Long Scoots Poems

I am just finishing my morning meditation when I hear my doorbell ring. It actually sounds more like that buzzing sound you hear if you fry a fat fly on one of those electronic bug...

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LIGHT VERSE AND NONSENSE VERSE III

The Humpback
by Michael R. Burch

The humpback is a gullet
equipped with snarky fins.
It has a winning smile:
and when it SMILES, it wins
as miles and miles of herring
excite its fearsome grins.
So beware,...

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These are poems about sinking, poems about drowning, poems about loss, and poems about new discoveries we sometimes make while feeling lost...



Sinking
by Michael R. Burch

for Virginia Woolf

Weigh me down with stones…
fill all the pockets of...

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These are villanelles by Michael R. Burch and and villanelle-like poems...


Villanelle: Trump’s Retribution Resolution
by Michael R. Burch

My New Year’s resolution?
I require your money and votes,
for *you* are *my* retribution.

May I offer you dark-skinned scapegoats
and bigger...

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The former blond model pouts and primps
Swinging her hips
Down the splashing catwalk of shoreline
Sand caving to her imagined heels

Wheeling to her awaiting Israeli mogul
Her shoulders set so far back
It’s as if she’s walking backwards

Puts herself...

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Who am I? I am not Fred Flintstone, nor am I Billy Goat Gruff,
And I am not Will Shakespeare, nor a Scotsman named MacDuff;
I am not Tom, I am not Dick, and surely am not...

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Word Lyric #7 for Music
“It Isn’t Far To the Dance Floor”


Mister Sinew is just standing still,
By the old phone booth on Pine Street.
He was curb-walking, looking for a thrill,
Now he is stopped, looking for place...

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For the first time 
since the end of Summer, 
Mr. Nobody wears his socks to bed, 
a sad admission that 
things were going to get worse. 
Can't count on the 
warmth of mother nature's breast...

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Me good old mate Henry Hawkins
is prankster intent through and through.
He’ll play those silly practical jokes
on the likes of both me and on you.
But I don’t think that he ever thought,
one alone could give him...

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Wisconsin Belle

A pale Wisconsin winter sun does not warm,
only lends its light as a wraith too thin and wan
Greenery imposes itself on the landscape
A lush land that is bitter in winter - lovely in spring
A...

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Autopilot tired
broken wings
sore in soaring flight
fluttering, down-spiral 
clouds streaming beyond fog 
drowsy
then, 
three barrel rolls
swirling through silver light
simulcast storm shakes black topsoil
mineral enriched,
vitamins collide,
seep through porous skin
providing synthesized eruptions
cataclysmic spasms drop knowledge undetected by erudition
...

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I am allergic to greens, so none of that will do.
It is my persnickety picky-eating cousin, Lulu.
But surely you are not allergic to lettuce, I say.
Oh, yes, and green beans and peas. The radish can...

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We have beef and noodles over mashed potatoes for Christmas.
There are many vegetables, the dieting adults pick at a few of them.
Rest of us gnaw on a variety of fudges, mints, and peanut brittle.
Frosted sugar...

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Dancing down to imagination town in my dreams
My favorite elephant CuCu snatches me up and gives me a tree boost
Wait a second! I say, but he hasn’t and I land next to MightBo.
MightBo is the...

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INDUSTRY OF CHRISTMAS

Cut down the pine! That one’s for me.
Lovely needles — so fresh and free.
A  s p r i t z   of   h o l i d a y...

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The bell tips,  it's a fire
Drop it all and leave it there
Peoples lives depend on us
There's no more we need discuss
Slide the pole or down the stair

To prepare ourselves for fire
First thing on is...

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Nanny’s come a-visiting,
We’re playing in the lounge.
Lottie’s on her kiddie car,
Scooting all around

Lost within her tiny world – 
Doesn’t know I’m there – 
Moving all her little toys
To table from the chair.

Reach for toy, put...

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My ol' memory is hazy
And sometimes things don't seem too real;
But I can still recall the night
That I danced at the Wagon Wheel.

Well, seems I was in a good mood
And was puttin' on quite a...

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The birds sing on the fence posts,
The rabbit scoots through the grass,
The water shoots from the fountain,
And the wine is poured in the glass.

The cars go down the freeway,
And the planes fly up in the...

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He poked me, he definitely just poked me

Who is this boy?

I'm facing him but he's turned away

Oh how cute he is

Again, he poked me again

Maybe he's flirting...

Perhaps I'm just crazy

But he definitely just poked me

Facing...

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Mr. Pickle threw 
A lavish pickle party
Inviting all his friends
Dill, sour, kosher
Spears and even halves
Seeing that the party
Was off the chain
Some uninvited guest arrived
With thirst and hunger
In their eyes, 
They were humans!
Who tried to eat...

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[Limerick Sequence]

There's a sparkle of glee in his eyes
when he catches a glimpse of my size;
he scoots my way
to make his play,
but I throw him a look to demise.

My soft body lures him as a...

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To those who seek instant gratification - 
I am a process, not a destination. 
Happiness.  

We attempt to crack its code, however, 
It remains a lifetime long endeavour. 

Deeply desired, wondrous state of mind...

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Who is the man with unleashed shoes
 Tap dancing on the wet grass what is he trying to do 
Picking up coins lost in sewer grates 
Trying to deposit them in the phone booths that...

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* Ey, gt d cr kys…m mtg ^ wd d crw ds f-dy nyt…
ur brgr pak s in d  ref.

              ...

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