Long Irresistible Poems

Sappho fragment #155
translation by Michael R. Burch 

A short revealing frock?
It's just my luck
your lips were made to mock!

*

Sappho fragment #156
translation by Michael R. Burch 

She keeps her scents
in a dressing-case.
And her sense?
In some undiscoverable...

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Lady’s Favor
by Michael R. Burch

May
spring
fling
her riotous petals
devil-
may-care
into the air,
ignoring the lethal
nettles
and may
May
cry gleeful-
ly Hooray!
as the abundance
settles,
till a sudden June
swoon
leave us out of tune,
torn,
when the last rose is left
inconsolably bereft,
rudely shorn
of every device but her thorn.


The...

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Medieval Poems IV



IN LIBRARIOS
by Thomas Campion
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Booksellers laud authors for novel editions
as pimps praise their whores for exotic positions.



Brut (circa 1100 AD, written by Layamon, an excerpt)
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R....

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Poems about Things that Break I
 
These are poems about things that break and/or shatter: a bubble, glass, a mirror, a twig or tree limb, a thunderstorm, cities and towers in times of war, old...

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Poems about Things that Break III
 
These are poems about things that break and/or shatter: a bubble, glass, a mirror, a twig or tree limb, a thunderstorm, cities and towers in times of war, old...

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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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I heard two distinct voices in the night,
Conversing amongst themselves most eagerly
They whispered like children in excitement
Their sardonic mouths sung many savvy tunes
It was Death I could perceive, defending me,
And he, a strange, distant friend
Seemed...

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POEMS ABOUT EROS AND CUPID

These are translations of ancient Greek poems about Eros. Eros was the Greek counterpart of the Roman god Cupid. While today we tend to think of Cupid as an angelic cherub...

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A born lioness my untamed heart? ha! 
a mouse, this pulsing token ruled by unruly wants
at times given, traded or stolen - sometimes
thrown down on a dare to be won or lost 
till it became...

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The King of the Castle 



Said I’m but a child
Afraid of the world outside 
Afraid to run wild and to  be proud
Of the freedom it provides
Afraid of love 
Afraid of the dark 

Said you...

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MOVING FORWARD
REHAB
Record 2025/01/25 09:57:23.webm


Moving forward, my time at rehab. 

One door and corner at a time.
On time here at the door.
There, at the table. Eat or play. Group it.
Bracelets hold us together and drag us...

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A MINISTER RETIRES :  
SOLILOQUY 

I arise as infant Phoenix 
from Akasha ashes 
counterparts frozen 
with foibles intact
a still Arctic of death
sheath for recalibration 

Source Light breathes into 
fontanelle slowly sleepily  
Sekmet my...

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There are actual people
half woman half man
running mornings and
dream people in movies
half language half light.
Tomorrow is John’s funeral.

		*			*			*

This is my minute
my moment
Oops, gone!

Anything can happen
if you don’t resist
Resist!

		*			*			*

But who am I? You think bullets won’t
kill?...

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I’m getting tracked down by nightfall
Hear me…hear me…out as I fall…
Hear my call; my heart’s pounding in appall 
I fall down – hear my pleas and answer my call
Don’t hang up on me at all!
I’m...

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WE ARE BROTHERS


1.

Don’t look at me as though I am an alien or stranger,
Don’t let the dagger of antipathy fly out of your eyes,
           ...

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*warning: sexual theme*

My mind and heart of gold...
Never once...growing mold as we both grow old 
Nervana sells out
I'm without a doubt
That I will love you till I die
That I will love you as long as...

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Contest : The Prismatic Self
Sponsor : Daniel Henry Rodgers
Date submitted : 19/5/25

—————- 

“Contests around track, contests for followers,
for best tasting wine, most exquisite 
architectural design ~ endless
quests to become best versions of Self,
sharpen mind, mould...

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FINAL EPISODE OF PURE FANTASY
Hello Bad Boys!

The starry, twilight zone high above, this night
With it’s shooting stars, and the moon, so bright,
Looked heavenly, even Venus, was in sight,
It was clear, could see far and beyond
Across...

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	GREEN DAY – revisited
     Although the following poetic/prosaic material written January eighteenth two thousand and eighteen, I came across these encapsulated, enclosed, encoded, and encrusted with barnacle clad body electric of...

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The season, spring year 2031. 
One year went by and 
Delilah was 4 months pregnant 
When Molly Was 6 months 
pregnant. Other Then that, the
passed months were
Unremarkable. The ages of 
Damian's children and their 
Mother's...

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Tonight, I do not feel so saved,
I do not feel so good or right,
Tonight, I feel so close to death,
That pains in my heart do not bring me fright,
Tonight, I feel like a lost soul,
I...

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Out in that sky, no one sleeps, not even the stars.

We are at the 24-hour late-nite diner

and they’re serving up fruit

from the plants growing out of the floor.

We watch bodies fall to the ground outside

like...

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Don’t look at me
As though I am an alien or a stranger,
Don’t let the dagger of antipathy
Fly out of your eyes.

I am your neighbor.

Don’t call me a foe, an antagonist, or a rival,
Don’t roll up...

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She is not with me. I can write the saddest verses tonight.
I write, for example: "The night is starry" and the stars shiver, in the distance, and thousands of echoes of silent desires
Find shelter under...

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rise and shine deflect common sense while white dilapidated guts spawn oppossing beats an treats that are not so daring as uncommon feats and relativity clings to gravity and in spite of everything nothingness has...

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