Long Tightrope Poems

"Smooth Big Cat"



He was one of those guys you just knew would be a dud. "Be nice", she said to herself.

She met him on the upswing from the abyss of a dismally closed final chapter....

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As I look back upon a terrific, exciting, and storied career,
I revisit the trove of golden memories, which I hold so dear.

Although some were bad, they have been predominantly sweet;
But the most striking one, still...

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Human foot-traffic is flowing along slightly faster than 2020,                          ...

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"The Broken Valkyrie"



when 
the artificial 
sun 
replaced 
true Light,
revolution 
was a forgotten 
Valkyrie, 
Liberty 
had been 
put to bed
broken whore 
of Babylon
no longer holding
the torch for anyone;

women and men 
grew to love 
their servitude,
complacency 
skewered...

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The personal is political and I take the political quite personal

and please do not get me wrong because I am not one to moan

for only those taking responsibility themselves should be allowed

to criticize what the...

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In the narrow margin between life and death,
I feel as I'm walking a tightrope - but balancing.
I'm a portrayal of metaphors, 
illuminating like spring's moon,
who sunk like winter sunset,
but arose like summer sunrise -
my last...

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"Fatal Attraction"



The letter was typewritten
IBM Selectric, 
No final salutation
in italics
“With love”, 
but it was there nevertheless
invisible
electric
“VC”
Bleeding Bold Black 
thick cursive stroke
With knife point calculation
An arrow hit it’s bullseye
A flourish with intent
A nicotine stain 
at the...

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Spiritual beings blessed by a grace from on high, angelical creatures
Soaring between sunlight and twilight’s over cast of shadows, 
Hush now be still, listen children of humanity for the swooshing
Of their ivory wings ever lightly...

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As if there were a tightrope on which we walk
a perilous pathway strung down the middle of our lives
balanced by a blindfold
each footstep to be placed when and where we're told

Children with guns made of...

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Highwire dancer in cautions step
sets out to brave her highest ascent
No net to break a possible fall
Too far to see the journey's end 
she begs for courage to risk it all
and choose the path which...

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 Part 3

9th Delerium: Emptyness
Water wheels in wastelands... turning,
drowning relics in the slum
Rumpled rags of fashioned burlap... burning,
lit by bandits blind and dumb
Pastured prisons, ponies bridled ... yearning,
forest fairies under thumb
Sounds inside of cauldrons coughing......

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Vera Pavlova English Translations of Russian Poems

I shattered your heart;
now I limp through the shards
barefoot. 
—Vera Pavlova, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Winter? a beast.
Spring? a bud.
Summer? a bug.
Autumn? a bird. 
The rest of the...

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Hush now, all little children by the shadows of night,
Don’t resist, beware let the sleep take you, be at an uneasy peace,
For resistance is futile against this dream stalker,
Whom travels on the brain waves, of...

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while at work, droning through the 9 to 5,
or the 10-12 hour beat down for us unlucky saps
the jaws of the shark come crushing down
bringing waves of pain through remembrance
a place in the past that...

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durning a Congraulation ceromony
a guy dressed in tights and  glittring
robe, came out complaining about
 doing all the chres, while
the others had more
time to be with their women,
he wanted to share time with
his woman. He...

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All efforts tabled on Nigeria;
Experiencing a fortunate miscarriage, 
Feasting Aso rock- a pizzeria 
But never admit it is the cause of this age. 

Upon the solid manifesto, 
That touches all sectors:
Picturing California's Barstow, 
To cajole...

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Friday the thirteenth, (September
tooth house hind nineteen)
dark shadows winessed scads of bats
(base sic cully lobbing soupy Matzo balls)

eyeing yours truly as seldom seen
human sacrificial cuisine,
which dime a dozen story true story
red within tabloid National Enquirer...

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Oh Lord, Our Heavenly Father of all creation
We rely on you in all tribulations of life
Hope you will come down to touch and heal 
Our bleeding hearts, for your mercy exceeds all bounds
You cannot turn...

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when we exit our mothers we cry out loud,
I like to think its from us being exposed to an infected world.
as we grow we continue to cry but it tends to change a little bit
as...

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Vunerable, my heart my own; not trusting; hard to trust any one-
Emotions running rampant,
Not willing to take chances
I sealed my life, my heart with protective defenses
And then came you
You saw me, wanted to know me,...

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When a tree is felled....!

When a tree is felled, a sad ring of deathknell,
With it goes for many - their tiny places to dwell!
How much of Earth will man's greed consume ?
Very many forms discovered...

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9/6/21
"Rogue"


What a joke
Yet it's not a hoax
It's getting gross
Folks constantly at each other's throats
Quick to brag and boast
Making an out of pocket comment after another croaked
It's not all cloak and dagger, stay woke
From coast to...

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Rog the funambulist 



A paragon was Rog, heroic in the air, without airs
One of the most magnificent funambulists at ease
Whether walking a rope or flying on a trapeze,
Though he blessed the earth with no dauntless...

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Where I live is in between
A memory and a dream
Walking a tightrope each day
I light my self on fire
And take a big box
And head down Main Street
The weasels in the front of Bill’s Cafe
Love it,...

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Old-time fans called him 'The Great White Hope'
    Larry Bird had to 'walk the tightrope'
  He was no dope; he knew he was special
    So he focused hard...

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