Long Vodka Poems

I see people moving, but going nowhere
I see people moving with their hands thrown in the air
I see people moving but they have nothing to share
Bags and pans, old kettle, and old man
The scavenger, the...

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Enough!
by Michael R. Burch

It’s not that I don’t want to die;
I shall be glad to go.
Enough of diabetes pie,
and eating sickly crow!
Enough of win and place and show.
Enough of endless woe!

Enough of suffering and vice!
I’ve...

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World War II Poems and Holocaust Poems - IV - Primo Levi

Shema
by Primo Levi
translation by Michael R. Burch

You who live secure
in your comfortable houses, 
who return each evening to find
warm food, 
welcoming faces...

consider whether this...

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The Ash Can  ©

I got the call on Sunday night.  I was traveling on business.  When I looked at the caller ID
 I wondered why my husband’s boss would be calling me....

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1 - I can't be alone

I struggle to be by myself because my dark thoughts come
But when I'm with people my heart is numb
On top of a lot of pain is what I built my...

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She dresses the land down
in a virginal bridal gown 
a masterfully cut and sewn chenille 
shines brightly with a fine crystal appeal

Her assistants work quite diligently
to add special touches and then flee
they decorated the mountain peaks 
using all their...

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“Triggers”

  So, you are used to me writing poetry but today it’s more like my thoughts for others to read. I need to clear my head of these constant roller coaster emotions. Today was...

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(after Edgar Allan Poe's "The Angel of the Odd")

It was a tidy day and I sat, replete, under vellux blankets.
Sadly, my tea was weak, the bottle of cinnamon whiskey
tantalizingly low, and my feet swelling above...

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Sitting dying alone,
In this dark and dingy place 
It has now become my home..
The only open bar 
In town, I needed something to heal my broken heart
I'm on my 8th round, Going on Nine now!

Swaying...

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Incomplete metamorphosis of distilled adolescent...

therefore he characterizes himself as an anomaly...any idea why?

Mortified, petrified, stultified, et cetera sheltered, 
and mortally wounded prepubescent,

I consider myself
analogously buttressed, cocooned,
garrisoned (for bing keeler), 
hardened, insulated,
where cell baited jumping frog
o'...

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I was taught by   my father to be obedient in the dense forest to save the individuals trees, stop destruction to plantation. I cannot be silent under the detriment from lumberjacks to global...

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I hope you make it by yourself. 
I’m at a point whereby pointing fingers won’t help anymore
A point whereby this vodka won’t help anymore
Sleeping pills won’t help anymore
I can’t fight anymore
Can’t start any war.

I can’t...

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I am Kerris Hakim, bartender trade by night.  Here at Fahrenheit Lounge I've heard
Stories of patrons who dared to live, and lovers who had suddenly died.  
Graduating from law school without a dime....

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The date
July Twenty Eight
The year, 1914
The War which we feared 
It began, something we could not foresee
This date, still haunters me
To this very day
Those bewailing screams
And those traumatic scenes
Words to do not to justify 
The...

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Shane walked to the back of the bar and found the door opened to an alley littered with the garbage of the bar and the restaurant beside it, the one whose neon sign has two...

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There isn't a place that I hide
I'm trapped inside a maze, let me write
incase I don't make it out alive
Because I feel the storm coming
I'm so forthcoming about my shortcomings
Exercise my feelings, so even if...

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An ordinary young man in his twenties
Working by day, alone by night
Routine lulls him to feel forever serene

Never a new dream or fantasy
Living an obligation
Making his parents proud yet nothing causes him to become too...

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She's dying over and
over 
From the insanity of
the missing 
The heart will
repair 
Though I wouldn't
dare say this
At the sky she
stares
Continuously
She says life must
go on
I must go on
she says

I don't want to be
without him 
As she...

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i heard a...what do they say...a spine chilling scream
...is that the saying?

a spine chilling scream
followed by

'he's dead, my G_d he's dead'

the phrase echoed 
inside the whole of me
like tennis balls bouncing between two parallel walls

i...

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Sung to, You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch, (extended version).
KP

You’re a monster, Donny Dump.
Some biiig-time twiiisted clooown.
To no end, I could deride you,
are no depths you didn’t fall to,
no ineptness could elude you,
the bottom-feeders they...

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It is Saturday everybody and I want everyone to be happy
Daylight is drawing near and there are lots of things to share
Putin is fighting the moon and the silent ones will be coming home soon,...

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Shane walks in, hurries to the back of the bar. He finds the door opened to an alley littered with the garbage of the restaurant beside it, the one whose neon sign has two lights...

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       CLOSING TIME AT THE PUB


The joy, the camaraderie, the smoke.
The great ale, my great friends in Chicago.
Old Town, North Avenue, twas Chicago,1967.
O' Rourke's Pub, where else?
Smoky, filled with...

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They anchor their feet in the ground marching to where destiny is bound, hundreds of them marching in line moving out of the frying pan and heading towards the fire. 

 With courage welled in...

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"The Grey Goose and the Languages of Doves"



He threw the Grey Goose 
out the window,


It landed on 
The Road;


shattered in a dozen 
sharp glistening diamond
different ways 
on a day 
that meant a dozen 
different peaces...

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