Long Isis Poems

Epigrams by Michael R. Burch

If brevity is the soul of wit
then brevity and levity 
are the whole of it.
—Michael R. Burch

To write an epigram, cram.
If you lack wit, scram!
—Michael R. Burch

Conformists of a feather
flock together.
—Michael...

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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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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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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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Know Thyself
(one of the two Delphic commands of Apollo)



For years before the narrow windows of my senses
                  ...

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In sandy Egypt lived three men
In ancient days when pharaohs reigned
The kingdom of the pyramids,
Osiris and that Isis’ den,
Whom everyone worships and heeds,
Or at least doing so they feigned,
And those gods too blessed them and...

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Her small angelic face ...

Once a place where broad smiles bloomed like butterflies on marigolds,
is streaked with the furrows that countless tears have etched into the
layers of dust and dirt and explosive residue that now...

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For years before the narrow windows of my senses
                          ...

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Thirty years ago, long before ISIS started executing Kurds, Muslims and Christians, I hired a Pakistani Muslim as an art director in Chicago. I was an Irish Catholic editor putting out a small national magazine....

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Something that stuns me from revelations awakening 
All good people of the world see you Isis 
clearly diamond cut your scale tips heavy 
with the wealth that's stolen from foreign lands 
to build weapons of...

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Introduction: one of the nice aspects of having an oeuvre as a poet is the ability to see where you have changed over the years. this is such a poem where i can see the...

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 Diary Notes: Lament at Dawn A Year Ago and yet now No Change
				                     ...

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Isis staind 26+ years of marriage

Yes, believe me you, 
I (also considered the best karaoke singer
for the go-go's) 
putting Shabrina Leonita to shame
back in two thousand and twenty one
once flew high as the eagles 
a...

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A  stunning scene. Edited for our insatiable reading pleasure.  High on a tight-rope.
The debutant wearing her 2-piece at one end. The isis general at the other.The plot is for them to tip-toe, slowly...

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Isis staind 27+ years...

of scorpion stinging poison us marriage,
whereby the missus and I,
nevertheless experienced genesis as 
mama and papa respectively.

(jest kibitizing)

thus explaining why I 
(a beatle browed  
sixty five year young adult) 
joined blue...

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Paris November 13th Makes Me Weep — Afterthought

The shock and tragedy of this most horrendous event of slaughter, murder, and unmitigated evil are indeed a very sad commentary on the state mankind finds itself in...

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Plenty of sleep, no more tv, the wars in the Middle East
are resource wars, disguised as religious debates.
So Dad would say.

A beautiful winter day, hunting
season. A Gun In Every Home, in light of U.S. mass...

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Non labor (relations) day September 1st, 2023 poem

Aye dream of Genie (as a lad din)
Schwenksville, Pennsylvania -
keystone state abbreviated as Pea Yay,
this stupid non huge poem
deployed courtesy scholar
really...a boot nuttin
butta an overrated allay
zee good for...

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Diary Notes: Lament at Dawn
				                             …at the...

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Wishing for 1984

'War is Peace Freedom
is Slavery Ignorance 
is Strength Big Brother…'

is waiting for Godot who came quickly and travelled from Pyongyang to glorious
theoretical impossibility, but wait everything goes and now we are on to...

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Isis stole my son.
My hand was clasped, tight, I swear
Our fingers entwined, as he tugged me, eagerly, around the fair

From the ducks, to the teacups, his smile was mine alone
We were two, hand in hand,...

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(So many were protesting about America's secret involvement with ISIS but I didn't believe it until I read this latest news, shocking and disgusting. Poor innocent Muslims are being blamed for Americas furtive atrocities) 

Wolf...

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Getting Lost in Peace

When a man loses his bearings
In a land of riches and honey
He sometimes loses sight of life’s tribulations
Spoiled to the core he wonders what the heck for?
Why should he care of the...

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Musings at Giza
by Michael R. Burch

In deepening pools of shadows lies
the Sphinx, and men still fear his eyes.
Though centuries have passed, he waits.
Egyptians gather at the gates.

Great pyramids, the looted tombs
—how still and desolate their...

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Huge life like mockup 
rigged up to bark
dare buzzfeed outsize monstrosity
diet coke, McDonald's and meatloaf
pet banality, execrable, and misogynistic words
greets visitors at formerly named
Mosquito State Park forever known as
Donald Trump State Park.

Whom so e'er decreed...

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