Long Recondite Poems

State of the Art (III)

These are my "ars poetica" poems: the ones about the art and craft of writing poetry in a modern world that doesn't always recognize the artists or their work. 



Come Down
by...

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Poems about Poems IV

The Toast
by Michael R. Burch

For longings warmed by tepid suns
(brief lusts that animated clay),
for passions wilted at the bud
and skies grown desolate and gray,
for stars that fell from tinseled heights
and mountains bleak...

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[Well, ShallowMan’s ne’er at a loss
for voicing shallow thoughts that gloss.
With trenchant wit he reaps the dross
when seeking sense in applesauce.

But to his aid flies FactoidMan
who always has a Fact at hand;
with him, who needs...

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I dread the United States presidential 2024 outcome...

Whereby yours truly presages and doth abhor
nothing short of an imminent civil war
dwarfing insurrection on January 6, 2021
oddly enough even reducing
ordinary decibels to a mute whisper
madding crowd trumpeting...

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Villanelle
by Michael R. Burch

Is poetry mere turning of a phrase?
Has prose become its height and depth and sum?
What happened to the songs of yesterdays?

Does prose leave all nine Muses vexed and glum,
with fingers stuck in...

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These are my modern English translations of sonnets by the French poet Stephane Mallarme.

The Tomb of Edgar Poe
by Stéphane Mallarmé
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Transformed into himself by Death, at last,
the Bard unsheathed his Art’s...

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A New View, Translation of Carlos Bousono’s poem : La nueva mirada

(My own view of Carlos Bousono stems from a full academic year – from the beginning of September 1970 to the end of May-June...

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Ronald Rump reasonably roasted 

Remarkable – recourse retaining rickety 
rambling reverence regarding “r.”

Ronald Rump
repugnant racist republican reviled - 
rickettsia re:itch ruler.

Rapaciously ravaged 
revered reverential rubric.

Radical ruthless renegade 
rapidly riotously ripped rigged ramparts.

Refrained retaining remnant 
redolent...

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repugnant racist republican reviled - rickettsia re:itch ruler. 
rapaciously ravaged revered reverential rubric. 
radical ruthless renegade rapidly riotously rips rigged ramparts. 
refrains retaining remnant redolent regal, resplendent rafters.
riches rudely rupture rooted rectified rights.
ruckus ricochets revenant...

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Cassius Clay


A heavy Weight Champion
  Who punched his way
    Through barriers of colour
      With blows of a kind Heart...
	
He floated like a Butterfly
   Yet,...

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Therewithal, profluent life ettles it's while.
Thitherward, from Death's bleak campanile
Grim antiphonals serenade.

A capriccio, the slashing swipe of the reaper's scythe
 will serenade.
Stringent Death forthwith anoints the mithridate to
Life's cantankerous and rankling ado

Hither now come, anon...

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An Obscenity Trial
by Michael R. Burch
 
The defendant was a poet held in many iron restraints
against whom several critics cited numerous complaints.
They accused him of trying to reach the "common crowd,"
and they said his poems...

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My heart is an ebon swallowed night where nobody ever goes,       
raging in a recondite rift like ripples resounding in rueful repose.       ...

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NEANDERTHAL

In times gone by, now recondite,
Neanderthal, erect, upright,
spoke softly, tones so lily-white,
and tried to put the world aright.

He taught us how the flame ignites
that wearing furs will warm the nights,
just why the rolling wheel excites,
and...

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A canticle I think I'll be, 
A rimed thought, hoary and ancient, 
Stinking as the dust heaped up empyreal on the hills of 
The Judean sands;
And as dulled and dimmed as an archaic coin tarnish'd.
This...

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Zealousness prevails to amass knowledge
lifequest nsync toward expansive lexicon
extant since yours truly kneehigh toddler
inquisitive mind fired passion to steep me
within inexhaustible voluminous treasure
trove housing increasing bound knowledge

inexplicable to thyself, wherefore heartfelt
ineradicable passion to sequester attention
between...

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Four dimensions, yet three in one, 
Location, space and time,
X Y location, space around, and in time, 
We don’t consider an X as without a Y really. 
So quantum mechanics stand to floor, 
The claim...

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Zealousness prevails to amass knowledge
lifequest nsync toward expansive lexicon
extant since yours truly kneehigh toddler
inquisitive mind fired passion to steep me
within inexhaustible voluminous treasure
trove housing increasing bound knowledge

inexplicable to thyself, wherefore heartfelt
ineradicable passion to sequester attention
between...

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RECIPE: “Poulet Roti” French Style - La Ballade “Le Chant Royal” -Concluding Stanza

(Note: As you can see, I have taken certain liberties with the fixed form, but have always kept close to the spirit of...

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Who is this I have found
lying dying
on the ground
drowning in her
prose and woes
making not one
single sound?

Where does she go to
where does she hide
see how she’s swimming
against a recondite tide?

What have the Gods wrought
crumpled on this...

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My nights have lately become sultry
as suffocating heat chases sleep away,

I lay wide awake unloved and sweating
beneath the murmurous ceiling fan
hoping for some refreshing relief.

Each eventide I hear her bittersweet song 
drifting from the verdant...

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I sit and reminisce about the "good ol' days"
The prelapsarian time before it all went sideways

The details of life were all that I saw
There was no rich, no poor, no petit bourgeois 

As an unbeknownst...

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Passing of an Icon


An accomplished Lady of recondite letters
Writing humanity to free from its fetters-	
From your clever Prose being deciphered,
With skewed minds, is where you differed. 
And where, with prejudice, our minds think
Fellow Human beings...

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THE SNOW and coarse wind both plunge down over oceans
Unbound and unmeasured by obstinate sailors
Who drift while confronting ungrappled emotions
Like obdurate petrels and stoical whalers. 

Imprisoned ashore on a cliff is the mourner
Whose wings have...

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- The Villanelle Of David Torment of Mavis’ Chill Autumn Night Plight-


Mavis couldn't stop thinking about the chill
burr, twas just so autumn of a night
But she could never forget the frill

Cold morning, Mavis was shocked...

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