Long Penance Poems

Within


Play Slipknot’s ‘Snuff’ song four times and use these lyrics:
(Do not use the official video clip. It has more than just the song.)


I still feel your pain within my skin…


Ripping out my heart again,
So I...

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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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"Peace in the Nowhere"

Ghosts remain in this place
they read their words 
marked each day on walls
like prayers, it gives them
peace in the nowhere

someplace relevant to go

Ghosts commune in this place
disowned long ago or walked
off the...

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"Artificial Iris"


Orwell was lurking in the background, somewhere;
the dream was eerily familiar, 
the words and their meanings, read in Syntax,
once read between pages of hardcopy in school 
were aptly ignored - 

however, 
our Overlords were...

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Neigh say being  corralled & cult shod 

"Sic semper evello mortem tyrannis"
translation = thus always I 
bring death to tyrants.”

Above the fray of twittering, 
squabbling, and madding crowds,
an arrogantly belligerent creature deified, 
yet vilified...

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1—Milieu

Unique construction of body and mind
My niche in human pack not quickly found 
Raw young heart of a curious design
The empty mirrors for my soul abound

Subjectively a bit odd to myself
A jangled, disconnected kind of...

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Tim’s father had been a refugee once he put down his fight and his gun

The story is that he embarked on the very last ship leaving East Prussia

Under siege tanks and bombs from above fireworks...

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Anything can change in the blink of an eye.
You could win the lottery and the next day you die.
These thoughts and feelings make it very hard to even try.
But if I said, I was giving...

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We've been taught the terror of triumph from where the heart looks...
General Caesar Sir, 9th Recon reports that Pompeius Magnus has fled by sea to Egypt,
also, the body of Captain Crastinus has been laid on...

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Rebuilding bipartisan explorations,
at least two-sided appositions,
like generously inclusive
and conservatively exclusive
worldviews of MotherEarth

Sacred polytheistic strains
and peak experiences felt
through love of life 
resilient win/win relationships
weightless

Freeing secular monopolistic brains
deeply thoughtful glad
LeftBrain speaking minds
no longer stuck
in win/lose  sad
bad
mad...

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From my lowly bachelor’s house
Proudly christened ‘Embassy Fair’
I woke up to the chirping of birds
On the trees above and across the vale
And the riverine bushes in-between
I woke up to the crowing of cocks
And the mooing...

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Stan was feeling somewhat glum,nay even despairing,on Monday morning.
Mary had gone to work on her new folding 6 gear bicycle with own basket and an extra basket from Wells-next -the- Sea 1995
[the wicker basket now...

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St Anthony's orphanage was founded some thirty years ago
For homeless and orphaned children, by a priest Father Angelo
Every child was made welcome; race and religion mattered not
And every Christmas Father Angelo ensured presents they all...

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*Note 
I had to bring this one back, though I've been posting mostly new writes here that PS hasn't seen before. This poem has been edited many times over the years. I consider it to...

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Through shadowed trails beneath the moon’s cold stare.
     Its Amber gaze: a burden hard to bear.
This feathered prize found peace in my gut
     No slumber dreamt; no...

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The bar is tacky and unclean. The lighting early modern neon.
dead insects litter glowing tubes.
I found him in the corner nursing an empty glass.

“Are you recording this?”
“Yes.”
“Good, very good”

“Let’s get started then. Are you a...

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........Cactus
....Water Towers
Isolated desolates
Wrapped in spikes
Fluted aqua Greys
Or in military green
Reaching the skies
The desolate cacti 
The desert fingers 
Withholding blaze..
Desicating breeze..........
.Blistering freeze..................
Where not a blade....................
Nothin' germinate......................
Them root in dust.....................
Wasteland, gravel.....................
The fluted barrels......................
They shrink in dry......................
Bellow up...

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...Play Video & Prayers At The Same Time...

The Our Father:
Our Father, Who art in Heaven, hallowed be Thy name; Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven. Give us...

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Haiku beginning
Green Tara begins singing
Welcome better days…

Morning Sun ends night
Inviting eyes to Nature
Seeking true health’s light

Try sight-see dreaming 
What Nature does bring winging
For nurturing Self.

___*___

Filtering out non-truths
Following better curiosity fit
Seeking saner trail-heads 

Where Cheshire cats......

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On the spur of the moment forecast by eternal script in the stars

The Bard strummed his guitar and sung a ballade from heart’s lute 

Wild horses would not keep him away from her as he...

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A Hallows Eve of trick or treating, elaborate costumes, candy eating,
       Lantern’s dimming upon nightfall, locked doors marks next year’s meeting.

My recalling of my day and for the next...

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Your voice kisses the breath of the morning wind
Snapping in the solemnity that bears a cry unto God.
Angels have come to earth; that in slumber seemed,
Like the wind creaking among the faith we once had.

Life...

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My pen is like a sword 
I draw it when I'm bored 
So that I can cut it to the core, instead of being torn, I tare through it all, the silence, 
I score the...

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Filched formerly anatomical slender man - me! Thus I take a pot belly stance!

Absolute zero escape
velocity gutted dance
sing days (contra and square),
cuz metabolic full abundance
abdominal adipose tissue acceptance
not in accordance
with light as a feather
physique I...

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