Long Unstirred Poems

Juvenilia: Early Poems by Michael R. Burch

In the Whispering Night
by Michael R. Burch

In the whispering night, when the stars bend low
till the hills ignite to a shining flame,
when a shower of meteors streaks the sky
while...

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Juvenilia: Early Poems by Michael R. Burch



Desdemona
by Michael R. Burch

Though you possessed the moon and stars,
you are bound to fate and wed to chance.
Your lips deny they crave a kiss;
your feet deny they ache to...

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Love has a Southern flavor: honeydew,
ripe cantaloupe, the honeysuckle’s spout
we tilt to basking faces to breathe out
the ordinary, and inhale perfume ...

Love’s Dixieland-rambunctious: tangled vines,
wild clematis, the gold-brocaded leaves
that will not keep their order in...

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After entering the 'One Word' contest, I thought to myself,                         ...

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He Lived: Excerpts from “Gilgamesh”
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

I.
He who visited hell, his country’s foundation,
Was well-versed in mysteries’ unseemly dark places.
He deeply explored many underworld realms
Where he learned of the Deluge and why Death...

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Let no one despise your youth
May all disciples tell you the truth 
In Word,
Not just the first, second, or third, let your thoughts be heard
And your feelings unstirred
Your heart Misguided and Misheard
Let no lesson go...

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Trickling over my mind
Came scampering the question
This dilemma of a heart
Come running into my embrace
Stricken with fright

It asked me
Father, why do we write
And so I dipped my feather in the darkness of my mind
And brought...

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Heavy the hoods of the eyes
  that laboured the scan of horizons
Heavy the course of the thoughts
  that sat unstirred on the sill of the stare

Heavy this ancient bottomed nose
  sitting in...

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The grasses were the first to arrive
Sprouting slowly all around me
Hardly more than enough to sway in the hushed wind
Steady, steady they rose to shroud him
Days became a flooding of months
Still he lay where he...

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Through fading light
And falling rain
And hope's last torch upon the pain
I'm unstirred by any winds of strife 
Because I acknowledge the love in my life. 
I have had enough of life's sorrows
I am ready for...

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A sojourn took me to a beautiful sandy shore
Dreams abounding that I could be
Like any other child I had read about
To pile up all the sand in my view
And build my multitude of dreams 
That...

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Insomnia, familiar friend,
crawled into bed this summer night
so once again, inflamed with dread
I wander now in pitch of dark 
and touch the places, now by heart, that sprawl unstirred by weary minds

This lonely place, where...

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after Privilege of Being by Robert Haas

A tipping point of too many
are talking harshly. Down below, 
demon-dead in the unstirred inferno 
and perdition of animal thirsting
are coiling one another's tails in response.
They are honeyed vermillion...

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UNRUFFLED 

Citadel on the rocky mountain stair
Stood gazing changing seasons in the air
Each passing year its bosom filled with tales of plenty shades
Of Knights, of Queens, of Foes, of Prince ,Of Comrades
The twilight swallowed into...

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In realms of dusk, where whispers sleep,
A nascent dream, in colours deep.
Green tendrils curl, unseen, unheard,
A restless yearning, wings unstirred.

Beneath the hush, where shadows stray,
A silent storm begins to play.
Dormant fires, with embers bright,
Embrace the...

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Beauty is an ethereal mother
That’s elegant touch
Showers sweet, freed water
Distilling the very strangles
Of a gripped heart.
Its kiss bathes your lungs
In a silk freshness
And softens the folds
In coiled palms.

And in life we can hide from nothing.

A...

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(Seeing an old man walking out of a marriage registrar’s office with a young girl, two women talking…)

Retaining charm till old is art
More than the matter ‘tis of heart,
Look, unstirred, undeterred,
Caught he has a young...

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NINJA   CAT
 
Zoph  was two people not the same
Daughter’s  darling, harmless, even to mice.
Schitzophrenia was his middle name;
And out in Zophland  not too nice.

Her cat relaxed, stretched, purred
Front paws on...

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A land far far away
With its great splendid
The daylight that brightens the way
Thrived passing all the dry seasons

Nothing,but a tree on the wayside
Had brought significance to the land
Deep beneath the soil it's roots abide
Stands tall...

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Embers glow from the memory of a flame
Burning red hot – at the whisper of her name
Hoping that she too, must somehow feel the same
And forever, inside, burning embers shall remain

A heart, once on fire,...

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Stop for a moment, to only admire
The wondrous, warm world, where I do reside;
These gigantic trees do serve to inspire,
Notice the beauty, with nothing to hide.

The golden orb shines through neon-clear leaves,
From the canopy falls...

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I.

A ring imbued with love

Is the gift we both have

Circle and boundless

Unharmed by ages

That may our love

Retain the passion

we have always had

Keep the flame

Burning in our heart

Like the ring’s

Undying gleam

May the golden ring’s

Unscathed gleam

Be an...

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IN   VIRGIN  ARMS    

Like first love, snow is always new, unstirred,
Always  innocent, always pure.
Silent  now  the  melodies of the bird, 
No echo rings through the...

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Unforgotten Beaches

The ball bounced across the smooth 
polished tile 
past the sleeping cat that adorns the 
door 
Out across luxurious green lawns 
Past the sole yellow balloon 
that lingers near the sad painted clown 
propped...

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When stars cease to fill the vast sky each night 
Or the full moon no longer bathes us in her light 
When the sun has chosen to no longer rise each morn 
Then will come...

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