Long Lapped Poems

Radiance
by Michael R. Burch

for Dylan Thomas

The poet delves earth’s detritus—hard toil—
for raw-edged nouns, barbed verbs, vowels’ lush bouquet;
each syllable his pen excretes—dense soil,
dark images impacted, rooted clay.

The poet sees the sea but feels its meaning—
the...

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These are poems about Dylan Thomas, as well as poems "for" and "after" Dylan Thomas. Dylan Thomas was one of my favorite poets from my early teens and has remained so over the years. I...

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Myth, after Dylan Thomas
by Michael R. Burch

Here the recalcitrant wind
sighs with grievance and remorse
over fields of wayward gorse
and thistle-throttled lanes.

And she is the myth of the scythed wheat
hewn and sighing, complete,
waiting, lain in a low...

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Placed First in:
Can`t Believe It was a Na Poetry Contest
Sponsored by Silent One

                      ...

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(alternately titled: idolizing childhood's end
today April 25th, 2021
generates elusive warm treasured memories).

Akin to significance my eldest sister
felt toward her “Willies” –
(totally tubular fuzzy bendable contrivances
analogous to an outsize pipe cleaner)
until she became a tweener
my Matty...

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The moon was neither full, nor was it not
She shone down radiant lighting the misty ole night
The waves lapped the shore
As a gentle breeze streaked my face
Alone by the sea, clouds, the moon and me

The...

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                Interview with an Angel

After a long surgery brewed in urgency,
I lie supine with the body pining with fury
With eyelids...

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the grace of Paris
lingering in my thoughts. . . 
Madrid’s grimy walls

As our small group of students entered Madrid, it was an early morning in late January. We had left behind us what has been...

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A big thanks to Bob Newman for the fine Volecentral resource.
 
My example
 
Impatient Pleas     (Cazone)
 
Come lie with me you pretty, pretty thing,
and let us stop our toying with our...

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Rum felt a chill which he couldn’t explain
Had mum left the freezer door open again?
He went to the kitchen and muttered, “Aha!”
The freezer door was just a little ajar

Inquisitive kittens, as everyone knows
Would not simply...

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There is a story in the wind
Of Mother Nature's son
And her retribution 
For the mad path that he'd begun.

Of all her creatures big and small,
Just one caused her worry.
His intrusion and arrogance
Unleashed a fearful fury.

Usurping...

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The Fisher
by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
translation by Michael R. Burch

The river swirled and rippled;
nearby an angler lay,
and watched his lure with a careless eye,
like any other day.
But as he watched in a strange half-dream,
he saw...

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Twas the darkest of nights in the prarie woodland
Little Red Riding Hood walked the raven strand

A steamy fog cut through the bleary bog
The rancid odor of vaporous springs did the air clog
A venomous frog full...

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My Life as told by my dog, Princess!
I don’t remember how I was born, but all of a sudden I remember that I was alive
I could smell, see and hear
Somehow I ended up in a...

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Tea Leaves On The Bosphorus

Seated at a table by the stirring water,
My eyes absorb the shore of Asia.
Minerets and aged worn stone
Stand haphazardly along the banks.
Istanbul is a lady with secrets
She'll lure you with her...

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There was something spectacular
about a winter, long and hard,
on the Miles River.
Some days will never be the same.

Greying skies, heavy hung
with crystal burdens
of the wind, and air. Twenty above,
after sunset, zero.

And the snow was the...

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How to Feel When Your House Burns Down
The home you are raised in is a mother tongue. 
I was four when it was built, an age when innocence
turns river water and all that lives within...

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I see you’ve larked with fairy friends,
On bough, in fields, near brooks - 
Pebbles skim the water’s edge;
Jump skip, jump skip, hop - over brook…

‘Which side is greener?’ Asked the Dragon mare.
‘The bough of tree...

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It all comes down to peer pressure when you’re still in your teens.
You want to keep up with the Jones’ and you’ll go to any means
to put yourself into the limelight and be a member...

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The company wishes to research an idea.
Creating slotted aluminium frames that 
Would be 18 inches thick centered between
Two areas.the external area would be double 
slotted to house a poly thermal fiberboard which
Is housed behind a...

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"Sometimes preservation is the surest road to ruin."

I took a walk along the ocean down by the sea, 
I prefer them both together I’m sure that you’ll agree. 
      ...

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I tied ole paint at the old cowboy’s shack.  He’d been in the crib mucking stalls, haying a little and shucking corn.
I observed him at his chores from the porch as the day kept...

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“ Love which bloomed like a Red Rose,                           
              ...

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The Red Parasol Contest
Sponsor: Eve Roper


Wandering along the soft shores of Vermont,
I carry my red parasol as Bluebell shares fond
memories with me of good times with her lover.  
I listened with intent, but my...

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A little sparrow flew down to a bush and said, "Please, can you give me a little swing on thee, and the bush angrily said no!
So the sparrow went to a goat, to nibble the...

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