Long Marigolds Poems

* This poem was written for a contest originally, but was used by Professor Anne-Marie Thornton of Bilkent University in Ankara, Turkey, to teach her WAR POETRY class in the spring semester of 2017. My...

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Her small angelic face ...

Once a place where broad smiles bloomed like butterflies on marigolds,
is streaked with the furrows that countless tears have etched into the
layers of dust and dirt and explosive residue that now...

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Stately stood Princess Amber in all her finery,
Emerald tunic over a crimson gown,
With gems inlaid in her rustling gown,
Her arms bangled in intricate gold slowly rose,
Her slender fingers rested on her heaving bosom,
Listening to unstopping...

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* I’m honored to say that this piece was used for a “War Poetry” class by Ann Marie Thornton at Bilkent University in Ankara, Turkey. Many thanks to her and the students for their questions...

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I belonged to a family of farmers, we had farmed for generations;
And we were true to our land, as blooms loyal to sweet sensations.

I knew the fierce satisfaction, only derived from working the land;
And sometimes...

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" THE TALE Of A YELLlOW  PONCHO" - Something OLD (posted in 2020)
                     ...

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Cypress trees like evergreen steeples
rise above rows of gravestone woes,
their shadows lie side by side like railroad ties 
across writhing paths banded like snakes;
gravel birth cords sinuous 
sensing the ground   seeking the sun
crossroads...

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“Some Other Poet, White Iris”

When I look in the mirror what do I see?
I question existential questions and fiction, 
my eyes are the eyes of another staring back at me,
perceived through the glassy tear film...

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Summer is lingering on and autumn is secretly chiming in
wild marigolds are blooming everywhere
and the earth is soaking up  my  sordid tears
The full moon is  watching over me and predicting my destiny
Bright...

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Mitchboggin and Sillyah were best beasties for three years,
until Mitchboggin thought it would be okay, humorous even,
To make fun of orange-stomached elves,
much like some ignorants make fun of star-belly gomach-tangs.

Mitchboggin had grown up thinking this...

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Glowing days that were once red-cheeked and ripe with promise,
Are narrowing like tall candles in a church window,
Tapering from the golden stand and the sturdy base,
To the glorious flame and the ever fading light.
The final...

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Glowing days that were once red-cheeked and ripe with promise,
Are narrowing like tall candles in a church window,
Tapering from the golden stand and the sturdy base,
To the glorious flame and the ever fading light.
The final...

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Everything has a specific time to make the universe divine; everything has a specific time to make the universe strong, everything has a specific time for business to birth and spread its wings over the...

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I was a skillful, amiable nursery worker, cultivating blooms in a greenhouse,
Like feverish and fragrant blooms, often grown in redbird's green treehouse.

Hours were spent sowing seeds, adjusting conditions, and also and pruning,
As June full moon...

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Wonderworks
by Michael R. Burch

History’s
mysteries
abound
& astound,
found
(profound)
the whole earth ’round,
even if mostly
underground.


The Procrastinator’s Creed
by Michael R. Burch

It’s always, “Tomorrow, I’ll do it.”
Work? I eschew it.
I never collect money I’ve loaned
and the rest of this poem’s been postponed.


WHEN...

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THE POET’S SESTINA

The poet put the pen to his head and killed himself;
 he shot the leftovers of an ideal in a second of no-thought.
 His girlfriend found him rolled in a splash of ink
...

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Torn by the lies of the past
Of the future
Of the present 
Shredded by the mocking faces 
But I wanted to love
To be held with such care
But to dare 
To fail once more
To open that door
The...

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Twinkling stars were receding rapidly, as I had always known they would,
When rouge sun touched the eastern sky, to color a whole neighborhood.

The timid alabaster moon was in hiding, taking with him, his native luster,
As...

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As the mediterranean torrents 
thawed away this wildflower of Medusa ~
once roaring in merciless thunders, 
now, I'm found swaying,
midst lemongrass fields ~
conversing with freshwater naiads
for, every weed is a storyteller
     ...

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PETRARCH TRANSLATIONS

Sonnet XIV
by Petrarch
translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Lust, gluttony and idleness conspire
to banish every virtue from mankind, 
replaced by evil in his treacherous mind, 
thus robbing man of his Promethean fire, 
till his nature, overcome...

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John Audelay translations by Michael R. Burch. John Audelay was a medieval English poet who died circa 1426.

Dread of Death (excerpts)
by John Audelay
translation by Michael R. Burch

Lady, help! Jesu, mercy!
Timor mortis conturbat me. [The fear...

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The dainty white curtains were gently lifting and swinging when I reached her house in the country. I could smell marigolds and lilacs when I reached her front walk. The farm was beautiful, and I...

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A magical feeling unknown anywhere else lingered at the faerie waterfall
This was the gentle resting place of all worn-out muses and elves, after all
A mystical silence filtered over each caregiver, lingering over each rose in...

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LIGHT VERSE AND NONSENSE VERSE VII

Fair Elle was an eely lover
who squiggled beneath the covers ...
She was hard to pin down!
When I did it, she’d frown,
then wouldn’t do none of my druthers!

There once was a...

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After many years I paid a rare visit to the woods from my long ago childhood days,
Things have changed since boyhood, the bees are silent, the landscape has changed,
Gone, honey-laden scented flowers of the old...

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