Long Underfoot Poems

The Original Sin: Rhyming Haiku!
 
Haiku
should never rhyme:
it’s a crime!
-Michael R. Burch
 
The herons stand,
sentry-like, at attention ...
rigid observers of some unknown command.
-Michael R. Burch
 
Late
fall;
all
the golden leaves turn black underfoot:
soot
-Michael R. Burch
 
Dry leaf...

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"Who Put Luebella down the Wych Elm?"

There are rumours
about me, some 
come seeking me
with their geiger counters
and ouji boards
with their heart 
shaped planchettes

unanswered questions
in the woods, crackling
within the sounds of leaves
invisible dead things speaking 
underfoot...

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Zen Death Haiku

Brittle cicada shell,
little did I know
you were my life!
—Shuho, translation by Michael R. Burch

Returning
as it came,
this naked worm.
—Shidoken, translation by Michael R. Burch

As dew glistens
on a lotus leaf,
so too I soon must vanish.
—Shinsui,...

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I used to dream of a dark hall. Dim. Empty with thick cheap navy curtains. 
The breeze. It felt hot and old. It shivered in the curtains that lined the walls on both sides.
The breeze....

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I used to dream of a dark hall. Dim. Empty with thick cheap navy curtains. 
The breeze. It felt hot and old. It shivered in the curtains that lined the walls on both sides.
The breeze....

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Laura Norder took her gun and strapped it to her thigh
The skirt she wore was so damned short she had to strap it high
And stood there on the corner where the street lamps dare not...

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...the village shivers   a hive of restless souls
skin pricklin' with anticipation
as costumed runners fixin' to gather — hearts a-thrummin'
              ...

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Over harvested fields —

I walk beneath the fading afterglow
of a forgotten lantern   a path worn
by wanderers older than the scroll of Zeno
its damp salve seeping through my coat
into my bones

Fog an Erebian curtain...

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Far Away, Far Away

Children when you dream at night you may see an awesome sight!
Magic fairies in the dew near trilliums of snow white hue.
You must search within your dreams by the light of midnight...

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I saw a cat quartet within my dodgy dream,
Sorta started worryin' that I'd gone off the beam,
Really began to wonder if my mind was gettin' weak,
They had their own language that only they could speak.

While...

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major storm on the horizon reported from the "Fo'c'sle"

Though forever being a landlubber
a vision analogous to the nether world
deep within the bowels of the Earth
immensely distant from the sheltering sky
amidst a thick fog enveloped landscape
with...

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There are three little words on tiny stones strewn along the floor
of a never-ending stream which runs through a misty moor.
A marvelous moor of uncertainty where mysteriously all are led
to cross a flowing water all...

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Sweet mother, Virginia Slim wedged between your fingers,  
that last light willed to die at the rig
of a darkened room.  
You—half-goddess, half-ghost, pinioned in some still-life setting
of tumbled smoke and silver hair. ...

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"Understood"




My feet stand solemn
grounded they're barefoot 
sinking in the undertow,
feeling what’s real

my toes grip the past

while the slow words 
wash it irrevocably away 
the ego sashays
and hangs that Faust in the wardrobe

Locks it away
turns the...

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Mine Nightmare With Social Anxiety,...
Now Mostly Purged

Decades removed when body electric
felt tortured reverberated, and quaked
with MegaDeath repercussions tattooing, 
piercing, foisting, ensnaring, drubbing
 
drum beat indelibly 'pon psyche NON 
MEMORABLE years gone bye felled 
psyche with...

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The heavens shimmer 
as billowy linen-white gossamer clouds slip away, as soft blossoms open for the sun.

Mystical wings of Eden brush sunset colors; 
caress the rose petal; touch the lustrous cream bisque glossed onto an...

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when I went through the living room they had turned the lights off on the tree, all but the star, sitting at the very top of the tree above all the ornaments, still shining brightly...

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Being Your Eyes for Swell 2007
Swell: Currumbin Sculpture Festival
 
For Fred
Picture us arm in arm, strolling,
the crunch of sand underfoot,
the scent of sea air, the touch of sea wind
on our skin, again on the beach...

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                       I
 Was a midwinter morn gravely put
    to ground,...

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Jazz man of the mill suffering atomic verse
Born of the waves, air-raids of sound 
Moons  to profile the edge of weather 
And sun to light the way 
Inside the cliffs and black holes beyond...

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When I was a youth the earth was our friend, as it was our means of escape.  We would run and chase each other across great distances, far away from the confines of home...

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"Papyrus, Lapis Lazuli and the Valley of the Kings - Part 1"
 
“Tell me about the Valley of the Kings”, her lips moved speaking 
to someone, 
sitting somewhere 
on the other side of the Glass...

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Broken souls and disillusioned dreams.
(Drowning in a sea of dread…)
Broken toys and angels without wings.
(Fragile things…)
Weep for the fallen brothers and infants without mothers.
(No light, hopes where broken…)
Pained tears encompass the empyreal rays.
(No more days…)
Pompous...

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Rumi Verse: The universe is not outside of you. Look inside yourself, everything that you want you already are.
             ______________________________________

Phenotype-inherited flaw chimera
fantasy flurry...

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Raisin said, “Rum, I’m beginning to see
that there will be times when we cannot agree.
Disputes shouldn’t leave us at a complete loss
So I think it’s proper that I should be boss.”

Rum gave a stare that...

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