Long Numbing Poems

Salvation of a Formalist, an Ode to Entropy
by Michael R. Burch

Entropy?
God's universal decree
That I get to be
Disorderly?
Suddenly
My erstwhile boxed-in verse is free?
Wheeeeee!



Eternal Currents
by Michael R. Burch

How can I write and not be true
to the rhythm...

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Twenty two years had passed  by

She blinked, and a lifetime had passed

She started this job as a lark

She never thought it would last

Two husbands and rehab were part of this bar

The husbands...her clients all...

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Sonnets XLII-LI

Distances
by Michael R. Burch

Moonbeams on water?
the reflected light
of a halcyon star
now drowning in night...
So your memories are.

Footprints on beaches
now flooding with water;
the small, broken ribcage
of some primitive slaughter...
So near, yet so far.



A Surfeit of...

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Nucleotidings
by Michael R. Burch

“We will walk taller!” said Gupta,
sorta abrupta,
hand-in-hand with his mom,
eyeing the A-bomb.

“Who needs a mahatma
in the aftermath of NAFTA?
Now, that was a disaster,”
cried glib Punjab.

“After Y2k,
time will spin out of control anyway,”
flamed...

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On that night the moon seemed hidden from her starry brothers
The kind of night not suited for the fighters nor the lovers
I ventured out only to put out the low burning lamp
When there I saw...

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Deliberately recognizing the sun against the moonbeams
I see your eyes gleam and your happiness screams
Into my eager ears over the years and I’m tension-whelmed with the tears I shed
Hanging at the last thread, giving in...

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So cramped ...
Strain to move,
Flex and budge in tiny increments ...
That's the limit.
Constantly testing, trying,
Pushing, pressing ...
Constrict, exert, constrict, struggle,
Spin slowly, push ...
That's it. That's all.
Nothing more.
But it helps ... relief,
A body sigh ...
But only...

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Of Ghosts and Fiends in Twilight


The sun sank low on the darkening horizon
Grey mist hung adrift over the land thickening
A cold, brisk autumn wind held and embraced me 
With my horse’s pace and that of...

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The King of the Castle 



Said I’m but a child
Afraid of the world outside 
Afraid to run wild and to  be proud
Of the freedom it provides
Afraid of love 
Afraid of the dark 

Said you...

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If I can walk ten thousand miles
Just to see your sunlit smiles,
I’d die ten thousand more times
Maybe, a billion times per chime; this time, I’ve committed love crimes

If I can walk infinity times infinity,
Would I...

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We disagree
I want to breathe people
Feel a timeless, immortal pulse
My solitude is anonymous observation
Strolling in unnoticed contemplation through worlds stacked upon worlds
The Flâneuse
My sustenance is colorful variety
Diving into the expressionism of bizarre fringes
Taste testing any...

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The Whiskey Bottle Wish

 	One late summer night outside a saloon in the mid-west, an intoxicated Dusty Rogers, stumbles out of the Bar nearly taking one of the revolving doors with him. As he flutters...

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Sudden movement of my heart, a shattered piece of art, 
Broke me apart from the start…rolling in the inner death-cart
Heartrate going sky high — I won’t lie nor can I deny that life cuts deep...

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Word Fantasy in F Sharp Minor  (3 Movements)

1

(Andante con moto)

Hey man. Take this.

I got it last night,
under a fractured street light,
with shattered pieces of clear glass, scattered
at the nexus of an obscure dark freeway...

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dawn that went from awry sad to NAUGHT bad — glad I made a stand, So Grand

Dove into the waters that once consumed me
Will I ever be free? Will I ever be happy as can...

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I shan't try and be witty an engage in the norm 
peeking through such pain my eyes see dim 
as crushing temporal lesion push against 
soft tissue endings pounding my optic nerves 
from my forehead...

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You ask how I really am when you damn well know,
My world is crumbling right now.
But I'll be fine,
Just give it some time,
Just take it one day at a time.
This isn't the first time,
Nor will...

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I’m going cray-cray some say…crazy in love, baby…
But, hey, I’m feeling fine up in here
Boldness and bravery today…went through me…
Shedded a tear with no fear…fear…
I’m corny and punny all in one
I’m the sun that shines…much...

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Hello again Conscious, my dear friend
hello again dear mirror, my wake up call
hello again myself, it's too early for this but it needs to be said
No one will understand my turmoil, decisions, incentives
my numbing drive...

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POEM: Welcome to Palestine. The land of the prophets and the martyrs. 


Let’s show show some respect, and bow down in humility…
Gaza may be small, but their angels are all over and as far as...

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-	Written August 11, 2018

Exhausted, you're playing as a suicidal victim once more
Confusion sucked me dry all the more to the deep core
Thaw me like frozen ground beef…
Give me some microwaving relief

Hate the actions you make...

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Donald Trump must be permanently lambasted...
and ewe know what else...
furloughed & barred from Whitehouse

Ducks of former self proclaimed Grand Poobah
getting lined up and goosed as these words typed
after trumpeting January 6th, 2021
as violent insurrection
Mitch Mcconnell...

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  anyone for humiliation

                   do even the best cringe
in shame
      ...

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When God created this world, everything was nice and dandy and perfect,
But the disobedience of Adam and Eve introduced sin and sowed defect,
Soon thereafter sin manifested itself as envy, hatred, and murder,
As their first son...

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(continued from, "An Epistle Warning against Melancholia: an Allegory--Part I," where somewhere in late 18th-century Europe a friend, Laetitia, by way of a letter warns her beloved girlfriend, Euphoria--a young, gay and unsuspecting mistress--against the...

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