Long Rift Poems

Poems about Mothers


Mother's Smile
by Michael R. Burch

There never was a fonder smile
than mother's smile, no softer touch
than mother's touch. So sleep awhile
and know she loves you more than "much."

So more than "much, " much more...

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Salvation of a Formalist, an Ode to Entropy
by Michael R. Burch

Entropy?
God's universal decree
That I get to be
Disorderly?
Suddenly
My erstwhile boxed-in verse is free?
Wheeeeee!



Eternal Currents
by Michael R. Burch

How can I write and not be true
to the rhythm...

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Juvenilia: Early Poems IX

These are early poems of mine, written in my teens as a high school student and during my first two years of college.

Shock
by Michael R. Burch

It was early in the morning of...

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This is the 2nd THIRD of my 3-part poem - see Mark Stellinga on Poetry Soup for the other 2 THIRDS - couldn't be helped.



“What about neighbors,” I carefully pried...“do any of them check on...

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Bright lights, big city...
bright lights, big city dreams...
please just take me away tonight
Let me rest on your elegance tonight
I have no energy left to spend in reality
so please knock me unconscious
just to be in the...

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Because the charity of my native place
Obliged me, the broken branches I the picked up
Them giving back him, who was to debase.

Then we finally reached where had to leap
From the second turn to third, and...

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Legacy accompanied with inadequacy DESPAIR RING
uninvited GUESTS linkedin as the themes of mein kampf.

Despite countless factorial permutations
& combinations, this cyber surfer
avails left and right alm
seeking succor Out Of Human Bondage
invisibles shackles bind head,
shoulders, knees and...

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A shameful secret that everyone hides behind their fake facades, when we should be honored to wear them and show them off
Why do we hide who we truly are from the strangers that we meet?...

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Juvenilia: Early Poems by Michael R. Burch



Desdemona
by Michael R. Burch

Though you possessed the moon and stars,
you are bound to fate and wed to chance.
Your lips deny they crave a kiss;
your feet deny they ache to...

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Life is like that extent 
     Live that moment 
                   to full extent...

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Break my neck; snap it in two, snap it in half
don't give me that incredulous, frightened look as I ask
don't hesitate in front of me, please just do me this favor
so I gain a halo,...

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Attitude with latitude

originally written January 19th, 2019
and tension defines the dynamic

Valiant prince sip pulled effort
rebuffed, snubbed, thumbed
courtesy eldest daughter
uncontested vainglorious woke
mine genuine apology,
viz sincerely yours truly
psyche asper paternal overture
toward aforementioned offspring
smitten with opprobrium
figuratively smacked upside...

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1—Milieu

Unique construction of body and mind
My niche in human pack not quickly found 
Raw young heart of a curious design
The empty mirrors for my soul abound

Subjectively a bit odd to myself
A jangled, disconnected kind of...

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Ford's Theater, April 15th, 1865...
Petersen House, Washington, D.C.

I admit to own a passion
for the Civil War in general,
and the life and death of
the sixteenth president in particular
between a hard spot of whiskey
and draughts of arrack;
nonetheless...

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MOTHER

Mother is a very meaningful word.
Mother is a person that carries a lot of weight.
When I think of mother,
Mother Mary comes to my mind.

The understanding, courageous, protective Mother.
Understanding the responsibilities of a mother,
having the courage...

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Despite countless factorial permutations
& combinations, this cyber surfer avails two alms
seeking succor asper Somerset Maugham.

Mom mee whiz able to sic cure human bondage,
boot metastatic carcinoma snatched such balms
when tethered in utero umbilical connection,
etched bromide, which...

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A Friend in the Dark


A soft screeching sound over head brought me back
With Grey Bane in hand I swung quickly around
When I saw what it was I broke out in laughter
The little guy flew to...

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One generic baby boomer, (a garden variety sexagenarian)...
offers his interpretation of critical race theory

I, (an articulate, charming, domesticated, 
erudite, friendly, genteel, humorous, intelligent,
kind, learned, male, albeit modest – married) 
with freshly clipped formerly gnarly toenails
discounts...

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A midnight shriek or sudden bang
Disrupts the thread of tales,
Entangled in unconscious mind
With sounds of lashing flails.

Wherefrom it comes, whither it goes?
I threw my eyes up there,
The eerie void soon called me up
To trudge down...

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11. They came to devour and sin.
I was briefed by a cornucopia of beings:
From Torchwood, ARGUS, SHIELD and their kin;
The Talamasca, The Shop and MiB Greens;
A BPRD agent who was burning in Hell;
The Syndicate, Consortium,...

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Petersen House, Washington, D.C.  

(i admit to own a passion for the Civil War in general, 
and the life and death of 
the sixteenth president in particular).

between a hard spot of whiskey 
 ...

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I felt aggravation when the mouse trap didn’t work well.
That darn mouse got the peanut butter then he quickly fell
onto a sequence of old soda cans I left under the smelly sink, 
life can be...

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11/14/21


As real as it gets
This can not be nixed
No more if's

Had to flip the script
With an occasional blip
On my shoulder is no chip

But I still can't satisfy this itch
It's gone beyond getting rich
A simple niche
Or...

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My faith is a source of comfort
In the turbulent storm that has become my life
After all, God has graced me with special powers
But when it comes to my personal anguish, his ways are unknowable
I have...

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‘so glad ya made it out alright,’ she says.
‘i’m feelin’ a whole lot better knowin’ that the crops’re bein’ taken care-uh.”
you nod, smile politely
and step out of your car straight into drying mud.
‘i just don’t...

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