Long Twine Poems

Upon this date he spoke no more of the preceding moments, 
Tearing and hurling insult upon insult
In several directions, his tongue whipped and scorched me,
And he waited relentlessly to see the spark in my eyes...

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Each year as Christmas rolls around, as I buckle under the pressure and stress of shopping for gifts for people that already  have everything, I find myself remembering that Christmas of 1954.

Dad had joined...

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Isadore LeMaster was a kind and friendly person, who never spoke in haste or told a lie.
The finest vet that Oxford ever had - the guy was special - and if you’ve got the time…I’ll...

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LIST POETRY - A FUTURISTIC INTERPRETATION 


You
must know
I cried yesterday 
and I think I broke the world
so I braided some words into twine
planted some sweet and sour coated seeds
I grew free standing expressions and then...

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This is, as indicated, the 1st THIRD of this lengthy poem. The 2nd and final thirds had to be posted separately due to Poetry Soup's file-size limitations. No other way I could manage to make...

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An Excelente Balade of Charitie (“An Excellent Ballad of Charity”)
by Thomas Chatterton, age 17
modernization/translation by Michael R. Burch

As wroten bie the goode Prieste
Thomas Rowley 1464

In Virgynë the swelt'ring sun grew keen,
Then hot upon the meadows...

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His words stung me, as the cries from the maelstrom seem to retort
Their scattered, foreign words and wails retching their say
I listened, almost mesmerized,
Pulverized

“Come,” Said he,
With threatening authority

Upwards, higher than the balcony from which we...

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Hello, there. Rise and shine. I think I’ll call you Adam/
Who are you? Your creator. The maker of all you fathom/
You can call me God. This place is the Garden of Eden/
Why’d you make me?...

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Suddenly, two Indian boys throw themselves into the water like meteors
swiming towards camp chatty as prarie dogs,
they hail from a Teton encampment of 74 lodges a few miles up river
most of the men are feeling...

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Through shadowed trails, beneath the moon’s cold stare, 
     Its Amber gaze: a burden hard to bear.
This feathered prize found peace in my gut,
     No slumber dreamt;...

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Tavira 

Tavira is my town
The place I call my home
Rich in history
Much like me
Many secrets does it hold
Ancient times still apparent
Different people now
A different time

How many footsteps have trodden the cobbled streets?
With donkeys or on...

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Through a wooded thick in a forest of New England,
There exists a secret circus called the Craft of Ringland.

Meandering through a meadow one night before the forest's mouth,
I heard a melody humming in the wind...

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PYPU what ya gonna do boyz
PYPU what ya gonna do boyz
PYPU what ya gonna do boyz
don't need to see your Fruit or your Looms
don't wanna see your buttocks in those..
Vincent Motega's don't wanna see your...

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My love for you
is beyond prophecy or endowment
and lay before you a love letter from the heart
beneath the moonlight's glow
where our eyes find a silent understanding
that embraces each passionate emotion
swirling and entwined in the depth...

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He feels the best of him slipping away
A sip a drip at a time
When will the he and him align
What is he missing
He can't stop thinking
in and out of focus drifting
as he witnesses his soul...

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Like a herd of cattle, placed on a ship.
Upon my back, I felt their whip!
Ripping into my flesh, excruciating pain.
Forced across the big water on a trip.

Living in darkness with little to eat.
The feel of...

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Grim reaper forever guaranteed eternal plentiful harvest

the following written 
for no particular rhyme nor reason
quite aware the exit (stage door left)
allows, enables, to provide every season
with a bumper crop of dead souls.

many mortals beseechingly 
lift...

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Ah!  Here comes another pawn* should I trifle with him?
Or should I do it quickly and painlessly?
Well, if I think about it quickly and painlessly would be better
Because there are consequences to having a...

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Ms Agnes finally presented herself in front of me and ordered me to stand. I remember 
feeling small as I looked up into Ms Agnes' face, looking into eyes covered with an opaque 
blue film....

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My love for you
is beyond prophecy or endowment
and lay before you a love letter from the heart
beneath the moonlight's glow
where our eyes find a silent understanding
that embraces each passionate emotion
swirling and entwined in the depth...

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From ‘The Woe of Roanoke ‘
It wasn’t just the gale that chilled his skin
As he mulled on the cannibal captured within.
In trembling state he clenched close his cane
To rap tap the gate of the jail...

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THE NIGHT THAT RABBIE VISITED ME
One night in spring  I couldn't sleep      I heard knocking on  the door
I got out of bed, walked to the window to have...

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Brown paper memories she puts in my hands
Twine roughly tied in a bow slightly askew
Part and parcel of a humble life once led?
My defiant eyes meet hers of black velvet dew 

Give me back my...

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A Red, Red Rose
by Robert Burns
modern English translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
 
Oh, my love is like a red, red rose
that's newly sprung in June
and my love is like the melody
that's sweetly played in tune.

And...

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How I got here, I have no clue.  I do remember being on a cruise.
Passengers were walking, talking, and watching the cerulean blue sea sparkling.
Intrigued by the total awesomeness, I climbed on a thin...

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