Long Soaring Poems

I woke up in the middle of the night with tears running from my eyes. I woke up in the middle of the night because my spirit cries
It is not the tear that falls when...

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The First Valentine Poem

Charles d’Orleans (1394-1465) has been credited with writing the first Valentine poem for his wife in 1415. Charles wrote the first Valentine poem in the first year of his captivity while being...

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Zen Death Haiku

Brittle cicada shell,
little did I know
you were my life!
—Shuho, translation by Michael R. Burch

Returning
as it came,
this naked worm.
—Shidoken, translation by Michael R. Burch

As dew glistens
on a lotus leaf,
so too I soon must vanish.
—Shinsui,...

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Epigrams by Michael R. Burch



Negligibles
by Michael R. Burch
 
Show me your most intimate items of apparel:
begin with the hem of your quicksilver slip ...



Negotiables
by Michael R. Burch

Love should be more than the sum of its...

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Poems about Mothers


Mother's Smile
by Michael R. Burch

There never was a fonder smile
than mother's smile, no softer touch
than mother's touch. So sleep awhile
and know she loves you more than "much."

So more than "much, " much more...

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Poems about Flight, Flying, and Birds



Flying
by Michael R. Burch

I shall rise
and try the bloody wings of thought
ten thousand times
before I fly...

and then I'll sleep
and waste ten thousand nights
before I dream;

but when at last...
I soar the...

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Poems about Butterflies and Bees



Flight
by Michael R. Burch

It is the nature of loveliness to vanish
as butterfly wings, batting against nothingness
seek transcendence...



Album
by Michael R. Burch

I caress them—trapped in brittle cellophane—
and I see how young they were,...

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Some days and nights
I am terrorized by death,
cold silo ache-echoing fear,
claustrophobic breathless dark
barking inevitable factness and finality
of my decomposing mortality,
and posthumous demise,
probably post-humorous as well,
should we discover any essential difference.

What good is death
if it cannot...

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Toddlers' Exploration: 

Cardboard drum, a thunderous beast,
Playful roars in tiny fists and feasts.
Fleeting wings glide, dreams just out of reach,
Soaring through tales of barnyard Waddles and Squeaks,
Moo! Quack! Giggles tumble and bump.
Flaps flapping, bright colors...

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I sing my songs with rageful joy in mind,
Forgetting the past struggles, aches and sorrows
That intertwine with my mind’s eye, leaving all of me behind
Forgiving others of their wrongs for better tomorrows

You know who comforts...

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I promise…I promise I won’t desert you
This hardship you’re facing at the moment is temporary
Tonight…tonight, I will show you love so true
By wiping your tears of sorrow and showing you tomorrow happily

I wake up to...

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Quelle vicende vissi fino in fondo.
Quando mi riappropriai della mia vita
Se questo è un uomo chiesi a tutto il mondo.”
Those events I lived through and through.
When I again impropriated of my life
If this is a...

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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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For the past thirty seven years, living for me was knowing that I do not know
I have been yearning for what I do not have a name for
The knowledge of the presence of this nameless,...

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 A sense of belonging 
Is amongst your nobility
Peaceably, truly longing
To give praise to You entirely

Take me all the way with your sway of youth
Give me physical poetry, please, beyond the truth
You are more priceless...

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A prawn masquerading as a peanut can be quite disturbing. So many times a peel is a garment used to shroud. A tentacle hidden. Here and there. Then to reappear with an often violent burst...

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The brilliant sun burns merciless and bright,
The desiccated earth below is dry
And desolate from its relentless blaze—
A vast and barren desert, wasteland wide.
It lies devoid of life, save one lone bird,
A phoenix soaring close to...

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You stole away my lonely melody, Lord,
And made it harmony according to Your accord
I’d like to thank You with all of my heart as I make sound
My mind is trying to look forward to a...

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“We need to talk!    Something I perceive as being nothing short of scary’s now been going on for several years…it’s got to stop!
Insurance costs are soaring…and the cost of some prescriptions is...

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Written: 21 July 2023 
Submitted to No. 1231 New Poem Only Poetry Contest 
Sponsored by Brian Strand 

Bridging the Unbridgeable Chasm*

As rises the wealth of nations,
As grows the limb of a township
So declines the flowers...

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I’m acting – um – rather gloom-struck sour…
Bittersweet like blood my attitude is
But, I must work as a team…what do you want? A kiss?

Chorus: I need you and I want you
I miss you and I...

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Earth's diverse Trees of Tribes
mentor ecotherapy with me,
EcoWe,
echoing sighing resonant waves of wisdom
surfing through lunar waxing-waning freedoms
of humanly divine burning nuclear bushes.

Show me,
unveil We,
boundary wu-wei issues
weaving functions with frequencies,
tipping wild-flowering forms with full-color fluencies,
soaring summer's...

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Temporal incarnation of Aphrodite...

induces idyllic reverie
delight evoking similar surge,
when skirting, and eluding 
fidelity defining the marital law
on par with courting in flagrante delicto.

After reading about 
Greek goddess of love
fancy notion woke whereof
warmth suffused me
snug as...

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(##background singers##)
Honestly, things are getting out of proportion (Do your part, man!)
Give me a portion of your love (a portion of your love)
You’re my ultimate luck, desire and devotion 
You’re as beloved and spectacular 
As...

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You’re my Phoenix from the start in flight
You stole my only melody
Made it stronger, baby
Loveshine, I still love you
I love you true
I love you, I do…
What about you?
Only His time tells…
Will you free me like...

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