Long Swig Poems

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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The Whiskey Bottle Wish

 	One late summer night outside a saloon in the mid-west, an intoxicated Dusty Rogers, stumbles out of the Bar nearly taking one of the revolving doors with him. As he flutters...

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LOVE Of Our Life

Life’s journey swim links 2 defined moments - birth & death.
To survive its stretch we swim different strokes,
Delivered inner strength combats heavy tides & puncture pokes,
Hidden forces compatibly energize different folks,
Fortifying for...

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This was only our second date...

A Black Tie Affair...

...Set against an incredible view,
vineyards, waterfalls,
a plentitude of flower beds,
all just outside a charming postcard Town.

This indeed was a serious event,
anyone  who was anyone...
and my date...were here.

A...

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It's Christmas eve dawn
and something is very wrong
For the children unable to wait
watching for Santa and it's late
The stockings are empty not even a lump of coal
no presents under the tree did Santa bestow
Three little...

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walk the urban sprawl, 
where skyscrapers pierce the sky 
cities bleeding_assoc. 
carnival lights bloodshot dreams that flee, 
like squirrels unconfined biting frost of winter, 
within the tumultuous mind —

stares into the landscape, tattered, mined;

flickering neon...

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The return to youth was what he brought me back to, but this was the issue. I've attempted leaps and extensions far away from my youth. From its eternal beauty and ego-driven agility and the...

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As the cases keep rising
The Death toll crawls ever closer
Piercing the peak of the mountain
Toward the stars in the sky
Ready to come crashing down
As they burn out from the arrow's touch.


While the stars burn out...

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Out of all of the plastic mouth wash bottles in America, I had to fall into this one.
It happened in the middle of a life changing moment on Tuesday when I wished too hard to...

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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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snuggled up to the gentle fire
under the moon and stars 
he rests his head
and nestles into
a long lingering
swig of whiskey 
that drifts his mind
on the night breeze
like the billowy puff
slowly eclipsing
the moon 
a sparkling stream...

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ME AND COUNTRY’S LEGENDS OF FOREVER

Do I wake to you or the cosmos?
Do I wake to singing birds chirping as if there’s a fire?
or a chorus of you Ain’t Nothing But A Hound Dog
sung by...

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...The wee ones simply want to be loved. 
Or at least get a glimpse from 
a {smart}phoned adult.
They wish for a sandbox with a playmate or two.
A warm peaceful bath
every bubble filled with 
a fairy...

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I'm a Piketown son who left his mum
To sail the eastern shores
Spent a year in Gloucester
'mong the barkeeps and the whores

Then a man came 'round to Gloucester town
Said boys I need a few
Strapping lads such...

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In the realm where indigo flames are chased by the whims of wind,
The horizons have learned to spare my soul the thread of pain.
For the first time, of love I croon, a minstrel's virgin strain,
From...

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I am the environmentalist in love with wine,
my shoulders carry and reside in the cutting edge side of life,
the establishment craves to be the human race
while I stroll the memories of “Sailor fields”
amongst ancient Jurassic...

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His threats weren't fake, like she thought
He tried to take his life.... 
He said that he would, she just laughed it off.
Then he swallowed the poison, and let
it eat away at his insides......

She didn't believe...

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It seems to me there are two types of people in the world…at least as far as I can see…there are those people who drink coffee…then there’s people who don’t…like Deborah and me.

When we mention...

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of things d\found the scope
peace has existed with hope
even if a dope


did a bin blooper
had become a storm trooper
real super duper

together did click
with such a good looking chick
who of crop was pick

while wearing muzzle
put together...

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There once was a man from Duluth
whose habit was spinning the truth.
He had told the same tale
(every day without fail;
'twas getting quite long in the tooth).

He sat down to drink in a booth
then ordered a...

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Ted Weymouth rang me up to see, if I could do a job he had…
‘His trucks broken down’ he said, so I told Ted ‘I’d be glad
to do a favour for a mate’, he said....

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My Friend Jim Bean

The highway signs go by so fast.
The whole damn night had been a blast.
There's a red light chasing behind me
and wouldn't you know it I could barely see.
Driving blind drunk and all...

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West Texas is a vast, wide-open area, dusty, windy, and dry. Many a time I hid the mostly unbranded calves I took from the herd on the XIT ranch behind the tumbleweeds that had built...

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Tonight I felt the deep inner desire to conform, to feel at right with the crowd for fear of being scorned. But don't be fooled dearest reader, this ain't a story of morals and how...

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When You Gotta Go You Gotta

We know when you go you really gotta,
After you had learned  would be a lotta,
Coming out,
No doubt;
Even when temptation off had fought a.

Jim Horn

Trump Had Groveled Riding Horse

While riding...

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