Long Plow Poems

Various Heresies 3

Breakings
by Michael R. Burch

I did it out of pity.
I did it out of love.
I did it not to break the heart of a tender, wounded dove.

But gods without compassion
ordained: Frail things must break!
Now...

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These are prophetic poems and apocalyptic poems ...






Beast 666
by Michael R. Burch

“... what rough beast ... slouches toward Bethlehem to be born?”?W. B. Yeats

Brutality is a cross
wooden, blood-stained,
gas hissing, sibilant,
lungs gilled, deveined,
red flecks on a...

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World War II Poems and Holocaust Poems V - Ber Horvitz, Yitzkhak Viner, Franta Bass

Der Himmel
"The Heavens"
by Ber Horvitz
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

These skies
are leaden, heavy, gray...
I long for a pair
of deep blue eyes....

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The young lady's car slowed to a stop ...

As she pulled as far off the highway, (onto the shoulder), as she could
(Allowing for any snow plow that might come along).
She had chosen poorly this time
Believing...

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"You really wanna know? Cause I'll tell ya if you really wanna know. You'll be thinkin' I'm crazy before I'm done, but I'll tell ya... ifn' you really wanna know."

The day started like any other,...

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Increase In Head Size

impossible mission to encapsulate notion 
flitting hither and yon, to and fro
within cranium attached to mine body,
whereby irrefutable proof prevails
predicated when yours truly
scrutinizes other people visibly aware,
I a modest married male 
blessed,...

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He walks around with his nose pointing upward in the air
With calculating eyes that are so fearful, mouth moving from side to side and a tongue that keeps twisting around the things that are profound....

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Now we along one of hard rims are brought;
And a thin spray on the  brook is fixed, 
So shield to rims and water is begot.

As Flemings, Cadsand and Bruges bewixt,
Fearing the high waves pouncing...

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Within the frame a sepia scene
a dusty porch   a rickety chair   
the fabric of your dusky face creased
with ceaseless sunbaked woes
your old pair of getaway feet gives 
a different walk of...

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(Dedication: For Ann)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~



The tale now mints: a hero hears
A call that tints, a choice appears.


It cannot be, this journey quest
To cross the seas, to face the test.


Denial comes brisk, no hero here
To dare grave risk,...

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Masalembo
2016 © Fleetwood


Blue-green ocean tipped with whitecaps rolling toward the shore
Plane is humming with the pilot talking about life and your ride is there parked on the hill for easy starting next to the palm...

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Winter Weary
A rhyme that sends a winters “chill’.
With snow, not knowing where to start.
But as he’s had some time to “chill”. 
A fellow with a changing heart.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~...

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I am a virgin slammer,
Let me get that over with,
So if I stammer and speak like a bludgeoning hammer,
Let the record be clear: I’m just trying to go with this.
So I won’t walk the walk...

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Ever so often you come across a composition that leads one to take flight.
In the distance their are corridors that lead to places of resistance,
transformed we will glow such as these writings have taken you.
to...

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O' Baobab! O' Baobab! O' Baobab
Ace of the furnace, finest of the dynasty 
You strut your breast high
And ply strain against the yearn, 
Against the fire, the desire for sigh 
Haughty, you stand, before the...

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(Warning: it has a sexual theme...)

Imagine you and I 
Together, we will fly
But, first and foremost,
Let's spread butter to the toast 

Suicide nervana plays me like the piano player to the piano 
It's a ride...

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To a Mouse
by Robert Burns
translation/modernization/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Sleek, tiny, timorous, cowering beast,
Why’s such panic in your breast?
Why dash away, so quick, so rash,
In a frenzied flash
When I would be loath to run after you
With...

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Monoah had a wife,
 who was barren most her life.
An angel came and whispered in her ear,
 you'll have a son and hold him dear.

Now the angel said, "No unclean things to eat,
 don't drink...

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One dark night a saucer crashed;
the military quickly cleaned up the trash.
In the distance, what they didn’t see;
a thin, white face between the trees.

Once all was quiet, little Gili-ok crept,
from the woods where he had...

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Television triptych throwback

and despite remote chance 
to channel small medium at large
metamorphosis I may witness 
analogous to caterpillar
will transform me into a butterfly
otherwise Norwegian bachelor (batch chiller)
farmer will simply plow along
taking a stab writing "FAKE"...

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To The Heart Of Viking Legends And Thor's Great Oath,
Part One, (In tribute to, the poem, "The Old Gods",
by Calvin Dill Wilson)


When the Olden Gods cast mortals aside
such was hopeless and part of divine Fate
Now...

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The priest had been here earlier and the rosary was said
and relatives and friends in single file were offering condolences.
"Sorry for your troubles," one by one they said, 
bending over Maggie Murphy, silent in her...

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I shivered
I quivered
eyes!
cried!
dried!

I puzzled winkled I bled
I muffled tingled I shed

between the greens some shades
beneath the almond tree
I stood I sat  I gazed
I bled shed tears

pale leaves like flames on me
its summer time I...

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"I was born at a very early age",

this, along with many other immortal sayings, from dear ole dad, will always have a way of sneaking into my everyday life. He'd come into the room, unannounced,...

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thanks givings
I will not be thankful for murder in genocide
And that's my father's hands is in it
Come on, come on n run N hide
I won't give thanks for your European peoples which
Still in the lands...

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