Long Underwater 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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Poems about Poems (I)



What the Poet Sees
by Michael R. Burch

What the poet sees,
he sees as a swimmer
~~~underwater~~~
watching the shoreline blur
sees through his breath’s weightless bubbles...
Both worlds grow obscure.



Muse/Goddess
by Michael R. Burch

“What will you conceive in...

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The Making of a Poet
by Michael R. Burch

While I don’t consider “Poetry” to be my best poem—I wrote the first version in my teens—it’s a poem that holds special meaning for me; I call it...

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State of the Art (II)

These are my "ars poetica" poems about the art and craft of writing poetry. 



What the Poet Sees
by Michael R. Burch

What the poet sees,
he sees as a swimmer 
~~~~underwater~~~~
watching the shoreline...

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Poems about Poems V

Distances
by Michael R. Burch

There is a small cleanness about her,
as though she has always just been washed,
and there is a dull obedience to convention
in her accommodating slenderness
as she feints at her salad.

She...

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God's Return Ticket

Did you ever wonder about the Almighty’s criteria or selection process for reincarnation of souls back on Earth? Just think some famous politician, movie star, sports figure,criminal, dictator, and so on could use...

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(Continuing the trip through Hell of Dante with poet Virgilio)

Pah-peh Sah-tan, Pah-peh Sah-tan al-ept!”,
Started Pluto with his hoarse voice toss
And that gentle wise, who any knowledge kept,

Told to encourage me: “don’t have a loss 
By...

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PRELUDE.
When the sky and world are dark no sounds are heard in the woods. Perhaps the scrabbling of night creatures on the hunt fo food. But no sound of woodpeckers ra ta tatting, bird song...

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Goodbye six pack hello* poetry scribes

My poetic side COSMOFUNNEL
wordsmith thanks tumblr in his noggin
ofttimes triggering babbling brook 
to swell after deluge
becoming stream of consciousness runnel
carving, gouging, and liquidating topography 
qua zee mow toe natural formed...

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As I look back upon a terrific, exciting, and storied career,
I revisit the trove of golden memories, which I hold so dear.

Although some were bad, they have been predominantly sweet;
But the most striking one, still...

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It's always Aldi on a Sunday afternoon.  You're always waiting with your shopping bags in hand, slowly trudging along with your walking stick.  It takes you ten minutes to get into the car....

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Sean McDougal is eight years old and has a special 'something' about him that is so endearing it's very difficult for me to deny him anything... well, anything within reason. He came up with the...

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All that does encompass bespeaks wonder in everything
bubbling brooks and waterfalls does your glory ring
terrestrial and celestial ever fill our eyes with seeing
how can not it's splendor not fill our very being
 
raindrops in waters...

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Picturebook Princess

for Keira

We had a special visitor.
Our world became suddenly brighter.
She was such a charmer!
Such a delighter! 

With her sparkly diamond slippers
and the way her whole being glows,
Keira’s a picturebook princess
from the points of her...

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Submerging myself with water of wistfulness
Trying to be rid of the loneliness in progress
I missed going outside and swimming in a precious, pure water
I’m looking above the surface instead of the ugliness of underwater

Today is...

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Sonnets V-IX



Afterglow
by Michael R. Burch

The night is full of stars. Which still exist?
Before time ends, perhaps one day we’ll know.
For now I hold your fingers to my lips
and feel their pulse... warm, palpable and slow...

once...

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Have I failed you as a man?
Our only communication was what washed up on shore 
But there's so much space between the ocean floor and the sand 
One cascades and the other crystalizes 
But you...

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Japanese??

Here ... in Pearl Harbor?!? This must be a nightmare ...
It can't be real - I can't have seen that, yet here I am,
In my bunk cabin on the ship, with only a foot of...

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Lulled to sleep courtesy white noise of the fan

Onset of first 2023 heatwave
found yours truly lulled to sleep
courtesy rattle and hum
(U2 can dreamily tread 
where the streets have no name) 
of oscillating fan.

Nestled under blankets,
the...

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When death had nestled, a lady overwhelmed by sleep,  
Between the chasms of my being, like a butterfly in a cocoon,  
I embraced her to my chest that whispered seraphic tales,  
And...

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been sitting here for a while now, its gloomy outside, looks like its going to rain.
theres people around and they seem to like the view, they're even talking about the beautiful trees and beautiful sky.
all...

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"Just live a little, Hawaiian style!" Quote by Hawaiian Style Band.

On the first day of Christmas, my tutu gave to me,
-- (and...) a-*Ne-ne-Goose-un-der-a-gua-va-tree.
(guava fruits are the best part of their diet--trust me)

On the second day...

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The Hammer and the sickle were emblazoned on its tower
This underwater enemy would demonstrate its power
The submarine, in covert mode, torpedoes at the ready
The crosshairs on the monitor were holding nice and steady

The captain said,...

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She kept TELLING,
YELLING at me,
to GO with the FLOW, to write with a GLOW. How?
My mind feels too SLOW to capture the UNDERTOW!

I try rising to the SURFACE with my VERSES. yet
I wander from PURPOSE,...

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Military maneuvers,
conducted by starship troopers,
make a Lot of king Chedorlaomer noise

Earhole space
penetrated by the Pentagon puffing pace ... 
stealth sound of smoke signals
Warning drumbeat signs 
of an incoming, deadly drone invasion

Attack helicopters hover
over tempting topography...

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