Long Pedestrian Poems

Dear neighbors,

I realize we have not met,
other than the guy next door
but that doesn't really count
cause that was just to put up a fence between us,
and I have met Marvelously Mad Max,
behind me, on the...

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The Ash Can  ©

I got the call on Sunday night.  I was traveling on business.  When I looked at the caller ID
 I wondered why my husband’s boss would be calling me....

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“Concrete Hearts, the Deep End Keys and the Miniaturist's Poetry of Sleep”

Following the Babel paths,
where footprints progress
like rough-hewn braille,
temptation shows itself well deep
to be turned and touched,
substantially labyrinth

The Open 
is lead  
further in, and...

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Dear Local Boards of EcoSchool Education,
Departments of Environmentally Protected Walkable Transportation,
Cooperatively Maintaining Public-Private Works
and STEAM Play
and WinWin GreenGames,
Hysterical Historical Associations,
Social Work Departments of Climate Restorative Therapy,
and Public Health-Wealth Departments:

Did you leave anyone out dear?

Just the...

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By George (burn hing* hard), I Shaw tried to be a stinking playwright

offers his unsolicited tidbits 
as scene courtesy 
the following virtually 
staged philosophical insight.

Arch back like 
a professional ballet dancer 
to stand out from...

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Excerpt from “fake” encomium given years ago... 
at Lake Wobegone High School (my alma mater), 

and recently discovered ridiculous rough draft
amidst plethora of junk emails
while practice reading some lines 
regarding Midsummer Night's Dream 
upcoming performance.

Arch...

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Unquotable quotes: Poets, Poetasters and Platos – XXXVI

     For James McAuley – in remembrance of a memorable week in Cardiff 1965 

The greatest poet ever is NOT Homer, Lao Tse, Ovid,...

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The white race has a point
But that doesn't mean
They should treat us improper
The white race has a point
Nature is repeating it over and over
White snow, white moon
white Jesus, white angels
white robes, white clouds
White pedestrian crossing
White...

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By George (burning hard), I Shaw tried to playwright

offers his unsolicited tidbits 
as scene courtesy 
the following virtually 
staged philosophical insight.

Arch back like 
a professional ballet dancer 
to stand out from other pedestrian applicants 
seeking...

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“Collection Kaki and school bag, collection Kaki and school bag”
These are the words echoing from the woman hustling on the street side. Mindless people passing by glancing at her and listening to her afternoon cry.

...

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Dunce! You can’t spell cat
Dunce! You can’t spell rat
Dunce! You can’t spell dog
The mad man cries out in the street
Shaming and exposing big men and women.
And shouting expletives upon expletives.

X cloth, Z cloth blue cloth,...

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Switzerland,
part of my own historic root system,
has a Bill of Rights for vegetation,
protecting rights of intrinsic dignity
with concomitant human respect for their healthy and aesthetic purposes.
It is not OK to merely throw away 
without regard...

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The coincidence of Advent
and the HW Bush eulogies
reminded me of DJ Trump's challenge
to laugh about himself
at least as quickly and quietly as he laughs against others.

As compared to any recent US President,
he comes in dead...

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(or swing sets and monkey bars)

A pitch perfect spring day
such as today April 8th, 2022
within quaint hamlet 
of Schwenksville, Pennsylvania
in close proximity within mind's eye
to Lake Wobegon, Minnesota
finds me reminiscing...

When, scads of light years ago
(half...

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It is Friday and cars are rolling down the street
It is Friday and I can feel your heart beat, 
I know that you are thousands of miles away
 My spirit is yearning so come and...

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O raja reigning is the light of all lights
electric rays beaming  oscillating  waves
I embody my spirit in a physical form
I kindly request her divinity to roam
beseeching with contrition
She begins to uncoil  at...

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When guys get so old
pubic hairs
are as long as penises

It's not time to grow
a longer and fatter, more drivable,
penal delivery system
promising retributive rape
of an entire planet.

It is time to trim back
over-Yanged investment hedges
blocking more pedestrian-friendly
RightBrain...

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Walking Meditation
                    by Odin Roark

“And I thought marriage was hard.”

Taking Meditation for a walk
nags me with...

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Permaculturists,
like Taoists
and Buddhists
and Hindus, etc.
Consider neighbors
extended and respected family,
ZeroZone Kin,
regardless of zone status
near or far,
regardless of species,
regardless of living
or gone
or not yet arrived.

Dear Neighbors,

I make no proud claims
of embracing a GREEN lifestyle,
making green integrity choices,
No...

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I would like to hear and see
how and why you live,
when and where you prefer to die.

I would like to touch and taste
who and what you think and feel
is your greenest dreamed sanctuary
without imagined ultra-violet...

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I've always admired 
horses
and I guess I most surely 
always will
No legend without em' 
complete
The unsung heroes of 
any heroic battle

Pony, colt, filly or mare
ride it bareback if you 
dare

Ride them to a trot, ride...

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(alternate title: days of yore bubba's zayda
flush with buggy boo horse sense).

Norristown City Hall police person
informed yours truly
on September 15th, 2020
mine automotive driver license expired,
thus between January 13th 2019
and September 17th, 2020
I drove automobile,
(whether borrowed...

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footsteps as I walk to the podium*



Lights dim, where words writhe like serpents in the darkness, I concoct a brew of bitter brutalities. 

“The cacophonies of criticism, discordant symphonies, assails my sensibilities, a symphony of...

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Tumbleweed Billy And One Eyed Sam

Banked off jagged hills, pushed on by memory
Cause and effect took turns churning the sidewinders
Tumbleweed Billy and One Eyed Sam (The patron Saint of snake eyes)
Dragged down from on high...

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Song of the Highest Tower
by Arthur Rimbaud
translation by Michael R. Burch

Let it come, let it come,
The day when all hearts love as one.

I’ve endured so long
That I’d even forgotten
The pain and the terror.
I’ve visited heaven,
And...

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