Long Ineffectual Poems

Rejection Slips 2

The Shape of Mourning
by Michael R. Burch
 
The shape of mourning
is an oiled creel
shining with unuse,
 
the bolt of cold steel
on a locker
shielding memory,

the monthly penance
of flowers,
the annual wake,
 
the face in the...

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Nucleotidings
by Michael R. Burch

“We will walk taller!” said Gupta,
sorta abrupta,
hand-in-hand with his mom,
eyeing the A-bomb.

“Who needs a mahatma
in the aftermath of NAFTA?
Now, that was a disaster,”
cried glib Punjab.

“After Y2k,
time will spin out of control anyway,”
flamed...

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Jinxed jesting jejune junior jobber...
just jabbering gibberish (A - J)

Again, another awkward ambitious
arduous attempt at alphabetically
arranging atrociously ambiguously
absolutely asinine avoidable alliteration.

Because...? Basically bonafide belching,
bobbing, bumbling, bohemian beastie boy,
bereft bummer, bleeds blasé blues, begetting
bloviated boilerplate bildungsroman,
boasting...

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There are moments when troubles enter our life’s
And we can do nothing to avoid them
But the one's we can
They look convoluted unless we demystify
But we think they are byzantine
As we think the mysteries in them...

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Cowards die many times before their deaths…
Julius Caesar, Act II, Scene 2 ~William Shakespeare

spouse 
a souse 
classic grouse 
a big girl's blouse

portent ominous 
assertions blasphemous   
obscure and anonymous 

his skulking is nefarious 
utterances...

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(alternately titled: impossible mission goes awry
probably mortal enemy cast spell binding jinx)

Both mental versus
physical tasks necessitate
laser sharp attentiveness
triggered within blinks
similarly on par when people toast
momentary instance utter silence

before more'n one
wine glass simultaneously clinks
cheering hurray, especially
if...

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Self reliancy stimulates political independence,
pragmatic critical thinking spurs revocation of spurious Partisan information,
vigilanteism guards against the Juntas,
systematic interdiction of peoples' ability to to procure food, self educate, 
self medicate, and to self defense is a...

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Are we testing open waters?
I never should have stationed there

We were not prepared 
Through the shame and sacrifice,
I was getting there 

All we know is shelter,
Survival, 
Yet we were unprepared 

Mark the way
through tunnels we...

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getting off the d-train one morning
@ the 125th st. nicholas stop 
&
walking toward the soup kitchen
where i was going to work that 
day
i saw a young girl of maybe 6, 7 or 8
(i’m not good...

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It's...


irrelevant


we're two stories, picture books rubbed raw and torn pages, he's


ripped


up the middle, down the lines of his face on the left and his right ear


dangles


over my toes when midnight falls, I watch him, inconspicuous,...

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Assassin


A hooded figure watches over the sleeping.
Peacefully, suddenly colder, soon to be weeping;
A body of a thousand slumbers.
Tonight will be its final number,
For without sound or any sign of remorse,
Death has come, and in due...

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Man, I remember the thrumming of that last bell of the school year.....
Like a prisoner being furloughed into the warm sun, buzzing of grasshoppers.
Field stickers burrowing into your ankles, joyfully, while you take the wrong...

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In words, straight from this writer's heart ~
my soul, or some other sensitive anatomical part,
I consider a poem a failure, without success
when poetry readers consider it a bloody mess.
Sometimes I write in the midst of...

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I have been told that I need to grow up,
The bulletin just arrived on my desk that
I have issues manifold,
To share this drink an ineffectual cup,
Perceant words heard before hope's sliver of a door closed...

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A slight pause is taken between a thought
and the words that I speak from my heart
for words often rendered in too much haste
are frowned upon with wary looks of distaste

I have to admit that it's...

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In the words of the great Bard, "Alas".
But enough of Shakespeare my friends.
For it has come to pass
That half a century and yet five more
Years that is, not my cricket score.
Have gone beneath the bridge...

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POTD 4th Nov 2019

Vanquishing all reservation
 twilight's prelude heralds
 shadowy anticipation
of a secret amorous thirst
He surrenders once more
to his darkest desires 
amplifies the sultry ambiance
with star spangled bursts

A slave in her entity
tremulous in her splendour...

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Gamesomeness goads gawky, gingerly,
goofily graceful, grandiloquent gent, gallant,
genteel, geico, guppy gecko, gabbling gaffes,
gagging, gamboling, gestating, gesticulating,
garlic, gnashing, gobbling, gyrating,

gruesomely grinning, grappling, gnomadic
giggly, grubby, gastrointestinally grumpy
gewgaw gazing guy, geographically germane,
gungho, grave gremlin, grumbling, guiding,
guaranteeing, guerilla gripped...

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Ever since creation, there have been voids
	Ineffectual places for deviants to hide
	In the beginning there were just a few of us
	Milling around in the dark
	Stumbling on our own uselessness
	Bleeding from our palms and knees
	As a...

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My own incipient awareness caught me by surprise,
I figured I knew nothing about anything, like so many of my generation
Fed on a diet of fast TV, fast food but slow thinking
Imagine my surprise when I...

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A Query With Fury

We were always a little leery,
Of people who query a theory;
For a while;
Facts compile;
Found to be done with great fury.

To cause they were seriously dedicated,
Until all of the parts had been decimated;
Became...

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Cycles
by Michael R. Burch

I see his eyes caress my daughter's breasts
through her thin cotton dress,
and how an indiscreet strap of her white bra
holds his bald fingers
in fumbling mammalian awe...

And I remember long cycles into the...

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Beautiful, you are, from whichever way my eyes see
Swift is your style, with something I can never compete
Reserved, you are, don't let yourself sway by ineffectual things
Special in your own humble way, an angel without...

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"The Stain Crusaders"

Plath left the pages long ago
and Bacharach’s Blue-on-Blue
is an ineffectual softer numb-shade-of-Blue
dear green green Anthropocene 

this much is true
with all the I love you’s
the wandering crusaders
are far far removed

sitting atop their soap boxes
sudsing...

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Emotions get the best of me
at times. I’ve felt betrayal’s bite;
the pain runs circles in my mind
and owns me. I’m too weak to fight.

When into this unhealthy mix
comes anger, I try mightily
to stem the tide....

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