Long Untouched Poems

Juvenilia: Early Poems V

Poetry
by Michael R. Burch

Poetry, I found you
where at last they chained and bound you;
with devices all around you
to torture and confound you,
I found you—shivering, bare.

They had shorn your raven hair
and taken both...

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These are peace poems, prayer poems, hymns and lullabies I have written for family, friends and the world over the years ...

Peace Prayer
by Michael R. Burch

for Jim Dunlap

Be calm.
Be still.
Be silent, content.

Be one with the...

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The Tender Weight of Her Sighs
by Michael R. Burch

The tender weight of her sighs
lies heavily upon my heart;
apart from her, full of doubt,
without her presence to revolve around,
found wanting direction or course,
cursed with the thought...

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Poems about Poems III

Radiance
by Michael R. Burch

for Dylan Thomas

The poet delves earth’s detritus?hard toil?
for raw-edged nouns, barbed verbs, vowels’ lush bouquet;
each syllable his pen excretes?dense soil,
dark images impacted, rooted clay.

The poet sees the sea but...

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Final Lullaby
by Michael R. Burch

for my mother, Christine Ena Burch

Sleep peacefully—for now your suffering’s over.

Sleep peacefully—immune to all distress,
like pebbles unaware of raging waves.

Sleep peacefully—like fields of fragrant clover
unmoved by any motion of the wind.

Sleep...

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Hello? Are you there today?
Have I scared you away?
Spent my whole teenage life, 
Preparing for this day of strife 
To say my goodbye's
To your love-me-not lies
Oh well, oh well
I'm not saying farewell
Where do you dwell?
In...

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The constant assault of the silence on his senses is intense 
Hands clenched in fist he wished for noise and bliss
Buddy stopped talking and drinking he begins pacing as he’s thinking 
Tired from walking he...

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Galactic Strings or Void of Space?

A poem’s akin to a necklace, one fashioned
of water-worn pebbles (from rarest of realms),
stone cold truths tumble-polished, love’s chord weaves together.
Do fossilized beads left behind in Life’s wake
spark faint hint...

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"The Unlit Flame at Blue Feather’s Cross Roads"



Words these days are seldom Red
like drops of lifeless blood falling cold on a hot frying pan,
sentences are scattered, stuck in Go Nowhereland,
semi-solid, immovable coagulating gelatinous, turning dark...

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The strong gust of wind was cut off from its source; a frigid early spring blast that swept across a lofty mountain range, high above British Columbia.

It then encircled one of the lesser peaks and...

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Turkish Poetry Translations I



Ben Sana Mecburum: "You are indispensable"
by Attila Ilhan
translation by Nurgul Yayman and Michael R. Burch

You are indispensable; how can you not know
that you're like nails riveting my brain? 
I see your eyes...

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"Burnt Aqua"



I can taste the sun
on my tongue
it spills down 
my throat
like burnt aqua
healing the beating frisson

I am ebony inside
shading in my shadow world
some somnolent soul
waking from slumber’s dream dance 
a small death in life...

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The sun, resplendent in its blazing might,
Burns fiercely o'er a barren, lifeless waste,
A desert dry and vast where earth is scorched
By searing radiation, deathly bright.
No sign of life but one lone phoenix flies,
Soaring precarious, close...

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Pink- Pink- Pink-

Every peak has its own attractions,
Like the mountains,
The mounts of a woman,
Have always remained, 
Her pride possessions. 01

It has the charms,
More intoxicating than wine,
As it reveals the beauty,
Of a woman's alluring binds. 02

These...

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DISCLAIMER : THIS IS AN ACCOUNT OF THE MASSACRE 
IN ORADOUR-SUR-GLANE IN FRANCE WHICH TOOK PLACE
ON JUNE 1OTH  1944
TO MY READERS , " SOME LINES IN THIS POEM ARE GRAPHIC , AND
SOME MAY FIND...

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"Dandylion" 

The guy was a 
Dandylion 
there was 
no denying it

full of promises
and making wishes
residing over 
this new world

poetically 
speaking, he
shone like 
the Sun

he sat on his throne
for all to see
the mane man
roaring non-garrulous

declaring 
to...

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THE GRIM REAPER (JUST ANOTHER DAY AT THE OFFICE)

This Grim Reaper stirs from another well-earned day of heavenly sleep
From within the bowels of this cavernous earth, from his cave, so deep

His cloak and scythe, been...

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Just watching raindrops slapping leaves
is better than anything requiring electricity
including fame and posterity. Monday
morning I walk over to the art museum
stand before Homer. I'm imagining
life in ancient Greece, the land largely
deforested to build a navy,...

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"Like a piece of ice on a hot stove the poem must ride on its own melting." Robert Frost 


 
"Bees Under Milk Wood : A Spell"



Spider Web glistens wet 
in the spoilt lies of...

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(Part Two)

I go back to a time, (one of many), when we were there, caught in the rain
and salt mist ... little droplets would form on your eyelashes like diamonds, as
if giving value to those...

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A combination of Prose and Free Verse:

The most thrilling and inspirational piece of music ever to reach my 
ears is, without doubt, Handel's Messiah. I've never known anyone 
who could experience a performance and remain...

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Where was I on "Bull" Conner's day,
When the world saw white-hate on display?
Attack dogs, hoses, and lawmen's feet,
Blacks felled like timber on a southern street.
As fists and batons flayed the air,
Hate left the wounded laying...

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I am a virgin slammer,
Let me get that over with,
So if I stammer and speak like a bludgeoning hammer,
Let the record be clear: I’m just trying to go with this.
So I won’t walk the walk...

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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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Don’t you want to be saved from fear?

I won’t let you go into the flames of destruction

Don’t you want to live our life in cheer?

I shouldn’t worry the way I do or I won’t function


You...

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