Long Mucous Poems

Poems about Poems (II)

Kin
by Michael R. Burch

for Richard Moore

1.
Shrill gulls,
how like my thoughts
you, struggling, rise
to distant bliss?
the weightless blue of skies
that are not blue
in any atmosphere,
but closest here...

2.
You seek an air
so clear,
so rarified
the effort leaves...

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Poems about Flight, Flying, and Birds



Flying
by Michael R. Burch

I shall rise
and try the bloody wings of thought
ten thousand times
before I fly...

and then I'll sleep
and waste ten thousand nights
before I dream;

but when at last...
I soar the...

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State of the Art (II)

These are my "ars poetica" poems about the art and craft of writing poetry. 



What the Poet Sees
by Michael R. Burch

What the poet sees,
he sees as a swimmer 
~~~~underwater~~~~
watching the shoreline...

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These are prophetic poems and apocalyptic poems ...



The Vision of the Overseer’s Right Hand
by Michael R. Burch

“Dust to dust ...”

I stumbled, aghast,
into a valley of dust and bone
where all men become,
at last, the same color...

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Poems about Poets I


The Wonder Boys
by Michael R. Burch

for Leslie Mellichamp

The stars were always there, too-bright cliches:
scintillant truths the jaded world outgrew
as baffled poets winged keyed kites—amazed,
in dream of shocks that suddenly came true ...

but...

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Just a view on the inner critic. Every time I read what I wrote I see a different angle. This person never even opened their eyes. Some day you can't.

The day had begun. Simple. It...

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Recurrent sneezing fit courtesy freshly mowed grass

circa June 20th, 2022
prompted me to stutter 
self addressed rapid fire gesundheit
nsync with, spluttering
“I don't have any allergies!”

An infinitesimal slight speck tickled 
nostril follicle – activated via an itty...

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tweaked to pass inspection broadcast on the double
(alternately titled snafu: ma bell heave hubble
vehicular repairs (prohibitive)
finds me bleary eyed stupefied
and countenance grizzled with prickly stubble
collapsed amidst virtual rubble).

Best sung courtesy rotten dull liver:red worst
after words...

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Birthday Poem to Myself
by Michael R. Burch

LORD, be no longer this Distant Presence,
Star-Afar, Righteous-Anonymous,
but come! Come live among us;
come dwell again,
happy child among men—
men rejoicing to have known you
in the familiar manger’s cool
sweet light scent...

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after pros and cons discussed
     with six grade speech pathologist, she weighed
in favor, to launch stealth offensive
     spring time surprise raid,
which faux analogous military show of force,
...

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bachelorhoodwinked
by michael r. burch

(a poem about wedlock, or lock->wed)

u
are
charming
& disarming,
but mostly ***ALARMING***
since all my resolve
dissolved!

u
are
chic
as a sheikh's
harem girl in the sheets
but castle's no longer my own
and my kingdom's been overthrown!



That Not-So-Mellow Fellow, Othello
by Michael R....

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This struggling accomplished path winds,
Spiral like stairs leading us to the point;
Average wingedhipsters today more like
Displaced thugs. With no sense.
At every corner, we're speaking rigorous
Reminders.

That we all eventually yawn.your wombs

America, I'm wore out, worrying about
This...

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Primose path leads to the slaughter of American
dream delete pause proficiency with internetty
webbegone after thoughts of yahoo googleyed 
interred intricacies that shed benign capsules of
 mom entary apple pie delquiences cooling 
the soul shopping for...

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(alternately titled: ma bell heave hubble
vehicular repairs (prohibitive) 
finds me bleary eyed stupefied 
and countenance grizzled with prickly stubble 
collapsed amidst virtual rubble).

Best sung courtesy rotten dull liver:red worst
after words which, I gotta quench mine...

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I first glanced at you
Quietly looking away
I'll never hold you
My selfish declaration 
I'm not that strong
Weaker than I perceived you were
Seeing you behind those tiny bars
Unable to lift your head from
That stained mattress 

They said...

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Verizon router won't connect to internet blues
(alternately titled: ma bell heave hubble
telecommunications gone south).

Best sung courtesy rotten dull liver:red worst
after words which, I gotta quench mine thirst
whereby think Botox lips zipped and pursed
hence impossible linkedin...

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"The silent cry of a newborn, the one that no one hears.
Can bring a grown man to his knees trembling with fear." 

Every new parent has a fear of making a mistake
The combination of excitement...

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“Pearl Diving” (Part 2)

Angel fish are pretty, but they’re boring that’s they’re lot
the Man O War is far too flashy, frivilous, 
Octupi are too touchy feely always begging for the real thing way too early,
the...

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Their numbers drawn, the backwards lottery
Almost none were aware they were playing

Assaulted by the poisons that save them 
Hairless children with steroid-swollen cheeks
Feared stigmata of chemotherapy
Daily valiance, heroism unsought

Magic bullets are a relative thing
Modern wonder...

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No antihistamine can 
unblock the lifetime
accumulation of stoppered emotional gunk
zapping, undermining, and polluting spunk
mine early life in retrospective avast flunk
stripped mined wasteland qua sinkhole,

where eternal reverberations soundlessly plunk
inescapable deafening, and
blinding this targeted
"scapegoat" bullied by most...

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Her hands were happy, 
she fluttered them against 
a cliché sense of blue in the air
and laughed when the allure of 
the flowers further on trilled against
her skin. She submerges herself in light,
filtering through veined...

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            Holocaust Helga


She knew she was like a star, so bright,
Everything in her world was just so right!
With nobody, she would she ever ...

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You lay in the wooden cot,
a broken sparrow,
Crushed. Bony. Frail.
Hair once plumed gold,
greyed to clumped feathers
like ragged  trampled wings,
strawed out on the dank pillow.
Face once blushed pink plump,
Jolly kind of soft with life,
Sucked to...

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Saturday Night

Smoked cigarette butts in
The cup of runny-mud-thick cold minestrone soup
Half gone
My inebriated head melts
Into my numb hairless fingers, hang nails hung over from
A sober week at the office
Half a dream
A purple man steals my...

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THE ULCERATED COLON       
       U.C. I
I wander through my dark--a mournful soul--
chastised--and to the point of no return,
from feeling I may die--and less...

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