Long Parentheses Poems

Ali's Song
by Michael R. Burch
for Muhammad Ali

They say that gold don’t tarnish. It ain’t so.
They say it has a wild, unearthly glow.
A man can be more beautiful, more wild.
I flung their medal to the river,...

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scared of falling
ghosts are calling
the pavements getting close
wind rushing through my hair as if being played by ghosts.

i hit the ground
giving a bone cracking sound and people start to gather
they draw my body's outline on...

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I took advantage to contemplate the equation of I+U
And I thought I +U  = US which always =’s just  2 
At least that’s what I thought to be true
Now, I know for fact...

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Mindful  

Startled out of nonchalant light,
Wakefulness stands at attention
Ignited flame from the eternal candle,
Energized vigil of the watchman
At the soul’s dawning daybreak
Tingling in the presence
Of every dappled infinite breath.

Rotating eye of illumination
Watchful, like a...

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A Reflective Ploy...

it is a reflective ploy;
on the part of me,
when proofreading
all this work of mine;
and do I really care?
that a full stop.
don’t!
or that commas;
are often too many
or misplaced.
now semi-colons
are useful dudes
to slam!
two slightly related...

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I wanted to build a skylight in my place.
My friends thought it was spurious.
So I went and built it anyway.
Now the neighbors above me are furious.

I got a dog a few months ago,
but he doesn't...

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An English Major Explains the Beauty of The Dirac Equation with No Success Whatsoever

Schrodinger, mostly famous for playing the piano
in the well-known comic strip by Schulz,
was not related to Vince Guaraldi.

It would be irrational to...

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Read letters to the left of the word (red) from "a" down to "y" then repeat for the word (blue)!

===========================================================
With very little knowing and harmless intention, a(red) s(blue)nack will tide me over til’ dinner

You should...

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Age gracefully…that’s what I’ll do
Going to ignore the lines, how about you?
Inner beauty is what really counts
I happen to love my drooping mounts

Absolutely no Botox or fillers for me
Another varicose vein, Yipee
I’ll learn to love...

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These are two etherees that will be put together side by side to form ONE complete poem having 11 syllables per line, so I thought i would show how it is done. It's like fitting...

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I am small among fields of red flowers.
They look toward me and watch as time presses
its skeletal fingers into my limbs.

Yes, this is my body now: a startling
mosaic of death-colored discoloration.
Thumbprints corrode me like an...

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There’s a forest bizarre neither nearby nor far,
full of sights somewhat scary to spook a soul wary.
The deep, darkened jungle, I think you’ll agree 
is never a safe place for you or for me...

The vicious...

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Gratitude
--------

desperate madness, and aching sadness once held me tight
now, unexplainable memories, NOT unendurable, that's right
time went on, and beautiful love shone through
between quivering me, and radiant you

now, these eyes see quite a bit clearer
shadows faded...

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I attended three sermons in a row 
In the neighborhood church on Jackson.

Tear dropped there too, on the quran of mine, sky-blue colored
And on the cover of the hymn prayer book, it strangely rhymed.

Sermon, 
On...

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The landmark was given the name 
"Exclamation Point," and indeed it became 
the most exciting place I'd ever known!
The "parentheses" between us shone
of sun "dashes" splashing 
on the "comma" aquamarine.
My fashion "square bracket" charms swayed...

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The Stage

We are often alone when we write. 
We use ink, or blood, depending.
The color often defining the mood. 
A quill, a feather a plume, 
a sharp PIN indeed, to prick…the imagination. 

8.5 x 11...

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So many more. Just a sampling of favorites, per contest instructions.
For each poet I have included a sampling of titles in parentheses.

THREE OF MY FAVORITES

Gershon Wolf

Gershon lands me in stitches.
In his wise and funny hands,
I...

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Besides the hallowed covenant of The Way
 There is only one other univocal tenet I obey
  The human spirit is insuperable and indomitable
   Though it can wield an evil that is so...

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They're all in this together, some sort of (machination)
This hatred is gratuitous, or is it just my imagination?
I may not be rich, at times a bit frugal,
I (envisage) in my head insults thrown at me-...

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Awakened by cops, I am frightened and confused. My parents arrested, I was removed. From house to house, I am placed with mannequins who “love” in parentheses. “Mommy, when will you come?” Her face plastered...

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My Spirit is having a human experience:
hushed and silent
I become a Witness
in the parentheses enfolding
D-Day through to the slow-motion collapse
of big-box skyscrapers in a terrorist's plan.

Softly, slowly I walk past
endless tombs of televised murders
or flower...

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Jesus

Shepherd of my fugitive spirit shower “grace,” 
Emmanuel’s “joy” to hollow “life” in “holy” art,
As nail scarred hands I adore in tender embrace.

Selfless servant your signature of “faith” impart,
Word, as Judah’s Lion enfold this thirsting...

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Psycho Cat - IT

"In my sabbatical dreams after quarantine"
Visions of life run again at full steam
A little stiff, a bit arthritic, like
"The eerie board walk creaks near the beach of white sand"
Shifting on trails in...

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In a lonely garden there' s a shrine
where upon a rough hewn stone is writ:
“GOD IS LOVE.”

The devoted supplicants make wail,
water the flowers, feed with crumbs
the sacramental dove.

A priest, decrepit, feeds the holy fire,
rakes the...

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In a lonely garden is a shrine
where upon a rough hewn stone is writ:
“GOD IS LOVE.”

The devoted supplicants make wail,
water the flowers, feed with crumbs
the sacramental dove.

A priest, decrepit, feeds the holy fire,
rakes the embers...

Read More