Long Scuttles Poems

SELF REFLECTIONS

These are poems about mirrors, images, self-image, reflections, impressions and self-reflection. 

Self Reflection
by Michael R. Burch 

for anyone struggling with self-image

She has a comely form
and a smile that brightens her dorm ...
but she's grossly...

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Poems about Poems VI

The Board
by Michael R. Burch

Accessible rhyme is never good.
The penalty is understood?
soft titters from dark board rooms where
the businessmen paste on their hair
and, Walter Mitties, woo the Muse
with reprimands of Dr. Seuss.

The...

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Enough!
by Michael R. Burch

It’s not that I don’t want to die;
I shall be glad to go.
Enough of diabetes pie,
and eating sickly crow!
Enough of win and place and show.
Enough of endless woe!

Enough of suffering and vice!
I’ve...

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Pity Clarity
by Michael R. Burch

Pity Clarity,
and, if you should find her,
release her from the tangled webs
of dusty verse that bind her.

And as for Brevity,
once the soul of wit—
she feels the gravity
of ironic chains and massive...

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The klaxon sounds and off we do scurry
Up to the gun house we head in a hurry

Through narrow p-ways and up noisy stairs
We pass each other with far away glares

What threat to meet, all do...

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the raspy whisper

finally
 
gets my full attention -
wistfully I smile
..for its persistence reminds me of you..

the crisp red leaf 
scuttles scrapingly
across the gray pavement
to and fro 
like a dancing crab
moving with the whims of the...

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Our God who lives, flows in the waters,
tumbles in rivers, and drifts in snows,
flashes as silver from shoals of fish,
darts in darkness round rugged rocks,
blooms afresh as showers bring flowers 
with fresh aromas for bugs...

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Our God who lives, flows in waters,
drifts in clouds and glows in snow,
flashes silver fish in shallows,
darts in darkness round the rocks,
blooms afresh as showers bring flowers,	
freshens scent for bugs and bees.	
Here we live together...

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Musing with Caren Krutsinger’s musings. I love
our dear poet’s imagination. Thank you, Caren
for allowing me to use your poem and a few phrases
from your poem. Used poem by permission.

My Food Flees from Me

Caren,

A creepy thing...

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Hell breaks loose through the trusting door
Whining its splintering, wooden hinges
Claws wrapping onto the arches beyond
Gnarled feet pressed on the threshold
Lower limbs jingling with sparky anklets
Ready to catapult and kick with spitting mouth
To shove its...

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Mind often makes a circuitous pilgrimage
Sliding down and going up the banisters of time
As I hear the grating sound of worn stairs behind
Memories come darting in and out of shadows

From childhood’s flamboyant days
Mind scuttles between...

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the old sea-pool churns out fun
  frantic heads flick side to side, limbs flashing, thrashing
  some are slicing, cutting through
  elegant submariners chased by water-wake
  here is one of distinction!
 ...

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when war approaches, miles away 
it scuttles sideways like a crab
or creeps slowly, slowly and slowly
like a reptile, 
with holocaust claws;

a quick eye sees, 
a smart heart reads, 
at distance. 

war, as you may think,...

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How quick in sun's furnace falls
Faith like a withered leaf!
How sad dead friendship recalls
The songs that balmed our grief!

When then we shared belief before
You my fealty to truth adore
Your response was praise, naught more
In the...

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He knows he has to run; it’s imperative.
He sprints down a trail, 
passing tall pines on both sides.
His eyes dart everywhere around himself
as he surveys every large rock or bush
that he goes dashing past.
There is...

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I

O hasty zephyr blindly scuttles past,
O’er dry forsaken mounds with tarnished grass;
Between a pillared mountain weak but vast.

A force that bends and fashions broken glass,
Reflecting in advance, recorded path; 
Stirring fervent as it rises to...

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On a cold frosty night the moon hung in the dark sky like a silver sixpence,
Waiting for a bus that seemed to be hours late, wind dried my face I was cold,
While leaning on the...

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An errant wind ruffles the
surface of the lake,
disrupting the satin sheen,
quicksilver becomes watered silk.

The breeze caresses the old man
and he looks up in wonder
as he sees the spirit of God
moving across the face of the...

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The World

My work is over time to head on home
Made lots of money trading stocks on-line
I told my secretary she could leave 
Askance my traders quid pro quo was fine 

I entered elevator floor nine-teen
Pushed...

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Why are the sea gulls shopping here,
if not for "White Stag, No Boundaries" or 
"Faded Glory?" Is there some other story? 
Coffee, tea, or you, or just practicing beach 
and gray-sky calls over concrete, carts
and...

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The children are being led like cattle across the grounds.  They have yellow life jackets on and are holding on to rings around a rope.  
They are surrounded by grownups (a funny word)....

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Why are the sea gulls shopping here, if not
for "White Stag, "No Boundaries." or "Faded Glory?"
Is there some other story?  Coffee, Tea or You,
or just practicing beach and gray-sky calls
over concrete, carts, and Handicapped...

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The little thrill as the wave’s ripple in
Making the hairs stand up, on the surface of my skin.
The kiss of the sun with its warm breath so light
As it soothes my skin with warmth and...

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When I Google you,
I recognize the struggles and muggles you face,
I recognize the brutalities and the scars from decades of suppression and oppression which you endure;
The broken promises, failings and shortfalls;

I recognize the enormous work...

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The sky is now dark,
nothing but the moon and
stars provide a source of light.
Everything appears still as
though life has been consumed
by a creature of uncouth nature.
The ground is bare, not even a
rat scuttles across the...

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