Long Telltale Poems

Epigrams by Michael R. Burch



Negligibles
by Michael R. Burch
 
Show me your most intimate items of apparel:
begin with the hem of your quicksilver slip ...



Negotiables
by Michael R. Burch

Love should be more than the sum of its...

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Salve
by Michael R. Burch

for the victims and survivors of 9-11

The world is unsalvageable ...
but as we lie here
in bed
stricken to the heart by love
despite war’s
flickering images,

sometimes we still touch,

laughing, amazed,
that our flesh
does not despair
of love
as...

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She stood with her back turned to me
Leaning slightly towards where the light tapered off into darkness
Her faced buried deep inside her cupped hands 
Her own shadow towered over her seemingly at odds with her...

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Saturday, September 23, 2023  

Coincides with first day of fall
and Autumnal equinox for said year,
where colorful splash kindled like tinder.

After I riff flecked about thee August
Autumn Equinox 2023,
this seasonal polymath teached you 
fall Equinox...

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                             Brahman Nemesis

    ...

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*Image of Thunder & Lightning by Pixabay.

The Stranger
My life warps by its beasts of woes
depression dogs my day
at night, stress drains my restless soul
the wrongs have no delay

Myself am I, forsook decreed
hope laid by things...

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For years, Tim had the visions
Seeing things that no one could
If he spoke of them, he's crazy
He kept quiet, like he should
Just normal, little, visions
Of people who were dead 
Just wandering in places
He knew weren't...

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It is a fever.

  
The poet

They found the poet outside the park

His steps spoke many words of wine

His upper half seemed half asleep

And his feet walked a crooked line

His arms were spread as if...

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Re: viewing the emotionally prosperous papa razz zee life I did not live

The following poetic account 
written more'n a dozen 
dirty dancing decades ago, 
while I (a socially 
withdrawn Homo Sapiens) 
one indigent Yahoo 
groveled...

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Antics Of A Buzzfeed Ding Housefly...

Non random, but (based on my very
     far out, flimsy laughably 
     amateurish thinking)
     faux feigned aye
firmly believe,...

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Harriet Harris circa November 13th, 1935 - ~ May 4th, 2005

untimely death sentence ordained 
approximately six months prior 
to mother dearest celebrating 
her seventieth birthday,
though the last three years of her life
impacted courtesy hysterectomy
to remove...

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Ruing the emotionally prosperous papa razz zee life I did not live

The following poetic account 
written more'n a dozen dirty dancing decades ago, 
while I (a socially withdrawn Homo Sapiens) 
groveled along (on a secret...

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Harriet Harris née Kuritsky circa November 13th, 
1935 - ~ May 4th, 2005
(untimely death sentence ordained ~ early February 1935)

I trot out a poem acknowledging birthday
of dear ole mom, who succumbed, 
lost lease on life
nearly...

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Had I, been I, would I have been born in the all time of all of things positive Spanish, esp the Flamenco fragrance of all things love, life and flourish casting all pertinent fate to...

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How Wiccans acquired a bad rep is not clear.
Misogynist bullies afraid of these women’s light,
A young teen with an ugly heart of jealous fear,
Might point a finger under cover of night.
But in Salem Massachusetts, hysteria...

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In the manse market for a preowned spa house

Mine feeble efforts pale in comparison
to a kid scaling El Capitan
of Yosemite National Park,
nevertheless me, a dry witted husband
self emasculated milquetoast
of late ofttimes yawps imprecations
against fickle finger...

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No Eden here, for there’s no snake;
There’s just a thief who likes to take 
The labors of all our hard work.
My blood is boiling, half berserk
Near stripped of reason, one thing’s clear:
I’m settling the score...

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Harriet Harris circa November 13th, 1935 - ~ May 4th, 2005
(untimely death sentence ordained ~ early February 1935)

Test teasing prophylactics embarrassing
purchase never made at local drugstore
unsurprisingly, obviously, invariably...
birth control taboo subject, best to ignore
subsequently intercourse...

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Second shingles shot successful... 
slight prick, but otherwise... positive pitch
re: without a hitch
the first innoculation approximately 
five months prior also nary glitch.

Preemptive needling measure
regarding getting fully
immunized at CVS
(Zieglerville, Pennsylvania)13:08
military time May First
2020 bruised left arm...

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Autumnal equinox 2022 - 
Thursday, September 22
in Northern Hemisphere 9:03 PM
Eastern Daylight Time

Empyrean découpage citadel
betokens (bespeaks) autumnal arrival
nine oh three post meridian
chariot of fire emblazons telltale signature,
one humble human doth 
bid summer and his squandered...

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Autumnal equinox 2020 - Tuesday, September 22
(at 9:31 AM Eastern Daylight Time)

Empyrean découpage citadel
betokens (bespeaks) autumnal arrival
nine thirty one ante meridian
chariot of fire emblazons telltale signature,
one humble human doth 
bid summer and his squandered life...

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Cuz while ya steel got
moxie, don't nix chance if only a dot
before death finds 
     flesh rotting alot.

A self-actualized fringe benefit
     as I racked up
  ...

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Revelations about Dad’s infamous midnight lectures...
woke up courtesy therapy

Especially during past session
on May eighth
two thousand twenty one
between the hours of five and
six o'clock post meridiem.

Between three and four score years ago
the following poetic ill winds...

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© Ben Burton 2-20-2015

If I were Edgar Allan Poe
I'd been dead many years ago


Two score, no more, the poet bore
Before rejoining his Lenore


Reflections now, from sixty-five
I'm wondering how I have survived


For, having shared his mental...

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*Image of Child Sad Suffering provided by Pixabay.

Not Of This Earth
Poetic Form: Narrative

Asymmetric mistrals warp speckled vaporous pallidness toward rhythmless voids. Obviates an evacuating azure as a midday star pivots to a twilight qualm. Numinous...

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