Long Tuba Poems

Epitaph for a Palestinian Child
by Michael R. Burch

I lived as best I could, and then I died.
Be careful where you step: the grave is wide.



Autumn Conundrum
by Michael R. Burch

It's not that every leaf must finally...

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Rejection Slips 3

Rejection Slip
by Michael R. Burch

Whenever my writing gets rejected,
I always wonder how the rejecter got elected.
Are we exchanging at the same Bourse?
(Excepting present company, of course!)

When editors reject my poems, did I slip...

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These are peace poems, prayer poems, hymns and lullabies I have written for family, friends and the world over the years ...

Peace Prayer
by Michael R. Burch

for Jim Dunlap

Be calm.
Be still.
Be silent, content.

Be one with the...

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Rejection Slips

With over 5,700 publications if I count poems that have gone viral, I suppose I shouldn’t complain … but I do have some poems that have never been accepted for publication. Here are a...

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Dear neighbors,

I realize we have not met,
other than the guy next door
but that doesn't really count
cause that was just to put up a fence between us,
and I have met Marvelously Mad Max,
behind me, on the...

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The birth of a kid is just an adventure
Which has its start about nine months before 
After an instant of joy or of  venture,

When seed of man is reaching up its score
In the twisty...

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Children's Poems III

These are poems for children and poems about children and their mothers, fathers, grandmother, grandfathers and extended families. 



Success
by Michael R. Burch

for Jeremy

We need our children to keep us humble
between toast and marmalade;

there...

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The Nile River seems like standing still;
But is actually continuously running, continuously promising.
By day, by night;
Depositing on its shores sands and rocks and debris.
Green farms stretching along;
Tall palm trees overlooking the scene.
Trees’ long “jareed” (leaves)...

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To me, fair friend, you never can be old,
For as you were when first your eye I eye'd,
Such seems your beauty still. 
~ William Shakespeare


I have looked into the mirror
Looking for a trace....a trace of...

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If freedom is attained by sacrificing lives,
even those of the youngest age,
then what makes these men so brave:
to hold up their flag and make it wave in each challenging battle?
A spirit that is undefeatable...
to give...

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One cold night, deep in thought, and curled in fright,
From folklore tales aimed to scare;
My rigid poise froze to a screeching noise
Outside, a voice not like I've heard before, to leave I would not dare
“It’s...

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Castrated duck ran amok at a goose show yesterday. Then sat in a car. Blacked out to the par. An even score is a self wondering sacrifice. But no self sacrificing prawn could ever really...

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A friendship gathering
in the land of Goshen ...

My friend, Flip J says transcendently,
that publican people are only telling you
half the truth every single usury time,
with a crocodile tear in their eye
The other half they’re selling...

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IN OUR AFFORDS TO BE 
THE GREAT AMERICAN SOCEITY
THE LIGHTHOUSE TO THE WORLD
WE SPEAK LOOKING THROUGH
ROSE COLORED GLASSES
WE UNDERMINE THE ACHEIVM,ENTS OF
TIMES WERE WE TRIPPED AND FELL
AND STOOD-UP TO BE PUSHED DOWN
DIRTY AND SOILED WE...

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Minimal involvement with extracurricular activity at Methacton
   limited to playing Baritone Horny within the band
   though marginal interest existed to maintain constancy 
feigning noteworthy interest second to none
   eventually...

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"Sappy Daze"- the Fonz gets a job in a Vermont maple syrup factory and faints 
from the fumes.

"Fiends"- The gang decides to desecrate a cemetery.

"The Tyro Banks Show"- newly formed banks struggle against the established...

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when Bobby Messiah 
the new kid next door
asked if I wanted to see his
Silly Putty porn collection
I know we were on the same page
It was hidden in an old transistor radio
of red plastic with a...

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Charcoal covering my flesh, my bones
In my dream, I am a gorilla, I am a chimpanzee,
I am hanging upside down in the New York
City Zoo, picking off the ticks on others
and being ignored by humans,...

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the beatles 
were right when 
they wrote day
tripper instead 
of night

~

flight of the bummble
bee could have been a
hummingbird but 
heard played on 
a tuba was an 
elephant that
couldn't
waltz

~

the warning label
clearly states that:

if combined
with alcohol
may induce
sleepiness

~

my...

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As darkness gives way to light and day dawns,
the symphony of sweet sounds begins.
First a single chirp from a lone bird, 
next a response from a mate in reply.
Then as if on cue from a...

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Ooh...this... just an amazing grace note
     recalling how I felt like an ass
and wanna toot 'bout me getting steered
     (as a heavy metal kid Rocker)

  ...

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A is for Accordion, squeezing air with bellows
B is for Banjo, five strings plucked by bluegrass fellows

C is for Clavichord, keyboard with a metal sound
D is for the Drums which percussionists will pro-pound

E is for...

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"The Young and the Breathless"- TV soap opera about youg emphysema 
patients unfaithful to their doctors.

Candid- Something you could do, and did do.

Phone Call- Bidding your phone to come to you.

Binary- What you can purchase...

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Mrs. Lightfoot had taught music at Talbot Elementary School for years.
A couple of her pupils excelled in music but most became engineers.
She sat at her desk to muse upon the past after another trying day,
Recalling...

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Self-imprisonment
Is the worst form
Of punishment
Still, it is not out of the norm
To find a tiny bee hummingbird
Ruby Zoom, hidden inside a double-glazed display cabinet
One can think or fathom how absurd
It is to be imprisoned in...

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