Long Heretic Poems

If God
is good
half the Bible
is libel.
-Michael R. Burch

*

Willy Nilly
Michael R. Burch

Isn’t it silly, Willy Nilly?
You made the stallion,
you made the filly
and now they sleep
in the dark earth, stilly.
Isn’t it silly, Willy Nilly?

Isn’t it silly, Willy...

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Pagans Protest the Intolerance of Christianity
by Michael R. Burch

“We have a common sky.” — Quintus Aurelius Symmachus

We had a common sky
before the Christians came.

We thought there might be gods
but did not know their names.

The common...

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Various Heresies 4

I, Lazarus
by Michael R. Burch

I, Lazarus, without a heart,
devoid of blood and spiritless,
lay in the darkness, meritless:
my corpse?a thing cold, dead, apart.

But then I thought I heard?a Voice,
a Voice that called me from...

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Various Heresies 2

You
by Michael R. Burch

For thirty years You have not spoken to me;
I heard the dull hollow echo of silence
as though strange communion between us.

For thirty years You would not open to me;
You remained...

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Various Heresies 6

Altared Spots
by Michael R. Burch

The mother leopard buries her cub,
then cries three nights for his bones to rise
clad in new flesh, to celebrate the sunrise.

Good mother leopard, pensive thought
and fiercest love’s wild insurrection
yield...

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Recluse by dint of circumstance

Proud anonymous troglodytes 
forerunners of mine
confronted threats less horrific
than forty fifth commander in chief
of United States of America.

He/him (matted hair, ratty, scrawny, 
and tetchy ugly villain)   
scurried into dark...

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Listen
by Immanuel A. Michael (an alias of Michael R. Burch)

1.
Listen to me now
and heed my voice;
I am a madman, alone,
screaming in the wilderness,
but listen now.

Listen to me now, and if I say
that black is black
and...

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In golden chains of bondage, was the royal queen
Brought forth, force to kneel, before the newly crowned
Pharaoh of Egypt!
Branded a heretic, a blasphemer of the Gods, a traitor to
Her people, unworthy to wear the serpents...

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Some things and projects are started but never finished.
Some other things were never intended for you to finish.
I knew a lady who told my wife and me about a book she was
writing. The entire plot,...

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Ancora in sogno vaga la mia mente
Nell’ignoto esplorando come Ulisse
Quando uno squarcio si apre immantinente.
Un uomo curvo col cappuccio nero
Che in tempi oscuri per la chiesa visse
Mi si rivolge in modo triste e altero.
“Per evitar...

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April 2 Walls
April 9 Pane e circus 2017 Redux

By order of his excellency
Emperor Donald the First

The merciful, 
the Christian King of Kings
The Sultan of Sultans
The Emperor of North America

Be it hereby decreed
That the ancient honorable...

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Heretic condemned to burn at stake
reprieve eleventh hour granted clemency
commuted death penalty
criminal sentenced solitary isolation
rat infested dungeon ultimate punishment
doled out after protracted proceedings
courtesy amazing graceful puffed dragon
unwittingly delivered merciful respite.

Cowled ascetic busied himself
exotic gaseous/ liquified...

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part 28

at least we know what to avoid in a civilization
hypnotism for one
and angst which merely resembles authenticity
by attempting to dissect the inconsequential
which boils down to the matter of
detecting the inconsequential in the first place
what...

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Hark! Joan of Arc

Joan of Arc fought for nationality and self-government,
The right to citizenship and an to identity that's yours,
One to do with your country, your space and your privileges;
She ended the medieval age saying...

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your first observation must be
I seem to be persisting LOL
it is easy to be dangerous these days
but deeper still is less a guess
than it was a thousand years ago
and what is revealed
can always be corrected
this...

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the footing on the flanks of the Hill of Beans
was worse than he had sussed
that drizzling pale morning
when the Sun was lowest
but beans be damned
and their counters with them
yes I know
a smoky mess
like most of...

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He was born in a shelter for animals,
Meant to keep off the wind and the rain,
For there was no room for them in the inn,
So it was here that they came.

His father did the best...

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He was born in a shelter for animals,
Meant to keep off the wind and the rain;
For there was no room for them in the inn,
So it was here that they came.

His father did the best...

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These barren walls
Keep me chaste
Vows of silence
Diminish nothing of wanton passions of the past
Days in silence, looking upwards to God
Thoughts linger, to where true love lies

I toil in Gods works
Knees now as rocks
All of Gods...

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He/him (ratty, scrawny, 
and tetchy ugly villain)   
scurried into dark recesses of hermitage
averse to cavort, frolic, inure himself
into the duplicitous schemes
capitalized, glorified, popularized

courtesy vanity of Homo sapiens
lest imp of the pervert 
already sacrificed...

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As I sit down at the Banquet feast,
With Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,
Oh, what a day it is—
In the Kingdom of Heaven sacred.
But Jesus is the one—
I want to see face to face.
For Jesus is the...

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Nestled in verdant woods on a hilly terrain,
The sequestered chapel stood, tranquil was the place
With a calm drowning the hubbub around
With blooming plants adorning the encircling space

Gently moved to that well protected chapel
Tip toeing through...

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Deep within our cosmic fabric hides
The magical, mystical thought that carves the world into waves.
The scarf of the evening pulls over the flight of winds,
Like the celestial dawn that envelopes deserts and holy monasteries.
The air...

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Lust has such a bad press

          one of the seven deadly sins

              ...

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Court hiss sea hove The Irish Times,
     this hum mere ruck can bloke
kin esse spy climb mitt till impact
     desiccation ravaging with choke

hold thee aim rilled isle,
...

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