Long Stoking Poems

Erin, for a girl who embodies Ireland
by Michael R. Burch

All that’s left of Ireland is her hair—
bright carrot—and her milkmaid-pallid skin,
her brilliant air of cavalier despair,
her train of children—some conceived in sin,
the others to avoid...

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Here We Shall Remain
by Tawfiq Zayyad
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Like twenty impossibilities
in Lydda, Ramla and Galilee ...
here we shall remain.

Like brick walls braced against your chests;
lodged in your throats
like shards of glass
or prickly cactus...

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"The Sleeper and The Supernaturalist"


The Sleeper
shone as she walked 
through the Woods

shining alive 
like nothing
natural could

caught 
in the moonlight 
unaware

the innocent
red-caped roses stared
the trees whispered,

"beware, beware"

barefoot softly 
the Supernaturalist 
transfigures instead

from under shine 
she bares...

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It started with a phone call on that cold October night. The deputy from Dibbly, Billy Joe - was on the line.
Told me he was callin’ out the local “rescue squad” to help with finding...

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Back with poetry vengeance,
Don’t fear this, Transcendence 
Or from the Abyss?
Elohim’s Prince,
Or a Demonic Word Smith with written myths? 
These flames destroy man’s deceitful tactics and machines,
Once seen……. 
Story Rhymes dreamt and told, 
To the...

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“The Church of Pasiphaë”



inside the church of me
a heart on fire blazes brighter 
than any morning star you could capture 
to wish a life away, a Lawrence forest ripped,
lit like a funeral pyre I wish...

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The sun is burning intensely outside, and it is melting the passion inside, the dogs are running around gasping for breath, and throwing their frivolous bodies on the ground.

They are looking for clean drinking water...

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MY LITTLE BOY
				by

			JOHN M. ARRIBAS		


Its so hard for me to accept and understand
Why fate dealt me such an unpleasant hand
I was perfectly happy as a household companion
I never had a cause of my own to...

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                                  ...

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Gretel and Hansel were given 
A seven 
But they did not know why 
Since they did not lie 

They decided to be Titans 
At the time of this writing 
Venturing into the forest 
Just like...

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Still binge reading Bertrand Russell...
9/8/2020

I plunge further into 
erudite epistemological philosophication
courtesy said renown British polymath,
philosopher, logician, mathematician,
historian, writer, social critic,
political activist, and Nobel laureate.

Whew! His treatise
A History of Western Philosophy Quite profound 
grist for intellectual mill
yours...

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I swing into action
Armed with wine 
The spirit willing, really for anything
Watch the Drama

Fire in my eye, dry throat, cracking lip
I stammer a little, with Socratic confidence 
I am stinking of words, ammunition from hell
Most...

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Khatia Buniatishvili's Tour de Force of Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto N° 1 in B-flat minor on Zubin Mehta's 80th Birthday*

… the caged-beast terrified defying the donderbus blasts vollies of muskets and cannons heralding the charge cavernous...

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If you drink that SPECIAL brand of Kool-aid,And now you flounder belly up make sure someone else is there with you,(and not just for good luck,)who has the required skills to render first aid. Cause...

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Adumbrated aeration regarding...

crafting reasonable poetic rhyme 
nothing to sneeze... at chew
asthma lingua franca – 
acts as supercalifragilisticexpialidocious glue
inspiring me to skip to my loo,
and ye to play altruist gist
imagining how and why I still rue
cashing...

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I still see it when I close my eyes,
hands stoking up and down my naked thighs,
I can’t shake the lingering memory
of the night that someone violated me.

No shower seems able to make me clean,
I find...

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From jokers to aces...shooting sharp arrows of anger at Gods shepherds and His sheep
With perditions plots and plans...with a million madness minds...
STILL OUR FAITH IT KEEPS US FREE

Jokers...laughing loud lunatics with red hot invisible pokers
Stirring...

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Schwenksville, Pennsylvania
Earthdate/starttime: 11/04/19 01:10:26 AM
Earthdate/endtime: 11/04/19 02:55:46 AM

Poetic snapshot regarding immediate
actual, physical, spatial... environment
pertinent, relevant, salient... yours truly
commenced within fleeting electronic

date/time stamp indicated above bereft
attempts to describe character sketch,
whereat I sit within Apartment B44:
taking immediate...

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Ah, the fortitude of a circle
the circular wisdom 
of  spring to summer  fall to winter  
the spinning wheel’s twist of threads -
at once both self-reliant and reliant

my soul to embryo  seed...

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When Poetry Soup becomes infested with partisan rubbish, 
It will be difficult for liberal, creative poets, like me to flourish 
Who seek a safe place away from the maddening ignorance 
Of those people who continually...

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You should offer more.
I'm frustrated. Disappointed. Angry.
You pursue your denial.
Instead, you should acknowledge me.
No matter what you believe.
No matter how long you wait.
I won't call you.
I detest the taste of your bait.
I hear nothing.
Weak messages,...

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In a world of confusion
Its all an illusion
Of mentally abusing
The masses at large

It’s not surprising
That humanity
Is downsizing
And mutating into the grotesque
All at the behest
Of the powers that be
That desperately
Want to see
The pedestal
Removed from thee

They crave...

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I did see the buoyant bubbles of bliss
fizzing out of my charming muse's smile.
A bubbly butterfly that she is,
was fluttering and whirling around me with verve.
She was so excited to explore the beauty of nature
and...

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one fine sunny morning dazzling golden sunrise 
dancing with rays of magical sunshine 
dewdrops on silver webs glistening drops
he began whistling and dancing
picking wild mushrooms on the forest floor 
to make magic wonder and happenings...

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Written: February 25, 2024

                 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In a scene of singing sunlight.
They claim it blurs our sight.
Shall we dare gaze at...

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