Long Snuffing Poems

I love you only because I love you
by Pablo Neruda
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

I love you only because I love you;
I am torn between loving and not loving you,
Between apathy and desire.
My heart vacillates...

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Sonnet LXXXI-LXXXIX

Day, and Night
by Michael R. Burch

The moon exposes pockmarked scars of craters;
her visage, veiled by willows, palely looms.
And we who rise each day to grind a living,
dream each scented night of such perfumes
as drew...

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February 29th, 2024

Alternately titled: 111th leap year since 1582
the year Pope Gregory XIII world leader
(i.e. essentially paterfamilias among
Roman Catholic flock)
timely maneuvered around calendrical rock
and hard space implementing
viable system tracking years ad hoc
out of sync and...

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So, sorry for you claiming this sad, sad world;
In your desperate means to cling to a disintegrating dream of mankind;
Your rose colored goggles fogging with deception and hate;
I apologize to every spirit and soul caught...

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Ohiopyle, Pennsylvania circa early 1970'S

(just in time for end of summer reading...
recounting emotionally disastrous campy turbulence)
intended food for thought indulgence. 

A boys' life aborted
miscarried golden opportunity
for adolescent romance to be courted.

Amidst a raft of fellow...

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Sonny hid behind the melons 
In a busy Asian marketplace,
Near the plantains and the mangos 
Where the shadows could obscure his face.  
He inhaled the air around him 
And enjoyed the fragrant scent of...

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New marching orders issued from comandante Bergen meister

After proper manager 
distributed the latest bulletin
to all the residents at Highland Manor,
plus wrinkled her nose at noxious odor
(explained at length below)
purportedly emanating from unit B44,
we (myself and...

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She came 
like a breath 
of air
Made her 
impacts on 
the sands of 
time
Those 
cherished 
laughs and 
smile
Gone to 
behold no 
more

The time so 
long
But short it 
is
How I long 
for your 
Presence
To lighten 
my...

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I rest perched atop my tree branch blind,
watching and waiting
for anything to unknowingly pass below
I got sleek, midnight skin ... 
distinct markings of a black panther
I got white eyes that glow in the dark,
my vision...

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so many unknown variables to consider for such a tasking pursuit

a conditional ‘If’ but what if ‘whether’ reigns in a supreme challenge

conjectures battle refutations and synapses blocked in surrender

as long as suppositions succeeded in their...

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IV.

As the werewolves all funneled to that narrow gorge,
the brush was pulled away, revealing a cannon’s bore,
the beasts were to furious to see they were caught,
Bob pulled back on the cord, fired silver grape-shot.

Small spheres...

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easy access and proliferation of firearms,
     now begs a serious hard question
     presenting daunting task,
quite aware that passionate
     stalwart supporters of the NRA,

...

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The Chopper Cyclone

Oh Wild Wind!  Why so rude?
Oh Dear God! Why no mercy?
Waited for rains; what we got is rage
Nursed hopes; only horror remains

December last, unbridled floods,
December this year, the Wild Wind
Gory events; misfortune...

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Toussaint they dance in Louisianna, and New Orleans
Omitting to say that these two places are blood money paid
Unto the colonies, snuffing your revolution by any means 
Subtle French diplomacy that history would parade
Solutions of lies...

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...On the fourth day I awoke to
a great grizzly snuffing about,
he had smelled the blood of my wounds,
what he wanted I had no doubt.
He gave a bellow and I shot,
my Winchester I did fire,
had to...

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Unblinking reflexive opinions lean
     indubitably, favorably and certifiably
     with minimal pandering soliciting
     uber voodoo yawping woos

socially quintessentially obviously markedly
    ...

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Lover of weed

Hey lover of weed take heed
So its true your life now revolves around it
That you are now even  an addict
Addicted to the point of snuffing it
Its now all you see and thinks
Your...

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February 29th, 2020
alternately titled: 207th leap year since 1582

the year Pope Gregory XIII world leader
(i.e. essentially paterfamilias among
Roman Catholic flock)
timely maneuvered around calendrical rock
and hard space implementing
viable system tracking years ad hoc

out of sync and...

Read More

alternately titled: 207th leap year since 1582

the year Pope Gregory XIII world leader
(i.e. essentially paterfamilias among
Roman Catholic flock)
timely maneuvered around calendrical rock
and hard space implementing
viable system tracking years ad hoc

out of sync and lock
step by...

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When I was 19 years old
I collapsed on my twin size collegiate bed
With my head in my hands
And I sobbed
Because for the first time in my shallow existence 
My carefully curated victim complex was shattered...

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Today was crisp and clear.
But a slight nip was in the air.
Decided to steal a few hours.
I grabbed a chair to sit over there.

Found a spot under the mighty oak.
In shade under it's whispering leaves.
I...

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There was a baby happy and free
The apple of the eye of his family
Playing around and hiding in the trees
Whoever thought it’s his last smile they see

Through the darkness of the jungle came
Man-devils whose creation...

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“Fire” alarm sirens
are going off [the audible radar]
stealth silently
Those living deaf 
can’t receive
the incoming Death warning

Sky chariots on the roil warpath
are thunderclap rolling
Propaganda leaflet droppings
did foreshadow 
their cursed dire coming

Ordnance jewels are falling
from hailstone crowns...

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Once long ago, when Kings and dragons ruled the Earth,
there came to be that a golden Fairy Queen
was pregnant and about to give birth to a radical child.
All the King's court knew this child would...

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Cascades of child like laughter roll of the scarlet paved street of a Harlem like neighbourhood
Infused with the liquid brown scent of human an assault on the senses

Ringing of bells announcing the day of worship
The...

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