Long Listing 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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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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"The Swoon Hypothesis" - Part 2



Arimathea stands next to you and I on the deck, soon we are back in Nazareth, you press into my palm, 
“A very rare Dubunni coin” you say - on...

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	GREEN DAY – revisited
     Although the following poetic/prosaic material written January eighteenth two thousand and eighteen, I came across these encapsulated, enclosed, encoded, and encrusted with barnacle clad body electric of...

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I see you looking at me
There is an old pang in my chest
there where your hands used to caress
where your lips loved to roam
there where you called your home
There is an old flutter now
What is...

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I see you looking at me
There is an old pang in my chest
there where your hands used to  caress
where your lips loved to roam
there were you called your home
There is an old flutter now
What...

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The victim list keeps growing

But no one really cares

The gristmill claims another one

Keep your hands in and don't stare

Hollywood is the golden land

The eternal silver screen

But many souls are lost here

A lot of greats or...

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Lets talk about love

Love is meant to be an opportunity
To share a place in time,
And an open heart for a person, 
That God has designed, just for you.
Love is to be our now,
Our everlasting and...

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Land Is A Loom
I sailed the fiord like inlets between Powell River and Drury Inlet.
The land itself  spoke from mountains, torents, islet
From bird song and bear splashing fishers
From rutting moose and cougars sharp incisors.
The...

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all my prayers are answered in silence..
but its massive gifts at the door...
with sighs and tears when no one ever heard or saw..
with the universe i cried with unspoken words..
knowing he is listing.. holding me...

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Responding to an ad I’d found on Market-Place last month, describing what the seller claimed to be a - “true antique”,
I queried - ‘Have you sold this yet?’,  nervously suspecting - being the gorgeous...

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MV WILHELM GUSTLOFF

This was the worst ship disaster, with the greatest loss of life at sea
A German ship that was overloaded, with over 10.600, war refugees

Sank on the 30 January 1945 by a Soviet submarine...

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Meet me at the cross road and nurture my soul
Meet me at the cross road and make me whole
I woke up this morning in a somber mood
grasping the reality  of the rude awakening
that held...

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I would like to hear and see
how and why you live,
when and where you prefer to die.

I would like to touch and taste
who and what you think and feel
is your greenest dreamed sanctuary
without imagined ultra-violet...

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Before human languaged time and cultural memory,
SunGod radiated EarthGoddess Gaia
"Let's partner to plant a life-giving network."

"Not a bad-good idea!" smiled Earth reflectively,
synergetically and photosynthetically,
regeneratively speaking.

"Yes, and 
an ultimately GREAT mutual-mentoring redemptive concept, 
too!"
ruled YangSun,
listing left...

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Senator Obama's Audacity of Hope
ends with listing memories,
visual images,
that rekindle his love for this imperfectly united Place

For his Country,
this humane Habitat
for mutual care-giving,
and at least implies this is all he needs,
not yet all he hopes,
for...

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My Math Teacher said:
I know how to teach you about 1
but can't guide you into comprehending None--0

A more sacredly co-arising binomial relationship,
less traveled bipartisan path
to know Zero rises positive toward full future
and suppresses negative
degenerating back
reversing...

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Screaming from his office was loud enough to wake the dead
by our trucking company foreman who was livid when he said,
“That useless bloody mongrel, that scum of the flamin’ earth,
has loaded up a truck with...

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A listing of the fires 
and all the survivors 
will be provided

Names of the dead 
are written on broken cobblestones 
at the bottom of the river

The sheet music 
is in the morgue - reconstruction 
of...

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*Image of The Nativity by Pixabay.

MOST BEAUTIFUL CHRISTMAS POEM

(Pre The Epiphany)

THE WORLD VERSION:

Twelve Drummers Drumming.
Eleven Pipers Piping. 
Ten Lords A-Leaping.
Nine Ladies Dancing.
Eight Maids A-milking.
Seven Swans A-swimming.
Six Geese A-laying.
Five Golden Rings.
Four Calling Birds.
Three French Hens. 
Two...

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"The Forgotten and Fluctuations of Awareness" 

When the crime 
was committed,
the writing 
was already on the wall,

no one listened. 
It climbed insidiously
out through the cracks
like a friendly tarantula.

that sad poet 
I read today,
she writes 
of...

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Alfredo always abhorred angry approaches
After an amigo accosted after an argument
And, afterward, Alfredo abstained arguing,

Because blackening bruises betrayed blather
Berniccio blindly behaved better, bravely
Becoming brotherly before blasting bullies!

Carefully commandeering calmer Carlos,
Claiming cool comradeship courageously
Communicated clever candid...

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[A few years ago, I wrote this poem “On Writing Poetry” for creative writing students. I hesitated to put it on Poetry Soup, but I did some revisions and decided to share it with you....

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AntiPoem 36
“Silent Mercies”

(Poet’s Instruction: Softly play in the background Mario Lanza singing
“Your Tiny Hand Is Frozen” from Puccini’s La Boheme, while reading this AntiPoem)


A

Look over there.
See the stunned grandmother knitting,
Not speaking a word neither, nor...

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Since halfway through the fifties we’ve been slowly slippery-slopin’, and almost everyperson that I know, that’s near my age,
Agrees with me that, if you read the “book of life” today, you’ll clearly see my reasoning...

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