Long Rosettes Poems

Sonnets XLII-LI

Distances
by Michael R. Burch

Moonbeams on water?
the reflected light
of a halcyon star
now drowning in night...
So your memories are.

Footprints on beaches
now flooding with water;
the small, broken ribcage
of some primitive slaughter...
So near, yet so far.



A Surfeit of...

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A Vain Word
by Michael R. Burch

Oleanders at dawn preen extravagant whorls
as I read in leaves’ Sanskrit brief moments remaining
till sunset implodes, till the moon strands grey pearls
under moss-stubbled oaks, full of whispers, complaining
to the darkening...

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MODERN SONNETS II

I prefer the original definition of the sonnet as a “little song” of indeterminate form and length. These modern sonnets vary from more-or-less traditional to free verse.



In Praise of Meter
by Michael R. Burch

The...

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“The Blue Nazarene” 

caeruleum caelum 
in nubibus
caeruleum

caeruleum caelum
in nubibus 
de hyacintho nazarene

testimonium:

white stallions, 

clouds commanding
Christus imperium
above all below 

all below 
now present to worship 
a secular ghost

stopped dead in their tracks
those ridiculous battalions
games of war...

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An Angelo Arab, you had immense spirit
dappled grey with a huge leap  over fences.
Your stable name was Tom, pedigree name
too much of a mouthful for every day use.

In your stable you were a terror...

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Behold the beauty!
a bliss! a miracle!
deep in azure cloak,stretching end to end,
at far horizon burns an amber ring,
morphing sleeping sapphire sheet in tangerine ;

harbinger of dawn!

birds rise high,dancing in skies
escorting the soothing rays,chained in feathers,
bathing...

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They were on the summit of the hill as if poised in a portrait.
The breeze ruffling the stud's forelock and mane as he arched his head
responding to the reins he moved on as his rider...

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Ragged

Ragged heartbeats,
Shut in
But not 
 Shut out,
Tattered heartbreak,
Tragedy 
 Flung 
  From high towers
Swooping down in towering tornados
Descending

Ascending from foul marshes
 Quick sand
  Stalking careless footsteps -
Stealthy quagmires – fetid slime -
 Like...

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As I recall my past, it was a sea kissed life
summers spent roaming the Rabbit Burrows
cradled by dunes, beyond Tramore strand
towels stretched out on Woodstown beach
soft powdered sand, surrounded by forest
adventures in the Saleens, daring...

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Charming Patterns

An eyelet wheel models medieval embroidery
Aromatic, ornamental garden ballet steps for lovers  
Strolling in stately patterns of noble estate
Savory’s romance looping through lavender labyrinths
Lost in curves of sweet scented anise dreams 
A pavel...

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Shadow of Emily Dickinson

Shut in
But not 
 Shut out,
Heartbreak -
Tragedy from high towers
Swooping down in towering tornados
Descending, 
Ascending from foul marshes
In quick sand
 Stalking careless footsteps;
Stealth, like a storm,
Lurking by the doorstep
 Round the corner
...

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A bloated river vomits its contents
Towards the sea
Debris and mud floating fast
Past boulders, jutting rocks, obstacles,
Creamy foam caps and whirlpools,
Deadly admission to the underworld below
Where the Jaguar King lives
 
There he sits, alone on his throne
Panthera...

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Daddy brought it home to mother
She did not like it at all, in fact it made her angry
Those innocent tough spikey, sword-shaped leaves
Centered with white rosettes in tight buds caused anger

Today when I see those...

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Filigree
Celtic Filigree

Graceful filigree unbroken 
Weaves a tracery
With strands entwined
Like a whisper from the misty isles
Woven into whorls of melodic unity,
Indivisible spirals of the eternal three,
Thin harp strings of crisscrossed swirls
Weaving lyric filigree
Delicate fine threads elaborate
Earth,...

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Breath laden islands rise and fall
beneath the steam-graced surface of clear water,
capped with rosettes, red-brown, silken, warm,
beaded with water running in rivulets
down hillsides of flesh, puddling,  
in the dark oval navel of desire.

Water rises...

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          My Gift to My Love

There are so many silly gadgets to buy, 
clothes or videos for you.
Never mind all that silliness!
Am sending me, to you,...

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Breathe laden islands rise and fall
beneath the steam graced surface of clear water,
capped with rosettes, red-brown, silken, warm,
beaded with water running in rivers
down mountainsides of flesh, puddling,  
in the darken depression of navel.

The water...

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A British designer of clothing and such
Is showing an outfit a bit out of touch
It’s all made of leather but that’s not my beef
It’s straight from a cow but from far underneath
She wanted some leather...

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Sustained by the frequent spring showers
Adorned by rosettes of dark green
They burst into dense yellow flowers
The florets parading their sheen.

They sway to sensations of pleasure 
The rhythmic allure of the breeze
Then rest in the evening...

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Our fingers interweave, like a key in a lock
The tumblers click into place, and the world opens
Warm, orange glow between our hearts
Coursing down our arms to each other, tearing through
The amber cocoon around my inner...

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She was having a party
A divorce party
He wasn’t invited
They came prepared
Balloons, rosettes, banners
More people than were at the wedding
Val was very popular
He listened intently
Something about Val, his soulmate
The loud girl with the big heart
He would...

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My husband wants a big pussy - he's crazy,
draped over chaise-lounge in conservatory,
I said that it would cost a fortune to feed,
to have such an adornment, there is no need.

It would demolish the neighbour's tabby...

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Fountainhead
by Michael R. Burch 

I did not delight in love so much
as in a kiss like linnets' wings,
the flutterings of a pulse so soft
the heart remembers, as it sings:
to bathe there was its transport, brushed
by...

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Ghost-striped by wild magic, night roams into the night
with a mystique like the darkness of the moon’s shaded face.
A jet silhouette with shadowed rosettes prowls ebon-air’s hue;
liquid-liner-black strides in silent fluidity 
melts night into the...

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Breathe laden islands rise and fall beneath the lap
of crystalline water, a steam graced surface breached, 
rosettes crest, their gently risings peaks to cap
mouthfuls of desire whose lower gate's lie unbreached.

Submerged beneath chest's hollow lies...

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