Long Hydrant Poems

Doggerel II: Doggerel about Doggerel, or, More Nonsense Verse

The Board
by Michael R. Burch

Accessible rhyme is never good.
The penalty is understood:
soft titters from dark board rooms where
the businessmen paste on their hair
and, Walter Mitties, woo the...

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Dog Daze
by Michael R. Burch

Sweet Oz is a soulful snuggler;
he really is one of the best.
Sometimes in bed
he snuggles my head,
though he mostly just plops on my chest.

I think Oz was made to love
from the...

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You still frighten me Ciro Gargano the way you control city officials after committing arson murders of 8 fire chief gene kalinowski was great in calling in that favour even though you and my abusive...

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Who suggests a trip back...rides to this bit of nostalgia in the middle years of the Great Depression aboard a Chicago elevated train, "the El." We hurdle head-long above asphalt blanketed streets that are determined...

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What if you were born in the 1800's?
                           ...

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He handed me the air-brushed t-shirt
and I thanked him, said I loved it.

He asked, Do you mean that?
I said, What would have possessed me
to utter it otherwise?

Then he kissed me with his sweaty upper lip,
through...

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Walking Meditation
                    by Odin Roark

“And I thought marriage was hard.”

Taking Meditation for a walk
nags me with...

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Hubby was working, out of town, lately, so we went to pick him up.
And we passed thru the town of Metropolis in our ancient pickup truck.
Now don’t think Dragon didn’t notice, that this was the...

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Hubby works in the next town, and I drop him off… quietly each morn.
But when it’s night…  and time to pick him up…Dragon comes along.
Dragons there, daily, so crazy things tend to happen, I...

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The snow so deep… That it was over our heads… Was a melting by the hour!
Give it a day, or two at most… and with this heat… it would all be gone, forever!
But in the...

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Dawn Forever Rising

It starts

Street lights fade
their tiny soft-winged tenants flee
checkerboard facades change
last night's illumined squares now dark
become but yesterday's portals
some polished
some weather streaked
all reaching to reflect first breath

Steam ascends from the city's vacuum
gratings rattle with...

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Remote Woman


Old Man Jim was 90.
He was simple, caring, and quiet. 
He loved watching TV.
He thought some shows were a real riot.

One night he went for a stroll on Oak Street
and stepped on a Remote...

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Your frustration is bubbling over the pot
I see it, but I’m not sure how to turn the anger off
Arguing is such a turn off
We're headed home from dinner with the music from the radio fading...

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Written: February 26, 2025, for Antony Biaanco Contest

                           ...

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Ever find yourself getting
 up on the wrong side of 
 the bed, knowing your 
 going to have one of those 
 days!! Guess what!
 everything went wrong,
 first, the letters slipped
 out of...

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The 80's Became The Present Again

On the coast of Oahu
here, I was on a beach bus,
circling a sweet picture
in my mind,
white sands, blue seas, palms,
rolling all along
in a candy store.
It was a beautiful beach setting,
a...

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Wither-all to compensate for bending neurons break
I can sometimes see from close or far
the ashes of an endless burning stake
Cosmos shape reflected in my jar.

Arise once more the Phoenix of crucible spent
arrest the tide of...

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Madame Sierra
if you think you can have another man, on the side;
Then it's off with you, then you and you friend need to go bye-bye-bye-bye;
Don't shed a tear in front of me;
I'll give you know...

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Saturday Night

Smoked cigarette butts in
The cup of runny-mud-thick cold minestrone soup
Half gone
My inebriated head melts
Into my numb hairless fingers, hang nails hung over from
A sober week at the office
Half a dream
A purple man steals my...

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Surviving in the city


The dog stood on the corner, looking for the cat.
The cat was at the Warf side, behind a fishing vat.

The dog was known as Rusty, an Irish setter bread.
The cat was known...

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The busted fire hydrant on the corner sprays water down like rain.
Water gushes down the dirty gutter, relieving this humid pain.

Sipping iced tea in their air-conditioned houses on the hill or in high-rise,
They don’t know...

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(Yo Bone hits the Mic, lights dim)  soulful Urban Funk/ Ain't no genre/ it's a feeling/ Downtempo Swing beats lovers in tight/
 Lo-Fi whispers through the city's roar, Urban Pop shimmers, not for ghetto...

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Voices from another galaxy 
drop hints about this blissful daydream dwelling I’m 
obsessed with.
They douse the strident yelping from an unrestrained stray pup in my neighbourhood,
when it breaks clear of its tan leather muzzle with...

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They laid and built a new road;

in the heat of the day it looks
like a stretched curved spine 
along which newly planted trees 
grow their skimpy wishbones
as they file along the verge.

There is no shade...

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surrounded and hounded by evil ones and enemies...
but i'm so blind i still can't see
the evil one's inside of me...i'm my own worst enemy

like torches of terror burning holes in the night...i rise,run,and fall with...

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