Long Midges Poems

Sonnet LXXXI-LXXXIX

Day, and Night
by Michael R. Burch

The moon exposes pockmarked scars of craters;
her visage, veiled by willows, palely looms.
And we who rise each day to grind a living,
dream each scented night of such perfumes
as drew...

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THE WALK
The sun shines on Benarty
On a nice warm summers day,
The bairns have got their clothes on
And they all want out to play.

l make them all some breakfast
And the kids all eat their fill,
Then I...

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Advice to Young Poets
by Nicanor Parra Sandoval
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Youngsters,
write however you will
in your preferred style.
Too much blood flowed under the bridge
for me to believe
there’s just one acceptable path.
In poetry everything’s permitted.



Byron
was not...

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Once again besieged by fruit flies

Pestiferous infestation quite
argh apartment unit b44 
plagued with plight
analogously linkedin to phenomena  
experienced within outer limits 
of the twilight zone
dark shadows akin to edge of night 
opportunistic nuisance might...

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There’s an old river course with beginning and end,
now the river runs straight without this river bend,
where the water is still and the reeds do grow strong.
New life has taken over in a billabong.

The mat...

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A Surfeit of Light
by Michael R. Burch

There was always a surfeit of light in your presence.
You stood distinctly apart, not of the humdrum world—
a chariot of gold in a procession of plywood.

We were all pioneers...

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Early in the year a young man walks with a stout Yew stick firmly on his shoulder,
Resting on damp grey stone looking all around watching the dicky birds and smiling,
Rising from the stone he drops...

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Early in the year a young man walks with a stout Yew stick firmly on his shoulder,
Resting on damp grey stone looking all around watching the dicky birds and smiling,
Rising from the stone he drops...

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Futile effort to plunger the clogged kitchen sink...
courtesy malfunctioning garbage disposal

which won't be removed
by onsite maintenance man
UNTIL/UNLESS 
fruit fly excreta wiped off
(impossible to access)
areas along bathroom and kitchen walls
so communicated "the warden."

Thus we (yours truly...

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I guess I’m more accustomed to the modern sting these days;
the one that comes by e-mail or the phone.
They might hurt the pocket with the modern scamming ways -
but Mother Nature’s stings bite to the...

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The Return!
 
Echoes resonate - in vast empty streets
Confining humans with apps and with tweets
Papers flutter down dark hollow caverns
Shops now closed - and so too the taverns
Cats stroll their beats – midst mice and...

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From the Painted Desert, head west
Past sagebrush, brittle bush, desert scrub
And The Petrified Forest at rest
To the Rocky Mountains above
Go past the Continental Divide
Below Douglas firs and pinyon pines
Head down the sunset side
Where the Colorado...

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The Lake of Life

Placid water is ringed by steep banks, clusters of 
Willows weeping at the water’s edge;
Their branches caress the surface in the breeze, 
Sending intimations across to the distant shore.

Far into the centre,...

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The Old Coaster   

I got meself a coaster bus, 
To make a motorhome.
I checked it out for any rust,
In it we’re gonna roam.

We’ll check out all the freebie sites, 
And camps along the...

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The Swan King.

Fine fibre lashes flicker, flutter.
Sailing trance-like on warm reflected glass,
Royal icing sculpture, still Lily-White feathers.
Ripples giggling, Dragon Flies dipping,
Sticklebacks cha-cha clumsily within own shadows.
as pulsing circles steady...peaceful.
Lilac Water-lilies whirl-curl open,
as perfumes whoosh! Midges...

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My Landscape Painting

Let me describe my painting,
Of a pastel colour landscape,
A Beautiful British Waterway,
Forming our scene and shape.

Walking by the water’s edge,
Following the towpath trail,
Pace of life serene and slow,
Barges powered, ready to sail. 
...

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A spider drank cider and was legless at breakfast 
Now this placid arachnid with a shoddy wee body
Asked weevils so evil if they each had a needle
Could they just for a joke smoke while they...

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It was the snow over the earth
in every edge,
the candle burned on desk, of course,
it waited change.

Like summer midges in the swarm
that fly to fire,
the snowflakes flew from yard to warm
near window frame pyre.

The blizzard...

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The air was pure and bright. A sea-salt tingle
hovered in an easygoing offshore breeze.
In mesmerising rhythm, wavelets sloshed 
and swished along the timeworn jetty wall.
The bay was sparkling in the morning light 
as early gannets...

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Grandpa's tractor coughs, sputters and comes alive, acrid smoke sharpening my senses... gears engaged, lurches forward, disturbing clouds of fungus midges bursting in the sun from the damp clumps of weeds near the barn.
Anise Hyssop,...

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~Beautiful   Dragonflies~
(American 767)



Dragonflies are odonata
they have close large eyes
bigger than the damselflies

Have slender bodies two wings
Variety numerous
they eat other small insects

Attack small fish and tadpoles
eat mosquitos and midges
they live in diverse biotope

Some are...

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Mayflies
by Michael R. Burch

These standing stones have stood the test of time
but who are you
                    ...

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If you've been keeping up,
Those who've read me will see
I've been writing 'bout animals
Alphabetically.
They've all behaved well,
Made their entrance on cue,
'til at last I arrived at the dread letter "U".
Letter "U" proved a challenge I...

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~Dragonflies~
(American 767)



Dragonflies are odonata
they have close large eyes
bigger than the damselflies

Have slender bodies two wings
Variety numerous
they eat other small insects

Attack small fish and tadpoles
eat mosquitos and midges
they live in diverse biotope

Some are found in ponds...

Read More

~Dragonflies~
(American 767)



Dragonflies are odonata
they have close large eyes
bigger than the damselflies

Have slender bodies two wings
Variety numerous
they eat other small insects

Attack small fish and tadpoles
eat mosquitos and midges
they live in diverse biotope

Some are found in ponds...

Read More