Long Threescore Poems

Epigrams by Michael R. Burch

If brevity is the soul of wit
then brevity and levity 
are the whole of it.
—Michael R. Burch

To write an epigram, cram.
If you lack wit, scram!
—Michael R. Burch

Conformists of a feather
flock together.
—Michael...

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How one twenty first century married mortal male (me - Matthew Scott Harris)...
found himself bewitched about Circe,
particularly after reading book title by the same name.

An enchantress and a minor goddess
in ancient Greek mythology and religion
depicted...

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I (a youthsome, wholesome, jokesome, handsome,...
gamesome, chucklesome, bothersome,
and awesome modest fellow)...
does not deliberately court immortalization,
and wonders what criteria confer elevation,
exaltation, glorification, hero worship,
idolization, veneration, or worship.

I go about a daily humdrum routine
me, a twenty first...

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As a mortal man of threescore and five years...

I bore witness and/or assimilated, gleaned,
and nursed implacable thirst for knowledge
courtesy reading factual narratives,
historical fiction, or biography
that since the advent of Homo sapiens
avast number of civilizations
and their...

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Twenty years elapsed since Harriet Harris, née Kuritsky gave up the ghost ~ May 5th, 2004

Often these days
the following genuine sentiment
Matthew Scott Harris
doth wish to share one son,
cuz twenty years after mother succumbed
courtesy of terminal...

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Eagerly awaiting until many tomorrows...

to become affianced to the grim reaper,
who never promised me a rose garden
nor crystal clear pool of fragrant delight
to accompany last living breath
before succumbing into the Soundgarden 
of a black hole...

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After President Joe Robinette Biden Junior withdrew from the presidential race...

Planet earth (the Mother of all)
breathed a collective
and palpable sigh of relief,
and I too deeply exhaled,
a foregone conclusion staved off
today July 21st, 2024,
whereat the audacious,
contumacious,...

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I stand proud with pride...

exuding suave debonair air 
plus head and shoulders taller
(than the empire state building -
hey what's a little hyperbole, eh?)
since September eleventh
two thousand and twenty four,
which date marked a major change
(yes folks...

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As an easy pushover and soft touch lamenting my demise
Vultures swooped overhead
and preyed on my vulnerabilities
forcing me to carrion camping
as fine young cannibals
sharpened their knives
and licked their lips
while eyeing me as their naked lunch
bound and...

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Cybersurfing netizen flounders...
analogous to a fish out of water

Ever since being a little gull hubble buoy,
I bobbed (while donning square pants)
like spongy flotsam and jetsam at sea.

Now as one decrepit
humble lumpenproletariat neopoet,
I experienced existence
with pronounced...

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Yours truly like most every hominid linkedin...

to genus and species of Homo sapiens,
(who trod across oblate spheroid
since time immemorial
as well as other simians -
classed as naked apes -
and now I enclose a bit of esoteric...

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Within the threescore and six orbitz that span my lifetime...

the impact of current
Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR),
also known as Industry 4.0 revolution
characterized by the fusion of technologies
and explosion of computer sophistication
like artificial intelligence, robotics,
the Internet of...

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Aol two step verification a boon to my psyche

plus I batten down the itty bitty hatches
courtesy Avast Random Password Generator,
and keep track of alphanumeric
near impossible to crack passwords
incorporating a special symbol
such as exclamation point
painstakingly recording...

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though many men,
(especially former Norwegian
bachelor farmers from Lake Woebegone, -
but one presently wedded
to another female for not quite
thirty orbitz around Mister sun) seek a booty call
compliments of Facebook (Meta) Messenger
yours truly (me - a married...

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I (Samson wannabe) feel aghast at latest turn of events regarding Gaza

Omnipresent grief and horror
abounds toward ceaseless killing fields
impossible mission for me
to summon forth fading magic powers
since Delilah imposter hashtagged,
(and subsequently outed) 
as a mortal...

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A senior moment experienced by this drip...

awash with intermittent amnesia.

Scant number of minutes elapsed...
before I forgot whether yours truly
took another dose of glycopyrrolate
ingested as a palliative prescription
medication addressing the issue of
palmar hyperhidrosis -- excessive
perspiration of...

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neither cleanliness nor godliness do I abide
rather yours truly doth thrive
on keeping the ethos, mythos,
and pathos of Pigpen alive
subjected to eternal
abomination, brutalization,
condemnation, damnation,
emasculation, humiliation, ostracization,
who one day envisions himself
as a decrepit solitudinarian
an aging long haired...

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Doubting thomas doth hanker to live in (or share)...
a house without gossips nor gonifs with the missus

Maybe a pair of stray eyes
will alight on my post
might subsequently manifest destiny
as a positive force
to help me secure
a...

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Thru a paroxysm of tears...

I inconsolably wept a river of sorrow
starkly aware alienated daughter(s)
implacable woe sundered fatherhood
yesterday, today and tomorrow.

A series of unfortunate events
(move over Lemony Snicket)
set in motion since my birth
unleashed impotent scrawny infant
registering...

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And was it not foretold from the days of my youth
Your lives predicted in an absolute truth.

You, Young Nick, spawn of the Old Nick, do that which you must do.
Do it quickly.
You have put it...

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When I was a child, I wanted to know....
I am now an adult, and I want to know....
I want to know what happened.

I want to know when it happened.
I want to know who did it.
I...

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Heartbroken lass bereft of eminent beau
papa doth vicariously experience her
(mine daughter's) grievous woe.

Unfair a budding promising relationship nought
going to incorporate wedded bliss,
when for all the world
the strong humble lad
absconded to Puerto Rican his homeland.

Thus pained...

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Dark am I like the tents of Kedar, like the tent curtains of Solomon; 
yet, I am lovely- coming up from the desert in a column of smoke perfumed with 
myrrh and incense made from...

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Personal productivity measured courtesy...

Unspecified number of hours spent
many yesterdays ago since March 6th, 2021
reading (cover to cover) Pennsylvania Gazette
March/April 2021 issue.

Proud papa highly regards eldest daughter,
University of Pennsylvania alum
as academic whip smart high achiever,
she did...

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Personal productivity measured courtesy...

Unspecified number of hours spent
yesterday March 6th, 2021
reading (cover to cover) Pennsylvania Gazette
March/April 2021 issue.

Proud papa highly regards eldest daughter,
University of Pennsylvania alum
as academic whip smart high achiever,
she did (after quite a...

Read More