Long Obedient 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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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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With these lines I’ll relate an intriguing tale of dubious accuracy
For I Hope to unveil sordid affairs of more than one conspiracy!
Be warned, that though you might be disturbed by the facts I relate?
They are...

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"Artificial Iris"


Orwell was lurking in the background, somewhere;
the dream was eerily familiar, 
the words and their meanings, read in Syntax,
once read between pages of hardcopy in school 
were aptly ignored - 

however, 
our Overlords were...

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Zulaikha:
What a bird you are, o red-billed Bird, 
you don’t eat reddish mangoes!
By eating which ash, will you exist then
in this bower of fate?

Yusuf:
That there is any fruit better than the name of God
and any...

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They came from as far a way as New York and Dallas Texas. The class of 1981 wasn't a large class, it was the very first class of a very very private school. Their school,...

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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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"Heart"  

Deep fissures formed
in the cracks of 
the nowhere place
where time leeched
bleeding claret 
through the green 
veined blues

protean bit by bit
the flesh disappears
prematurely 6ft under
mulch for rebirth
the subcontinent
conscientious conscience 
inward reaching

the divine central tableau...

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My receptive wide adoring eyes rested within the ambient light and bathed in The Shadoe and shade of the scene
Where before me a paragon of sublime refined  beauty 
So sensually seductively and arousingly delightful...

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Stood upright, between two roads,
On a thin metal rail,
A solitary, brown coloured bottle 
Of beer,                    ...

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Environment of elegance emerges and Solar System shimmers anew in our lives
We need and want to shine...waiting till the Kingdom of Glory arrives...arrives...

Burn negativity into the flames
I’m sick of your silly little games
Burn negativity into...

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May 29, 1957: …have to think about getting a thesis director…know no professor yet in the department…someone suggested i get hold of Derek Fogg for an intro to the big guns in the philosophisches Seminar…can't...

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I'm smart when I'm in my shell of solitude
Waiting till you're gone
So I can wear this attitude of gratitude
Bug off, bad attitude
I don't mean to act so rude
I feel ashamed and nude
The day is finally...

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#w/thisrebellioninside~

Seems you’re abiding by his side, side, side, my love
I tried to save you from giving in, but I had to save me 
Appears I’ve been crucified, now I hide like a wingless dove
I’ve fought...

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I was in a love affair with art, which had lasted for most of my life,
As beauty graces bush tree and field, whenever hued blossoms are rife.

I started painting at a young age, and had...

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"The Broken Valkyrie"



when 
the artificial 
sun 
replaced 
true Light,
revolution 
was a forgotten 
Valkyrie, 
Liberty 
had been 
put to bed
broken whore 
of Babylon
no longer holding
the torch for anyone;

women and men 
grew to love 
their servitude,
complacency 
skewered...

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Indefinable Love...

Duty without love makes us hard and dictatorial.
With Love, we are softer, have a clearer, wider understanding. And: Accountable for what we do and who we are.

Education without love creates efficient, obedient but heartless...

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Myths of deductive distinctions,
like white could not come from black,
are disinformed 
when severed from contrasting inductive integrity,
greyscale dualdark co-passions 
within light's future shadows 
of golden opportunity.

RightWing patriarchs oppositionally forget
we are LeftWing matriarchal-appositional reborn
within cooperative health...

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Starting this unSabbath day
unusually seduced by full-color compassion,
with some competing-for-time distractions
in more sadly usual role recessions,
raises weak-day wellness questions
with healthy answering co-passion,
responsive responses more resiliently weekend resonations
than pathological ego-manic fear emanations
about my immediate physical future...

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I was taught by   my father to be obedient in the dense forest to save the individuals trees, stop destruction to plantation. I cannot be silent under the detriment from lumberjacks to global...

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Afterwards.

Didn’t we once used to smile and laugh?
I can see that we seemed to be happy 
As I look at an old photograph.
But now our mouths
Seem almost paralysed
Or are tight and grim.
I vaguely recall a...

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Sometimes I feel so

Insignificant.



I have yet to understand why I’m here.

What’s my purpose?

Will I be forgotten easily when it’s time for me to go?

Or will I be remembered by many?

It’s difficult to pinpoint what makes...

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"Strange Vampires"

all those years 
ago, when conspiracies
flourished around 
did we or didn’t we go 
to the moon, when we
were once human,
proved to be lies,
whichever way 
the dark shadows 
conveyed it.

the truth 
came out much later,...

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She is searching for the son taken  from her arms 
 simply because she was believed to be a child herself.
She was unable to stand up to her parents’ wishes -
those GOD fearing upright...

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Push the limits…try to find outlets and coping skills for yourself
Pull away from the urge to throw those childish, languishing fits
Explore and implore with me now
Feels drown away and fade somehow
Hooked to your melody
Haunted and...

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