Long Inspectors Poems

I remember my mom having a collection of hats she stored under her bed.
For any occasion that could arise…she had a hat to set atop her head.

Moms of today are different…often they go out with...

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When I was young my mom, like most women, donned a hat when she went out.
Dad said it added to her beauty…of this I had no doubt.

My mom had a collection of hats she stored...

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To Melbourne town he took the ship, the man from Marrawah,
to take in all the city sights, he'd  never seen before.
Disembarking from the boat, he began to wander around.
Inquiring from a passerby what number...

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[The primary cause of the 1986 space shuttle disaster was an O-ring of a design that hadn’t been tested below fifty degrees. But hey... it’s Florida, right? 
That fateful night before the launch, the temperature...

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they sound like a bunch of squabbling bar patrons.
"tell them to get back to work!", they should listen
to her because she's the boss and represents the company they work for. The issue at hand is...

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*
                                  ...

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This is for all you trampled and forgotten
freezing in a hell not of your making
inching your way up the ethereal gangway
jockeying for rank and recognition
among the heavens the aristocracy
the drooling two headed priesthood 
cheap seat...

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I wonder if it’s that hard?
I am young and full of years.
I walk this beach every day and watch
The tides come in, and drive back out.
Birds fly gracefully above my head and
The breeze blows sand...

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It's time to shock the system 
It's leavin' us behind
The company the government 
Left us down the mine

My great-great-great grandfather 
Up in Harper's Ferry town
Swinging from the gallows 
With the body of John Brown

Grandad fought...

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Sometimes she will talk of it, not often,
but maybe her mother, just to see how she is doing, 
opens a door in her mind again.
Dead mother, in her very special way, still cares.

When young, very...

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Dear Mistah Fart, before you try to scent the air with your smell
And chew the cud of your bosses with your bondage tinkling bell
Make sure you know we kicked them out over forty years ago
And...

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About a month or two ago I had this great idea.
To open up a Haiku Shoppe – kinda like a cafeteria.
 I knew they were tasty bits and went real well with beer –
But just...

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No estate should be able to turn away health inspectors,
No estate should be able to turn away ambulances,
  while bleeding internally,
No estate should need to employ so many muckrakers,
  or bush lawyers. 

No...

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Restaurants have ratings now;
They’re mostly A’s or B’s.
Eating in a C or worse,
You might catch a disease.

When eating out, I never think
About the kitchen’s state;
‘Cause if I did, I might regret
The food that I just...

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Headlines of irony in life…
Human satire—cuts like a knife.
The unsinkable ship, that sinks.
Surrounded by peeps, yet alone.
Priests who ‘prey’—yet sins they atone.
Pastor fights alcohol, but drinks.
Tax czar who cheats on his taxes.
Animal fans—hunt to relax.
Abortion...

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("Eye of God", 2018, original encaustic mixed media - wax, pigments and mirror)

Clearly God Grades On a Curve

After several hours of working hard
finishing up siding a small sheep shed,
before winter comes and the cold winds...

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© Ben Burton Feb 5, 2014

I view beauty with desire
But am seen through abstract eyes
Which begats a mystery
For I don't try to be that kind

The shattered pieces in my wake
As tea leaves wither in the...

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This House
David J Walker

This house means something to me
Its pride in its shelterings from the
Batterings
 	And elements
 I could not survive
On my own

This house means something to me
I’ve given it everything its asked for 
	That...

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On And Off The Bridge

A shadow takes hold on the bridge at break of day
This unidentified contributory figure adds to the mystery
And yes, misery to all

Neither creature, man nor beast is permitted on this expanse
One...

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WHEN YOU WANT TO HUNT

Which is worst, being on Board of Directors
Or did become dissectors call building inspectors
And no matter what they may ever do
Up everything seem surely to screw.

Have some humor heard someone say
Don't...

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I imagine my ancestors having once lived in parts of Europe
having the ambition to sail to America with prayers and some luck
leaving behind the potato famine blight that disrupted their Irish lives
with their small suitcases...

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This one had too many chopped up tiny little rooms.
The next one had no escape from the upstairs windows
And they were fourteen feet off the ground
I wanted old
My husband would only look at new

I wanted...

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We live in a time where people crave for reward 
Always serving with their eyes wide open 
Or you can better say, 'eye service'
And that's just because the inspectors or soldiers may chase

It doesn't matter...

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God needs your faith
otherwise he disappears behind your eyes
and you both go blind.

There are ancient inspectors looking into
your kidneys and liver.
Their horn-rimmed glasses
peer from under tortoise shells,
they search for any useful ingredients.
The science of looking...

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