Long Oscar Poems

Dad hit me only once, an upper cut to the solar plexus. It nearly lifted me off my feet. I was 17 then and already fairly tall, 6’1.” He was 48 and of medium height,...

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Epigrams by Michael R. Burch

If brevity is the soul of wit
then brevity and levity 
are the whole of it.
—Michael R. Burch

To write an epigram, cram.
If you lack wit, scram!
—Michael R. Burch

Conformists of a feather
flock together.
—Michael...

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Epigrams

Autumn Conundrum
by Michael R. Burch

It’s not that every leaf must finally fall,
it’s just that we can never catch them all.

Piercing the Shell
by Michael R. Burch

If we strip away all the accouterments of war,
perhaps we'll discover...

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Look up in the sky ! It’s a bird ! It’s a plane.
It’s Superman !
More powerful than a locomotive, faster than a speeding bullet, able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. This fearless...

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This situation has no basis in reality; in fact, it is ludicrously unreal. However, the likes and dislikes shown of its author are completely true!

Scene: A comfortable office where Andrea Dietrich is finishing up with...

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The Picture of Dorian Gray: Paint Me As An Event
The Picture of Dorian Gray, a decent fanciful novel by Irish writer Oscar Wilde, published in 1890. The novel, the only one written by Wilde, had...

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The Dance of Salome
Herod bellowed out the night's festive orders..
"Bring the torches, bring the tables..
more wine, that we may rejoice,  
for tonight we revel in kindred friendship."
Herod strolled onto the terrace, nearly stumbled in...

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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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“22½ euros for a Martini,” Peter remarked, when he first scanned the menu.
“It’s not like we aren’t going to get them,” I said, “we’re not going to cheap our way to abstinence." The waiter came...

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Putin non gmo gluten free cheese on the ritz as a celiac to follow

Initially written March 18th, 2023
and revised exactly two years later
tweaking the poem here and there
courtesy adding or subtracting Nabisco  
National Biscuit...

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(Pentagon E-ring office—executive officer knocks & enters—General motions him in)

XO,
Explain
examinees...

                         ...

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1.    John Desmond Patrick Keegan
2.    Alfred, Lord Tennyson 
3.    Sally Aline Mae Beller
4.    Charles Edward A. Berry
5.    Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce...

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He wore no mask of murder’s face,
No blade was in his hand,
But still they called his love a crime,
And could not understand.
He kissed a boy with poet’s grace,
The courts replied: “He’s banned.”

They cast him in...

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Two old friends
(who haven’t seen each other
in quite some time)
running into each other on the 
corner of Linwood and Clairmount
— A Detroit westside encounter


Man, it’s good seeing you Joe,
how is ...

Aw, Moms doing just fine....

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Everybody got a Hollywood life story
to tell
More meat on the bone
give juicier bites 
to sell
Nobody ever turns in a tarnished silver screenplay
Those warts and mistakes
get Photoshop casting couch edited away
Baby Jane rude attitude don’t make...

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LITTLE. ARIANNA 

                                ...

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THE LEMON TYPE GARDEN

The Players. (in order of appearance) 

Freddie Fastfoot (The Rabbit)
Felicity Flutterby. (The Butterfly)
Joshua Jumpahop (The Grasshopper)
Chloe Crafteneye (The Fox)
Benjamin Buzzenbee (The Bumble Bee)
Oscar Oakenut (The Squirrel) 
Molly Maggenprop (The Magpie)
Christopher Croakalot (The...

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We were told that we would be great by someone who is great at their own version of being great. There is a mass of greatness going on here. This person is sooo great. Can...

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Poems about Poets



Long Division
by Michael R. Burch

for Laura Riding Jackson

All things become one
Through death’s long division
And perfect precision.



Nod to the Master
by Michael R. Burch

If every witty thing that’s said were true,
Oscar Wilde, the world would...

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I placed my head between my knees to have a good look at the trees beneath me; I held it there for some time and found that nature was divine.

I saw the seeds springing from...

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...Give him a handful of seconds
and his turbocharged cyborg mind
could know what a man would do next,
and it happened time after time.

Carson chose to have fun with this,
he signed up to do some boxing,
read their...

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I wish i was a map, i could of told you where to go, how to move and where to stop

I wish i was a clock, i could of told you When to move ,when...

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Just now I took a minute to myself
reflecting it's going well
re-step well if I'm a belt
I'm holding up but my former self
in stealth hiding in my shadow so now I'm mystealth
a worn version like an...

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Is there no place for us ? 
In this world of work and fuss ?
We came to fulfil our dreams
Leaving our noble motherland with goodbye tear streams 
We are prisoners of a dark dank cell...

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I can’t count the wrongs I’ve committed
The people I’ve hurt
The friends I’ve lost, but, the hardest part was losing 
You 
The only one I could see myself with
Even now 
Especially since you’re gone

Oscar Wilde once...

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