Long Illumination Poems

Hate the feelings of ew's and ugh's...let's pause before we put our paws on this unmanageable cause with silent applause (quiet interest or hushed enthusiasm)
What's the cause of these negative, gross, worthless flawful laws that...

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Agony be to society's demise
Labels are for fools, not for the wise
Play the familiar tune of in-unison serenity 
Fatality won't come any time soon, thankfully...

Homeless people were on the news not to long ago...I weep...

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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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Dusk-gliding swallow, 
please spare my small friends
flitting among the flowers! 
—Matsuo Basho translation by Michael R. Burch

A bee emerging
from deep within the peony's hairy recesses
flies off, sated
—Matsuo Basho translation by Michael R. Burch

That dying cricket,...

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Lozenge
by Michael R. Burch

When I was closest to love, it did not seem
real at all, but a thing of such tenuous sweetness
it might dissolve in my mouth
like a lozenge of sugar.

When I held you in...

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Radiance
by Michael R. Burch

for Dylan Thomas

The poet delves earth’s detritus—hard toil—
for raw-edged nouns, barbed verbs, vowels’ lush bouquet;
each syllable his pen excretes—dense soil,
dark images impacted, rooted clay.

The poet sees the sea but feels its meaning—
the...

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Juvenilia: Early Poems VII

These are early poems I wrote as a boy and as a teenager.

The Leveler
by Michael R. Burch

The nature of Nature
is bitter survival
from Winter’s bleak fury
till Spring’s brief revival.

The weak implore Fate;
bold men...

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Prose Poems II
by Michael R. Burch

These are prose poems (is that an oxymoron?) and experimental poems...



briefling
by Michael R. Burch

manishatched, hopsintotheMix, cavorts, hassex (quick!, spawnanewBrood!); then, likeamayfly, he’s suddenly gone: plantfood.



bachelorhoodwinked
by Michael R. Burch

u are charming...

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Forever forgive me
For my one and only iniquity
Please forgive me
With forbearance eternally

Lots of anger and lust
Got a hold of me…
So, I must...oh, I must…
Set my soul free

Forever forgive me
Determine my footsteps to the light
Emotionally unhappy
Intervene...

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genius?
sometimes you are in its minimal spotted light...sometimes!
other times you just know you've been touched and you freeze,
moved but frozen...like a stranger it moves in, does its work and leaves.

...maybe it's been a while since...

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Patience
by Rabindranath Tagore
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

If you refuse to speak, I will fill my heart with your silence and endure it.
I will remain still and wait like the night through its starry vigil
with...

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You’re up close and personal
Hold up, I’m trying to stand tall
Lift me up before I fall
Tell me just for a minute
If you love me bit by bit
I’m just screaming aloud in this pit,
Tears falling out...

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STOLEN ILLUMINATION OF THE STAR

This journey has not been a fanciful adventure, 
we're all settlers in  these dynasty of neo-colonialism 
united only by what divides us. Victims, yes 
victims of civilized inducement, 
terms of...

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Two friends were travelling to the east seeking unexplored lands
eventually they reached some grim looking tall mountains
slowly they made their way up to the summit and stood there
Breathlessly they were amazed by the panoramic view...

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Verse 1: I don't want to be the one that got away
I swear you like the wind every night and day
Katy Perry is on the radio and I'm wondering how it's like to be in...

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Once Upon a long ago time, when the earth was full of abundant life;
and humans, who now have dominion, were but a distant star in the night…
Everything in this magical Kingdom had a spark of...

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I tried to beat the clock as I run forward…
I tried to dry my tears and be less awkward
I still have a tiny bit of pride in me fortunately
I will survive society's labels of predictable...

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The force of the righteous is full of the misguided, a forsaken realm to which we're never invited.  
The gullible minds of weakness, led by their own obliqueness.
"Take your children (Psalms)  and thrash...

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I believe in You, despite the tough twists and turns…
But, this heart of mine – it burns…it churns…it learns…
To heal on its own through time, space and Your everything
Free verse helps me to let it...

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Nothing in Excess
(the second Delphic maxim of Apollo)



A mixture of the brute and the divine
                    ...

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The truth was, we very well could go back,
But there was sudden authority and determination in his voice
It was the first time I ever respected Benjamin
The first time and only that I ever liked holding...

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THE PEN IS MY STRENGTH:
The Pen Is My Strength.. 
This is ANDERSON WALKINGSHOES... 
I'm going to wish having  someone like you,
Everything doesn't make sense about me,
Thunder strikes,...all things fall apart,
Renovation takes place,
and yet still...

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Take care in radiant delight
Take care in sharing His light
Take care 
Care to share
What’s on your mind?
You won’t be left behind

Optimism will overwhelm us 
We are on the same rowdy bus
Be strong in all aspects...

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(1.)  Honoring John Keats
, fifth poet in my dedication series

Oft From A Distant Echo, It Is Heard

At the start comes just a solitary word
oft from a distant echo, it is heard.
Imagination steps on into...

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In golden chains of bondage, was the royal queen
Brought forth, force to kneel, before the newly crowned
Pharaoh of Egypt!
Branded a heretic, a blasphemer of the Gods, a traitor to
Her people, unworthy to wear the serpents...

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