Long Husk Poems

Erin, for a girl who embodies Ireland
by Michael R. Burch

All that’s left of Ireland is her hair—
bright carrot—and her milkmaid-pallid skin,
her brilliant air of cavalier despair,
her train of children—some conceived in sin,
the others to avoid...

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I walk o u t...

I am lost in unapproachable light—a spectral broth
I am tasting the screaming silence—the archetypal observer
dissects my essence-fossil Passion
a seismic rupture between life/death/rebirth
gnaws at my marrow This dilemma-kudzu
coils tight, constricting tomorrow's breath

Death...

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In the intimate interlace of free will and fate, in the ultimate interplay of time and place, and with the consummate checkmate of my human dignity, all that is.. is over in the stormy, swarming...

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Lilith Waits   



Lilith waits as she surveys, all her brutal yesterdays

She cruelly paved with stepping-stones of broken hearts and human bones.

Her lips turned up at their red corners, she grins at all the...

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Hours and hours of wasting time has escalated my anxieties…
I'm sorry, God, I'm addicted to so many bad behaviors…
Powers enlighten my mindset, and flowers make me feel at ease
Dementia kicking in as I procrastinate and...

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Prolonged offal bout courtesy constipation... turgid song redux,
a worse hellish fate than perdition really sucks

As of early morning
today - September 8th, 2022,
I could not but barely move
mine whole body felt
analogous to sluggish mollusk
frequent constipation found...

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4/8/24

Aww shucks
Still at the crux
In a state of flux
With reality still out of touch
I've been puzzled much
So I smoke a couple blunts
That's a double dutch
From dawn to dusk
I turned myself into a husk
Just so I...

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100% Natural psyllium husk delivered solid ecstasy

As of late - I could not but barely move
mine whole body felt
analogous to sluggish mollusk
frequent constipation found yours truly
doubled over in gastrointestinal agony

as if elephant or red (livid...

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O to tune in to good times of childhood—
To re-live gone-by years, not just to brood,
To lighten dust-laden baggage’s dead tare,
To unburden mind of deadwood afloat, 
To fast-forward to dusky days of old, 
To turn...

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By some quirky short circuit.
A drone mutated itself 
and became intelligent
.
As fate would have, 
The drone decided to take revenge. 
Chose Chill Bates as its target
The drone altered its algorithm 
and started re-programming.... its fellow...

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Apologies are due
Apologies are due
yet I am not the one to say them
Apologies are due but
but I am not the one
not today to give them
Fir all I have to give is a need to vent
a...

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The Way of the Coconut

The Way of the Coconut, that is our creed,
The coconut gives us all that we need.
From mental to physical, nothing left out,
It covers everything, without any doubt.
Where to begin, it’s really...

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endless leisure hours as distorted time stretch before me...

like the infinite vista
upon the midwestern plain
farther than the eyes of mine
(an ascetic and copacetic
shortsighted father of two grown
twenty something daughters)
can no longer see,
since sockets severely seared
staring...

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Welcome to Bridal Veil.
The beauty is beyond compare.
As you walk down the peaceful trail, 
Strange whispers might fill the air,
of Maswein, the magician forgotten tale.
O' the lore and truths, it begs to share.
May this humble...

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Written: June 16, 2025, for contest Sponsored by: Unseeking Seeker

Line of inquiry: track where lies the fulcrum of the fragrance of a rose, then likewise find within your soul.


When swinging, grapes fall off the vine,
It...

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Bane of dyschezia

Constipation spoilt rare visit
with eldest daughter
(yesterday - November twenty sixth
two thousand twenty two)
currently housed near
Rittenhouse Square, Pennsylvania.

Less than twelve hours
after a cocktail comprising
handful of prunes,
four psyllium husk capsules,
plus three dulcolax.

Myself and missis
privy to...

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Thanks so much for forwarding
these John Paul Lederach stories
of un-learning academic approaches
to peace mediation.

I wonder if you remembered
my ongoing certification process
for justice-restoring mediation
in complex multicultural conflicting histories;
which are typically antithetical to resilient peace
through ongoing safe...

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Digging my own grave synonymous with a sense of accomplishment

Quite an undertaking
to break ground
figuratively, and symbolically linkedin
while able bodied and mindedness
readies cemetery plot within Elysian Fields
although honestly, and truthfully
as an organ donor,
yours truly opts for...

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There's a time to chase the world,
and a time for the world to chase you...
the distinction between destiny and damnation
can become ambiguous as a dream
on the edge of twilight
when the world is watching you ruthlessly,
hungering...

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We brought a puzzle to the cabin,
rented on a Friday-front holiday.
Our tween was bored before we passed the first exit.
We needed the escape—
a break from where we'd been and where we were
(or thought we were,...

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Darkness still needs to be a portion of the sky,
It symbolizes grasping the cosmic matrix. 
Alas, it did not rise by a twist. It's the basics,
As morrow never rolls to spell crux truth, high.

A spark of...

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Matsuo Basho: English translations of haiku about summer, life, sun, sunshine, sunlight, melons, willows, rain, rivers, hats, shade, sad, sadness.

Such coolness
when shouldered:
the summer’s first melon.
—Matsuo Basho, translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

A wicker basket
shields the coolness
of...

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People usually walk around without realizing how far deep they have sunk in life, amidst the lies that they tell themselves to keep going, to not stop and wonder about what are they doing, blindly...

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Paying The Bill
 
You may come to this some day
It may issue from nowhere
A moment un-strident
A loose flagging half remembrance
Something which neither carries
Nor contains
But a fickle shadow 
Thin and as meaningless with an empty whimper
Not...

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I once thought to have the world within my grasp, that all I needed I already had.
I once thought to be unable to feel more happier than I was while you were around.
Only way to...

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