Long Tilt Poems

This is for the Contest - 'Titanic - Fare Thee Well' Sponsored by Tom Woody.
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Villanelles

The villanelle is a poetic form based on repetition, with a double refrain. 



Villanelle: The Divide
by Michael R. Burch

The sea was not salt the first tide...
was man born to sorrow that first day, 
with the...

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MODERN SONNETS I

I prefer the original definition of the sonnet as a “little song” of indeterminate form and length. These modern sonnets vary from more-or-less traditional to free verse.


Maker, Fakir, Curer
by Michael R. Burch

A poem...

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I.	  The Settlement

          Hickory bark bluffs
          at the blend of two 
    ...

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Poems about Things that Break I
 
These are poems about things that break and/or shatter: a bubble, glass, a mirror, a twig or tree limb, a thunderstorm, cities and towers in times of war, old...

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My eyes stare straight,
fixated on something in the distance, 
humming a song that would send chills,
if you ever got the chance to listen.

A padded cell and a straitjacket,
the doctor giving one of his ‘visits,’
his moans...

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LOVE POEMS II

These are love poems by Michael R. Burch: original poems and translations about passion, desire, lust, sex, dating and marriage. On an amusing note, my steamy Baudelaire translations have become popular with the...

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Regret
by Michael R. Burch

Regret,
a bitter
ache to bear . . .

once starlight
languished
in your hair . . .

a shining there
as brief
as rare.

Regret . . .
a pain
I chose to bear . . .

unleash
the torrent
of your hair . ....

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Everything here is true
Just as stated
because it's already happened
or - it has yet to occur - 
but it's very soon to occur
and I have such strong feeling
that the future will be as I see it
as...

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One day not long past our economy faltered
And wouldn’t improve if our course were unaltered.

'Cause we buy stuff at Wal-Mart (where things are dirt cheap)
'Cause they buy from China (treats workers like sheep

(So farmers left...

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Crumbled like dust and I began to stumble like ashes with a gust of wind – that’s what I felt before exchanging smiles and goodbyes…
Oblivious obviously…removing the plank from my own eyes of deep-inside-prideful lies
Memorably,...

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Love has a Southern flavor: honeydew,
ripe cantaloupe, the honeysuckle’s spout
we tilt to basking faces to breathe out
the ordinary, and inhale perfume ...

Love’s Dixieland-rambunctious: tangled vines,
wild clematis, the gold-brocaded leaves
that will not keep their order in...

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MY HUSBAND AND I BOTH SUFFERED TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY MY BRAIN WAS CRUSHED MY EYE DOCKET AND NASAL ARCH CRUSHED BROKEN BONE FRAGMENTS BITING MY BRAIN I UNDER WENT EXTREME HYPNOSIS THERAPY WEARING WIRES PREGNANT...

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For old Star-Gazer Master Khayyam – a name like Shakespeare’s for « some » other giants - Part One

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1. Lunar Perspective #1

month long day and night
also sees earth wax and wane
no season penchant


2. Lunar Perspective #2

moon's sun mimics earth's
earth pirouettes on star stage
sun’s smile Cheshire Cat


3. Lunar Perspective #3

moon turns once per month
lunar...

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Reversals of Fortune
I. Most think luck’s just what happens, though love groks luck’s seized
by each seed that sticks (somehow) in less stone-filled ground
(which its siblings blow off or press past). That’s less luck
to my brain...

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THE DEATH OF TUTANKHAMEN

                 I.

The king is dead--and layed within his place,
  and night has fallen as it...

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THE DEATH OF TUTANKHAMEN

                 I.

The king is dead--and layed within his place,
  and night has fallen as it...

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People anticipated, and waited for the day they could gaze upon my beauty, and that they did. The men adored me, the women admired me, and the children were in awe of me. 
Everyone loved...

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Sam the dog and Pearl the cat
Were sitting on the wall
They do it every day
So it isn't strange at all
They have little conversations
Which only they can understand
They talk about their little quirks
And none of them...

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MY GRAND  AUNT
by
JOHN M. ARRIBAS


She is still as elegant as I dare remember
Those early springs: its now late december
She is sitting  with her back perfectly straight
I’m afraid she’ll chastise me for being late
She...

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Seasons

        Scorching                   Dark clouds      ...

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King Vlad Redux – Second Cold War

Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin’s grimy fingerprints on current history
are for him nothing to gloat about—au contraire I say emphatically:
His actions bespeak one who’s not an architect for peace—not at all,
rather...

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I’m standing in the common room, turning in circles. I’ve so many things to do, all at once, I can’t figure out which way to jump. A time management problem, I suppose, maybe I should...

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Your Love Redeemed My Faith In Hope
 

Across the dance floor, your soft sashaying gown flew
with its bright waving gleams of silver dust and blue;
within that blessed gaze, lonesome heart jumped a beat
seeing those golden...

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