Long Oscillations Poems

Vacuum
by Michael R. Burch

Over hushed quadrants
forever landlocked in snow,
time’s senseless winds blow...

leaving odd relics of lives half-revealed,
if still mostly concealed...
such are the things we are unable to know

that once intrigued us so.

Come then, let us...

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The Making of a Poet
by Michael R. Burch

While I don’t consider “Poetry” to be my best poem—I wrote the first version in my teens—it’s a poem that holds special meaning for me; I call it...

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State of the Art (II)

These are my "ars poetica" poems about the art and craft of writing poetry. 



What the Poet Sees
by Michael R. Burch

What the poet sees,
he sees as a swimmer 
~~~~underwater~~~~
watching the shoreline...

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"The Sleeper and The Supernaturalist"


The Sleeper
shone as she walked 
through the Woods

shining alive 
like nothing
natural could

caught 
in the moonlight 
unaware

the innocent
red-caped roses stared
the trees whispered,

"beware, beware"

barefoot softly 
the Supernaturalist 
transfigures instead

from under shine 
she bares...

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Sonnets X-XVI


Archaischer Torso Apollos (“Archaic Torso of Apollo”)
by Rainer Maria Rilke
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

We cannot know the beheaded god
nor his eyes' forfeited visions. But still
the figure's trunk glows with the strange vitality
of a...

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MODERN SONNETS II

I prefer the original definition of the sonnet as a “little song” of indeterminate form and length. These modern sonnets vary from more-or-less traditional to free verse.



In Praise of Meter
by Michael R. Burch

The...

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I am feeling the shock of fast change. How to cope with it is of course the question. Listen to Beethoven through the neighbor's window? Look up from the page? Appreciate doves even though they...

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Living With A Myth

How dares one to speak of disability and live with it to tell the story narrate 
               ...

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“ We  are
                    What we eat“
         ...

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15.7
“You are That in which the universe appears 
like waves appearing in the ocean
You are Consciousness itself
No need to worry”


The concept being that the world is nothing but thought
Transient and therefore necessarily unreal like a...

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Poetic nugget discovered today March 29th, 2021...
while rifling thru outdated electronic drafts,
whereby yours went back to our memorable past.

Circa 6/30/ 2017 - Lost missing master car key...
plus additional ordinary travails affecting me
such as near bankruptcy,...

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Splash Bang Reflection


W ~ hen it has hit home with a big splash bang or silent reflection that time

E ~ lapses and fireworks are for the moment and not forever young displays


W ~ here here...

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S   Porcupines of daylight shoot quills of crawling tint
 P      ruffled flashes pull me in swamps of anxieties
 L       I hide my...

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I

I have learnt
To be always, myself
For no one can ever be me
And if am not myself
I will be nobody, for I can’t be anybody

I have learn 
To learn as much from
Great people from the past...

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Like a shadow within a shadow merging with the darkness of night, I am the shadow merger
Like the sense of invisibility that cloaks my corpse from humanity`s gazes, I am Lord Voldermort
How does a shadow...

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Guarded by towering hills on the East 
And flanked by the Arabian Sea on the West
With its easterly shore of stretching sandy swell 
That lulls the restless waves to sleep, 
There is a land, my...

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10.8
“For how many lifetimes
have you done hard and painful labor 
with body, mind and speech?
It is time to stop”


Ah! This entreaty
It has this ring of compassionate divinity
Emanating from a true seer moved by our plight
Enmeshed...

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Free Verse

I live not far from humankind the cradle that is of
what and where we are all coming from Johannesburg
so they say and going to one human race of every colour
no need for power domination...

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Pre-puberty years
Playful innocence 
Warm ready embrace
Quarrels, aberrations 
Rapidly erased
An uncluttered mind
Open, forgiving heart
Reborn each morn anew

Growing up, ego manifests
Taught to be street smart 
Testosterone levels high
Feral instincts prevail
In the game of one-upmanship 
Need to win...

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There is an ethereal feel to your touch
A celestial aura that surrounds you
Heavenly splendor in your presence
The dance of the stars is in your eyes
I can see your halo
You are not of this world

When you...

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Flower power

“If you’re going to
San Francisco be sure to
wear a flower 
in your hair”
long and shaggy
shagged longing wild

And to Berlin or
Paris for that 
matter to dream to
meet a girl and more
under the fountain

The “Fountainhead”
on your...

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The Unseen, As Swirling Ebbs Of Time Plod Along

Fight disbelief, as its intended power is to deceive
its low, hard constant drone, echoes shattered moans
with razor knife edge, bloodied cuts hide in its deep,
at dusk's waning...

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I feel very privileged to have been able to contribute something small to a second collaboration with poet extraordinaire, Robert Lindley, whose mastery of all forms of verse continues to inspire. Thank you, Robert, for...

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Tomorrow you will wake up
   drag yourself out of your bed
     even when your mind is tired
          so is every...

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Before Search

Though there were oscillations
Still peace was young
Wherefrom the uncertainty encroached
Everywhere in my vicinity around

Engine stopped instead paddle ran, pedestrian began
Shutter degraded down closing vibrant dawn
Children remained without school and milk
Old people shrugged shaking shoulder
What...

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