Long Herring Poems

Epigrams by Michael R. Burch



Negligibles
by Michael R. Burch
 
Show me your most intimate items of apparel:
begin with the hem of your quicksilver slip ...



Negotiables
by Michael R. Burch

Love should be more than the sum of its...

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The Rhine Salmon Complaint, Translation of Etiemble’s Complainte d’un salmon du Rhin

						For Yvon Belaval
(A lilting musical poem of varying line length in quatrains with a refrain and much internal
 rhyming; end-rhyme scheme: alternate rhymes in...

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“The Lewis Trap”



Well, of course he's misanthropic
He’s a Misanthropic Man
The Devil’s in the details
Buried deep under the covers
Of bedtime stories, slithers ‘neath loose sand

A Liddell bit of cake
A Liddell bit of julip
Sweets for a sweet...

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1 2 1 2 in a tutu playing croquet at three pm

Abracadabra is a giant kilo of horse manure thrown at the head with a boom. But a boom is neither a boomerang nor a...

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LIGHT VERSE AND NONSENSE VERSE III

The Humpback
by Michael R. Burch

The humpback is a gullet
equipped with snarky fins.
It has a winning smile:
and when it SMILES, it wins
as miles and miles of herring
excite its fearsome grins.
So beware,...

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"50 Words for Poe: Strangelove"


Strangelove was waiting  
in Holdnerness
He was anticipating 
with a certain glee 
The “Arrival” of 
Ms Bon Vivant, her sharpness
and sharing conversation 
over Kumquat Jam, Scones and 
clotted cream at High...

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I opened Paris' letter and cry


my heart dropped
my fingers trembled
I opened Paris' letter
mama it's been three days ...
then the dam burst, 
not the happy kind
unregretfully
the kind that spells gloom
sobs of tears roll down my face
uncontrollably...

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a set of ten thousand eyes in which each individual carefully watches the sky.
the craft of winter is easy enough to master, thus easy enough to recognize. 

during life, people get used to the harbingers...

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We Are The Ghost Dance Poets
  by David Lee Herring (The Powwow Poet)

  
We come together from near and far
Like wise men following the star
from the sweet Grass Hills, We come to be...

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(Continued from part one.)

Afire not his thoughts, the Devil sees,
He soars and roars, in his physical might.
His bears’ hug, his warmth, could melt you;
Into joys and tears, in willing submission.

Treat him not, to your portions...

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Penguin the pilchard leapt onto the ice
He flipped and he flopped and arrived in a trice
He took a deep breath and he held it and then
He bellowed with all of his might… “MEN!”

Pilchard the penguin...

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Homeward Bound


Land of mango and avocado 
Sweet , mild and refreshing 
Cassava bread with tea, coffee and hot cocoa 

Fresh meaty young coconut 
It’s water crisp and refreshing
 
Glazed peanut, cashew and coconut for a...

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Time Machine

I sometimes wonder about migration, is there a moment when doors are closed and the bus leaves the station
Sorry folks, the country is full.
One of the reasons people from Pakistan and there about
try to...

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Winnipeg
Every day you drive down my street, through my neighborhood, anticipating the day we'll infinitely meet
I tried to ignore the feelings I've felt since the moment I walked into your convenient store but it ever...

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Don’t worry about being thinner
Get yourself off down the pub
Then go home to a good British dinner,
Of British traditional grub

Delicious roast beef of old England
Served up with a thick Yorkshire pud
With roast spuds and cabbage...

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PoetrySoup …

I Was Heartily Welcomed… As I Sat At Your Table
By:  Carol, Sara, Carolyn, Dane Anne,  Moses, and Abel
              ...

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Add #8
'Kimmy's Bliss?' Find yours too (on the yellow brick road)!
'Courage' leads to adventure, 'Brain' lightens your load!
But real 'Heart' is the answer we're all looking for,
She's a 'Wizard of Ah's,' (1) you will come...

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the elderly man's made a pass at her

i witnessed the saddest thing I've ever seen
in a long time
i hope it's not a premonition
my life playing out before my eyes
there's a couple sitting across each other
eating...

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Gods of my Birthwaters
I carry your heart with me (I carry it in
my soul) I am never without it (anywhere
I go you go with me) and whatever are my thoughts 
(you are in the thoughts)

Gods...

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A lady on high street with ah tight pants
 And all the men turn and watching she
 Well I pretend I didn’t notice
 But in the corner of my eyes I look to see
 
...

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Yamaguchi Seishi haiku modern English translations

Grasses wilt:
the braking locomotive
grinds to a halt.
—Yamaguchi Seishi, loose translation by Michael R. Burch

Ceaseless chaos—
ice floes clash
in the Soya straits.
—Yamaguchi Seishi, loose translation by Michael R. Burch

Having crossed the sea,
winter...

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I leave my home in Trinidad
 And I come to live in America
 And now I working at Kmart
 Whole day at a cash register

 But I do have a lot of problems
 Every time...

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We enter in the sheriff’s court unnoticed at first                          ...

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Bread and Butter showed up first, 
thank God, with bread and butter 
(we hadn't any food out yet).
They had flown in from Detroit
on a real time-crunch.

Then the Gherkins arrived
Pushing through and eating
Half the sourdough and...

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There is a harbor, dark and still, 
That formed ten thousand years ago. 
It lies upon the western sill 
Of Grand Manan, in indigo. 

Seagulls soar above the cliffs. 
Puffins nest on jagged rock. 
From...

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