Long Mussels Poems

Lady’s Favor
by Michael R. Burch

May
spring
fling
her riotous petals
devil-
may-care
into the air,
ignoring the lethal
nettles
and may
May
cry gleeful-
ly Hooray!
as the abundance
settles,
till a sudden June
swoon
leave us out of tune,
torn,
when the last rose is left
inconsolably bereft,
rudely shorn
of every device but her thorn.


The...

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Winter
by Michael R. Burch

The rose of love's bright promise
lies torn by her own thorn;
her scent was sweet
but at her feet
the pallid aphids mourn.

The lilac of devotion
has felt the winter hoar
and shed her dress;
companionless,
she shivers—nude, forlorn.

Published...

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Dream of Infinity
by Michael R. Burch

Have you tasted the bitterness of tears of despair?
Have you watched the sun sink through such pale, balmless air
that your soul sought its shell like a crab on a beach,
then...

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Poems about Children IV

Salat Days
by Michael R. Burch

Dedicated to the memory of my grandfather, Paul Ray Burch, Sr.

I remember how my grandfather used to pick poke salat ...
though first, usually, he’d stretch back in the...

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Like Hannibal we crossed the pass and crossed 
   the Alps (okay, the Brynderwyn Hills) 
and a bridge too far on north-west passage.
   From out of the Valley of Mizpah 
to...

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Sweet Rose of Virtue
by William Dunbar (c. 1460-1530)
loose translation/modernization/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

after William Dunbar

Sweet rose of virtue and of gentleness,
delightful lily of youthful wantonness,
richest in bounty and in beauty clear
and in every virtue that...

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Juvenilia: Early Poems by Michael R. Burch



Smoke
by Michael R. Burch

The hazy, smoke-filled skies of summer I remember well;
farewell was on my mind, and the thoughts that I can't tell
rang bells within (the din was in)...

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These are poems about starlight and moonlight, moons and stars, dreams and visions, illuminations and intimations …



Will There Be Starlight
by Michael R. Burch 

Will there be starlight
tonight
while she gathers
damask
and lilac
and sweet-scented heathers?

And will she find...

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PRINCESS DIANA POEMS

Fairest Diana: an Epitaph for Princess Diana
by Michael R. Burch

Fairest Diana, princess of dreams,
born to be loved and yet distant and lone,
why did you linger?so solemn, so lovely?
an orchid ablaze in a crevice...

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Picturebook Princess

for Keira

We had a special visitor.
Our world became suddenly brighter.
She was such a charmer!
Such a delighter! 

With her sparkly diamond slippers
and the way her whole being glows,
Keira’s a picturebook princess
from the points of her...

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1 2 1 2 in a tutu playing croquet at three pm

Abracadabra is a giant kilo of horse manure thrown at the head with a boom. But a boom is neither a boomerang nor a...

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Ch8, cont.

Northward parallel the valley.
And their ridge-top elevation 
Gave advantage of perspective 
They could see the forest's ending
 
In the distance. That same evening 
Would reveal a stronger reason 
For Ipiki's intervention
Something sensed in his...

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Song Lyrics I

"We Came Together" was written as song lyrics for New Zealand composer David Hamilton.

Song Lyrics: We Came Together
by Michael R. Burch

We came together – people of two lands
so unalike, at first, we hardly...

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The Boatman’s Song  					20/ Many

The world would come to know one day
The real strength of your arms and the balance of your mind
And your love would be,  the inspiration of your life
Making you,...

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Last night, 
after I was struck under the ground, and did not, could not get up;
 I met one of the most beautiful of all beings that God could ever create; an Arch Angel…
Her robes...

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It's morning as I make a special trip to the
fish market. There, I will look for the freshest 
mussels, large shrimp, and Maine lobster. 
 
A large crowd has formed mostly chefs 
wanting to get...

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When I was very young
All I really wanted
To be was an Indian.
My mother always read to me -
Stories of fairies and elves,
Of princesses and ogres, witches,
And brownies who did good deeds.
Poems, “Wynken, Blynken and Nod”,
“The...

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Don’t worry about being thinner
Get yourself off down the pub
Then go home to a good British dinner,
Of British traditional grub

Delicious roast beef of old England
Served up with a thick Yorkshire pud
With roast spuds and cabbage...

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There’s a load of dust and sweat pulling my ole tired mussels 
           down
           These...

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I went to buy an R.V.
They said all I could afford was a Lose-a Beggo.

I bought a pair of alligator shoes.
But then I started wandering off into swamps.
Finally, I had to toss them, they were
really...

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Tortoiseshell tulips often grow at left angles to the moon and are otherwise adjusted to a sealed lip of ground. But a curled canopy of shredded wheat and oats make even the wildest of gardens...

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Oh how very marvellous then. Synchronised shopping in a ship stream. Level out no lever in a gale. And swarm to sale rails like oversized tanks on waves of euphoric energy excursions. When waving rattles...

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Yond the Book of Judges, uncover the smudges,
Samson and or Shimshon, a Nazarite vowed, son,
Delilah deceptor, Philistia's daughter,
The lipstick was preying, weight lift also praying,
The black widow spider, spun her web of desire,
Weakness met the...

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A dance of elegance they leap
in grace of movements sweep
moonlights skipping on the waves
upon the circuits the currents paves

A Spanish Dancer twirls her skirt
whose painted like a rainbows shirt
Your works oh Jah blanket the Sea
where...

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How many years is it
From the long past decades
When we were young
And brought our children
To Martha’s Vineyard?

I often think “How many?”
How many pails of clams dug,
How many dozens of crabs netted,
How many pounds of mussels
Picked...

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