Long Lipped Poems

Humanity keeps looking forward, toward the coming of a birth,
and we’re all deemed as equals on our first day on this earth,
but as the years go quickly by our lives become our own;
we’re seen as...

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Various Heresies 2

You
by Michael R. Burch

For thirty years You have not spoken to me;
I heard the dull hollow echo of silence
as though strange communion between us.

For thirty years You would not open to me;
You remained...

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Near Sainthood
by Mirza Ghalib
translation by Kanu V. Prajapati and Michael R. Burch

On the subject of mystic philosophy, Ghalib,
your words might have seemed deeply profound
and we might have pronounced you a saint...
if only we hadn't found
you...

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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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STOLEN ILLUMINATION OF THE STAR

This journey has not been a fanciful adventure, 
we're all settlers in  these dynasty of neo-colonialism 
united only by what divides us. Victims, yes 
victims of civilized inducement, 
terms of...

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Ford's Theater, April 15th, 1865...
Petersen House, Washington, D.C.

I admit to own a passion
for the Civil War in general,
and the life and death of
the sixteenth president in particular
between a hard spot of whiskey
and draughts of arrack;
nonetheless...

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("The Visit", Part II)

How can she not know I'm standing so near?
Perhaps, she's expecting the same to reappear
Like before after her being to me kind and sweet,
Because of fear, I made a quick and hasty...

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"The Returning" 

Inside us all 
a strange forest

where light and dark 
are fed to us by 
curious creatures,
their unexpected gods 

in thoughts and deeds
joy and fear 
hate and love 
belief and disbelief

inwards
our dreams 
turn to
The...

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"Strange Vampires"

all those years 
ago, when conspiracies
flourished around 
did we or didn’t we go 
to the moon, when we
were once human,
proved to be lies,
whichever way 
the dark shadows 
conveyed it.

the truth 
came out much later,...

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Can I go to the bathroom? This place is full of jackasses. This place is full of jackasses jerking each other off. This place is full of ignorant, parochial, zit-sucking jackasses undeserving of their place...

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August 13th, 2021 – twenty two years since...

Wicked bad designed day poem originally crafted
then alternately titled for no particular rhyme nor reason: 
courtesy Doctor Donald Dossey  
who coined paraskevidekatriaphobia. 

August thirteenth nineteen hundred and...

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(alternately titled: courtesy Doctor Donald Dossey  
who coined paraskevidekatriaphobia 

August thirteenth nineteen hundred and ninety nine
forever etched in annals of my personal infamy
as one still sending hair raising shivers down my spine
which following unpleasant...

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March came in like a lion
And never let up, not really 
The children, Markie and Stu, spent most of their day outside
Except, as usual, for a quick lunch and a quicker hug

In the country, the...

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The Antics Of A Yoyo Thief

Potential life of as juvenile delinquent
(ala bam mean future streetwise thug)
stopped dead in the tracks – manacles
the above two lines hopefully gives hint
nearly changing changing life of one boy
an undersized...

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One liar said to the other liar,
“That’s some shaky vanilla truth,
I heard you done cold call sold.
With these lying eyes, do I scream with glee ... 
you left girl honesty 
hanging altar jilted at that...

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Lorca Translations I

Gacela of the Dark Death
by Federico Garcia Lorca
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

I want to sleep the dreamless sleep of apples
far from the bustle of cemeteries.
I want to sleep the dream-filled sleep of...

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Paying The Bill
 
You may come to this some day
It may issue from nowhere
A moment un-strident
A loose flagging half remembrance
Something which neither carries
Nor contains
But a fickle shadow 
Thin and as meaningless with an empty whimper
Not...

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“Spilt Milk”



Warm milk 
before bedtime
spilt before sleep

The salty tear
in a body of work 
along the dark line kissed

steamed open
like an envelope
secrets laid bare

reveling in whispers
moist lipped, barely contained 
lovers and their conspiracies

pulses felt 
quills dipped...

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Can We “Feel” Music?
By Carol Geyer


Can we “feel” music? Can the notes cool or warm us?
Soothing like green aloe balm, or warm as flaming Yule logs,
 or as majestic as a fully leafed oak?
 ...

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They’re drawing the curtains in Dorking,
Lighting the candles and pouring the lotions.
Switching off TV’s and shelving resentments,
Checking on children asleep in the darkness,
Creeping   up hallways   like teenage lovers.
Stairs and hopes creaking...

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March came in like a lion
And never let up, not really 
The children, Markie and Stu, spent most of their day outside
Except, usually, for a quick lunch and a hurried hug

In the country, the darkness...

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I flung my bloodied bathrobe onto a dusty mahogany bureau and roared: “Did we frighten
the scarecrows tonight, my love? Whose catch was it anyway? Yours or mine? We invited 10
guests to our dungeon this evening....

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Now scores of years 
after botched minor theft penchant 
courtesy security guard
analogous to inquisitorial trenchant
unforgettable verbal lashing
(suppressing me ululation to vent)
unwittingly arresting snitch behavior
plus potential life of crime.

Not a peep passed thru 
pursed lip o'...

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1)
In flickered lamp light 

I waited in a delusional fog for you to return

the firelight flickered encouragement to my wandered waltzing

playing out the melodies in ivory and ebony


but only the white notes rose to my...

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III

Kept out
   kept out he was: muzzled and shut out
from mothering social approval
    and the usual conning courtesies

Kept shut
  Involuting in the hippo-lipped paranoïa
from the darling eyes of his...

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