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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act i:
walk down the strip, the neon lights casting a gaudy glow on the fray. i meet my dealer, a facilitator of welcome distraction, and we exchange nods. i take a bump, and the rush...

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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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A Magical Journey Poetry Contest
Constance La France

"When we were hit by the magic wand's spell we suddenly became swans"
Quote by author

I hold three magic rocks, in my hand
Rolling them over and over and over
Leaving this...

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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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A (starry eyed) burst of creativity...

at approximately
a painfully early o'clock in the morning
give or take an o'clock
found yours truly (me) amassing
line after line of a poem
crazily coalescing courtesy
an extraordinary unfamiliar phenomena
while living social within alien...

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I wonder if Pops will lie out in his trademark bell-bottoms—faded denim flares that split the air like his cool, bending time, making room for his strut as if the horizon would yield to his...

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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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                                  ...

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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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Often in life, it's felt like on a tightrope I've been walking
between what is reality and what is merely an act.
The names of people in my story, I've chosen to redact,
those I've cheered on with...

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Trudging through thorny and rocky paths,
His feet often got cracked and torn.
Yet he persevered, for he had a lovely family.
His dear one stood by his side as a pillar of support,
Sharing the joys and hardships...

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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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It’s a funny thing, life 
Like the tightrope we balance on, the maze we forage, 
Poised and sharp like an edge of a knife 
We scramble to keep up with life. 
A puzzle we solve...

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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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"Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you."
Bible- James 4:10

                       ...

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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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