Long Keg Poems

Zen Death Haiku

Brittle cicada shell,
little did I know
you were my life!
—Shuho, translation by Michael R. Burch

Returning
as it came,
this naked worm.
—Shidoken, translation by Michael R. Burch

As dew glistens
on a lotus leaf,
so too I soon must vanish.
—Shinsui,...

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The Spaniel

A Spaniel that uses its head 
Can tell when its owner’s unfed 
So instead of a duck
That is down on its luck 
Will deliver a pizza instead
 
The Afghan Hound

The Afghan’s a dog groomer’s...

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A situation or state of confused movement or violent turmoil. (dictionary definition #2 of Maelstrom)

Today’s opinions are so contrasting and divisive that nobody seems to know up from down!
I believe fairly strongly in what I...

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Self help addict needles unsuspecting reader 

Expounded late today April 27th, 2023
since being written
countless years ago
maybe a baker's dozen
as thee doodling cock doth crow 
scouting about for carrion 
scavenging for dead animals 
and rooting about...

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My acquaintance with poetry in general and the simplistic literary brilliance of Robert Frost in particular, came at a relatively early age. My mother would ambivalently imply that I was too young to remember, however...

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Hi everybody, my name is Vera as some of you already know, and I am the wife of Peter Duggan. I came on this site to cheer Peter on, and also to read some poetry...

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The Rottweiler

I wouldn’t provoke a Rottweiler
Not unless I were prepped like a miler
Seems a little inbreeding
Done without heeding
Has turned Benji into a Sieg Heiler

The Saint Bernard

Though not in his nature to beg
He would flip for...

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Since the 1990's Red China has been using an intelligence gathering
radar station monitoring USA's military operations of the southern
United States.  Now they are establishing a military training center
also located in Cuba just a few...

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It must be hard
To carry it around
That load of hate
Weighing on your heart
A powder keg
Waiting to explode

You pretend it isn’t there
But now and again it shows
In what you say
In what you write
The sarcasm hidden under...

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- and, anyway, who breaks wind over double-M, a. k. a. Manson,

Marilyn?

I'll give a ride on my razor any day to

The-Second-Prime-of-Nine-to-the-Sixth,

who was around long before CD's, DVD's, MTV, and YOU / MYtube,

spitting out the healing...

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I still see it when I close my eyes,
hands stoking up and down my naked thighs,
I can’t shake the lingering memory
of the night that someone violated me.

No shower seems able to make me clean,
I find...

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bin laden is dead.  

his dream, however, is very much alive &  
what he wanted was to force america to bleed,
fighting endless wars in the middle east---
and with the invasions of iraq &...

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Demons

I try to get sleep but the demons just keep running round in the back of my brain, and no matter what I do they break me in two, and they're driving me fuc**ing insane....

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Two dragonflies and two huffle-winks lined up to compete in a race
Lady dragon was the adjudicator, a ring of flames encircled her face 
Haughty huffle-winks were egotists and didn’t listen to her rules
declaring, ‘Your rules...

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Don't forget to cross the Ts
and dot your Is
because if you don't do that
they're just lines vertical on a page.
Lets us forget about the imperfect words
that make us cry
the vertical lines,
like jail bars hold us...

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LOOK AT EM CRAWLING...

At the old Darreel pub out near Mungindi....
Trapper Joe he rode up, he come from Boggabri...
The DTs were bad with this poor old bugger Jack...
Look at em crawling he did mutter ...
And...

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He stands, 
his left leg resting upon a powder keg,
slightly bent, 
with arms resting upon his knee.
                  ...

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1972, and believe me and you,
Looked like it was gonna'
Be a year to remember...
We seemed to sense that,
From the previous December..
It was time for our luck to break,
And finally taste,
 That illusive "icing on the...

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the devil went over to sheldon’s house he was looking to drink some beer
it was friday night he got there tight walked in and said i’m here
i’m gonna show you how to drink you pussy...

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IF THE CREEK DON’T RISE COME FRIDAY NIGHT,
WE’LL HAVE ONE HELLOFA TIME.
HAVE A LITTLE GIN AND BEER TO GO AROUND,
AND MAYBE SOME ANNIE GREENSPRINGS WINE.
GET THE HICKORY WOOD TO BURNING REAL SLOW,
SO THE EMBERS WILL...

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It must be hard
To carry it around
That load of hate
Weighing on your heart
A powder keg
Waiting to explode
Hurting others but
Killing your own soul

You pretend it isn’t there
But now and again it shows
In what you say
In what...

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“Hey man” “can you spare me a dime”?
If you have more, that would be fine,
I will go to the diner to get some coffee
I like mine with English toffee.

My pockets are empty, no coins within
I...

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Progress
by Michael R. Burch

There is no sense of urgency
at the local Burger King.

Birds and squirrels squabble outside
for the last scraps of autumn:
remnants of buns,
goopy pulps of dill pickles,
mucousy lettuce,
sesame seeds.

Inside, the workers all move
with the...

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Folks, I perused it in black and white;
The Octogenarian verbalized after the civil war that
"There are no victors and no vanquished."
Scores of years gone by, we now visualize
Who the victors and the vanquished are.
The victors...

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There are those who say offensive words
should be banned from public speech,
oblivious to the fact that saying such
is incredibly offensive to me.
They prattle on, convinced that only
their own ideas hold the truth,
I wish I could...

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