Long Stephen Poems

Sic semper evello mortem tyrannis, high bred poiet?s of mine

     ("Thus always I cause the death of tyrants.”)
the purported line Brutus uttered 
after assassinating Julius Caesar.

     Alternatively...

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??1 Kings 5:3-5 NIV??
[3] “You know that because of the wars waged against my father David from all sides, he could not build a temple for the Name of the Lord his God until the...

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The Making of a Poet
by Michael R. Burch

While I don’t consider “Poetry” to be my best poem—I wrote the first version in my teens—it’s a poem that holds special meaning for me; I call it...

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State of the Art (II)

These are my "ars poetica" poems about the art and craft of writing poetry. 



What the Poet Sees
by Michael R. Burch

What the poet sees,
he sees as a swimmer 
~~~~underwater~~~~
watching the shoreline...

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~ With  God's  Help  ~
(The  Goblet )


~O~



I'll  just  put on  my   best 
Face  and  a  nice  Smile   
Be  Strong...

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Poems about Poets I


The Wonder Boys
by Michael R. Burch

for Leslie Mellichamp

The stars were always there, too-bright cliches:
scintillant truths the jaded world outgrew
as baffled poets winged keyed kites—amazed,
in dream of shocks that suddenly came true ...

but...

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They came from as far a way as New York and Dallas Texas. The class of 1981 wasn't a large class, it was the very first class of a very very private school. Their school,...

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My teacher died.
   
   His lungs failed him.

He taught me that the lungs
harbor grief.

   His lungs are gone.
My grief has only just arrived.


   He used his lungs...

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Stones do not speak the language of men or of angels.                        ...

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‘ In general, quantum mechanics does not predict a single definite result for an observation. Instead, it predicts a number of  different possible outcomes and tells us how likely each of these is. ‘

...

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"The White Lady of Skipsea"


Last night I dreamt 
I dreamed of you
a kind of dream 
within a dream

Diaphanous, 
my soul escaped, 
this firmament,
my immaculate heart
held hands, my fingers 
did entwine with 
handsome Morpheus

Crystal radiate
twin gossamer...

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??Isaiah 63:11-12 KJVAAE??
[11] Then he remembered the days of old, Moses, and his people, saying, Where is he that brought them up out of the sea with the shepherd of his flock? where is he...

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When asked
by my nephew
for an essential reading list
for PermaCultural Therapeutic Design,
my Taoist thoughts went back
to Unitarian-Universalist
Yin/Yang pre-history,
when Earth produced a theologian,
Dr. Thomas Starr King (1824-1864)
reaching out for non-violent dialogue
across all global healing cultures.

This 1800s Dr....

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Oh Mondseer: the muck cob brie muenster saga..., 

crafted when Wallace and Gromit 
returned from their trip to the moon, 
which I can prov-olone huck curd 
(within Trump con feta ration) – 
as cheesy poem...

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The monumental bane of OCD - obsessive compulsive disorder

As origin of Homo Sapien species surged ahead,
harboring nascent predominance
asper said primate reproductively bred,
(albeit via incremental fits and starts)
evolutionary forebears didst dread
Tom Tom Club former members
an American...

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I bow down to the great Dickens
Whose name has touched every soil,
And whose art has touched every soul,
His  art "Hard Times" has travelled far and wide
When at last built it's castle at Sherubtse college,
Fortuitous...

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Oh Mondseer: the muck cob brie muenster saga..., 
which I can prov-olone huck curd 
(within Trump con feta ration) – as cheesy poem!

Yea of course writing ideas unstoppably
burst asunder at the most inconvenient
opportunities such as...

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In New Haven, Lisa misses the sad, dark, city aesthetics of her hometown. Its crime podcast vibe, actinic crime-lighting and sirens in the distance, that lull her to sleep like lullabies. She has a disturbingly...

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There once was a nation that was like a beautiful tall sailing ship
It’s mast were like redwood trees lined up in a forest
They bore the stainless white sails of opportunity to catch the winds of...

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"How many people are praying for love?" ("Don't Save It All For Christmas Day" by Avalon)


There are countless people in this world who have no one that loves them ... NO ONE! Why is that...

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" Damn you, let go my gun! "
The morning hasn't even yawned yet
and a terrible tussle is in my sight,
Drouillard is wrestling his rifle from the hands of this Indian thief
and the Field brothers are...

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On the first day of Christmas my hubby gave to me
A large whoopie pie

On the Second day of Christmas my hubby gave to me
Two fishing poles and a large whoopie pie

On the third day of...

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Acknowledging the essence of near-death experience realistically
through reading about its characteristics mindfully
as regards presented historical reports numerously
and research of its circumstances done clinically---
I’m made aware of its truth that’s perceived individually.

Thus, my heart prays for...

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anticipatory anxiety fosters catastrophization...,

especially bombardment of online scare tactics
courtesy fiendish insidious loathsome sinister oafs
rubbing their hands at aggrieved party;
punch drunk cyber thieves ecstatic
acquiring by hook and/or crook
sought after precious, priceless, and proverbial data
after loosed ransomware...

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I can't sleep.
Or, I can
and did
for three hours
but I continue waking
into a Stephen King nightmare
too real to ignore
because I feel isolated
in this quagmire
of hopeless history.

In this my collective nightmare,
President Trump goes to Saudi Arabia
like Mr....

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