Long Spit out Poems

They were gambling in front of the house.
Manservants and pages bustled about
Serving Suitors who just curse and carouse.
Few mix wine with water. I heard one shout,
"Clean down the tables with wet sponges! Rouse
Yourselves! And when...

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I Know The Truth
by Marina Tsvetaeva
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

I know the truth?abandon lesser truths!
There's no need for anyone living to struggle!
See? Evening falls, night quickly descends!
So why the useless disputes?generals, poets, lovers?

The wind...

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“Tessellate” 

on the surface
it’s easy to see
we tessellate

inadvertent 
decorative ostentatious
flirtatious lives taking risks 

with the other sides
planned strategic functional 
quantity rich quality lacking

Human

our words our ways
opposites 
like magnets attract, it all fits 

we think it...

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Their human ma and pa were spark out in reclining chairs
But Rum and Raisin watched the TV with enraptured stares
The western had just ended with the credits rolling past
And Raisin said, “That gunslinger was super...

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Spouse cannot forget mine suppressed flatulence upon our first date

While yours truly sat here 
at the desk housing MacBook Pro,
pondering his next idée fixe apropos
for gamut of anonymous readers,
he unexpectedly, noisily and effectually
exploded out rear...

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Existential crisis still encompasses mein kampf Valentine's day 2022

The following lines written disjointed fashion
attempting to mimic strategically 
moving pieces erratically on chessboard
ideally yielding ultimate resultant checkmate
opposing men captured for the queen to use.

Jurassic throwback terrible...

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The True Story Of Ariel

You know the story 'bout Ariel
The one that’s on the Disney cereal
Who came to the happy soppy ending
With the prince and herself winding up kissing?

Well, it’s about time you knew the...

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( a college life vignette)

It’s Thursday morning, usually no one’s favorite, but this one seems sugary new, as if beamed in from a different, better universe. The clouds look fluffy and freshly washed.

Even the freshmen,...

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I crowned the write full missus "champ paean practical joker"

The following moniker “innocent prankster” 
awarded, hashtagged, and qualified wife
as trickster de jure appended 
to alluded spouse 
(then of twenty five plus years),
when she pulled a...

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Rum had heard the rumour, “There’s a great new movie out.”
He asked around to find out what the plot might be about
It’s a tale of dogs so naughty, folk won’t go outdoors
Twas Ronnie Rat that...

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Why do the good men get the bad luck?

Not moving cuz they all stuck

Going down stead a up

With not a person to love

Cuz being kind

All the time

Just ain’t good enough

You’ll get thrown out with the...

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let me be honest
 i can’t help but do my white girl dougie
and my half assed twerk
when i hear i tight beat
because my mind is hooked 
on hip-hop and this culture 
so stereotyped with hood...

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Ah!  Here comes another pawn* should I trifle with him?
Or should I do it quickly and painlessly?
Well, if I think about it quickly and painlessly would be better
Because there are consequences to having a...

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why are we here my friend? 

----(a soft growl came upon the wind of his exhale and he saw his own face, and gave a knowing grin akin to our softening skin) ---- 

why do...

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A Hallmark card would have sounded sweeter than that 
My shiny badge of defusion and falsely sworn merit 
I’m the worst this town’s ever seen!
But I want justice for this
I keep retriggering your created catastrophes...

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Today you were born so many years ago, hell opened wide and spit out your soul
You rose from the ashes, from the brimstone far below, and you gave birth to a monster that had no...

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AI POEMS

These are poems about AI (Art-ificial Intelligence) and poems about science.

The AI Poets
by Michael R. Burch

The computer-poets stand hushed
except for the faint hum
of their efficient fans,
waiting for inspiration.

It is years now
since they were first...

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POEMS ABOUT OPHELIA

Ophélie (“Ophelia”)
by Arthur Rimbaud
translation by Michael R. Burch

On pitiless black waves unsinking stars abide
while pale Ophelia, a lethargic lily, drifts by.
Here, tangled in her veils, she floats on the tide.
Far-off, in the woods,...

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NOSSIS

There is nothing sweeter than love.
All other delights are secondary.
Thus, I spit out even honey.
This is what Gnossis says:
Whomever Aphrodite does not love,
Is bereft of her roses.
—Nossis translation by Michael R. Burch

Most reverend Hera, the...

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To Crush Mar a Lago Estate, and lower the Economic debt ceiling...

Now that DACA docked amidst 
marshy tidal outskirts of Poker flats 
(readied to be sunk) off shore 
(beach combing divers – ectoplasmic flotsam 
glorying...

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Ancient Greek and Roman Epigrams

That country wench bewitches your heart?
Hell, her most beguiling art’s
hiking her dress
to seduce you with her ankles' nakedness!
Sappho, fragment 57, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Stranger, rest your weary legs beneath...

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Across the pixelated clouds, jumps a little man in red and blue.
He jumps hard and fast through the massive flood of mismatched minions. 
The only thing on his tiny mind is get the girl. 
Course...

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POEMS ABOUT SCIENCE: COMPUTERS

The AI Poets
by Michael R. Burch

The computer-poets stand hushed
except for the faint hum
of their efficient fans,
waiting for inspiration.

It is years now
since they were first ground
out of refurbished silicon
into rack-mounted encoders of sound.

They...

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Though I may not do him justice, with my meager skills,
I write of Aaron Guttery
Most of you probably don't know him, but I feel you would,
By simply reading his poetry
With a pen in hand and...

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Antihero


An old stone built tower stands above all on the skyline;
The curves of its body twisting spiral’s in the air.
The moon shines around its peak, which reaches up so very high.
It is surrounded by a...

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