Long Mill Poems

Unique: I need someone to hold me and tell
me it's alright.
I need someone to hold my hands and feel
my pain.
I need someone to kiss away my pain.
I need someone to look into my eyes and...

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Impossible mission to captcha infinitesimal moment

alternately titled: tick tock runneth amuck
seconds elapse imperceptibly 
leaving me dumbstruck,
how quickly fleeting tempus fugit; 
ofttimes imagined as time thief.

Hence following vignette: quiet as a mouse lurks the time thief...

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With my Uyghur poetry translations I am trying to build awareness of the plight of Uyghur poets who are being sent to Chinese "reeducation" concentration camps.

Elegy
by Perhat Tursun
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Asylum seekers, will...

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[First posted in 3 parts. Intended novel: time never allowed]

Prologue
This,  Sir, is the prologue from before our tale begins
About the day our father did succumb to mortal sins
And left behind a man who would...

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Self destructive wickedness arrested, convicted, and gaoled...

with kidnapping little boy 
ordered to suffer
life sentence without parole.

The deadly scourge of  
one obsessive/compulsive disorder
nearly left me starving to death.

Anorexia nervosa absent bulimia 
nadir of onset 
diagnoses...

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The Song of Amergin: Modern English Translations

The Song of Amergin
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

I am the sea breeze
I am the ocean wave
I am the surf's thunder
I am the stag of the seven tines
I am...

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~The Boys Get In Trouble Again~Part 1- 
(A Narrative poem) 


 
Beth! Beth! Almanzo called out aloud for Laura upon entering their home., very late that afternoon, after so many long hours of work, since...

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Perhat Tursun

Perhat Tursun (1969-) is one of the foremost living Uyghur language poets, if he is still alive. Born and raised in Atush, a city in China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, Tursun began writing poetry...

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~The Boys Get In Trouble Again~Part 1- 
(A Narrative poem) 


 
Beth! Beth! Almanzo called out aloud for Laura upon entering their home., very late that afternoon, after so many long hours of work, since...

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“Here the fierce with the thin pointed tail,
Who passes mountains and breaks arms and walls!
Here who with stench can the world assail!”

So my duke started to talk with his calls;
And hinted then it to get...

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Headlights messaged through midnight windows 
Curtainless glass unable to subdue the urgency 
Car obtained in street nearby was theirs temporarily
Three hour drive to ship leaving island next morning

Two sixteen year old girls barely registered surprise...

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Introduction: once again I incorporate 
my trademark penchant 
to fabricate fictitiously
portions of the following poetic endeavor
can you care to 
discern fact from fiction?

Attempts at lifelong friendships and holy matrimony...

Shot thru with figuratively cankerous nub,
cuz yours...

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“The Scorpion’s Touch”

Under glass
the sound cuts out sharp
just like under water
and we run out of breath 
like insects running around 
frantically out of time
we are magnified 
in our tight enclosures

internally observed
the external turns away
two heart...

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Date:   June  2048
The grills were set everything was 
In place. CJ informed "More
 than 350 family members 
Are expected to be here within
The hour." Damian said, "with 300 plus
Relatives expected today it...

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HEROES

Near somber guards, units of children heap 
dead leaves, naive to any else fallen.
Friend, you chuckle, but your posture speaks
of duty on this day of contradictions.

Firefighters bow heads in silent paean, 
while polished trucks stand...

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September     2051

Damian was awake 7am in his weight room Walking the tread mill.  While speaking with one of his employees of his
Realty endeavors. "SAY Mike make sure my sure the...

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Raid versus woe

Black flag(s) show up
on social media platforms
when potential homicidal maniac(s)
communicate(s) intent to strike
with ambush and ready
read - able, eager, and willing
to embark upon murderous rampage.

Prospective killer armed to the teeth
usually a young bucking...

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"The discrepancies are many, the dalliances are few,
both pitched against one dynamic, lifelong achievement"

Poking through the woods of the Mill Grove Audubon Estate,
suddenly came upon an ivy-covered studio shed
tucked away amongst foliage near Perkiomen Creek,
apparently...

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A MINISTER RETIRES :  
SOLILOQUY 

I arise as infant Phoenix 
from Akasha ashes 
counterparts frozen 
with foibles intact
a still Arctic of death
sheath for recalibration 

Source Light breathes into 
fontanelle slowly sleepily  
Sekmet my...

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Doing absolute zero endeavors

Earlier today March 28th, 2025
(thee hour now fifteen minutes
after eight o'clock at night, cuz
yours truly & wife paced back
and forth from one room to the
other wearing out rugged groovy
Tuesday (three day) experienced...

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When I was sixteen
I wanted Robert Kennedy's life,
although I didn't know about his time squandered
in staffing McCarthyism's
Make America as Grotesque as Possible campaign,

Which would have given me pause
in that comparatively naive age
of green longing for...

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He was born in backwoods Missouri.
1840 the year he arrived.
Conflict, sickness and hard times prevailed.
Through it all he grew strong and survived.
Skills to live were a gift from his father.
Faith in God from his mother...

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Sun and traffic - day economy.
Six a.m. drive to plywood mill. Too tired
to be angry. Each day a step
toward death. What is being accomplished? The
small satisfactions
within each day. Book consciously read.
And frustrations. Package dropped, honey...

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"The Emasculation of Man"
 


The world goes by loudly
emasculated man 
sees nothing 
for what it’s worth
ignorant and 
pumelling chests
gorilla armies 
neanderthals
small brained 
with closed fists 
power hungry 
greed-fuelled 
knowing all 
blind to the 
supernatural
natural course...

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Off fish hill Daylight saving time 2025

min(no) newt effect on me.

As part and parcel of terpsichorean repertoire,
one whirling dervish 
flaps his wings at the speed of sound.

With twenty three hours
Sunday March 9th, 2025
essentially 2:00:00 to...

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