Long Rushes Poems

Rejection Slips 2

The Shape of Mourning
by Michael R. Burch
 
The shape of mourning
is an oiled creel
shining with unuse,
 
the bolt of cold steel
on a locker
shielding memory,

the monthly penance
of flowers,
the annual wake,
 
the face in the...

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Nucleotidings
by Michael R. Burch

“We will walk taller!” said Gupta,
sorta abrupta,
hand-in-hand with his mom,
eyeing the A-bomb.

“Who needs a mahatma
in the aftermath of NAFTA?
Now, that was a disaster,”
cried glib Punjab.

“After Y2k,
time will spin out of control anyway,”
flamed...

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Enough!
by Michael R. Burch

It’s not that I don’t want to die;
I shall be glad to go.
Enough of diabetes pie,
and eating sickly crow!
Enough of win and place and show.
Enough of endless woe!

Enough of suffering and vice!
I’ve...

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Year One -

Tell me Eve,
does this Garden have everything we need,
do you think the walls are too tall,
are the gatekeepers reasonable, tolerable, right about it all,
what did Lilith know, where did she go
far past the...

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Here he stands, Edwardian vogue, sometimes with his spats, 
sometimes with his brogues below his dungarees. With rounded collar points and tie, and jacket donned below this flying suit, his waste is tied with simple...

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World War II Poems and Holocaust Poems - IV - Primo Levi

Shema
by Primo Levi
translation by Michael R. Burch

You who live secure
in your comfortable houses, 
who return each evening to find
warm food, 
welcoming faces...

consider whether this...

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Goodness, I nearly lost my balance on the spiral seashells and broken sea stone chipping matrix.
My quaint obsession with marine life and that skyline paradox blossoming so tantalisingly,  might be a source of some...

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As i reported my stalker and identity thief 2002 to the FBI she began climbing into my window for poetry my grandfathers world war 11 medal information this resulted in her arriving with a gunman...

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The Alaskan Oil Pipeline

Nineteen sixty-eight confirmed the year
Of discovery by ‘Humble Oil’
To North America’s largest oil field,
On the North Slope of the Brooks Range;
A west to east Northern Alaskan mountain chain.
An area forty miles wide...

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Something strange

and unexplainable comes this way,
this way, it comes to us sly and fast, 
some say, perhaps, 
it has already arrived, 
it walks unseen, in the midst of all, of us 

we go about our...

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_ a symphonic, folk rock, blues song
1.
I'm an old man looking
For the lost, best parts of me.
I'm an old man looking
For the lost, best parts of me.
I'm looking in the places
Where the people say love...

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In the silky night, dotted with mystery,
Where the moon's thread weaves shadows on the paths,
The heart, a thin garment, a flash in the ether,
Listens as the time from the hourglass seeps away,
And its rhythm, a...

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#1
"It is a sin to kill a Mockingbird.
While playing games with rocks or guns, defray,
them, please, ...shoot old tin cans.  Each whispered song 
from Mockingbirds, can heal the wounds  of the day"

Virtues are...

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 Diary Notes: Lament at Dawn A Year Ago and yet now No Change
				                     ...

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Another shift ends. I'm dead on my feet.
Too shagged to even eat.
The word leads (inevitably) to you...
I slipped the timesheets from work today.
Another incident occurred...
Sweetie, please be there, and say you care.
I loved working alongside...

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Hello I'm agent Brown I am not in  a good place

Hi agent Brown it's okay I'm here for you 

it's the dark place again I  can't breathe 

that's okay just breathe and talk...

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I’m going cray-cray some say…crazy in love, baby…
But, hey, I’m feeling fine up in here
Boldness and bravery today…went through me…
Shedded a tear with no fear…fear…
I’m corny and punny all in one
I’m the sun that shines…much...

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For the third time Pandora stands before the box
Inlaid with jewels ivory and gold
In her hand is the key – she closely examines
Intrigued by its intricate patterns - so ancient- so old

Her Creator’s mandate she...

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Grandma Gretchen's in her rocker and she has something to say. 

She tells a visitor, a young man from the city, if he plans to write a book about life on a farm in the...

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Japanese??

Here ... in Pearl Harbor?!? This must be a nightmare ...
It can't be real - I can't have seen that, yet here I am,
In my bunk cabin on the ship, with only a foot of...

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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 many new GEMS, improvements to previous verses and improved...

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I HEARD THE WISE WORDS

The day wise words were spoken
It was over near the beaten path;
Where I first heard them uttered.
“Beware of the fool in his folly
Who may be clever in presenting his story;
Only for...

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I spin, faster and faster…    
losing control, I am a propeller rising.
Once, you were my mystery to solve,
my gift to unwrap -
my challenge, my highest vista to climb.
You lifted me to your...

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Perpendicular and parallel lines fill my day
Shapes and sizes fill me with a shimmering ray
Geometric geniuses and geography gracefully mix together as one
Gingerly, I walk away...then, in utter despair, the war has begun
A war my...

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I HEARD THE WISE WORDS

The day wise words were spoken
It was over near the beaten path;
Where I first heard them uttered.
“Beware of the fool in his folly
Who may be clever in presenting his story;
Only for...

Read More