Long Recede Poems

Rejection Slips 3

Rejection Slip
by Michael R. Burch

Whenever my writing gets rejected,
I always wonder how the rejecter got elected.
Are we exchanging at the same Bourse?
(Excepting present company, of course!)

When editors reject my poems, did I slip...

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With my Uyghur poetry translations I am trying to build awareness of the plight of Uyghur poets who are being sent to Chinese "reeducation" concentration camps.

Elegy
by Perhat Tursun
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Asylum seekers, will...

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Juvenilia: Early Poems IV
I wrote this around age 17.



Bible Libel
by Michael R. Burch

If God
is good
half the Bible
is libel.

I read the Bible from cover to cover at age eleven, ten chapters per day, at the suggestion...

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These words of love I give to you, my dear
to have comfort in the stillness of time
and meld two souls to keep love's wishes near
when the length of the years and age will climb
I will...

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1
Though still within our infancy, 
we strive to thrive, but woefully 
we flash and flaunt our 'primacy',
display our trophies pridefully.
 
Our terra firma ecstasy
destroys survival's harmony,
lays waste to life on land and sea.
Mankind, thy name...

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O’ my dearest love,  
I gather the world’s rarest petals for you—  
Ghost Orchid fragrance lingers  
in the marsh’s quiet air  

look, love, it fades  
then rises in  
the...

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Contest : The Prismatic Self
Sponsor : Daniel Henry Rodgers
Date submitted : 19/5/25

—————- 

“Contests around track, contests for followers,
for best tasting wine, most exquisite 
architectural design ~ endless
quests to become best versions of Self,
sharpen mind, mould...

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These words of love I give to you, my dear
to have comfort in the stillness of time
and meld two souls to keep love's wishes near
when the length of the years and age will climb
I will...

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1) Preamble

As breath’s created, sustained and destroyed,
we see trika, threefold aspect at play
through life, where we are by ego decoyed,
until we choose to make love our mainstay.
Beyond religions, scriptures and folklore,
let’s explore the direct path...

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What is necessary
to sacred grace
and secular humane dignity 
of wealthy space--
To life as HealthyRights,
and not so much MonoCulturing Wrongs?

If sufficiently encultured,
embedded,
centered,
balanced--
If vulnerably innocent
RightBrain transparent
with nutritional desire,
active longing,
camouflaged RightBrain belongings,
reactings,
recreations--
We grow interior with exterior
mutual WinWin integrity

Integrity...

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I figured this wouldn’t be read because of its length, so why not just post it and get it over with

Love is my ocean 

~

Placed on a mantle, the ship torn and tattered
Its bottle long...

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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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Pied tidings of suburbian 
Magpies,
Squawking and squabbling,
Quarreling ferociously among 
Themselves - 
Rush to steal
From off the beleaguered bird 
tables,
To the annoyance of all concerned,
A much begrudged meal;
Before scurrying away into 
Unfrequented woodlands,
Marooned like islands in...

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her life had been a rollercoaster of moody upheaval

          manic fervor from sheer in-exhaustible passion

           ...

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Ode to Be

I feel different from other people,
Some say I am weird and strange,
This endless striving to be accepted, 
Just leaves me disheartened and drained. 
I haven’t found God in the Bible, 
But your eyes...

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Opening 
Fourth street and the divide meet 
Near the stream where it's waters Impede 
Five metres walk from the wooden bridge 
A little further away from the deserted car park 
Underneath the third tree with...

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"But there's one thing I know                             ...

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Perplexity of man has given birth
to all the suns that fill the universe.
A world at war shall advocate its worth
as Armageddon’s architects converse.
Their brilliancy sets forth upon a path
to glean the pits of Hell where...

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Let hope rely upon your Maginot
for swift retort has choked your Gallic might.
It crushed your will beneath its undertow
as diligence receded in the fight.
Your flailing forces teeter on defeat
and any hint of truce shall be...

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These secret silent stillnessess,
wistful wispy whisperings
which enter through the windows in my heart,
I try to softly touch them 
and they recede, far, so far away,
I try to gently hold them
they slip beyond my grasp,
and so,...

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How can I help her when she doesn't want help?
She's content with living this way
No one can help her, not even herself
Her mind is her enemy but maybe not today
Paranoid Schizophrenia, I can't imagine how...

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When I'm feeling lonely
and anxious,
small and ineffective
against depression
descending like a brain fog bank

In this Elder moment,
I have grown faith
even this chronic dark veil
will withdraw,

Although
perhaps not as sure of when
as tomorrow's fresh green/blue
worldview dawn

Naturally spirited dark...

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Does life exist between calamities 
or does it exist between parameters
lucky or bot, sight or hearing
visible or non-existent, circumstances or inferiority
a complex we don't understand nor leaves us standing
How much longer will these afflictions persist
how...

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The story goes that men have only one thing on their mind
But down throughout the ages there are men far more refined 
Sometimes man is called upon to do the righteous thing
And carry out the...

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I went to the cop, in New Haven PD
I said I've got a crime story, but it's hard to believe
The cop said cheerfully, "let's hear, try me"
So I took a deep breath, tried a memory...

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