Long Pausing Poems

Somehow, 
Forward, and headlong
I knew it was day again

There was a shift in the dark mutterings of the Devil,
Who now refused to sleep as I refused to sing,
Almost an anticipation in his voice,
As if he...

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With this needle and thread I stitch the wounds Avril left
but with this blade I angrily carve a new
rough, short, jagged adjacent from the bone in my wrist
for a reflection of our relationship
and an outlet...

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"As other spirits sail on music, mine, oh my love, swim on your perfume." Charles Baudelaire

"Sometimes you find an old bottle from which the soul returns." 
Charles Baudelaire

"Smell is a Word. Perfume is Literature."

"There are...

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Once,
or twice, 
maybe thrice,
surely not
not fractal

A clan of crazy ecofeminists
conspired within an 88 unit residential castle
in their historically converted 
sometimes hysterically clueless condo
colonial-red predative brick 
badly bald aging building

With a sometimes soggy south walled school,
but...

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Dusk-gliding swallow, 
please spare my small friends
flitting among the flowers! 
—Matsuo Basho translation by Michael R. Burch

A bee emerging
from deep within the peony's hairy recesses
flies off, sated
—Matsuo Basho translation by Michael R. Burch

That dying cricket,...

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Poems about Fathers and Grandfathers III




Success
by Michael R. Burch

for Jeremy

We need our children to keep us humble
between toast and marmalade;

there is no time for a ticker-tape parade
before bed, no award, no bright statuette

to be delivered...

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Poems about Children IV

Salat Days
by Michael R. Burch

Dedicated to the memory of my grandfather, Paul Ray Burch, Sr.

I remember how my grandfather used to pick poke salat ...
though first, usually, he’d stretch back in the...

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THIS WORLD OF DEW

This world? 
Moonlit dew
flicked from a crane's bill.
—Eihei Dogen Kigen, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Seventy-one?
How long
can a dewdrop last? 
—Eihei Dogen Kigen, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Dewdrops beading grass-blades
die before...

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~ Just  Be  Thankful  ~
( Linked )


~O~


 Just be thankful
 J
 Thankful for all
 U
 All that you have
 S
 Have in your  Life
 T
 Life  that  God gives
...

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Goodness, I nearly lost my balance on the spiral seashells and broken sea stone chipping matrix.
My quaint obsession with marine life and that skyline paradox blossoming so tantalisingly,  might be a source of some...

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I shall resolve to leave this
Place now...
And steadfastly search out,
Nestling between ridge and bluff
Amidst the folds of a foreign 
Land,
Several acres of unkempt ground
Fallow and rough;
Upon which stands...
Crumbled stone walls
With an exposed slate roof in
Some...

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Many of us have a favorite possession from when we were young, and this 
93-year old gentleman is no exception.

               ...

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Poems about Children II



On Looking into Curious George’s Mirrors
by Michael R. Burch

for Maya McManmon, granddaughter of the poet Jim McManmon

Maya was made in the image of God;
may the reflections she sees in those curious mirrors
always...

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The one time before they had brought me along - to this cabin - to fish on this lake...this primitive structure that Leo - Dad's granddad - had constantly threatened to sell...
I was a toddler...Father...

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Here's the deal, folks...

This is, as indicated, the 2nd HALF of this fairly lengthy poem. Due to Poetry Soup's file-size limitations, this piece had to be posted in 2 parts. 
   The 1st...

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competing cousins, interbreeding homo-sapiens
  hominins humming mostly human song
  altruistic generalisers, ever close to dying ways
  opportunistic, never staying long

  self-aware, inquisitive, enlarging brains, empathising
  real representative intelligence
  modelling...

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To prepare for final cosmic breath
exhaled

echoing first breath
inhaling
waiting to exhale

silent sacred pause 
for Earth's final soliloquy 

Terminating all humane
and inhumane futures,
healthy
and disturbing relationships,
elegantly excruciating ecstasy

Leaving hell
without receiving Heaven

Surrendering commitments
to health
and lack thereof

Future obligations
and past assets

Resigning...

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("The Visit", Part I)

My name is Lemon, without the 'ade'.
Not for my colour though, hue or shade,
For I'm a pinto with brown and white,
Said to be pretty from distant sight.
But up close is a different...

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HEADSTONES AND CHATTELS 

‘Twas pure chance that I discovered
Just the other day,
A place passed 
Countless times,
Never had the thought of calling in,
Inner thoughts and misplaced fears
Oh there must have been countless other reasons
For one to...

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Though virtual reality wasn't new, I hadn't ever once tried it,
Yet the concept fascinated me, like beauty's mysterious secret.

It seemed that the new experience, would be one I would enjoy,
So in eagerness I scheduled a...

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There is a dear lady who would be considered one of the great pillars                     ...

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World's Blue-Ribbon Blank-er


A friend of mine, who constantly complained about his spouse, naming her the 
reason for his totally boogered life,
Swore to me there couldn't be...and hadn't ever been...in all the world a more 
revolting...

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" Just Checking In Today"
Modified by Franklin Price
from a posting on Facebook
My sincere gratitude to the original author, who is unknown to me
Modified 4/1/2016

A preacher passing through his church, In the middle of the day, 
Was...

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“Dragons don’t live up to the talk. 
I’ll find a way to fix the wagon”,
Opined the jealous Jabberwock,
“Of the scaly, lummox dragon.” 

This foul fiend then, most inhumanely, 
Pausing to munch a trembling snack
As his...

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On the edge of the leaf, spinning,
Out of control, glistening
Slowly dancing – a waltzlike trembling,
glad to see the hesitation of colors,
graceful as sun’s reflection on the waters,
lakes of melancholic, drifting
soundless and soothed by the twisting,...

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