Long Peal Poems

I Know The Truth
by Marina Tsvetaeva
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

I know the truth?abandon lesser truths!
There's no need for anyone living to struggle!
See? Evening falls, night quickly descends!
So why the useless disputes?generals, poets, lovers?

The wind...

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Enough!
by Michael R. Burch

It’s not that I don’t want to die;
I shall be glad to go.
Enough of diabetes pie,
and eating sickly crow!
Enough of win and place and show.
Enough of endless woe!

Enough of suffering and vice!
I’ve...

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World War II Poems and Holocaust Poems - IV - Primo Levi

Shema
by Primo Levi
translation by Michael R. Burch

You who live secure
in your comfortable houses, 
who return each evening to find
warm food, 
welcoming faces...

consider whether this...

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Was this a bold  endeavour or worst-case high risk plot?
 In one sense I was caught between two poles apart  concerns.
One must never underestimate indeed trivialise a devilish 
difficult decision.
A decision that may...

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“Never forget 
everything Hitler did 
in Germany was legal.”
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

drop by drop lady liberty bleeds
red on white and blue
common sense vexatious 
verboten spins askew 

“We can and we must 
write in the...

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Vexation at self - regarding avoidable altercation...

Today May 12th, 2021
at Royersford (Pennsylvania) LIDL,
when spouse stepped into checkout line
(minus her horse drawn grocery cart -
pushed courtesy yours truly).

While passively standing stock still
I (think Stonewall Jackson)
let scenario...

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Keep Me Good Company…

TODAY MY MATE SAVES MY DAY... 
From spiraling into unconstructive decay, 
Plugging my volcano of negative gossip & hearsay, 
Planting productive advice to direct my way,
Removes pokey cacti from under my feet,...

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We are all Nameless



What else is there to do
but to tell you who I am,
but most of all,
what I wish to find.

I am not the cavalier of the sun, 
but the caveat of phantasm.

I do...

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Bygone Days
Written: By Tom Wright
4/3/2007

Remember the slogan
 “Haskell is moving, are you pushing?

The railroad depot stands no more
In the spot it occupied for so long.
Instead in it’s space, a Homeland store,
But in my memory it...

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The Guardian
		Melodic lullabies echo	
		As heart strings strum secret chords
		As transcendental images appear
		Stargazers are lost for words
		Kaleidoscopic Illuminations
		Paint the sky in optimistic light
		Hope descends in serene silence
		Floating through shadows of the night
		Dancing spirits move to dulcet...

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 Continued from Part 1 

The forgery of Multitudes between the Silhouettes
(and discarded cigarettes,
neath the haunted parapets)
mock my lonely echoed steps
         – mock my lonely echoed steps...

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Continued from Part 1

Hungary hounds harangue the highlands,
howl at skies and desert islands…
Below, unfettered carbon crows conceal the parting path she chose

Lighthouse lamps and lanterns lolling…
Mute abandoned fleets are calling…
The shallow shadowed portholes vaunt dim...

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The Lamb and the 144,000 chapter fourteen

Than I looked, and there before me was the Lamb, standing on Mount Zion,
and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father's name written on
their foreheads. ...

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It was probably three weeks ago
when I sent my dog outside,
he had all of his business to do,
then he’d come in for the night.
I busied myself cooking dinner,
it was late, already dark,
Ripper would have time...

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A spider spun a silver web 
in a mound of golden straw, 
Then he hid himself inside the stack, 
away from the wind so raw. 

He yelled down to the sheep below 
Who were trying...

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...Ideally Primed To Write...

Fallow wing on figurative
     awk kill lees heal
of: "My on call (Uncle)
     Muse Never Sleeps"-
     which hoop fully

  ...

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When Irish eyes are smiling,
And the gymnast smile extends to curve her petal-red lips,
That's when she'll let her waves fall down with the grace of 
a faerie.

If in a wheat field the sheathes would glow...

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So I’m caught red handed in another lie
I thought you believed me on everything
But it’s clear that you just found safety in routine 
And I’ve caught on to your shameful smiles
And all your “I’ll be...

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Natural soporific narcotic

Recurrent suicidal thoughts 
vaingloriously wend along winding road
within windmills of my mind
(o'er a death cab for cutie weeknd)
yakking, yanking, and yawking zeal
becalming this crash test dummy rolling
stone temple pilot inxs
of maroon 5 plus...

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As I was set to go out on my horse 
One eve, despite pleads to stay from my course, 
Prone I was to take my hat from the rack, 
A whirlwind crested from the dusty...

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A lonely beam of yellow-white light,
carving a curve in the ink of the night,
upon the snow-burdened branches of pine,
standing still guard to the lord of the line.

The icy wind howls in the silence serene,
tempting the...

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Thee Apple Hove Bing an Herbivore...?
(hint – app peal)

Sans maintaining a strict carb on diet
     (for Peat Sake) iz like really coal
man, cuz carnivores consume meat,
     which...

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Afterglow
by Michael R. Burch
 
for Beth
 
The night is full of stars. Which still exist?
Before time ends, perhaps one day we’ll know.
For now I hold your fingers to my lips
and feel their pulse ... warm,...

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recurrent suicidal thoughts vain
     gloriously wend 
     (o'er a death cab for cutie weeknd)
     yanking zeal

becalming this crash test dummy rolling 
 ...

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With John Wayne snarling at me
from the television screen,
I quickly glance at my watch;
five minutes to the end 
of a year’s journey through
what the Psalmist would describe
 as the Valley of Death,
and what Dante would...

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