Long Paraphernalia Poems

Rejection Slips 2

The Shape of Mourning
by Michael R. Burch
 
The shape of mourning
is an oiled creel
shining with unuse,
 
the bolt of cold steel
on a locker
shielding memory,

the monthly penance
of flowers,
the annual wake,
 
the face in the...

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Salvation of a Formalist, an Ode to Entropy
by Michael R. Burch

Entropy?
God's universal decree
That I get to be
Disorderly?
Suddenly
My erstwhile boxed-in verse is free?
Wheeeeee!



Eternal Currents
by Michael R. Burch

How can I write and not be true
to the rhythm...

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The kid who often was lost in 
The sauce Joshua! His 
 birthday was in June. He became
The strong silent youngster with 
The youngest kids. 
 A small Celebration was held in
Josh's honor party at...

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I wrote a sad but true urban legend called “Dillen and the DMV” last week.
Here follows an update.

Background Review:

One of my health care employees, Dillen, has wicked ADD, borderline intelligence, not qualifying for disability supports,...

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Date:      August   2051

The 3rd of August  2 morning time.
Holly had labor signals. Her and 
Molly's accommodations were now adjacent. She buzzed the com. Nobody
Answered. She struggled to...

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Date: March  2051

The next Hawaiian rendezvous:
Warm Hawaiian breeze. Wooo! This
Is LIFE!!! Holly scream for Dolly and 
Molly to hear. Molly said, "We should 
Explore as long as we're here. This place
Is full of curiosities."...

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Unquotable quotes: Paris, the last week of the August reprieve – XXXV Part Two
                 II

The first signs reek tell-tale
Buffer-to-buffer...

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Date:  October   2050

Cool October afternoon. Damali 
Damian Sidney Amadeus Dolly 
Molly and Holly planned a sort of 
small birthday celebration for Desharah
 and Sedanah both would soon be in
 the beginning of...

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En-trumped

There are many en-tities. Narrative psychologist speak of living and telling 
a story. Our lives should be as we en-live them and en-story them. We tell 
our tale as we see it, at the moment...

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Unquotable quotes: Paris, the last week of the August reprieve – XXXV
 Part One                     ...

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Self help addict needles unsuspecting reader 

Expounded late today April 27th, 2023
since being written
countless years ago
maybe a baker's dozen
as thee doodling cock doth crow 
scouting about for carrion 
scavenging for dead animals 
and rooting about...

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Dear fellow poets – the young and the young once,

Modern poetry to me is “today’s poetry.” It presents poetry from the hearts of current writers using their own unique styles, which are influenced and inspired...

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All things that glow and move,
all things that change and pass,
I gather their delight
as in a burning-glass;
Judith Wright

The Queen's Conjurer
1.
'Given to magic and uncanny arts'
'Art mathematical' to make strange works
 Genius of movement artificial
Mechanical scarab...

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The old fart (alter cocker) shuffle

as one fairly long run on sentence
unwittingly made locally famous 
courtesy residents here at 
Highland Manor Apartments
as first one foot and then the other
painstakingly, and agonizingly dragged 
across the cement...

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Convalescence of Richard McGeehan

Spouse of my eldest sister
marital bond fixed in place
strong as mortise and tenon,
he hales of hearty Irish stock
genes of said septuagenarian
analogous to pith and marrow
wrought courtesy divine providence.

At present aforementioned brother in...

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gardens are where we are:

  from "Eden" to "Gilgamesh", "Babylon" to "Gethsemane"
  from mountain to coast, town to country
  from wetlands to desert oasis, under the sea to the edge of ice
...

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Eccentric kook's reasonable rhyme zigzags

Doggone poet laureate
wannabe his index finger wags
nonverbally naysaying those,
who doubt mine posthumous
fame and fortune, which snags
eternal renown within pantheon
of storied writers such foolhardiness nags
yours truly keeps bad company with hags
unemployed day...

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Huge life like mockup 
rigged up to bark
dare buzzfeed outsize monstrosity
diet coke, McDonald's and meatloaf
pet banality, execrable, and misogynistic words
greets visitors at formerly named
Mosquito State Park forever known as
Donald Trump State Park.

Whom so e'er decreed...

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Anxious, chained at the barrier hither
Musings take hold of my existence
Unsure whether I am an individual or a species
Do I contain contradictions in these multitudes

In a universe beyond my window
As the Lady of Shalott confronts...

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As precautionary measure...
 
I backed up all software
resident on fifteen inch 
Macbook Pro computer
yesterday December first 
two thousand twenty two
courtesy two terabyte 
Seagate external drive.

Hardware not necessarily superfluous
when associating, assessing, and assaying
true value to equipment...

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Nascent pristine morning awakens charisma,
curtains of anxieties pulled aside-- oh look they reveal!
A whitewashed wall proudly flaunting the crayon drawing,
my daughter's innocent fantasies when she was nine.
Windows of paraphernalia bask in golden glory,
transparent dew drops...

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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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Only 14 and eager to find love, she sneaks out at four in the morning
Persuading her best friend to come along – meet someone new
Hence at the nearest park an unfamiliar friendship is formed
Sketchy as...

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Upon bitterly cold dawning hours of one January 2000 day
the Harns family desperately sought a place to live – “hay
there” Nelson Swartley (an independent realtor) 
politely responded bringing unwelcome news viz our sos re lay
informing...

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Return from Egypt
Matthew 2:19-23

After the Christ’s left for Egypt, where they avoided King Herod,
For five whole years, because in the fifth year Herod simply died,
Mary and Joseph arose, took the boy and his joinery wear,...

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