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

XO,
Explain
examinees...

                         ...

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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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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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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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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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For Jack so loved the whisky
That he spent all his hard earned money
Buzzing like a bee, in a hive full of honey
Painting the town red, every club, pub and bar
Mingling among strangers, feeling like a...

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Joe Cocker: Born: 1944-05-20 - Died: 2014-12-22
A Woodstock discover
While singing a cover
With a Little Help from My Friends
And it was a shocker
To find that Joe Cocker
Gravelly voice finally ends

Ken Weatherwax: Born 1955-9-29Died:2014-12-7
Pugsley Adams was my...

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I am Emmett Till. 
I was beaten to death, so how dare you go through everyday life complaining that it's "pure hell". 
I'd rather be locked up in a jail cell. 
Or sitting in a...

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EXERPTS   FROM   HITLER’S   DIARY   1941

"I never travel without my diary, one should always have something sensational to read . .
 . " Oscar Wilde, 1891 

Tues ...

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after riding 
with the
hell’s angels,
running for
sheriff of
pitkin county 
in colorado
(speaking on
the “freak power”
platform---from
which he swore
that if he won---he
would
tear up all the 
streets, replacing 
them with newly
sodden, “never 
take mescaline 
whilst on duty,”
and legalize all
drugs to...

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A baby gorilla's bedtime is a harmonic period when the bananas line up with little leaf rattles to softly croon to slumber the furry ball. Priceless is the process of pacification and pacifications are not...

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Eating alphabet soup with a straw so you can play Scrabble with the leftovers
Lyrics from an obscure band is music to your ears
Shaving off the November scruff that was plastered on your face
Nightmares are less...

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Girl of the theater, devoted to beauty, love and freedom. Romantic, not necessarily hopeless, but romantic nonetheless. She romanticises her life, she's the main character of the play. That is her existence. To court her,...

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Here are six tales of six relatives of mine
Now all have passed in the passage of time
Mostly seen through the eyes of a child
Poetic licence used for I’m no Oscar Wilde
~~~
Aunt Ada and Aunt...

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It was in eighteen eighty-six in the streets of Chicago,
where the greatest miscarriage of justice people would know
transpired in an infamous labor-police rendezvous.
Albert Parsons led eighty thousand people on revue.
The strikers marched down Chicago’s Michigan...

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