Long Scrutiny 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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Salvation of a Formalist, an Ode to Entropy
by Michael R. Burch

Entropy?
God's universal decree
That I get to be
Disorderly?
Suddenly
My erstwhile boxed-in verse is free?
Wheeeeee!



Eternal Currents
by Michael R. Burch

How can I write and not be true
to the rhythm...

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Why does dawn dress robust morning,
while dusk undresses sight?
Each dawn incarnates another Earth Day
a lifetime of Easter mornings 
redeeming nocturnal sight's revolution,
another therapeutic day of gift-it-forward light,
some longer,
some shorter 
before naked covered night.

Why life?
To uncover...

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Today is assiduously
religiously different,
as I review our local RiverEast News.

Every week
Mike Thompson writes a solid Editorial
in a compelling voice.
I expect to only add
my hearty sacred
happy secular "Amen!"

Our nearly fearless Editor and Chief
calls for political "ACCOUNTABILITY!"
like...

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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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I don't recall whose inspired idea it wasn't
to invite the math professor
into our Therapeutic Collaborative Laboratory.

I do recall when I first heard her speak
of cooperative polynomial qualities
for improving ego/eco-therapeutic communications.

She was, of course,
in the back...

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Here's the deal, friends...
   This is, as indicated, the THIRD 1/3 of this very lengthy poem. Due to Poetry Soup's file-size limitations, this piece had to be posted in 3 parts! 
 ...

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Increase In Head Size

impossible mission to encapsulate notion 
flitting hither and yon, to and fro
within cranium attached to mine body,
whereby irrefutable proof prevails
predicated when yours truly
scrutinizes other people visibly aware,
I a modest married male 
blessed,...

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Traditional Solitaire potential combinations...

that clenched another win today
February 20th, 2024 
(eight hundred and ninety yesterdays ago 
since June 13th, 2021)
original crafting date of following poem,
when yours truly 
single handedly trumped computer, 
for umpteenth time,
which saw...

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Traditional Solitaire potential combinations...
that clenched another win (yahoo)
jimmied today August 15th, 2022 single handedly
just before the crack of dawn
with both hands tied behind my back,
and a blindfold worn over my eyes.

While in the midst of...

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Traditional Solitaire potential combinations...
that clenched another win (today June 13th, 2021) single handedly

While in the midst of playing solitaire 
(with losing outcome foreordained 
after a couple moves), I became gripped 
with combinations predicated on thirteen...

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Niithaar Perumai, the Fundamental Role of Ascetics, Canto 26 of the Thirukkural, the Tamil Classical Treatise on Ethics, Translation and Commentary by T. Wignesan 


[Given the scarcity of information (mostly conflicting even then) on the...

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[R-F] = Roundling facsimile
[H-Z] = Human: Zenaide
[G-G] = Gaia-Google - Earth's world-wide internet mind


Dr. Zenaide Arnau, team leader of L 4 investigation
U.N. assignment to Space Station 1
supported by logicians, technicians, physicists and geneticists
unsure why assignment...

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“They are in the cabin of the Sleigh.”
The Elder Elf motioned to  Rådyrvokter to join them.  He stopped unharnessing the deer and stepped over to Dyndoeth.  In a whispered tone he requested...

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To manipulate laws to disqualify voters,
Vote multiple times, or give dead living voice,
These are acts of a traitor! Man’s born with a choice.
Should political virtue be building consensus,
To hate when you don't win a kind...

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My Mother taught me
how to see through language, 
paper was rare, iron ink wasn't free
so she sold some jewelry for porcelain lettering, 
and we clapped and sang the alphabet into life
our life, our joy, our...

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We have all been given access to unite
To no longer walk in confusion of the night
Sadly, many who claim to be of Jesus church
Still building own ways for their souls search
So much division, hate, confusion...

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I posit picayune propensities prevail among pesky management

Most favored renter status imposed on us
i.e. meaning myself;
(one tarnished prince of Highland Manor)
and the missus, his princess consort
who must abide by rigorous writ
of tidiness, whereby
every flat surface...

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Fraught With IBS Irritable Bowel Syndrome...

today – late morning of November 4th 2022
sudden onset experienced whereby
whooshing waste naturally flushed out
ala mine body electric performed colonoscopy
diarrheal gangbuster instigated
maybe Machiavellian microbe
with powerful rectal surge
analogous to invisible plunger
forcing...

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Glory to the Ukranian Freedom Fighters
 
Democracy and freedom are under attack
Beaurocracy and greed man,
Don’t let this war criminal come back
Putin is lootin’ the streets of Ukraine
His crimes against humanity are bordering on insane
His unprovoked aggression...

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Mitchell: Good sirs, my word was fair. No discrepancy stains the pages of my ledger. The fifth tier is a sub-basement beneath the cellar floor of the temple’s vestibule. Any woman who is not tagged...

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I, A. Robbie - Ham guilty for gobbledygook...
and ruffling turkey feathers!

An innocent A1 miss steak kin kith
once, a former main lion resident 
living social where Tigress and Euphrates 
converge and pool into Lake Wobegone ...

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Apple of my eye darling daughter numero deux gifted me...

Twenty four years ago –
February 4th, 2023,
whose existence begat 
by this dada and da mama aye
revel in your bursting at figurative 
seams viz maturation, and know...

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A MESSAGE TO EINSTEIN
Originally Composed in Persian Language by:
M. H. Shahryar (1904- 1988)
Translated into English by:
 Abdullah Bageri Hamidi

Einstein! An unspecified greeting! Well, pardon;
Running in the twilight of moonlight, fair;
With the curl of the wavering...

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Mitchell: At this level, as with the rest, one might also find those who have stumbled down from a higher step on the crystal staircase from dancing too many tangos in their Manolo Blahniks, as...

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