Long Sparse Poems

Where Does the Butterfly Go?
by Michael R. Burch

for the children of the Holocaust and the Nakba

Where does the butterfly go
when lightning rails,
when thunder howls,
when hailstones scream,
when winter scowls,
when nights compound dark frosts with snow ...
Where...

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Juvenilia: Early Poems IX

These are early poems of mine, written in my teens as a high school student and during my first two years of college.

Shock
by Michael R. Burch

It was early in the morning of...

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The Old grizzled Bear... was now keenly aware
    as he lay in his Cave all alone.
Where his time as King... was a mere passing thing
    and must choose another...

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     by how many badbyes can you measure the length of your day

                 first comes...

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They had kept me imprisoned there for three full days,
In that sparse, solitary room, of scarce sunshine rays.

Having good food to eat, had never been a problem; 
They brought hot meals, but the problem was...

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“I do not know if he still lives in that cave or if he is even alive, but I can tell you where it is.  I have never shared this with anyone but Jessica,...

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Age defiant was this spruce and spirited citizen slinking blithely past the burgundy red doors of her enigmatic country dwelling.
As her olive skin neatly curved fingers 
slid over an intermittently scratched carbon black handrail she...

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June nineteenth one hundred and fifty nine years ago

The conclusion of the American Civil War commenced with the articles of surrender agreement of the Army of Northern Virginia on April 9, at Appomattox Court House,...

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In all my artist wanderings 
Traveling through these great lands of ours

Places visited or lived in, diverse, memorable
Many messages I received...

As did so many that passed before me
Passing through each wilderness
Learning new steps to take.

...

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Within my quasi moat toad lily padded immediate environs

Meaning the corporeal complex edifice
housing these lovely bones, 
where linkedin logorrhea ably
strives to break out 
in meaningless song 
yobble hum hum diddle dee dee
and dance courtesy 
an...

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The word "Galaxy", is derived from the Greek "galaxias", literally "milky", a reference to the Milky Way galaxy. Galaxies contain varying amounts of star systems, star clusters and types of interstellar clouds. (Nebula is Latin...

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YES ABOUT A DRESS

El, please come shopping with me today,
He knew she would ask him anyway,
Sure Honey, he immediately lit
A cigarette, we’ll leave in a bit!
Shopping with Jen wasn’t too much fun,
She was fussy, and...

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The year has finally yawned and turned       
Upon a half-revealed shoulder.
A vibrancy, intrinsic to a reemerging 
Enforcement of the strengthening light, 
In its deliberate and unconcerned   ...

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Day one; I leave the coast following the great black river.  Its meandering slow water sneaking slowly and silently past the ancient pines and hardwood trees gathered near its banks like a band of...

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I tried to ignore the buffoonery and the cartoonery of the last 3 weeks of "politics," but found it impossible to do when so much needs to be fixed. A collaboration is taking place... please...

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Just the very thought of him, like an artist’s stroke of his
Paintbrush, sealed a promise of a lifetime of tomorrows.
I finally had found myself and, knew my purpose in life.

The instant you were within sight,...

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I had a passion for vibrant flowers, and I was often found in the garden,
As one gains the haunting night bird songs, in burgundy skies darkening.

My garden had many varieties of flowers, in countless appealing...

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Not so long ago ...
your numbers darkened the west
a noble profile of strength and pride
and the epitome of the innate, free, pioneering spirit
that your country was founded upon ...

It is said that single
groups of your...

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hearken to the sound
of reality come round
crowing to the sun
a brand new day just begun
much more mundane than profound

the universe hums
until eternity comes
shifting light plasma
moves through sparse cosmic miasma
the interstellar stanza

universe springs forth
actual mountains of...

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Restoring peace,
and "No Loser Left Behind"
win/win EarthJustice Systems
enlighten
invite gift economies 
to empower future health wealthy co-investors
inside outside vocations of mercy
rooted in depolarizing faith

And sparse, yet resonant, evidence
that win/lose predative ego-intentions
are secondary
longer-term victims
of our own viral...

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Ill suited for madcap twenty first century world

One garden variety generic male - the
very writer of these words feels akin
to an anachronism, whereby his being
alive at this juncture within the space/
time continuum (July 29th, 2022...

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Chicanery grabbed lustfully repeatedly - yup!

While merrily bobbing along
the boulevard of broken dreams,
which in truth measured
no more than a furlong
think envisioning myself top banana
analogous to bull headed Donkey Kong,
I felt on top of my game,
which...

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The casement creaked under the scrutiny of darkness

A lonely candle flickered to the tune of one single log

Unhinged she sat where darkness fell upon her face

Which had grown cobwebs and spider lines over time


It was...

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If the world were a soccer ball I'd be mighty tempted
to kick it high to kingdom come.
After what I learned today I feel ripped off,
feeling the sparse warmth of a dimmed out sun.
Pray tell who...

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Some place somewhere,in nowhere
Oh! come dearly wind,come to the place and everywhere
Were it not bad of you to bend and bypass us in your haste
Eternal it would be-had love been bethrothe'
To the valley,slummed with valour...

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