantly he ventures forward with
vengeance portrayed through...

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