Long Poise 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...

Read More

I heavily recall two times when I had made you cry,
Both of which bewildered and moved me
My response was that of disbelief, and regret
And never, upon recalling, 
Have I felt more of the need to...

Read More

She stood with her back turned to me
Leaning slightly towards where the light tapered off into darkness
Her faced buried deep inside her cupped hands 
Her own shadow towered over her seemingly at odds with her...

Read More

"White Noise and the Mother Load of Dark Matter" 

underneath the static
what exists 
is never seen nor heard

for what it truly is 
the eyes and mind 
retaliate in the deciphering

the invisible return 
each night and...

Read More

(Notes: 
1.  Ancient esoteric teachings state that
"The Christ" is the divine blueprint for the man
imaged in the likeness of God. This is the divine
destiny for each soul that walks the path of life.
2. ...

Read More

He sung all the day, all the night of the fourth,
Endlessly, relentlessly, angrily and passionately
Deafening my ears in the wet sugar of his words
In an eternity of hours,
Slowly and dopily, darkness billowed away
Sifting along to...

Read More

The Bedouins, bequeathed with the sacred beauty of paradise harsh,
trusted guardians of jealous gorges and gifted groves
lead me from the Wadi Musa to the humble ingress of Petra,
saying with thrill, the Jin of your Jihad...

Read More

It is getting to the place where free speech is no longer free in America.                    ...

Read More

There was a noble sadness hiding in her eyes.
She wears a smile, though elements of insecurities
Trembled in its corners...
Dignity and suffering, combating
for the control of her expression.
Hiding the battle scars of her life; 
Intending to...

Read More

Choices my dear one,
So many choices, 
So few voices,
Some near,
Some far,
Some to fear.

A path.
Clear and chosen.  
The erasure of a closing.
The logos of math.
The trajectory of wrath.
The conciliatory legislation blindly ruling the cosmos of...

Read More

China Tour Diary Moment #3
SHANGRI-LA, TIBET
--------------------------------


Paradise on earth: Himalayan range;
A phenomenon carved by elements;
Here magic gives birth to ways that seem strange;
A place where lessons of soul mark movement.


Our tour coach winds round the mountain...

Read More

(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,...

Read More

I love women who gracefully dance
And sweetly sing; and women who 
Avidly read and who brilliantly think;
I love women who love to love—

And who despise to hate—and who 
Receive and give of themselves, as well....

Read More

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...

Read More

How to attach a shower curtain...

I revisit rather than write from scratch
a poem crafted May twenty third 
two thousand and twenty
since the following words apropos
and amply serve a duplicate purpose
of aforementioned title,
when yours truly enlisted
(before...

Read More

The Undertow


The two could feel the undertow
Pull at them both - then let them go
He wondered if she could know
Or sense it too and let it flow

The undertow in the fast-running tide
Ebbed and flowed at...

Read More

No one is willing to answer my phone calls unfortunately
Nobody cares to save me or love me deliberately
I’m sorry, this is how I tremendously feel
But, of course, obviously, it’s no big deal

Negativity wraps around my...

Read More

We often think of how best to compete in a very tough love market.
How to look
and smell
and sound our healthiest and highest commodified use
to attract the interest of others
with both similar and diverse sight
and hearing
and...

Read More

When todays yield where tomorrows have too
And forests now instead are skylines then,
At gatherings held to contemplate who
No longer walks amongst more lively men;
Where angels thought would be seen high above
Welcoming spirits with cause to...

Read More

Two young newlyweds Samantha and Ray
On honeymoon went camping to the Bay
But as they were rocking
Strong winds came a knocking
And left them nude as their tent blew away

Both were red faced and on the ground...

Read More

Amélie Beth Harris -McGeehan

Acknowledgment of birthday gal,
whose invaluable priceless worth
exceeds more'n a bajillion dollars.  

First born of Boyce and Harriet
(both long since deceased,
albeit cremated whereby their ashes
- cremains scattered to the four winds)
in Paterson,...

Read More

How to attach a shower curtain...

Suffering permanent anatomical
disfigurement, nonetheless
maintaining marital bliss
at steep price despite more or less
musculoskeletal dislocation,
I eagerly, readily willingly confess.

Ideal for someone whose height
trends toward above average
unless you don't object tilting
head back in...

Read More

              

What even

Never began to trust a stranger so much
Damn it was only two weeks tho
It wasn’t love
Nahhh
But damn, sure could’ve been
Coulda...

Read More

One Halloween night, I woke up screaming,
There were many zombies around me, all furiously staring;
With their burning red eyes, they were ready to smash my head;
When they pulled my arms and legs, I squirmed and...

Read More

Faith is like a flower that grows fervently 
Love is like a rose that glimmers majestically
It's like a tender dove that flies so beautifully,
For it gives me some peace that runs through my veins 

The...

Read More