Long Removal 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...

Read More

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...

Read More

Wounded Sacred Dementia: Part Two

Dementia's derelict WinLose SocialWorker
suboptimizingly hesitates
when I tell her
I have not changed my mind
about not adopting Fetal Alcohol Syndrome
into my vulnerable home
with a seven-year-old AfricanAmerican boy
blind
and unable to defend himself,
or even run...

Read More

As I look back across more musical times
of rhythmic reflections,
ceremonies and commemorations
of each dawn and dusk eremitic liturgy,
if that is not an oxymoron
of sound and sight,
song and dance,
tragically sad, yet also bilaterally bound with happier...

Read More

(Remembering Innocence)


Note to Readers of Previous Versions:
There are so many new vignettes scattered throughout the poem that I hope you will reread the whole thing! There are new tales, improvements to previous verses, and improved...

Read More

Long in the tooth male doth recount, reflect, reimagine...
his woebegone damn dental daze today May 5th, 2021 

No particular rhyme nor reason
garden variety indentured flunky (me)
revisits his salmagundi salad days, 
when oral blight smote 
left...

Read More

Each year as Christmas rolls around, as I buckle under the pressure and stress of shopping for gifts for people that already  have everything, I find myself remembering that Christmas of 1954.

Dad had joined...

Read More

Preparations for 'Luau' (LOU-ow) or a Hawaiian Party-like event, for a church Luau, would be a 'Ho'ike' (hoe-'E-kay). The hunters will tie the hind legs of whatever animal will go into an 'i'mu' (E'-moo), which...

Read More

LIPOMA
There did they go into the cyberspace
where none but the great of heart
have ever gone before
and they did find great pleasure unto the night
for it was a time of love and understanding
and she did say...

Read More

(alternately titled: idolizing childhood's end
today April 25th, 2021
generates elusive warm treasured memories).

Akin to significance my eldest sister
felt toward her “Willies” –
(totally tubular fuzzy bendable contrivances
analogous to an outsize pipe cleaner)
until she became a tweener
my Matty...

Read More

NOTE: Some of you seemed to enjoy my stories from the past. Of course, posting this in the story folder is tantamount to burying it six feet under, as you know, so I'm posting it...

Read More

   ...while true feminists say that they are feminists because they care for the well-being of women, the modern feminist group, True/Active Feminism does exactly the opposite. They use the form of "dis-pair"...

Read More

It is love, not loss, we expect,
we long for and belong with,
we seek within
a cooperative economic network
rather than a competitive gain-over-loss
capital-rooted value system.

Love evolves more resonantly
and robustly
than fear
and hatred
and apathy
and dispassion,
yet we have planted our...

Read More

RHYMES FOR SHARED TIMES

Maintain shared possessions - clean, tidy and in working CONDITION
Share responsibilities, or allocate them in a fair and balanced PARTITION

Keep your promises and earn TRUST
Be as truthful as possible and do not...

Read More

“Yes, well, we will determine that at another time,” was the Lead Councilman's response, “Now we must decide on DynDoeth's charges.”
Cutting him off Rian said, 
     “I vote to have DynDoeth...

Read More

In front of the mirror I stare at my face. My cracks and my lines, tell me I'm fine. 

I look back at him, and think of our time. His cracks and his lines, all...

Read More

(21st century pearly white prosthetics,
restored jaw bar wah key) 

Aye noel hunger bristle,
and when false teeth soak at night 
     in tandem with stubby facial gristle
har reckon noah kisses
 
 ...

Read More

Sally had been to bed with a few guys in her time, but she had never been to bed with a guy who had managed to find a lump on her breast. He told her...

Read More

Achilles, Bloody Battles, Death's Black Hand As Was Fated
Part Three, (the Conclusion)

Dawn, bright rays fell upon Achilles and his band
exiting ship, Greek sandals felt soft Trojan sands
with mighty magnificent Greek pride in courageous hearts
each seeking...

Read More

Sacrifice made when selecting abode
Unit not ideal, but affordable close to City
With a three year old daughter, I worried
About noise transference below and above

Three level town house style was unique 
Huge unit fronted four smaller...

Read More

ISLAND HOPPING
by

JOHN M. ARRIBAS


My first day of community service at Glen Oaks
Assigned to spend time with a few elderly folks
Spotted an old gentleman staring out into space
Weathered beaten hands and a sun etched face
How are...

Read More

“They took the whole Cherokee nation
Put us on this reservation
Took away our ways of life
The tomahawk and the bow and knife”
        From “Indian Reservation” by Paul Revere and...

Read More

- - - An observation of true events - - - 
  - - (insatiable person's search) - - 

Aiming to embellish my identity 
Rural persona branches further 
Tight city existence not meant for...

Read More

It's sister dramatic verse is: The Entertainment Rating System.**

Because we have debased the word 'mother,'
by adding onto to it the F***Bomb!
Because we have debased both the words:
adult and maturity to also mean 
pornography!**

Because we have...

Read More

It started the 8th of June
moving away from too familiar
into too alien,
finding no sane oasis between.

Vibrant greens relentlessly fade
to wilting monoculturing drought.
Brown patches emerge with dulled loss of inspiration
of what might have been a family
an...

Read More