Long Scowled Poems

This is the story of mad Molly Shaw
She might be mad now but she wasn’t before
she came home to find her man dead on the floor
She lay down her bible and let out a roar...

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Poems about Poems (I)



What the Poet Sees
by Michael R. Burch

What the poet sees,
he sees as a swimmer
~~~underwater~~~
watching the shoreline blur
sees through his breath’s weightless bubbles...
Both worlds grow obscure.



Muse/Goddess
by Michael R. Burch

“What will you conceive in...

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It’s heading for our planet at ten thousand miles an hour
To stop it all the experts say we haven’t got the power
All the nukes in all the world won’t constitute a plan
So someone said, ‘All...

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The Making of a Poet
by Michael R. Burch

While I don’t consider “Poetry” to be my best poem—I wrote the first version in my teens—it’s a poem that holds special meaning for me; I call it...

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No Mark
by Michael R. Burch

A wave implodes, 
impaled upon
impassive rocks...

this evening
the thunder of the sea
is a wild music filling my ear...

you are leaving
and the ungrieving
winds demur...

telling me
that nothing returns
as it was before...

here where you have...

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The State of the Art (I)
by Michael R. Burch

Has rhyme lost all its reason
and rhythm, renascence?
Are sonnets out of season
and poems but poor pretense?

Are poets lacking fire,
their words too trite and forced?
What happened to desire?
Has...

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Vampire Poetry

Pale Though Her Eyes
by Michael R. Burch
 
Pale though her eyes,
her lips are scarlet
from drinking of blood,
this child, this harlot
 
born of the night
and her heart, of darkness,
evil incarnate
to dance so reckless,
 
dreaming of...

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Now is going on through a secret way
Between the martyrdoms and the ground wall,
My master, and I behind him to stay.

“Oh highest virtue, who me gently haul
In wicked rounds”, I started, “If you please,
Speak to...

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“There,” Lumi said suddenly and Joulupukki looked through the trees, seeing a small house. 
     “Wait here said Joulupukki, I'll be right back.”
He made his way to the house and called...

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Vampires
by Michael R. Burch

Vampires are such fragile creatures;
we fear the dark, but the light destroys them...
sunlight, or a stake, or a cross—such common things.
Still, late at night, when the bat-like vampire sings,
we heed his voice.

Centuries...

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Young Timmy saw Jim walking down the street.  Timmy considered a quick retreat, but steadied himself with a shrug.  Timmy dreaded the sight of Jim, a teenage bully and wanna be thug, who...

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Centuries ago

In ancient Hermopolis

A debate roared loud

Between a proud Christian priest

And a strange shepherd

Who was a Manichaean

Wearing ragged clothes

And who was looking for sheep

“Flames will consume you”

The priest roared at the shepherd

Because their debate

Was going...

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Laura Norder took her gun and strapped it to her thigh
The skirt she wore was so damned short she had to strap it high
And stood there on the corner where the street lamps dare not...

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'Twas the night before Christmas and I still had gifts to buy.
I procrastinated getting it done; a terrible fault I can't deny.
As I juggled bags of presents that cost far too much money,
A sidewalk Santa...

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Whatever rules they make up now in twenty-twenty-one
‘Little’ Frankie tells his dad I need to have some fun
His dad said how about a pet, I’ve just embalmed a pup
But Frankie moaned I’m sorry but I...

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Once upon a time in a woodland vale,
A town called Wong had an amazing tale,
Of witches who plotted to harm the townsfolk,
But their spells were so bad they became quite a joke.  

Hubble, bubble,...

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Poems about Poets



Long Division
by Michael R. Burch

for Laura Riding Jackson

All things become one
Through death’s long division
And perfect precision.



Nod to the Master
by Michael R. Burch

If every witty thing that’s said were true,
Oscar Wilde, the world would...

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Talent
by Michael R. Burch

for Kevin Nicholas Roberts

I liked the first passage
of her poem: where it led
(though not nearly enough
to retract what I said.)
Now the book propped up here
flutters, scarcely half read.
It will keep.
Before sleep,
let me...

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Safe Harbor
by Michael R. Burch

for Kevin N. Roberts

The sea at night seems
an alembic of dreams—
the moans of the gulls,
the foghorns’ bawlings.

A century late
to be melancholy,
I watch the last shrimp boat as it steams
to safe harbor...

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Raisin said, “Rum, I’m beginning to see
that there will be times when we cannot agree.
Disputes shouldn’t leave us at a complete loss
So I think it’s proper that I should be boss.”

Rum gave a stare that...

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...This caught her off-guard, so she asked, “What’s wrong?”
He said,“Aren’t you setting yourself up for hurt?
Women with many partners don’t pair-bond well,
there’s quite a low chance your marriage would work.”

She was confused, and said, “What...

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...“They screamed that they should have a say in things,
we destroyed all who would question True Man,
until those who were left stopped their shouting,
since then we have ruled all with a firm hand.

“That will be...

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III.

He wore a necklace made of dozens of vertebrae,
whether they were human or not, nobody could say.
Rick looked down at the dead man but still showed no fear,
said,”Tell me why we shouldn’t just kill you...

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III.
The northern borders were alive with talk
of the Warlord known only as Bimeng,
who’d risen amongst the savage peoples,
and was said to be uniting them.

Now Reth had heard tales of such things before,
so he stirred not...

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I have heard “The mirror tells not a lie, ’ 
I assuming myself the gorgeous one 
Abased in front of the looking-glass. 
I was one but the reflections were seven 
I was baffled either one...

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