Long Tatters Poems

A born lioness my untamed heart? ha! 
a mouse, this pulsing token ruled by unruly wants
at times given, traded or stolen - sometimes
thrown down on a dare to be won or lost 
till it became...

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Written 23 November 2023
Placed 1st in :
Stoicism as  Way of Life Poetry Contest
Sponsored by Sotto Poet

                  ...

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Their rending cries, when all is still, reecho in the moonlight;
They lie about in fitful slumber on the ground at noonlight,
Their virgin hair spread in the dust; for nothing really matters:
Who then will see their...

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June nineteenth one hundred and fifty nine years ago

The conclusion of the American Civil War commenced with the articles of surrender agreement of the Army of Northern Virginia on April 9, at Appomattox Court House,...

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Chains never fall completely.
Scars embed themselves like burns under the skin,
And even though the skin is a body, it cannot hide the shadow of the irons.
History screams, but its lips are sealed with silence,
A silence...

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Though I wrote no book 
attention summoned to look 
at following--->>>

Urgent message – to send Mephistophelian madman back to stone age

predicated upon past and present, I gauge
will offer ogre golden opportunity 
to rewrite anarchistic playbook...

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Dragon visited the famous ‘Stones of Dragon’ at our Mayhem Falls Cave.
Hundreds come every year to see them, found here, in this hollowed enclave.
Dragon runes upon their face, they remained from a very ancient time...

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RIbaldO the Clown
RIbaldO the Clown
he wore a black bandana and no make up yet his eyes were slanted up and 
when he was on the street everyone saw a clown he looked like a clown...

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Bartender Oh Bartender
(a stout rendition of O Captain! My Captain!
Perfect rhythmic rhyme with tonic 
when the doth ale).

Mine eyes espy the glory per the ending 
of another work day beckon Baileys Irish Creme
with Absolut certainty...

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While on the topic 
of blood kith and kin,
I relate another 
fabricated poem about 
blimey bloke of a fisherman. 

Trawl tale of a fictitious seaman told to ye...

Courtesy webbed whirled wide net wit
cursing thwarted life,...

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(For Competition 'And then I opened THAT door', sponsor- John Lawless)


My relationship had broken down, when love ran out of gas
so down life's dark and lonely road I dragged my sorry ass.
Could have done with...

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Am I really this old,
so many ghosts
beckoning?
—Michael R. Burch

Sleepyheads!
I recite my haiku
to the inattentive lilies.
—Michael R. Burch

Stillness:
the sound of petals
drifting down softly together...
—Miura Chora, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

The sky tries to assume
your eyes’...

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(dirty dental deeds done dirt cheap,
yet...aye value, treasure, revere...those
loosely fading cutting edge com man 
dubble size memories.)

(Witch role an 
   unavoidable mandatory phase),
that nowadays breaks the piggybank 
   like a dropped...

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Huge life like mockup 
rigged up to bark
dare buzzfeed outsize monstrosity
diet coke, McDonald's and meatloaf
pet banality, execrable, and misogynistic words
greets visitors at formerly named
Mosquito State Park forever known as
Donald Trump State Park.

Whom so e'er decreed...

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something was taken from her 
hacked away from her innards
leaving debris and deadly tatters behind

the ringing sounds throughout her head 
the alarm that first alerted her
that she is already dying from the inside out 

heart...

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THE RUIN 
an Old English poem about fate & destiny
modern English translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

well-hewn was this wall-stone, till Wyrdes wrecked it
and the Colossus sagged inward...

broad battlements broken;
the Builders' work battered;

the high ramparts toppled;
tall...

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Since you have a pair of wings,
What about you reach to the clouds
Since you are more royal and fearless than kings,
Do me a favor and snip off my shrouds 

Do you have wings that are...

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By dint of a right in tatters
impinging on terrestrial sight
that urged me to worldly matters,
I was struck with a parallel quite

unforeseen, in a Hubble view
which drew my fancy out of the blue,
a galaxy wreathed with...

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The man shook and said, “They wanted some fun,
but the boy was small, he started to bleed.
Patrick threw him out back, said, ‘This one’s shot,
but we have others to see to our needs.’”

Dalton’s face darkened...

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My flag is not black n white with a blue streak 
My flag is not a field of white stars n scars of machine guns
My flag is not the fat face of a demagogue
Orange, pale,...

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One person, homeless, in soiled clothes
stands at intersection of two roads, stares continuously towards the road 
where palatial houses with beautiful flowered gardens are lined up.

Mesmerized imagines himself inside those bungalows
servants in queues, to serve...

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for Granny Letchumi (b. fin 19th C. - d. 1978)

Once i was a prince in your highbeamed palm-thatched house
  timber and stone
   of hardened mud and cold green shiny cement
in your village...

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These are original haiku by Michael R. Burch and his translations of haiku by the Japanese masters Matsuo Basho, Yosa Buson, Masaoka Shiki, and others. 

Am I really this old,
so many ghosts
beckoning?
—Michael R. Burch

Sleepyheads!
I recite...

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~Another Fairyland Story - An Unexpected Visitor- Part 2
(Short Story or Narrative poem)


It was something that looked quite  fragile and very small.But it wasn't an "it" but a very beautiful child Fairy, and she...

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~~oooOOO  The Man In The Mist  OOOooo~~

Going to my cousins house, a long drive in the car
Over the moors with dry stone walls, it was very far
The house in the middle of a...

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