Long Unrelenting Poems

The first soft snow: 
leaves of the awed jonquil 
bow low
—Matsuo Basho translation by Michael R. Burch

Come, investigate loneliness! 
a solitary leaf
clings to the Kiri tree
—Matsuo Basho translation by Michael R. Burch

The cheerful-chirping cricket
contends gray...

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Grasses wilt:
the braking locomotive
grinds to a halt
—Yamaguchi Seishi, translation by Michael R. Burch

Oh, fallen camellias,
if I were you,
I'd leap into the torrent!
—Takaha Shugyo, translation by Michael R. Burch

The first soft snow:
leaves of the awed jonquil
bow...

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The weight of the water is heavy in my chest, a force pressing against the ribs. It rises when I don’t expect it, like a flood breaking through cracked, neglected seams. The truck of my...

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He just appeared to me, like wispily curling 
Chimney smoke, 
One grim and early morning in the very midst of 
Decembers briefest days, on the highest slope,
Toiling through my daily round; where, slowly 
Driving up...

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War shapes the warriors it touches, leaving behind vestiges that linger in their lives long after the battlefield fades from view. In Recon Marines: Searching for the Real Enemy, we are thrust into the unrelenting...

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A pondering of multiple raindrops from a detrimental storm onto the empty fields, crashing into them as hard and loud as clashing metals. The depth and existence of love weighs over any deprivation an unexpected...

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“Up men to your posts! Don’t forget today that you are from old Virginia.” 
– General George Pickett

Beneath Gettysburg's sun a merciless blaze
Stood Pickett with his face etched with war's haunting gaze.
A mind torn asunder...

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Part of my soul severed by their ruthless oppression, demoralization and exploitation of a frightened and abandoned child.

Part of me drowning in detrimental sorrow as a 10 yr. old coerced by the evilness on the...

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Ashen faced Prometheus aghast at inferno gone awry

Whether arsonist at fault
or confluence of ripe conditions
triggering perfect firestorm,
the titan of fire beside himself with misery,
though no fault of his own
the raging bullish conflagration
a taste of inescapable...

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The Cold Doorknobs 

I.
I am sure there will be that profound moment in time
when the dog out back will stop its incessant yapping,
Its unrelenting impulse to belch out its interminable wails, 
alas, to inform its...

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With the opening of my fortress cell,
solemn-faced men come locust invading in
Their mouths smile not, and eyes neither grin
as ceremonial words pursed lips expel
A deer thought escapes ... my life nears its end!
And I feel...

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Approximately three plus days elapsed...
without yours truly experiencing urge to defecate

Neither bloating nor constipation
arose, but one nondescript anguished
logophile anticipated intestinal blockage,
hence prophesying worse case scenario

I (predicated in direction for an adult)
ingested three Dulcolax tablets
and subsequently...

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“The Tear”



How many oceans of salt 
does it take to form a tear?

Unrelenting waves of sorrow 
pounding a broken heart
hears the howl of sharp beaked foolish flying monkeys
ignorant feeding frenzies swallow whole lost families 
swept...

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"Aliens!" I shouted above the roar of the blaze.

Please rescue us from this godforsaken place
veritable hellscape, where angels fear ingress.

Just then an unexpected pleasant distraction
woke me from induced stupor linkedin to Los
Angeles fires jump/kick starting...

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Grant this civil yankee to doodle till Lee gets blue in the face 

blowing 99 red balloons April 9th, 2023
will signal 158 years since Appomattox
plus what would have been ninety sixth birth 
of the late...

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Support Your Local Po' Whet (Hick) Bummer, i.e. me

Freedom from onset of pervasive gloom 
(attendant with profusely perspiring palms, 
hut tree men duh us aggravation), would be 
a dog send to this melon collie bow...

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Glory to the Ukranian Freedom Fighters
 
Democracy and freedom are under attack
Beaurocracy and greed man,
Don’t let this war criminal come back
Putin is lootin’ the streets of Ukraine
His crimes against humanity are bordering on insane
His unprovoked aggression...

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The Things Never Said
The terror…
The only things ever said about my daddy’s WWII service were that he’d been to New Guinea where he’d ridden on a truck full of soldiers by a river without a...

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By Stanley Collymore

At first I wasn’t in the least interested in you. 
But then, why should I be? You, after all, 
are an unmarried and out-of-work mum 
just turned 23 and, additionally and 
quite evidently...

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Ability to defecate wildly swings (both ways)...
between incontinence and constipation

Irritable bowel syndrome i.e.
the former excretory bout I address
the above (polite way to phrase diarrhea)
and avoid moon efficient cheekiness,
yours truly doth buttress,
a literal warranted pain in...

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Bombarded by myriads of daily data without cease,
I suggest a forthright discourse on this topic,
carousel of trend and sound adherence  merely looming?
some unwitting sentiment  an aspirational diction,
reverberation or innuendo pending aftermath augur,
the world...

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Her soul cracked, cheeks burned, eyes swollen with sorrow.  
She saw her cheerful past walking by the corridor, head held high.  
She once bloomed like spring’s lavender, fragile yet vibrant,  
But she never felt it—not...

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As scented air aroused my misty mind,
her shadow broke the early morning sun.
Aromas wafting from the morning grind
seduced a thought that she may be the one.
I sensed her very essence from afar,
unnerved, I sought the...

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Beware the wrath of the Northern Polar boogie man, 
The Anti-Clause, a legendary beast of nightmarish voracity,
From folklore mythology, a dark creature of demonic prowess,
Lurks in the hidden shadow realm, in a freezing forbidden zone,
Of...

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As frothing wakes unveil a racing tide 
a frontal surge unleashed intended taunt,
‘twas but a strafe to lead the prey outside
then strike a blow amidst the faring jaunt.
To draw first blood, then front them with...

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