Long Hobble Poems

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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Regret
by Michael R. Burch

Regret,
a bitter
ache to bear . . .

once starlight
languished
in your hair . . .

a shining there
as brief
as rare.

Regret . . .
a pain
I chose to bear . . .

unleash
the torrent
of your hair . ....

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To this day, the breath labours on still 
Marrow birthing blood same as ever 
to keep this battered carriage oiled
The soul wills the flesh to hobble on 
and prays the spirit keeps aflame 
The game...

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Seal fin de siècle with unheard celebration

though two thousand nine hundred
will be here in seventy five years,
a mere blink of the eye
never to early
to think about fêted occasion
which marks the beginning
of the 22nd century.

if not...

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The Joys of Getting Older.

We may all be getting on a bit
But lets not forget for some more fortunate
 The joy of it

You don’t have to bounce up and down in bed no more
And when...

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The Divide
by Michael R. Burch

The sea was not salt the first tide ...
was man born to sorrow that first day
with the moon—a pale beacon across the Divide,
the brighter for longing, an object denied—
the tug at...

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Ordinary Love
by Michael R. Burch 
 
Indescribable—our love—and still we say
with eyes averted, turning out the light,
"I love you," in the ordinary way
 
and tug the coverlet where once we lay,
all suntanned limbs entangled, shivering,...

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I have got to wake up 
And I have got to get dressed, with eyeshadow
With the intent of wings of a butterfly – my face, can it be beautiful
A little while longer – while this...

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Let us rest our heads upon the pillow of denial, turn twilight in the last clear reflection of the silent moon. Where vile droppings fell the freshness of the morning sea, turn to graveyards, lest...

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His name was Emmet Patterson,
and back in 1863,
he led a cavalry unit
patrolling deep in Tennessee.

The state was firm in Union hands,
Tte Civil War in its third year,
but the threat of partisan raids
meant that he was...

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(Chorus)
You think you've got swagger but really you hobble,
you've got the jet lagger and you're drunk so you wobble,
don't start on me mate 'cus I will bring trouble,
to put it into slang words I'm Barney...

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Him or me?  Sweetie who's it gonna be?   You have me waiting, anticipating.  This 
question should not have you hesitating.  I've sat back and listened to you explain.  Your...

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Because Her Heart Is Tender, for Beth
by Michael R. Burch
 
She scrawled soft words in soap: “Never Forget”
dove-white on her car’s window (though the wren,
because its heart is tender, might regret
it called the sun to...

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		 Hobble Hobble Hobble0
      Written for Cedarville Librarian Julie.

Absolutely no pressure on that knee for 6 weeks.
They gave me crutches 
Hobble, hobble, hobble. to the door.
Husband waiting for me, 
luckily.
I...

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"The Wretched Prince"

You were my hope
And all my dreams,
But all of that has changed,
It seems

Because I treated 
You so bad,
Destroying everything
We had

And if I could
Just turn back time,
I'd claim you and,
I'd make you mine

I'd treat...

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That sweet Christmas announcement, that I'm recalling yet
                  
         ...

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With special acknowledgement to:
Jennifer Proxenos!

     “Thank You, Dearest Poets All”

We all differ in our poetic skill.
Be kind to new poets as you don’t know
lifestyles or..if people are ill!

We just forget new...

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Cherish me as I grow old, and am surely liable to forget things. 
 I know how interesting life is and the contentment it brings.
I know you'll make excuses to try and be miserable and...

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Break all the mirrors so we can’t see what we’ve become.
What happened to that sixties dream of a world built on love?
Survival made so difficult we couldn’t see it slip away.
Now it is on our...

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My Rhetoric Rhapsody

Oh! I am a Poet
It’s me again pretty poet of the century,
Breaking through till I reach mercury.
A pretty poet with popping phrases,
A poor poet with perpetual personality.
Praying that my poems pulls out pieces...

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When rollerblading I threw out my back. 
A sidewalk bump sent me off the track. 
On the way home I had felt out of whack. 
Did extra stretches to create motion slack. 

But the lumbar...

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/wake up
/run program

I open my eyes
Is there any honesty in me?
What or who am I?
And what will I ever be?

/left foot pain
/run program

I hobble out of bed
My left foot in pain
I stumble to the window
And...

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Rampage marching through the streets;
Crunching of infestation beneath bare feet.
Have you ever smelled true fear?
Mellowing heartbeats, trying to persevere;
Desperately quieting incorrigible tears.

Perhaps somewhere on a television set,
Or in a newspaper you gently fold back:
You might...

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Aubrey Mc Govern
by Don Johnson ........
Aubrey McGovern and the Deaf & the Deefe
lived down on Cubbie on damper and beef.
The damper was easy McGovern could cook
the beef it was shady  Deaf &  Deefe...

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Note to the many enemies of democracy:
No need to force upon us uranium enemas 
just billow a tiny bug into the neon lungs
of our bumbling- deeply divided cities..
Sit back and have a few Molotov cocktail...

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