Long Mad as a hatter Poems

Sonnets XLII-LI

Distances
by Michael R. Burch

Moonbeams on water?
the reflected light
of a halcyon star
now drowning in night...
So your memories are.

Footprints on beaches
now flooding with water;
the small, broken ribcage
of some primitive slaughter...
So near, yet so far.



A Surfeit of...

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MODERN SONNETS II

I prefer the original definition of the sonnet as a “little song” of indeterminate form and length. These modern sonnets vary from more-or-less traditional to free verse.



In Praise of Meter
by Michael R. Burch

The...

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Starlight and Moonlight II

These are poems about starlight and moonlight, moons and stars, dreams and visions, illuminations and intimations …




Deliver Us...
by Michael R. Burch 

for my mother, Christine Ena Burch

The night is dark and scary—
under...

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On the night before Christmas, alone in my house, 
Sorrow gnawed at my soul, like a ravenous mouse.
Entombed in my blankets, I struggled to sleep,
Ready to snap if I counted more sheep.

I rose at the...

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World Bleeders (#777 words)


If you claim to be sane
in this crazy whirled we live
I pity the world in your domain
in that you forget to forgive
I think your normal is abnormal
You must be one of the...

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It’s ten years later
I’ve finally hit paydirt
It’s the motherload

I didn’t strike gold
I struck a deal with myself
To help me grow old

Not act like a child
But first I had to grow up
And not act so wild

I’m...

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Tacita leaned in close and lowered her voice a tad. “So tell me, Jack. What’s your real name?"

"You don’t really want to know who I am. You just think you do. Aye, the public loves...

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LIGHT VERSE AND NONSENSE VERSE IV

Anti-Vegan Manifesto
by Michael R. Burch

Let us
avoid lettuce,
sincerely,
and also celery!


Rising Fall
by Michael R. Burch

after Keats

Seasons of mellow fruitfulness
collect at last into mist
some brisk wind will dismiss ...

Where, indeed, are the showers...

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Soul of skeptic writhes with agonizing torture (like a burning man) in Dante's Inferno

Self immolation as sacrificial bleating lamb
promises eternal martyrdom
awaiting voluntary die hard protester,
where countless vestal virgins provide blissfulness
(think Playboy mansion on steroids)
synonymous with...

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America... 
is tired of going to sleep
with both eyes closed; 
one eye is now open. 
She sees everything in the dark.
She's always watching, day and night.

The time of reckoning
is here. It is happening.
It is being...

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Workingman

It’s one o'clock in the morning on a Monday
Not much to look forward to this week.  Just another week in the life of a workingman.  Punch the clock.  Punch the boss. ...

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Swoon Song
by Michael R. Burch

In this ordinary swoon
as I pass from life to death,
I feel no heat from the cold, pale moon;
I feel no sympathy for breath.

Who I am and why I came,
I do not...

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Baseless incriminations heaped upon head of missus...
courtesy evil ferocious wraithlike grimace

Acrimonious scurrilous words
flew out the mouth
of vicious nasty shortish brute
leaving yours truly
as a key witness dumbfounded.

Outrageous spluttering claims
of stolen parcels
plus ransacked jewelry
totaling to the tune
of...

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Rats in the cellar, squirrels in the tree,
things aren't the same as they used to be.

When I left for school with my li'l lunch pail,
I didn't expect a penguin to swallow a whale.

Such an injustice,...

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In spite of the way I was doomed in the past
I might have resumed all my duties at last
The ship captain's daughter who killed for a lark
Was tossed overboard in the path of a shark...

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Down, down, down, further and further I tumble, once again into the rabbit hole looking for my Alice. I am swallowed by an avalanche of darkness, bumping into slippery walls that propel me further into...

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shadowed ...

the China hills
like little pills set on end
and stairs that wend to the moon
so far from June, he thought
wrought now with frustration
on the ramp of the station
her - taking the express
in his favorite dress...

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Alternately titled: Get out of my head mister chatterbox!

While inside me noggin legions
of monstrous demons abhor
protest being force fed
arcane and obscure
assaying into religious dogma
hence mind chatter goes full bore
thus crafting poem quite a difficult chore,
one...

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I was a child, yes, even little old me, 
curious and happy, my smile wild with glee. 
But at the tender age of seven, 
I learnt that family go to heaven. 

My aunt, a distant,...

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(alternately christened great insight
to those who Braille)

Ah.... so glad thee did ask
summoning poetic title
tis most daunting task
if lucky forthcoming praise
will yours truly to bask

and bathe with short lived,
while I quaff vintage
amber liquids out the
golden silver...

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Hey Mitch McConnell...
about all this talk (I hear) about indefatigable (Phila/ Philly-buster)

Police sirens wail doth punctuate the air
ear splitting soundclouds blare
another typical arrest
(guilty until proven innocent if ever)
so much for Black Lives matter protests
biased accusations...

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Many years ago my partner gave me an unexpected birthday surprise,
A trip to Lake Windermere, the beauty of it there’s no compromise.

The hotel where we stayed was right on the edge of the lake,
A perfect...

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Get out of my head mister chatterbox!

Ransacking treasure trove 
of maximum headroom.

To remedy a fate worse than death
or orange hair oaf becoming 
forty seventh president
or contracting one
of several viral diseases named pox
permeate heavy shut tight...

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The witches of Backwater were two sisters who,
Never caused harm or concern.
One lived in the swamp well away from the town,
The other chose wages to earn.

She taught the town's children as local school marm,
Reading and...

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this Democratic Party affiliated member i.e.
   considered (with an eye blink)
   positing the following blurb
   for a very short while

asper the "FAKE" trumpeting
   oaf fish shill offal
...

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