Long Salve Poems

Pagans Protest the Intolerance of Christianity
by Michael R. Burch

“We have a common sky.” — Quintus Aurelius Symmachus

We had a common sky
before the Christians came.

We thought there might be gods
but did not know their names.

The common...

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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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At Wild Spirit’s Door I

At what Gate am I
Such magnificance as met
With hard road ahead.

I am but a man
Manifesting desire
For understanding

Wisdom’s not enough
Hard living even in dreams
Brings me to this spot

Where legends meet real
And singing...

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Various Heresies 6

Altared Spots
by Michael R. Burch

The mother leopard buries her cub,
then cries three nights for his bones to rise
clad in new flesh, to celebrate the sunrise.

Good mother leopard, pensive thought
and fiercest love’s wild insurrection
yield...

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Today
we left off yesterday
to pick up
where speaking non-violent principles 
too often neglect to listen
to liberally artistic,
green and active
yet non-reactive
compassionate healers
may need to co-invest more
in co-operating democratic research
of
and for
WholeEarth DiaLogical Matriotism.

Excuse me,
but co-passioned listening
to silence
speaks not...

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“Before The Firing Squad”



the firing squad 
came dressed
in faux smiles

the intervention cake 
was spoon fed, like honey,
by mother superior

to the lesser bee,
with self-righteous
magnanimity

she wore the badge
Devil’s Advocate, proudly,
without any clear authority

casting bloodied 
nasturtiums around the...

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Spring equinox arrives March 20th, 2023 at 5:24 PM

Despite what outside temperature registers
(even absolute zero), the official arrival
of spring occurs, when thee eel hip tic
of coe phish hunt holy Mackerel
becomes tangential to barenaked ladies 
barren...

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Now watch this video: Planet Earth: Blue Planet II
https://youtu.be/2f9SItUEtJ8







"Breath, in Blue"



Bluebottles broken scattered
shattered legions on the beach of my heart
my blue planet lungs rattle
my breath battered in the honeycomb maze
vanished all my bees belittled forgotten...

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The crime is snowed over, Translation of Pierre Emmanuel’s  Il neige sur le crime

Are we buried under snow holding our silence
in what immense Cimmerian (collision) of terror ?
The mouth kept open in the shriek...

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People sometimes tell me the heirlooms given to me hold no value over how my heart feels, but these things have memories, stories of where they've come from that tug at my heart.  They’re...

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He’s called the Eulogizer
He reluctantly accepts this moniker as our elder
A name for which he feels disdain 
Since it conjures memories of unspeakable pain
 
He's lost a father, mother, sister and son
His nights sleepless realizing...

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Faulkner's comment, I imagine him
tossing it off like Yogi Berra between games
of a doubleheader. The hero, the expert, the virtuoso
has no real control, is going to feel
unmitigated, unsparing forces, a mighty sun
swallowed by a black...

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In the twilight hours I lie
On my back face-up closed-eyes facing the sky
I am clarity
Not fully awake or asleep 
Free of prejudiced mind and sanity
And my mind wanders 
Snippets of thoughts and assessments
Judgements and decisions...

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...Emmet would converse with Sophie,
pretend he was a normal man,
while April and Abner slipped away…
young infatuation was grand.

And after their third time out there
April and Abner were engaged,
not coincidently there
was a new baby on the...

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Placed eighth in :
No. 1234 New Poem Only Poetry Contest
Sponsored by Brian Strand

                      ...

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...He still felt the urge to comfort Whitney,
to tell her he didn’t blame her for this,
that all of this had been Jesse’s doing,
but the words just didn’t come to his lips.
But Whitney’s lips did, she...

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Spring (vernal) equinox arrives March 20th, 2022 

at 11:33 AM in Northern Hemisphere
though meteorological conditions, I swear
in summer re: temperatures already mild
enough to go outside in your underwear
unless an ordinance would find you
slammed in the...

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I stopped to see you at your grave today.
I thought and wondered just what to say...
As I dug around and cleaned your stone.
I suddenly felt so very alone.
I played the songs on my radio,
Which played...

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 In the depths of my heart, a shadow dwells, Regret's icy grip, a tale it tells. Missed opportunities, choices made, Unraveled dreams, a path that swayed. Like a phantom, it haunts my waking hours,...

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Yesterday, turned out,
To be, a magical day...
I got a great new drummer,
Totally excellent, I must say,
And he took the band,
To his amazing studio...
With every bit of exotic equipment...
A musician could know...
He mixed in like magic...
Making...

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(Written by Mpho Leteng & Jennifer Legotlwane, edited by Onalethuso Petrus Ntema)

1. So you are still out-and-out with that old passion?
I look cogently at you actively warbling that song, unchanged, 
You sing out the aridity...

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When Spring’s soft murmurs broke the stillness of the rolling hills,
He took his guitar outside to welcome days of daffodils.
His music wound throughout the pines in greening melodies,
The gypsy lady heard them and was stirred...

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Jesus is calling come my people come for the Kingdom of God is at hand.
Arise out of your spiritual graves, look into me and make a stand.

There was a Super-natural move of God. When He...

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I turned away and faced the crashing white rapids. My
evergreen hunting dress whipped in the wind with my
copper hair.

I took a deep breath and jumped. I felt the spray
before the crushing force of the furious...

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In a realm where dreams dance in light's embrace,
Desiree dwelled with an enchanting grace,
Her name a symphony, a tale to unfold,
In life's grand expanse, a story of old.

With eyes like pools of liquid grace,
Stars reflected...

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