Long Overlords Poems

Here We Shall Remain
by Tawfiq Zayyad
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Like twenty impossibilities
in Lydda, Ramla and Galilee ...
here we shall remain.

Like brick walls braced against your chests;
lodged in your throats
like shards of glass
or prickly cactus...

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Unquotable quotes: Tale-Carriers, Gossip-Mongers, Courrier-Pigeon Caretakers, Smoke-Signal Puffers and Tom-Tom Thumpers – XXVI

Could there be such things as political shenanigans or inter-continental warfares, even catastrophes, natural disasters, tsunamis, irruptions, conflagrations, inundations, landslides, typhoons, tornadoes, hurricanes,...

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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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When does ambiguously free verse
also become emphatically political verbing verse?

I was emphatically reading pieces
ambiguously written 
about my sons,
to my oldest son's girlfriend.

The longer I read
the more she cried.

Now it had been my hope
and passion
to become...

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"Viral"
 


overlords for the good 
of the world 
walk and breathe
their lines 

pure as 
Snow White
war addicted
kissed while sleeping 

shadows speak 
a good talk 
viral wars rehearsed
it’s all in our system now

compromised 
inside out 
the...

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Hello friend

Step inside this chatroom if you
find yourself with no else to converse
with but yourself

Start by clicking on the box that
say's I hereby solemnly swear and
declare I am not a robot 

And I promise you...

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Within the pillow case universe, on the sacred night of Halloween,
There was a disturbance in the natural force of the candy zone,
And this is what began the legendary saga, of the goodie treats
Positive sweetness vs....

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Where did you find safety when you were a child, 
?Did flight also help you, I wonder my friend? 
?I felt like it did me, but that was because
?My mom didn’t try hard to suss...

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The giants in the lanky tribes,                             ...

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There was a land, and on this land lived sheep.
Like all good sheep, they had their rules to keep.
They lived on farms in their own different flocks,
sleeping, socializing, and taking walks
to find green grass on...

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White flag
By Michelle Morris
31/08/2022

I see no peace on the battlefield
No white flag on the horizon
We are separated from our brothers
By lines drawn on a map

All the tanks and gunfire
Explosions and fire and noise
It hardens our...

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Degradation of the soul is my lifeline. Burning flames suck out the sublime traits, of overlords stretching to take their turn in front of the lingering hatred of conformity. Your pitying powers of guilt spread...

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There is no ‘you’ or ‘I’
Except that you choose
to call the fat clouds a name
and make them feel like overlords upon the others.

And, there is neither ‘you’ nor ‘I’
when we collect in droplets into rain
and...

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I am a strong proponent of good public education
But restrictions on classroom teachers is unsettling,
Much of what I have to say is purely speculation
And, I wouldn’t want to be accused of meddling,

My experience teaching in...

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Based on a character from Stephen King's The stand

Like an alien that is lost in an angry land
Sunburnt and scorched in the savage soul sand
I see for miles and miles
Feasting on fear, misfortune and misery
You...

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Well, so they tell us-
the political gladiators and
heavy weights. That in permanent
servitude we must remain.

They create a void in our stomachs,
which they momentarily fill with
what they carted away from us.
Just for their self will and...

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A cold berating 
light-erasing rope
survives
relentless
entropy
(another year ends
 another variant contends)

Desolate debris in 
empty
erroneous caves
swallow 
blank pages
    submerged in 
mind-warping seas
where flying memes
  wait for normalcy
where words freeze
    &...

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Block by block it starts to rise, Great Wall of China begins,
A barrier to stem the horde, marauding Mongolians,
Must be bigger and better, than ever attempted before,
Also should be breathtaking, far into the clouds will...

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If you ask our NewsMax, America One fueled, republican congressmen
who won the last presidential election - they’ll pretend that they don’t know.
But hey, these are the guys, the “honest brokers” we can trust, to figure...

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Christina knows a thing or two about sacrifice 
Ceaseless days, cold offices and numbers
Checkin' catalogs for the remnant of a social life
Eats her lunches at her desk, yet she's dying from hunger

But there's a medal...

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God...give me the gas to turn fallen angels into fiery ashes
Lips of lust and lashes into tongue capsules
Swallowed by serpents and captured by servants
Chained and caged
Tamed and trained and schooled to be sane
Old testament obscenities...

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Momentary lapse of reasoning
behind exemplary seasonings 
give way to life's spicy habanero 
awesomesauce.
Life's seasoning of sweet-&-sour puckers
Sweet puckering of every souring breath.

Life's wicked stammer nailing it 
like a swift hammering blow 
squashing pinpoint accuracy.

Strawberry daiquiris...

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I can see.
Flood of tears streaming down your delicate face.
Your rosy life replaced by a topsy turvy one faught with failure.
Filled with disappointments that have deprived you of precious sleep.
Laden with bouts of miscarriages and...

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To the invisible masters of the universe
Those shadowy investors who controlled the government
The military, the media, culture, and society.

There were many things
That did not make sense anymore
That should be jettisoned.

To make way for the new...

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classical music prompt   Beethoven fifth opening 


the fate of the world
looms ahead of us
and we have a choice
to make 

all of us 
must decide

will we follow 
the fate 
of ancient Rome

surrendering our freedoms
and...

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