Long Nightmarish Poems

"The Payload" 

The payload 
came crashing down
like rain expelled
from the fat belly 
of a ruinous pregnant cloud 
bilious with buxom promise

it came crashing down 
like school fish released 
from the tight confines
of a course rope...

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Poems about Mothers


Mother's Smile
by Michael R. Burch

There never was a fonder smile
than mother's smile, no softer touch
than mother's touch. So sleep awhile
and know she loves you more than "much."

So more than "much, " much more...

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It's Halloween!
Michael R. Burch

If evening falls
on graveyard walls
far softer than a sigh;

if shadows fly
moon-sickled skies,
while children toss their heads

uneasy in their beds,
beware the witch's eye!

If goblins loom
within the gloom
till playful pups grow terse;

if birds give...

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It's Halloween!
Michael R. Burch

If evening falls
on graveyard walls
far softer than a sigh;

if shadows fly
moon-sickled skies,
while children toss their heads

uneasy in their beds,
beware the witch's eye!

If goblins loom
within the gloom
till playful pups grow terse;

if birds give...

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Juvenilia: Early Poems IX

These are early poems of mine, written in my teens as a high school student and during my first two years of college.

Shock
by Michael R. Burch

It was early in the morning of...

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The Pain of Love
by Michael R. Burch 
 
for T. M.
 
The pain of love is this:
the parting after the kiss;
 
the train steaming from the station
whistling abnegation;
 
each interstate’s bleak white bar
that vanishes under...

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"Christmas in the Cathedral of the Forest Deep"




The silent heart is found 
embedded in the 
Cathedral of 
The Forest Deep

The lost jewel
shines in the dark
see the reflection of emerald eyes
endless hazel woods scried

On Christmas Eve
when...

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Once pawn a time...

About four plus weeks after
frazzling fiasco from friggin fraudsters
white knight still mourns swindled money
Lynne Costello Senior Civil Investigator
(assistant to Philadelphia attorney general)
unable to recoup forfeited funds.

While holed up in castle keep,
(albeit fetchodit...

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**Trigger Warning**



"I Knew Anne Silently - My Ravenous Poe" 

I knew Anne.
you’d think 
with a name like hers
she’d be able to find her way 
out of unchartered waters.

it didn’t come as a suprise, 
then, on...

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Impossible mission to sleep on opposite side of marital bed...

Oddly enough even 
when frolicking in the autumn mist
with seasoned super tramping 
cheaply tricked out goo goo dolls
some resembling Indigo Girls,
one foo fighting beastie boy
unable to...

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(1.)

Olympic Desires Born, Gods A'playing


Poseidon arose, trident a'gleaming.
Mermaids danced, fallen hair a'streaming.

Olympic desires born, Gods a'playing
Mighty Zeus often on earth a'staying
There below mortals stopped a'praying
Hades play, man's evil a'repaying!

Poseidon arose, trident a'gleaming.
Mermaids danced, fallen hair...

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With the opening of my fortress cell,
solemn-faced men come locust invading in
Their mouths smile not, and eyes neither grin
as ceremonial words pursed lips expel
A deer thought escapes ... my life nears its end!
And I feel...

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They say the one you think of last before sleep,
Is the one you care for the most— the one you wish to hold, admire, love…

The two of us…beings of bravery,
Had labored all the night, 
In...

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I was in the shotgun seat
in 1960 Lansing Michigan
headed straight as a harddrive
through ghettoizing "Negra Section"
hunting down our commercial whitebread 
heavenly ThriftyAcres

Wanna be a WalMart ImPlantation
but not Southern enough,
somehow,
to withstand straight-male competition
in fluent White Privileged...

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Since my early teens until I reached about 45,
I had pursued my life's dream of working fulltime
in the Gospel Ministry.  There were many aspects
whereby such a dream could express itself and be
fulfilled.  For...

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My parenting totem
was the Hawk
of bicamerally perfect egocentric vision
usually greeted by a loud Yang squawk
and vigorous walk
in the other wrong direction.

My WiseElder totem
is the Turkey,
CoMessiah of CoRedemptive Dying
as notnot loving EarthTribe's future lives.

At eight,
my totem...

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His wise council and kind patience bolstered my resolve
to overcome my youthful woes and nightmarish troubles solve.
His humanity may have saved my life. His memory I hold dear.
But whenever the name Mister James arose—
Other kids...

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a force for good
(for john coltrane and ahmed obafemi
based on ‘trane’s treatment of ‘nature boy’)

“…I wanna be a force for good…”
		-John Coltrane
 
…there was a man…
a very brave, enchanted man…
and he spoke of many things…
peace...

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(1.)
Beware, Nightmarish Dreams Are Oft By Raven Sent,
(In Tribute To Edgar Allen Poe)

When incantations stoke fiery embers,
eerie nights, their sounds roust to remember
ghosts of yesteryears, so birthed to dark play
within nightmarish dreams, as monsters slay.

Around...

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His was,
A kiss of promise
A kiss of challenge
A kiss of power
And a kiss of doom
Where our lips had met
He was a threat, a strident peril
And yet a strange safety,
To which I held such visions
To which...

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Hm, well, I see you need to give yourself a lot more credit
Than you give yourself daily – you’re modest, I do admit 

You have a witty and clever side in you deep down
What about...

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Verse 1:
I should've been careful what I wished for 
I know there's bound to be another open door
Of many opportunities
That could replace my nightmarish memories 
Not everything is black and white, you see?
I wake up...

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Their mere weapon was their forbidden courage, hands barren with  no armaments, no ammunitions, marching towards the proud valley of death, dedication born from their sempiternal dreams of a free land. 

Their bare weapon...

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In the eases softening breeze leaves rustle in the crisp
Autumn air, as the creeping shadows begin to claim the
Hallows of the darkening night, layer by layer the blackness
Swallows whole the last remaining essence of light,...

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Many see me as that crazy cat guy, 
who dresses in black all of the time,
and keeps to himself, or to just a chosen few,
and while the latter two accusations may very well be true,
"crazy...

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