Long Monument Poems

Epitaph for a Palestinian Child
by Michael R. Burch

I lived as best I could, and then I died.
Be careful where you step: the grave is wide.



Autumn Conundrum
by Michael R. Burch

It's not that every leaf must finally...

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Juvenilia: Early Poems VI



An Illusion
by Michael R. Burch

The sky was as hushed as the breath of a bee
and the world was bathed in shades of palest gold
when I awoke.

She came to me with the sound...

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Juvenilia: Early Poems X

These are early poems written in my teens and twenties.

Regret
by Michael R. Burch

Regret,
a bitter
ache to bear...

once starlight
languished
in your hair...

a shining there
as brief
as rare.

Regret,
a pain
I chose to bear...

unleash
the torrent
of your hair...

and show me
once...

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Athenian Epitaphs

Mariner, do not ask whose tomb this may be,
but go with good fortune: I wish you a kinder sea.
—Michael R. Burch, after Plato

Does my soul abide in heaven, or hell?
Only the sea gulls
in their...

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Reveren’ Carlton Whitney was the pastor of our church, and someone I looked up to as a child. 
Six foot six, with piercing eyes, a booming voice, and yet…his disposition, thankfully - was mild.

The very...

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The daily star Tuesday issue...

announces Summer Solstice 2023
regarding ray zing planetary earthlings

Wednesday, June twenty first
at 10:57 Ante Meridian
Eastern standard time
will find Earth's North Pole tilted
closest toward sun. This demarcates

most daylight hours of the year for
people...

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A poet of a thousand words
The pen garnished by the flame
Like a sea no desire knows
And love becomes the same
As poet to my love for thee
I confess between the lace
Of time and every sorrow made
I...

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Embrace The Lines

Vitality marks gently stretch your soft skin beyond the wildest dreams of
beauty unbound where children had once or thrice embraced your womb
the soothing waters cushioning and cradling three miracles three water 
marks engraved...

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The daily star announces Summer Solstice 2022

Tuesday, June twenty first
at 5:13 Ante Meridian
Eastern standard time
will find Earth's North Pole tilted
closest toward sun. This demarcates

most daylight hours of the year for
people living the northern hemisphere.
Just shy...

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BEGINNINGS

The WORD was there before the dawn of time
the Trinity communed in sacred tongue
with sounds unheard, unspeakable, sublime
they uttered words of their unending Love.
With power in God's WORD the world was formed
and from His mouth...

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Introduction: one of the nice aspects of having an oeuvre as a poet is the ability to see where you have changed over the years. this is such a poem where i can see the...

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“The ribbon is cut
 The die is cast
 The cement is dry
 Yet nothing lasts
 The brazen rewarded
 The hero a fool
 All reason outdated
 New fury the tool”

A journey presented
Your ship to go far
With...

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You know when you are growing up

The stages you go through

Make you the way you are

They help to make you...YOU

The people who you deal with

Whether family or your friends

Are very influential

And they're with you 'till...

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Tavira 

Tavira is my town
The place I call my home
Rich in history
Much like me
Many secrets does it hold
Ancient times still apparent
Different people now
A different time

How many footsteps have trodden the cobbled streets?
With donkeys or on...

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........Cactus
....Water Towers
Isolated desolates
Wrapped in spikes
Fluted aqua Greys
Or in military green
Reaching the skies
The desolate cacti 
The desert fingers 
Withholding blaze..
Desicating breeze..........
.Blistering freeze..................
Where not a blade....................
Nothin' germinate......................
Them root in dust.....................
Wasteland, gravel.....................
The fluted barrels......................
They shrink in dry......................
Bellow up...

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Crazy Horse Monument

Up there! On the Black Hills Mountain, 1
A work in progress sculptured in granite,
Of a stern faced warrior, strong and determined, 2
Unadorned in a war bonnet, with his hair flowing in the wind,
And...

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silent issues

humanity
and the hypocrisy
of soft tissues

openly
running out of paper rolls
secretly
disgrace on humanity's cheeks silently rolls

there's a monument
on earth
to the unknown soldier

there's a monument
in the firmaments
to the unknown child 

a well known secret

a hood by night...

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"Gospels"

 

Gospels are lost on a god
words are never hidden
under rocks 
unturned stones
for the hiding

Poets caress swords
a legend firm in their hearts
undrawn they hold it out
as victor for witness
and target, practice

to fall on love 
brutally...

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The beautiful days were here again, as sunshine lit blue skies,
And I was happy with my work, which had seldom held surprise.

My job entailed overseeing, the raising of national monuments,
So that all could remember, a...

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MY BUCKET LIST

Years and years ago, I made a bucket list.
I looked everywhere and could not find it.
I don’t remember everything I listed,
so it’s time for a new one to be created
or just to go...

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Things were not going anything close to my way that day.  So, I decided
to take a walk through a lovely park among the green grass and trees.
No sooner than I sat under an old...

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Meet at the Cemetery
This is where I live
Meet me at the cemetery to make your final bid
One suitcase and one long gown
This is where I am bound
Bones and bones meet  with bones
Dead bones, dried...

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A.L.I.E.NS
(Advanced people Living In an Enigmatic world under a Nation with a Stentorian voice.)


Hear me, as I roar.
Hear me, as I walk on two than foe.
Hear me, as I pour this O.E all over the...

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Often times I wonder if I may have missed 
a greater calling or purpose in my life.
As a young man I was frivolous and non-sensical
when it came to asking the most important questions:
“Why am I...

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Our bank accounts nearly emptied so we could afford a vacation; two young working girls who'd never been far from home. We were looking forward to finding love on a romantic tropical island. Maybe someone...

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