Long Twitches Poems

Currents
by Michael R. Burch

How can I write and not be true
to the rhythm that wells within?
How can the ocean not be blue,
not buck with the clapboard slap of tide,
the clockwork shock of wave on rock,
the...

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Beckoning
by Michael R. Burch 
 
Yesterday the wind whispered my name
while the blazing locks
of her rampant mane
lay heavy on mine.
And yesterday
I saw the way
the wind caressed tall pines
in forests laced by glinting streams
and thick with...

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Sonnets LII-LX

The Endeavors of Lips
by Michael R. Burch

How sweet the endeavors of lips: to speak
of the heights of those pleasures which left us weak
in love’s strangely lit beds, where the cold springs creak:
for there is...

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  “Sweet is my sleep, but more to be mere stone,
so long as ruin and dishonour reign ;
to bear nought, to feel nought, is my great gain ;
then wake me not, speak in an...

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The Air We Breathe

Whatever death hides in the dark forest?
The Man attentive to death-defying chances
with sinister low sweeping branches, strong
confused as to the hierarchical level
upon which their outreached strengths belong 
hurries along

Beautifully poisonous trees 
Gnarled...

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Vicar Tynan sat amongst his roses in a Friday morning sun,
that shone in beams through willow branch and leaves,
where it’s time to think of Sunday and what sermon must be done,
when he heard squabbling coming...

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The waters trickling under the
crossing bridge grows ever dormant

And on the one and only discernable
route into this village languishing beneath
there is a old rickety swinging sign that says

" Welcome to Eden "

We trust you enjoy...

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It's been four years since I submitted my last poem, I was only one year into my addiction to methamphetamine. I'm currently five years in and boy oh boy do I have some perspective to...

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Looking at him I wondered why he wanted to leave, to go on
I knew the hardships of the desert and its forge
I knew the horrors of the jungle beyond the great wall of silent vines
I...

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I would never dream of depriving you
Of the happiness you have found;
He's not like all the others and for this I'm ironically thankful
For a smile is a smile and yours
Will always paint itself on my...

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An Aging Squash Fan

As a father watchful over the progress of a little girl active in a chosen sport..
Little wonder that I am a bag of nerves during competition time for the sport...
That familiar awful...

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I rip and chew at my edges
Trying to eradicate 
Placate
Eleviate
My pain
The anxiety 
The part of me that threatens to freeze 
My mental disease
The part I hope no one sees
The inner demons I wish to appease...

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Quivering lowest limb
namely mine little feet
medication side effects
analogous running dead heat
most often while fast asleep
the missus claims thrashing feet

easily mistaken for epilepsy
disrupts her pleasant dreams
claiming legitimate grounds
for kickstarting divorce
bachelorhood amenable
versus her furious

expletive laced outbursts
crying out...

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I would like to meet the man,
who claims to own a cloud.
I’ve heard that after a beer or two, 
he’d yell out drunk and proud: 
“See that cloud over there?
The one beyond that tree?
Well that...

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(But as Mike was rambling with considerable fortitude about the inner workings of a car and the various ways that Florida threw their last football game or whatever trite nonsense men discuss over their mountains...

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 In the coffin lay your body silent and still
As with wax, sealed were your eyes
Bared of all passion, pain and strain
You were at rest, tranquil was your face
	
When your body was lowered into the...

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Well thank God they left. Nice local sports bar; I sat close to an elderly man, probably 80 years old, and a younger guy that was his son, as I gathered from their conversation. The...

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A Study in Character

My aunt…. 
wears jewellery that winks as she walks
and she always has a sharp, shivery look
that you pay attention to …just in case!
She makes the world around her nervous
and I can hear...

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Beautiful angel a soul's destination flies
High above on gossamer wings delicately 
Circling between heaven and earth as soul keepers

Eclipsing the light seraph twitches softly gaze
Touching inside one bond never to be broken
An angelic message shown...

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Yes, you're one sexy witch, dear love, but now it's Halloween,
    And I've a witchy tale to share, so keep your broom between ...

Five decades hence I knew the thrills of flesh,...

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What does it mean
To be brave?
I ask myself this as I cascade
Coffee, pour the coffee
Overloading vacant round things
With handles that are supposed to make it easier
Make it so much more easier.. Then it seems
Supposedly 
Burning...

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She was just seventeen 
The flowers had started blooming

The flower doesn't bloom for itself
It wants to mingle in another breath

The parents scolded heavily
The petals moaned with pain in the veins

The flowers didn't stop blooming
At the...

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 I am called to stay I stand barefoot touching the grasses walking on top of the dirt;
Just a gentle man
I stand before the beauty inside me as I'm replenished with love it washes away...

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Ahh! my lovely it's to soon;
To say I love you moon spoon;
It was the 1960's moonshots;
I fell in love with you I was lost;
While at home I peer through my curtains;
It's about 8:45pm at night;
Oh,...

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The child, now sleeping, loudly snores.
The nightlight shines there on the wall.
If you could peer under the door,
The sight awaiting would enthrall:
It seems the toys have come to life!

They are engaged in no mere game:
A...

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