Long Hoard Poems

There's consequences in all we say and do 
Go forward and walk your walk and I'll go ahead and talk my talk 
Quite distraught due to the fact that you're too good to be true
I...

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~~**This poem is super long, but it took me hours to write. I hope you all enjoy reading this as I have enjoyed writing it wholeheartedly.**~~

Awful anger expressed in verses
Didn’t give me blessings, but curses
I’m...

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State of the Art (IV)

These are my "ars poetica" poems about the art and craft of writing poetry. 



Hearthside
by Michael R. Burch

“When you are old and grey and full of sleep...”  — W. ...

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To a Daughter More Precious than Gems
by Otomo no Sakanoue no Iratsume
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

Heaven's cold dew has fallen—
and thus another season arrives.
Oh, my child living so far away,
do you pine for me...

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Here We Shall Remain
by Tawfiq Zayyad
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Like twenty impossibilities
in Lydda, Ramla and Galilee ...
here we shall remain.

Like brick walls braced against your chests;
lodged in your throats
like shards of glass
or prickly cactus...

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Wounded Sacred Dementia: Part Two

Dementia's derelict WinLose SocialWorker
suboptimizingly hesitates
when I tell her
I have not changed my mind
about not adopting Fetal Alcohol Syndrome
into my vulnerable home
with a seven-year-old AfricanAmerican boy
blind
and unable to defend himself,
or even run...

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Merciles Beaute ("Merciless Beauty")
by Geoffrey Chaucer
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Your eyes slay me suddenly;
their beauty I cannot sustain,
they wound me so, through my heart keen.

Unless your words heal me hastily,
my heart's wound will remain...

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Old Pharaoh had enslaved the Jews; he would not let them go.
So God devised a mighty scheme; his go-to guy was Mo.
His brother Aaron was the voice, for Moses talked real slow,
So he would wave...

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Despite his impatience to show me his hell,
He waited for me in my rest, 
Lying upon the ground, I awoke in prayer,
Thanking God above and asking Him for guidance

“My heart is Yours, always,
From the moment...

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My Daughter

My beautiful Daughter, walks life’s paths alone,
She does so, by design – not of hers – on her own.
She travels heavily !, from place to empty space,
from space to vacant place – in what...

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A Brief For The Defense 

Sorrow everywhere. Slaughter everywhere. If babies 
are not starving someplace, they are starving 
somewhere else. With flies in their nostrils. 
But we enjoy our lives because that's what God wants....

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My love was serpentine to the touch
I can't quite explain it...the love of mine
Had gone away from my sight and such
I can quiz my mind to say otherwise, my bittersweet sugar wine…

Why am I extremely...

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"We have an enemy within called the ego
who prevents us from using our mind intelligently.
It hides deep within our heart
and emerges with regularity
to challenge and consume our will."
     Rumi (M. Mafi,...

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 A sense of belonging 
Is amongst your nobility
Peaceably, truly longing
To give praise to You entirely

Take me all the way with your sway of youth
Give me physical poetry, please, beyond the truth
You are more priceless...

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Of Ghosts and fiends in Twilight, Cont.


A thought flashed in my mind from the old tales told
The lore of the beast and I had felt his foul breath
I had seconds to act or be devoured...

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Father, you hurt my feelings
It looks as if you don’t care that I’m alone
Melodic, hopeful bird sings,
So I listen and feel at home, all on my own 

The tune of tranquility will drain away the...

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De ja vu is seen right before my 7 senses...don't listen to the cries of lies...
Complete me...don't leave me empty - let my 6 become 7 (complete me) This bothersome feeling of disbelief intensifies -...

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Diaspora Dwellings

On my way into our sanctuary
this past Sunday morning
a woman I had met in choir
was strangely inclined
to share her family history.

Her dad came over from Ireland
because he wanted better business opportunities
for his healthy future.

Here...

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Fr. Time is with us today, again, or still, I guess I should say.

No, you just did.  
That would be redundant, 
to say it again, 
like I just did.

Just a reminder of a contractual...

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I don’t feel good at this
I’m feeling so hopeless
I need some happiness
I’m feeling dread instead
I’ve been consuming sorrowful bread
I’ve been feeling rather dead

I want to repent of being sinful
I want to repent of being resentful
I...

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Standing up for the kids standing up to sleep in overbearing heat clothes damp from their pee, God made night separate from day, but with lights bright all night as well as all day, the...

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Summer Memories
Summer Realities

This, the first day of summer, two thousand and two, finds me,
slipping back into what once was my desire, my need, my reality.
This step back into, and into times passed, has allowed me...

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Sudden movement of my heart, a shattered piece of art, 
Broke me apart from the start…rolling in the inner death-cart
Heartrate going sky high — I won’t lie nor can I deny that life cuts deep...

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2nd HALF - due to Poetry Soups file size limitation - 

                       ...

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***Part 2 -last part- of the series, Not Focused (written entirely by J.W. Earnings)***

Hear me out in the dark woods of my bewildered mind and save me from evil deeds
I am intrigued by Your spiritually...

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