Long Quarry Poems

Currents
by Michael R. Burch

How can I write and not be true
to the rhythm that wells within?
How can the ocean not be blue,
not buck with the clapboard slap of tide,
the clockwork shock of wave on rock,
the...

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Vacuum
by Michael R. Burch

Over hushed quadrants
forever landlocked in snow,
time’s senseless winds blow...

leaving odd relics of lives half-revealed,
if still mostly concealed...
such are the things we are unable to know

that once intrigued us so.

Come then, let us...

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State of the Art (IV)

These are my "ars poetica" poems about the art and craft of writing poetry. 



Hearthside
by Michael R. Burch

“When you are old and grey and full of sleep...”  — W. ...

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your silken skin gleams opaline
bathed in Luna's soft wash of cornflower - like a
porcelain Madonna by Michelangelo
conjured to life by the magic
of moonlight

your eyes open just long enough to
affix mine, and affirm I'm in a...

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Such Tenderness
by Michael R. Burch

for the mothers of Gaza

There was, in your touch, such tenderness—as
only the dove on her mildest day has,
when she shelters downed fledglings beneath a warm wing
and coos to them softly, unable...

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Mahmoud Darwish English Translations of Arabic Poems



Palestine
by Mahmoud Darwish
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

This land gives us
all that makes life worthwhile:
April's blushing advances,
the aroma of bread warming at dawn,
a woman haranguing men,
the poetry of Aeschylus,
love's...

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I heard a story being told by a traveling man. He told of a story that was passed down from father to son for generations This story journeyed from country to country and was translated...

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Upon approaching advent of an early spring 2024
(alternately titled  GENESIS RESPLENDENT)

No matter the calendrical/official onset of vernal equinox takes places Tuesday, Mar 19, 2024 and transpires until Thursday, Jun 20, 2024, an intimation sensed...

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The Beast smirked, horns quivering ...
"You know you want to", he said, nodding toward the hills
There, above a dark, gaping wound of earth, Página Sagrada shone.
A sheer, white marble face of mountain, it shamed all...

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"Seeds"



Blue reaches reflections
touching ripples 
tears in time ephemeral
caresses fragrant Green my canopy

opens the light
inside me 

cracked eggshell 
golden-yoked sunshine
pale turquoise kintsugi
splintered paths inside my mind

in the smallness
of me 
something 
quietly blooms 

ragged yet refined
a gecko...

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Sharpened pens were brutal swords; a war was forged
Blow after blow was struck, with blood rage engorged
Not one single word between them had been spoken
No flag of truce waved, or friendship offered as token

Nothing was...

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Grim reaper forever guaranteed eternal plentiful harvest

the following written 
for no particular rhyme nor reason
quite aware the exit (stage door left)
allows, enables, to provide every season
with a bumper crop of dead souls.

many mortals beseechingly 
lift...

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I know of a river of more than average 
Sorts...
Meandering, when not dallying to maunder,
Between many differing contours 
And unruly contorts;
Where a privileged youth once
Happily sought -
Pursuing about his passions
In the traditional methods 
By which...

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Brief Mane n' Tail shampoo tall (tell) tale

Living social amidst 
crime infested urban jungle 
bumping uglies cheek to jowl 
analogous fate being housed in jail
escape room of great outdoors 
spurred subject matter in question
to journey...

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Burn, burn does fables fire, as an impish figure dances,
Around the wild flames of greed, guess, guess my
Uncommon name, by the devil’s hang nailed toe,
Your never guess it mortal woman, and so your
Royal child will...

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Is
This
Nature's Glory
As a quarry?
Alone and at peace
A life, a new lease
I pull up a piece of land
Take a little time to mend
This rainforest trembles
An open window in shambles
Sitting on my own made porch
I fire up...

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"Freedom's Lament"

Oh sweet Freedom how quick you have gone from Groom to Widower.
How saddened are those who succumbed and labored so freed we could all be after Freedom had so long toiled and quarried to...

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Belle of the Balls
                               ...

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home again, jiggety-jog
oh, how kindly my castle welcomes me!
the pungent loves of earlier meals and my dear one's perfume
Je Reviens and Acqua Di Gioia

like manna for the sensual senses
a weary man dripping from a weary...

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Overzealousness and assiduousness...

now propels yours truly towards restitution
courtesy sophisticated mountebank,
whose criminal mind
filched mine banknotes
rationed for when I exhibit decrepitude.
Cutthroat robber baron
re: newly minted vandal
an alumni matriculated

from school for scandal
a sheep in wolf's clothing
said culprit I...

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In the flickering of the ethereal candlelight, as the greenish blue flame
Burns dimly against the ancient mirror of reflections, the necromancer
Chants in rhythms rhythmic undertones, stirring the rippling pools of
Illusions, between the divisions of altered...

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Finally to Burn: Icarus, Resurrected
by Michael R. Burch

Athena takes me
sometimes by the hand

and we go levitating
through strange Dreamlands

where Apollo sleeps
in his dark forgetting

and Passion seems
like a wise bloodletting

and all I remember
upon awaking

is: to Love sometimes
is...

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Symphonic sirens serenade me from afar;
distinctive, delectable scents tickle and tantalise:
my senses awash with anticipation
as, finally, I lay eyes on my prey.

Slowly and surreptitiously,
I draw ever closer to my quarry.
Prancing and playing, oblivious to the...

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It was slightly overcast, that day in April.  The crowd was cheering.  They always 
cheered for him.  He was over age, over the hill, and over indulged.  But, god how 
he...

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In 1960, I was introduced to the world in a place called Rome
A place where gladiators battled at center stage, a place so far away from home
Young, robust, handsome; nah 'pretty', that's right 'pretty'
A product...

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