Long Salvaged Poems

Salve
by Michael R. Burch

for the victims and survivors of 9-11

The world is unsalvageable ...
but as we lie here
in bed
stricken to the heart by love
despite war’s
flickering images,

sometimes we still touch,

laughing, amazed,
that our flesh
does not despair
of love
as...

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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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Fretfully aching to feel fit as a fiddle

After experiencing a severe,
albeit violent near lethal bout
of irritable bowel syndrome
(yesterday night August 30th, 2023)
triggered courtesy dulcolax caplets plus 
healthy portion of lentils,
I (a beatle browed, foo fighting,...

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Masalembo
2016 © Fleetwood


Blue-green ocean tipped with whitecaps rolling toward the shore
Plane is humming with the pilot talking about life and your ride is there parked on the hill for easy starting next to the palm...

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(Door bell rings)

 — The damn dog barks and a voice is heard. Arms stretch, forming a letter Y. A head shakes. Dimples become this smooth cheek; lips form a letter O... Exhaled respiration sighs; the break of...

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About a year ago,
as the COVID pandemic
seemed to subside,
then swell,
happily ebb
and yet impatiently flow

Again,
about a year ago
I was noticing cold autumn nights
bringing first frost
to my metal windowframes
and skeletal post-surgery-tired back
and neglected aging heart.

Outside corner unit...

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IF EVER I HAD A COUNTRY: LXXIX -  Bang! Bang! Who Shot Me Down like an Un-licensed Dog !

IF ever I had a country, a country certainly 
not subject to the whistle of a...

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MV WILHELM GUSTLOFF

This was the worst ship disaster, with the greatest loss of life at sea
A German ship that was overloaded, with over 10.600, war refugees

Sank on the 30 January 1945 by a Soviet submarine...

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As aspiration seeks to take its toll,
your mass flotilla salvaged sons of war.
‘Twas but a feat the angels will extol
though Satan’s army rallies at your door.
Your youthful fit have vowed to serve the Crown.
They muster...

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Sarah did not remember her mother’s green eyes, or her smile.
She did not remember how gentle she was or her kindnesses to others
Sarah had only been four when her mother ran off; but Ben remembered....

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Of all the memories I hold of you,
I have written of all except the most 
vivid.
Maybe I am afraid of sharing that
 deeply as a writer, as a man, as a 
person.
Perhaps I fear I...

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I touched her hand and the warmth of her soul
rushed my veins like a mad river,
obliterating all doubts.
Would that I survive the tumult, the undying desire
to touch her skin again, even for a moment, to...

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UNQUOTABLE QUOTES: XLV - Tongue teasing epigrams

A stitch in time can save an arranged marriage and stave off a family feud, not to mention everlasting vendettas.
Still waters run deep in sleep.
When the hens begin to...

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A long tale, so grab a drink.

Dateline, Tuesday, August 30th 2016.

They had a clear-out where I used to work 
with heaps of office junk for getting rid,
the usual stuff in cardboard boxes lurked
old staplers, cookie...

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Let me tell you a story . . . 

The RMS Titanic steamship was the largest 
and most magnificent ship in the world (at the time)
high as an 11 story building 
and long as 4...

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Serious sibling subluxation... 
rapprochement somewhat salvaged dislocation

Truth be told about following poem 
mostly written quite some years ago, 
and revisions made to recreate
and revise a more satisfactory literary product.

This trademark ungainly, unsightly,
and unwieldy title essentially
huzzah...

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[me]
When the music starts it possess my mind my heart my actions
i get more ****** up then the jackson 5 
i feel alive I breathe in and out to live to to die
when the demons...

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1.	They Ask  (For 1984 riots)

Everyone asks;
how were you coupled with him?
Whose desertion
has dried up your eyes.
Finding solace in my gasps
You tell me-
How can I disclose
that the radiance of your blood,
before becoming my vermilion,
is gleaming...

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Serious Sibling Subluxation... 
Rapprochement Somewhat Salvaged Dislocation

This trademark ungainly, unsightly,
     and unwieldy title essentially
     huzzah mask queer aid,
and accentuates tendency
     (mine) to administer
...

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LAST CHANCE AT LOVE

                      Winter sun startles ambitious songbirds,

     ...

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This Medusa had no power to turn us into stone
but when she ran aground over Poseidon's throne
his anger stirred, and into the sea the crew was flung.
On a raft urgently built of salvaged timbers we...

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If love could be measured
..then science would have done it.

There would be a formula, an equation, Einstein would have published a paper.. but there is no measure. 
Love is too fine, too vast, too varied,...

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EarthCare Elders
repurposed our red brick industrial
BrownField

Including a rusted metal box
the size and shape of a giant's coffin
orange and dingy brown
metal flaking paradox
floating toward sacred ground
along river's sweeping fed up bed.

Here lived a racoon mother 
as...

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Chorus X 2
I wish you smell the cologne of my intentions
I wish you hear the piercing rhythms of my heart
I wish you see the torment of your short absence
and also to feel the weight of...

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Chocolate bunnies and Easter eggs,
Fluffy chicks and lambs at play,
The spring of the year is a beautiful time,
And we celebrate as the time draws nigh,

To remember the reason for all our good cheer;
For now is...

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