Long Strokes Poems

Rejection Slips 2

The Shape of Mourning
by Michael R. Burch
 
The shape of mourning
is an oiled creel
shining with unuse,
 
the bolt of cold steel
on a locker
shielding memory,

the monthly penance
of flowers,
the annual wake,
 
the face in the...

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I melt into the plural sky
its rippling tableaus of tomorrow
underneath open light waves 
see-saws the labyrinth
like Delphi tendrils crossing channels 
all the changing faces played
automatic, embedded in misty consort 
with Hyde-Lees and Yeats 
love-crushed oracles
ghostwriting...

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News release woman gets only 
four years for stabbing five people 
with a large butcher knife saying 
I’m going to Mort you why would 
Wisconsin concealed a butcher 
knife dangerous weapon out the 
hands of...

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Merov’s Ghost (1) and Other Shots Across My Bow!

In mid-November of Fourteen, I published my first web verse here, (2)
the earliest spanned sixty years, composed for Senior English class
one night in Nineteen Sixty-One. Assigned just...

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I THANK YOU FOR YOUR COMPASSION AND KINDNESS FOR DISABLED VETERANS AND THEIR DISABLED FAMILIES MY DIRE NEED HAD BECOME INTENSE DUE TO MY WORK WEARING WIRES PREGNANT FOR THE FBI AFTER BEING INFORMED THAT...

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WHAT BEGAN WITH PETER GARGANO TREASURY OF THE KNIGHTS IF COLUMBUS SAN CARLOS BEACH IGNITING A CAR BOMB IN MY FACE HE THEN HIRED JAMAICAN JAY TOWNSEND JOHNSON HENRY AKA JAMAICAN JOY Y JONES MY...

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COPING HEALING SUFFERING MY ILLNESSES HAD BEGUN TO TAKE THEIR TOLLS TRYING TIMES MY BEAUTIFUL HUSBAND AND I VOLUNTEERING FAITHFULLY WITH OUR VETERANS FAMILY ATTENDING OUR PTSD GROUPS MOVE PROGRAM HEALTHY EATING WITH OUR VETERANS...

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For my handler’s special agent Leroy Heimbach special agent Kevin Dreary special agent Paula Brand special agent Alan King how I became a causality of wearing wires pregnant buying weapons and drugs for the justice...

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Date:   July   2051

Early 7:30  Friday morning most
Of the family were in their extravagant 
Dreams. All was well or so it seems.
Moderate rustling. Somebody was
Woke. Molly was first on display of
The...

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Precious priceless progeny 

     Hands down the most dramatic change ever needed to make the most profound impact awoke from helping beget the first offspring. An internal paradigm shift reshuffled priorities...

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Inxs of poison from iron maiden scorpion mamma and ac/dc charged aries papa

Although gainfully unemployed 
(fate now finds me receiving 
social security disability – 
for approximately 
the last baker's dozen years -
the yeast divine intercession...

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JUSTICE DEPARTMENT MEDICAL RELEASE MEDICATION LIST MEDICAL CARE FOR A CONFIDENTIAL HUMAN SOURCE INFORMANT FOR THE FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION 

PTSD RESULTING FROM WEARING WIRES PREGNANT FOR THE FBI MEDICATION KLONOPIN BUSPRIONE LEXAPRO 20 MG...

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“The Scorpion’s Touch”

Under glass
the sound cuts out sharp
just like under water
and we run out of breath 
like insects running around 
frantically out of time
we are magnified 
in our tight enclosures

internally observed
the external turns away
two heart...

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"Barefoot in the Bushfires of the Vanities"



Heat rises slowly to rapture flames licking and teasing
Blue Ghostgums to stretch and crack wide open
as Fire spreads molten sweet sap bleeding burgundy all over 
amber gold wild bush...

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This is how it starts
the decline of who we are, the decline of something more
the start of wars
Installed in us is confidence
confidence, a blessing or a curse
Without confidence we stand degraded, disenchanted, alone
while with too...

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"The discrepancies are many, the dalliances are few,
both pitched against one dynamic, lifelong achievement"

Poking through the woods of the Mill Grove Audubon Estate,
suddenly came upon an ivy-covered studio shed
tucked away amongst foliage near Perkiomen Creek,
apparently...

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Daytime sleep apnea takes over during the day as my brain fights to stay awake drifting off into deep sleep rather on a bus school doctors office in public places this disease is very disturbing...

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COME ON SOUPER'S LETS HAVE SOME FUN AND MAKE FOLK SMILE DURING SUCH DIFFICULT TIMES FOR US ALL. THERE ARE LOTS MORE APT NAMES  - PLEASE SOUP MAIL POEMS AND I WILL ADD THEM...

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BEING A POLITICAL PRISONER HAS IT'S DRAWBACKS I GUESS WHILE RECIEVING TERRORIST THREATS TRYING TO JUST MAINTAIN A DAILY REGIMENE RATHER ITS PICKING OF MEDICATIONS FROM THE PHARMACY A SENSE OF DREAD ARISES CAUSE YOU...

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 *        *    *       *           *   ...

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The inky black water sucks her in further
As she descends into the black depths of the abyss
Cloying dark swirls cover her head as soundlessly it reaches
Possessing her every inhalation – exhalation - it envelopes her...

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On the outskirts of the city
a young woman walked
gazing at art and viewing it lovingly.

Inside her bright red backpack
that carried the contents of her life
was a painting. 

The painting was years old
and at one point...

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Like water

I was the river
You were the sea
I dissolved into you
And thought I was free.
Out of the cage I flew
But landed on my knees 
As I tried to flee
The heavy clouds
And storms, of responsibility

Your love...

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Moods oscillate in cadences of peaks and valleys
Music to fractious emotions on greasy dance floors
Mistimed cues of flares smouldering relationships

Angst of redundancy seethes from within as lava
Anger is camouflaged with the cloak of reticence
Ardour suffocated...

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Life is not cricket: though a game of cricket reflects life 
It portrays real-life conditions; from cradle to urn 
Starting with toss of a coin; ends in pulling bails off
Just as cricket life is simply...

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