Long Sputtered Poems

Where art thou anonymous benefactor...to offer me succor?

Ah... methinks legal tender 
could be a boon to help me bolster 
mein kampf with necessary material equipage,
which prospect to acquire essential 
commodities sabotaged 
at the altar of...

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Juvenilia: Early Poems VI



An Illusion
by Michael R. Burch

The sky was as hushed as the breath of a bee
and the world was bathed in shades of palest gold
when I awoke.

She came to me with the sound...

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Rejection Slips

With over 5,700 publications if I count poems that have gone viral, I suppose I shouldn’t complain … but I do have some poems that have never been accepted for publication. Here are a...

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I awoke to the familiar sound of dishes rattling in Mother’s kitchen and to the thick scent of coffee wafting through the air. I glanced out my bedroom window; the neighborhood was lit by the...

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They say the one you think of last before sleep,
Is the one you care for the most— the one you wish to hold, admire, love…

The two of us…beings of bravery,
Had labored all the night, 
In...

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Reflections upon mine gender identity redux

Although heterosexual 
predilections punctuated
physiological pulsations 
about five inches below
innie belly button of mine 
showcasing undersize
male member, when fully erect 
not much to crow
about, contributed 
diminished masculinity within
body electric regarding 

wordsmith...

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Driving my car across the country, numerous years ago, going to a new place,       
     Changing who I’d know
A loud bang broke the boredom and...

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A Conversation With Little Red Riding Hood

[I’ve always loved the fairy tale, “Little Red Riding Hood”, and I’ve used it to teach many lessons, especially on perspective and morals in my classroom, so this contest...

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‘Twas but a mist-enshrouded speckle
dark-painted on looming horizon.
Petty worker holds unwavering watch,
silently, stealthily keeps his eyes on.

Forward motion undeniable,
each passing minute size increasing.
Small heart stands alert and viable – 
beating fast and tremulous; though, never...

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Words in the wind

                               ...

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THE FIRST TIME I SAW VERA…

I saw: A scrawny, wrinkled, little thing with sallow, wrinkled skin, a head of fine white hair that looked like a dandelion gone to seed, and a pair of faded...

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      I am a photographer of wildlife and I was on an expedition,
to capture the wilderness of North Alaska and the life of Inupiact Eskimo's;
    ...

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Double Feature

Flashback! Three friends of childhood featuring a blond, brunette and red-head
Sharing the script of summer days and rain soaked winter afternoon
Unfolding documentary of roads ocean journey to California, Colorado and Norway.

Zoom in on a...

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My life and my love are the open sea. I do not fear her and she has come to respect this old sailor man. 

Alas, it may be that my life of bliss is only...

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For half an hour Dix had rode true
when the canyon opened up wider.
In front of him five stubbly men
sat around a roaring fire.

The leader Dixon recognized,
as his sifted through Santa’s sack.
He was an outlaw known...

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A single ray shone light through a knothole and anchored his thoughts

At daybreak for the spider-web’s shadow enlightened the beach hut

Tim had lived in a mansion but hardship had unburdened his soul

He was happy because...

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no one saw it coming they never do
the phone poles were giving off sparks
dogs began to howl birds flocked to the sky
A Plymouth hubcap of immense proportions
quivered and droned in the air over the capitol
television...

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(alternately titled one me silly more till manufactured 
from go win addle American 
non refundable private parts) 

each set of twenty three chromosomes 
the basic biological building blocks
of life came out cervix 
when second hand...

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You think not of life, but of the moon:
still and white.  August wind chimes
like sweet bones sound a tune
of twenty-three; the somber age
when you will die
and summer turns another page.

Each capsule is a sparrow
downed...

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...The two toughs turned, both their eyes went wide,
then as one they stared in laughing,
“Look at this fool, he thinks he’s a cowboy!
I think his head must’ve taken a rapping.”

They advanced with their blades, not...

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A BEAUTIFUL WOMAN 

Her face was a constellation of perfections 
She was ravishing; beautiful beyond condemnation. 
Her voice was like many water 
Yet, it's coo whenever she sputtered. 

Her gait was just so alluring 
No...

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I cannot help but notice that,
since Wuhan virus was released,
we have seen a real absence of
those who proclaim themselves elite.
The lawyer and the professors,
the politicians and the like,
have all become somewhat useless,
and some have just...

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For the longest time, I could not speak your name.
I could not write it; I could not bear to think it. 

I was angry.

I was too young, too vulnerable, too powerless.
There was no justice for...

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It was shiny and bright sitting under the tree.
There were other things there, but that's all I could see:
a Lionel toy train on a circular track!
The caboose was maroon and the engine was black.

And to...

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One Nine and Sixteen What Are We Fighting For
                          ...

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