Long Levitating Poems

Hate the feelings of ew's and ugh's...let's pause before we put our paws on this unmanageable cause with silent applause (quiet interest or hushed enthusiasm)
What's the cause of these negative, gross, worthless flawful laws that...

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Currents
by Michael R. Burch

How can I write and not be true
to the rhythm that wells within?
How can the ocean not be blue,
not buck with the clapboard slap of tide,
the clockwork shock of wave on rock,
the...

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Vacuum
by Michael R. Burch

Over hushed quadrants
forever landlocked in snow,
time’s senseless winds blow...

leaving odd relics of lives half-revealed,
if still mostly concealed...
such are the things we are unable to know

that once intrigued us so.

Come then, let us...

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State of the Art (IV)

These are my "ars poetica" poems about the art and craft of writing poetry. 



Hearthside
by Michael R. Burch

“When you are old and grey and full of sleep...”  — W. ...

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Dusk-gliding swallow, 
please spare my small friends
flitting among the flowers! 
—Matsuo Basho translation by Michael R. Burch

A bee emerging
from deep within the peony's hairy recesses
flies off, sated
—Matsuo Basho translation by Michael R. Burch

That dying cricket,...

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Southern Icarus
by Michael R. Burch

Windborne, lover of heights,
unspooled from the truck’s wildly lurching embrace,
you climb, skittish kite...

What do you know of the world’s despair,
gliding in vast solitariness there,
so that all that remains is to
fall?

Only a...

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Come, You
by Rainer Maria Rilke
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

This was Rilke’s last poem, written ten days before his death. He died open-eyed in the arms of his doctor on December 29, 1926, in the...

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Archaic Torso of Apollo
by Rainer Maria Rilke
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

We cannot know the beheaded god
nor his eyes' forfeited visions. But still
the figure's trunk glows with the strange vitality
of a lamp lit from within,...

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The Panther
by Rainer Maria Rilke
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

His weary vision's so overwhelmed by iron bars,
his exhausted eyes see only blank Oblivion.
His world is not our world. It has no stars.
No light. Ten thousand...

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This is my translation of the first of Rilke’s Duino Elegies. Rilke began the first Duino Elegy in 1912, as a guest of Princess Marie von Thurn und Taxis, at Duino Castle, near Trieste on...

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Heavens’ Cherubs prepare pearls of passion,
Rose petals rain from cupidity clouds…
Hearts hunger in a fervorous fashion,
Avid appetites unveiling their shrouds.

Orgasmic ornaments parade the view,
Sons of Apollo descend upon steeds…
Loves’ lustfulness lingers below the blue,
Spontaneity spurs...

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Finally to Burn: Icarus, Resurrected
by Michael R. Burch

Athena takes me
sometimes by the hand

and we go levitating
through strange Dreamlands

where Apollo sleeps
in his dark forgetting

and Passion seems
like a wise bloodletting

and all I remember
upon awaking

is: to Love sometimes
is...

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when Animal Farm is not a feeding manual

and Clockwork Orange strikes at midnight

Dali’s time piece warps under face value

and an eagle-eyed-cuckoo flies over its nest


beneath the cover of cotton candy clouds

she relieves herself into Magritte’s...

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Not that I pity myself
While holding a gun on my temple with this gentle discipline,
My identity is clear but my behaviour is doubtful
To the extent of brutish masculinity – defined as stubbornness.
Oh Majesty! of all...

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Flatness 
	
	
	Consider the possibility of becoming 
	a two-dimensional surface
	with no thickness whatsoever. 
	No, face-down on the floor won’t get it; 
	at best your nose will be in the way. 
	You’ve got to get lower, closer,...

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Southern Icarus
by Michael R. Burch

Windborne, lover of heights,
unspooled from the truck’s wildly lurching embrace
you climb, skittish kite ...

What do you know of the world’s despair,
gliding in vast solitariness there
so that all that remains is to

fall?

Only...

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Truth... Is It true?

From somewhere lost atween stolen time
Some things left forgotten was remembered
Darkness moaning for lights to shine
Indefinite yet enticing to have feelings desired

Once was love I see… ever once was love in reality
I...

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My life cant be helped but still strike a pose
punch you in the face call for a second dose
i got so much ice hell just frooze
light a fire up under all your noses
im the satanic...

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Without unity we're all lost, in an inferno yet to be discovered,
Tripping over the homeless, instead of just helping each other
Through all the trials and tribulations, that the Devil let's loose
We wait for the rapture,...

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If you’re reading this, don't tell anyone:
I guess you’d figure that by now I found it. 
There’s something so innocent, yet menacing about the way you move. 
They say there’s no saints without sinners.
I used...

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Standing up on this polished stone as
A bard once upon a time
In the utopian monarchy of my lonely thought
Sharping up the plight for its prime.
As an apostate of vice
On the face of the last dime,
Announcing...

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You suddenly appeared to me Jesus.
You were sitting in the lotus position
in your raiment of colorful robes. . .levitating.
Your wavy long locks had turned grey.
You did not speak to me, you just
looked at me with...

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Flower power

“If you’re going to
San Francisco be sure to
wear a flower 
in your hair”
long and shaggy
shagged longing wild

And to Berlin or
Paris for that 
matter to dream to
meet a girl and more
under the fountain

The “Fountainhead”
on your...

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Involved with illumination in my imagination
Feeling the urge of sudden frustration and agitation
My spirit, with wit, is legit and yes, I admit
I’m a believer and a giver
But, I’m not your chopped liver
So, don’t butcher me...

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The family had just moved into an old castle in Scotland; 
mother, father and their only daughter, Emmie, that they loved so deeply. 
Emmie was only 12 years old, and so innocent and beautiful. 
One...

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