Long Incandescence Poems

Rejection Slips 3

Rejection Slip
by Michael R. Burch

Whenever my writing gets rejected,
I always wonder how the rejecter got elected.
Are we exchanging at the same Bourse?
(Excepting present company, of course!)

When editors reject my poems, did I slip...

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Twice the night had fallen upon a sleepless slumber,
Yet again awoken by winter when the third was three in number.

I sense that a silence doth sneak ‘tween cracks of weathered wood,
Conniving with that which shadows...

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  MAGDALENE : JEWEL OF JESUS 


She was the Chosen
a beckoned one
to ignite His speeches 
smooth it with her own
illustrious strength
‘Courage against Odds’
marked her inner Jewel 
 soft it lay cradled  
rhapsodic rubicon...

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A whirl, a gust, and a thunderous boom commenced,
Heartened by the latter soreness of silent night,
Shackled through the chill blows above,
A tempest, a storm,
Threshing the world,
Shaking the Prison of Plot,

The waters of the Holy Spirit...

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Sweet Centerless Sixteen
by Michael R. Burch

Inconsolable as “love” had left your heart,
you woke this morning eager to pursue
warm lips again, or something “really cool”
on which to press your lips and leave their mark.

As breath upon...

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Villanelle: Remembering Not to Call
by Michael R. Burch

(a villanelle permitting mourning, for my mother, Christine Ena Burch)

The hardest thing of all,
after telling her everything,
is remembering not to call.

Now the phone hanging on the wall
will never...

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It has been so since the moment I felt your presence
Your vibes have connected to mine
As metals get stuck to magnets
As dew droplets stick on leaves
As butterflies get attracted to flowers
As Life itself is, to...

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He walks, rosary in hand, up the steps. 
His tread is broken, fragile, and the joggers 
Might hear his breath, each sharp inhalation, 
Each hissing exhalation, were it not for their 
Own breathless haste, their...

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Swoon Song
by Michael R. Burch

In this ordinary swoon
as I pass from life to death,
I feel no heat from the cold, pale moon;
I feel no sympathy for breath.

Who I am and why I came,
I do not...

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In the avenues of thought you stirred up ripples 
And waves, and raised all the dust that had settled 
On everything that sat within the circumference
Of a space between two meanings
A tale of two cities

And...

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My head spins as the noise from the crash echoes in my head. I sit up in some kind of terminal with strange trains bound left and right for places I don’t understand. 

One is...

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Just outside the window
    a row of coned shaped trees bend their foolish heads
                  ...

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Could beliefs be wrong
I've survived for too long
in a world full of conflicts,
wilting nascent innocence--
with venomous fearful experiences..

Broken dreams crawl to breathe
inflicted with harsh realities
unaware of masked conspiracies
in fiery oceans of betrayal,
now pound against my...

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Written: September 08, 2023
Sunsets Poetry Contest                   Sponsored by: Natasha L Scragg
_____________________________________________________________

In September golden day, so glorious and...

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The Construct of an Essence Forming

Collaborative custodians of remuneration for the poor
Commemorative symposiums on humans need for wanting more
Symbols of ancient mystery drawn upon cave walls
Thimbles of fragrant misery born from what a man recalls

A...

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Should I here ...
Knowing full well ...
Whatever such phrase as this can mean ..
Yet I contemplate
That you may have no teeth for it
This in me a sudden swell
To tell and tell and tell
Without the telling...

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My essence spawned in a sunflower
And I opened my eyes
To blinding sunlight,
Enjoying its warmth upon my body,
Licking my lips at the way the winds 
Teased my hair
And giggled out loud
When the skies poured rain drops...

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April 07, 2024
                  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Through the serene meadow, we tread,
With mindful motions and hearts full of dread,
It's daybreak; everything...

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In a weightless state of tranquility, 
paraphrasing relentless thoughts of motion 
in my head into words, which 'til now 
have laid dormant in unsung verse, waiting
for you to shine brightly upon them. 

Freshly painted impressions...

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Donor Cozeners
            by Odin Roark

Seduction eased into town long ago,
Thought to be natural.
It was
Praised as stability,
It was
Embraced as destiny,
It was…

Procreation ruled the nights,
Delivery rooms...

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Stare-well.! gazing..As emotions and souls to your Majestic fields aspire..
Temporal surrounds me, ambiguous background; below crested fallow moons.."
Amplified." Intensity' as stellar images fall silently; while cresendos of beauty abound
Innumerable shifts of light and dark in...

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Leaves are falling once more. 
Remembrance is trickling and passing across
a respectful but not inevitable thresh-hold.
Not today please, I’m not ready so soon. 

I can hear the sounds of my memory song
although the words have...

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Once manifested on the 
heel of Adagio in G major,
balancés and assemblés from 
the back hand. Baryshnikov told
me to flatten my stomach, so I 
repressed the urge to
breathe; suffocation is
incandescence by the barre.

Then I looked...

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Aviating aspirations      
of effervescent incandescence 
spread psychic plasma
of primal spectrum, 
painting the exuberance 
of indigo emotions 
on the sullen sky,      
fantasy configures
fascinating fresco
of mental panorama,
suffused...

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In the battle of markets, where influences clash relentlessly,
In every war, the lies of professionals resonate loudly,
Where religious fanatics, sincere to the point of incandescence,
Sell a holy crusade to defend virtue from the shadow of...

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