Long Palimpsest Poems

I wait with bated breath for... C. Cure T. Clarence

The following crafted 
approximately midway 
into the administration 
of forty fifth president,
whose crass, gutsy, lewd,
repulsive yawping finds
him squarely poised to
nab the nomination as
Republican front runner
come the...

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This is an unfinished Heroic Crown of Sonnets dedicated to a friend's grandchild who was born with serious lower body issues 3 years ago...but he is so perfect and beautiful in every other way that...

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Stricken with anguished nausea

Written three years ago tomorrow, 
yet superimposed (likened to 
emotional palimpsest) upon 
mental state of yore
recent post traumatic stress 
triggered courtesy war
torn legally tendered greenbacks, 
where enemy bonded, heisted, and netted 
mine...

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Back approximately half my life ago
dissociative disorder 
if qualified to self diagnose 
mein kampf psychological state...

I lacked emotions where others concerned.

That refrain replayed itself,
when wife picked up 
(like a broken record), 
where parents left off
before...

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Sweet Centerless Sixteen
by Michael R. Burch

Inconsolable as “love” had left your heart,
you woke this morning eager to pursue
warm lips again, or something “really cool”
on which to press your lips and leave their mark.

As breath upon...

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In Ouachita's tales, where pine needles sigh.
I trace the mountains' ancient, weathered crown.
Silvered river forgotten secrets float by
And fills my heart, a sonorous chamber now.

A flame ignites, dispelling shadows deep,
A beacon for lost souls on...

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Mine gerund farming, tilling, and harvesting illogical weltanschauung

Twas accursed destiny
since birth (maybe coded in
deoxyribonucleic acid  
since time immemorial) alas and alack
nascent emasculation abominable barrack
emergent deus ex machina,
one common Joe biden his time
for no particular
rhyme...

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Between Earth and Ecstasy
My soul, wrought from the dust of falling stars,
Has embraced the undisturbed illusions, resting not in halted slumber,
They levitate, and like the crescent moon blooming, dark stirrings grow within me,
I rend the...

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“This is what I believe: That I am I. That my soul is a dark forest. That my known self will never be more than a little clearing in the forest. That gods, strange gods,...

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bohemian rhapsody parades
     amidst greensward moored
erupting profusely toward cerulean skies
     ushered with invisible rip cord
this Earthling self assigned to an (elder)
     box office...

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I Wait With Bated Breath...
(slack jaw froze mine countenance
when eyes blinded with figurative
daggers asper mistakes in original draft,
hence...this flood proof, fire resistant,
and fever reducing error free version.)

(yes...yes...yes, this rhyme
resembles a recent one of mine
 ...

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A handy dandy family thing, I did not know from Adam

Monstrous disembodied giant hairy hand...
reached out thru Macbook Pro
Lenovo external screen
"no way can this be real,"
I muttered to no one in particular.

Bug eyed, slack jawed,...

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I Wait With Bated Breath...

(yes...yes...yes, this rhyme
resembles a recent one of mine
     from a previous time,
yet appropriating wands zone writing  
     haint no crime -
at least...

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Twas accursed destiny
     since birth alack
nascent emasculation abominable barrack
emergent deus ex machina,

     viz zit ting older sibling counterattack
thirteen plus chronological gap
    eldest sister struck...

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The labyrinth of the mind transforms into a somber temple, where glyphs of thought intertwine,
And beneath the dome of the nocturnal sky, hearts like ancient scrolls unfold and burn in incantations.
The only enclosure where man...

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February 28th, 1968 marked the date
Boyce Brandon Harris 
(my octogenarian widower father) 
purchased a small tract of land
Pooh would Winnie
  
constituting shadowed sliver 
once hailing, hallmarking, harkening, 
glorious vast "Glen Elm" estate,
which circa 1910...

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Thee United States bedrock foundation 
built upon premises sans, 
Greco-Roman template, 
whence freedoms as liberty, 
life, and pursuit of happiness 

revered as constituent concepts, 
precepts, and tenets, 
within which complex edifice 
(unique to these United...

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Vast dynamic catalysts
     inaugurated biochemical
     (biological), geological,
     and/or meteorological
     processes, that didst
     wax and wane
since...

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THE AL-ANDALUS QUARTET: PART THREE
GRANADA / KHARNATA 1492 AD / 897 AH

I live in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada
with my beautiful sisters Albaicin and Sabikah
The crown that I wear is al-hisn al-hamra 
and the...

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As you fade into the distance of my memory
I can't help but feel desire that this be so lovely a thought
That even in despair is love
If only thought could be enough

But tragedy cannot suffice
Desire that...

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ACRE

Well, is it better to travel than arrive
Getting there doesn’t mean you rest
As that is when exploring starts again
To return here, nobody knows when
Stand on the walls and beat your chest
Such adventures make you feel...

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Having succumbed to suicidal insouciance,
From which mellifluous melted words dripped,
She fought the nemesis of the inner annoyance,
Who beleaguered her with languishing lips.  

The lithe lips whose fingers scratched labyrinthian letters,
Upon parchment paper with opulent...

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Sunlight morphs into the elixir moonlight
dusk wearing a sequined black silken shawl.
And the daylight truckled the way to twilight,
for embracing the shadows, captivating all.
Nightingale heralding serenades to usher night.

A soothing symphony of cynosure sway,
Empyreal cerulean sun,...

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Mankind generates the utmost malevolent deeds   
Sustaining corruption and ignoring those in need       
Beholding a mirror, peering at the countenance   
Dereliction of the conscious is...

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Written: June 20, 2023

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Within the depths of an opulent lagoon,
Where the waters dance to a mellifluous tune,
A harbinger of joy, a scintilla of light,
Unfolds a tale of halcyon delight.

In this serene oasis, a haven of...

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