Long Varnish 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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Vacuum
by Michael R. Burch

Over hushed quadrants
forever landlocked in snow,
time’s senseless winds blow...

leaving odd relics of lives half-revealed,
if still mostly concealed...
such are the things we are unable to know

that once intrigued us so.

Come then, let us...

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State of the Art (IV)

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



Hearthside
by Michael R. Burch

“When you are old and grey and full of sleep...”  — W. ...

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Finally to Burn: Icarus, Resurrected
by Michael R. Burch

Athena takes me
sometimes by the hand

and we go levitating
through strange Dreamlands

where Apollo sleeps
in his dark forgetting

and Passion seems
like a wise bloodletting

and all I remember
upon awaking

is: to Love sometimes
is...

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Long long ago there once lived a King
who wished that a child the stork would bring.
He and his Queen were very sad
at the thought of an heir that they never had.

The Queen walked beside the...

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Southern Icarus
by Michael R. Burch

Windborne, lover of heights,
unspooled from the truck’s wildly lurching embrace
you climb, skittish kite ...

What do you know of the world’s despair,
gliding in vast solitariness there
so that all that remains is to

fall?

Only...

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Nearly ten o'clock, Capitol Hill, inside the SCIF (specially designed for classified purpose): House Intelligence Committee chairman Adam Schiff was hosting an esoteric hearing featuring a deposition with Defense Department official Laura Cooper as part...

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It's tucked beneath trees, as the leaves dwindle down
The varnish has faded, but the seat is quite sound.
Clouds cover the sunlight, that begs to pour in.

Others sit in the shade, forgetting the tears,
without giving much...

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I Was off work not feeling too well
When covid 19 came along there was no time to dwell
I came back to work and sat in the huddle feeling nervous but I knew  no hugs...

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Looking through frosted glass of windows' sorrowed pain I who

Reflects upon the frozen condensation in the shelter of my mind

Delight that there are crystals on the panel which refract the joy


On the grace bestowed upon...

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His German relations would turn in their graves
This great gnome abduction is causing shock waves,
It reads like the spy who came in from the cold
They've held him to ransom and broken the mould.

The world's now...

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my buddy John's Bertram a wood antique
I fixed the engines while he varnish teak
so there we were Joe, John, and Kelly
with a cooler packed with bait so smelly

early in the morning waz headin out the...

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He is an ant,nonentity and an entertainer,
He walks half naked in torn clothes,
dance openly in the market square
to music that is not there,
The crowd applaud with amusement.

He has no home
dump hill or underground tunnel serves...

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BOING..?!#! Its off at boeing..' the wheels and doors have
Gone..planes just; over-drive the runways, they're rivalling
Sann-yong..They're rolling in inclusions, like its for a dare!!
People choosing flights right now, for boeing they don't care.' Thery're checking...

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f This table Could talk
By: Tom Wright
5/24/99

You say,
It's only a wooden table.
While in a sense, I guess that's true,
but being laden with character and warmth.
It's a table that reminds us of you.

I should think
that each...

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Where to start?
But asleep is the hope of mine
In the shadows of my dreams
The crimson curtains have collapsed
And are cemented to the floor 
Entombed behind the stage of life
Petrified
Where to start 

Ardently athirst 
For this...

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Dust shrouds the peeling varnish on the old church pew as Noah
(first of his namesake, last of his namesake) thumbs an overripe
orange in his patchwork coat pocket. The preacher, made an obelisk
 by distance and...

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Hello there, do please come inside- no need to wipe your feet
excuse the mess, I fear you'll find it isn't very neat.
This place is always untidy, victim of my disorder
from old hang-ups to memories, I'll...

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The old upright piano sits flush against the wall,
has been hushed into silence, out on the sun porch 
Ignored, neglected, but standing erect 
I can imagine it was treasured in its prime,..polished, stylish, and new
But...

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Beyond the scary valley
After the clean sacred alley
I carry my veiled vagrant self
Like a monstrous and fleeing elf
Through the evil forest
I realize my supreme and costly errors
On the deep oceans
With no protective vaccines
I sail my...

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Deliberating about something cool,                               ...

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Starry skies over Damascus

Like a star chart for the
bomber pilots eating
Milky Ways and lives
Chocolate in the desert
for desert in consumption

The poem could stop here
its pretty clear not pretty

Petty lives perambulating
hiding hobbling around
on what was their...

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Athena takes me
sometimes by both hands

and we go levitating
through strange Dreamlands

where Apollo sleeps
in his dark forgetting

and Passion seems
like a wise bloodletting

and all I remember
,upon awaking,

is: to Love sometimes
is like forsaking

one’s Being—to drift
far beyond any thought,

forsaking...

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How doth thou appear so alluring,
When thy content is but aworrying?
Though thy beauty and elegance I apprehend,
Thy charm and power I can’t comprehend.
Tall, short, fat, and slim doth thou appear.
Thou appearest dark, fair and other...

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Timely simultaneous occurrences? really? or a big beef casserole delivering a speech?

A leaning vibrating hand of a plant is getting out of the pot today. It prefers a nice vase you see. Varnish no onion...

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