Long Kush 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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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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The Bedouins, bequeathed with the sacred beauty of paradise harsh,
trusted guardians of jealous gorges and gifted groves
lead me from the Wadi Musa to the humble ingress of Petra,
saying with thrill, the Jin of your Jihad...

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It was late in gorgeous springtime, and I was teaching my class,
A lesson in African history, and the events of time's hourglass.

My fourth graders were very attentive, as I recounted the glory,
Of tales such as...

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Himalayas

Eons ago in the planet’s evolution,
During tectonic plate movement: 1
The Indian Island Ma moved northward
Crashing into the Eurasian continent,
To form the Himalayan mountains. 2

Out of the chaos, towering peaks arose,
Piercing heavenly soft, white cotton clouds,
Bursting...

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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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I (a youthful sexagenarian)
can no longer quip being
a country boy at heart,
but me as urban cowboy,
I declare would never 
so fuhgeddaboudit dear reader
nothing 'cept bucolic existence
laboring organic garden
harvesting fruits and vegetables
by the bushel and quart
constitute...

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Rigorous sphincter ani externus muscle workout

Amidst the rubble strewn landscape ruins
courtesy healthy helping of prunes
linkedin to derrière issuing
melodious flatulence classical tunes,
yours truly renown buttuck blaster,
possesses wide ranging repertoire
ofttimes employed
as poignant powerful score
within battlefield documentaries
trademark trumpeting...

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How did you find me here ghost	
I thought I was done with your haunting	
My Uncle told me you were my enemy	
I know I left you in Baghdad	
Yet here you are this night	
But I still have...

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Smoking and drinking what the hell were u thinking ? 
Theres No food on the table , the lights always blinking 
We ain't got cable 
I thought we were stable, now They want us out...

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The howling winds of March

Furious gusts of air
mightily blow bestirring anchored poet
sitting comfortably numb
securely strapped in his hard to maneuver
easy bath chair
while all around him debris
strewn helter skelter everywhere
heavy objects unmoored
pirouetting topsy turvy

defying laws of...

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"The Better Side"

It's possible to sacrifice so much of yourself people think your Band-Aids are clothing labels. Never stop to ask how they may be beneficial, grabbing,  pulling so you never heal. Always underwater...

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I am Africa, the cradle of mankind,
Where ancient footprints in the sands of time entwined,
The birthplace of humanity, divinely designed,
In my esteemed valleys, where life first aligned.

I am Africa, the cradle of civilization,
Where mighty empires...

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Warriors of austere adventures,
soldiers for suffering and tribe survival,
children,peasents,women & men,the penny poor & candid criminals,
proud peoples,honest heros,

we marched on all the flesh of earth,
no terrain was forbidden for the fantastic forbearence of the foriegn...

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Nuttin boot mieskeit goyim...
lives among this nebbish atheist of Jewish ancestry

Tongue in cheek Yiddish
humor to playfully scold
often time sounds
like a compliment
yours truly, (a run
of the mill Shlimazel) behold

only knows a smidgen,
yet grew up within household
where...

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through the key-hole surgery of my delicate heart 
you have reached into the inner sanctum of my soul 
in Plato’s cave where I have locked away my demons 
betrayed by worm casts of secretive earthworms...

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Running on these deadly streets struggling to survive,
There's nothing you can do but survive, die or thrive!

On these deadly streets ya gotta play the role and part,
If not these deadly streets will tear you apart!

Surviving...

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Inspire me.... 
Even as I attempt this 
Iambic nonsense 
How can silence, 
Emanate from chaos:
It's direct opposite? 
A pure contradiction of concept...


Crashing, cascading....... 
In a metaphoric ambiance of emotions, 
Anger infused like an avalanche of...

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Working day and night for minimum wage,
Building rage because the feeling of being locked in a cage,
Dreaming of my time on stage.

I don't want this life forever!
Struggling to keep it together,
In a relationship that wont...

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I flew over a vastness of sand,
ancient ocean withdrawn,
dessicated desert,
neither eternal nor pathetic,
snow dusted, the foot of the Hindu Kush,
even now,
as we humans,
such knotted desperate pieces of work,
loving disorder,
our root cause of violence,
livid hatred for...

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In continuation to the limerick "PEDRO THE PEDDLER" . . . : )

PEDRO’S BROTHER DIEGO . . . 

So . . . 

Didn’t Pedro have a brother he is called Diego
He is just back from...

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She is the mother place of all humanity.
From her womb was birthed the first man.
The first self aware and inventive beast,
Standing erect, carrying tools of his own invention.

Science tells us that in the beginning....
All men...

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Here in violence and in beauty, living under the same moon
The beauty is so ancient, but the present violence here consumes
On one hand Afghanistan is all that it appears
Insurgents here are so deadly; through the...

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Thirty Days
(to the tune of Ki yi Bossie)

Yippie kai yai yay
They say you got to change who you run with
When you take the cure
Thirty days in and funny how clear
You can see what you couldn’t...

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The Queen of Spades trumps all
In our game of hearts
And other organs
Tangled in Greek and Latinate names
Ependymoma
Epinephrine
Endymion
Wake up, Shepherd!
The Black and the Red
Call you
Kings and Queens battle
The rules don’t allow for discarding
Draw from the deck,
Choking...

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