Long Wager Poems

Doggerel I or Nonsense Verse

A$$tronomical
by Michael R. Burch

Einstein, the frizzy-haired,
proved E equals MC squared.
Thus, all mass decreases
as activity ceases?
Not my mass, my a$$ declared!



Bible Libel
by Michael R. Burch

If God
is good,
half the Bible
is libel.

I came up...

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Limericks
by Michael R. Burch



Clyde Lied!
by Michael R. Burch

There once was a mockingbird, Clyde,
who bragged of his prowess, but lied.
To his new wife he sighed,
"When again, gentle bride?"
"Nevermore!" bright-eyed Raven replied.



The Platypus
by Michael R. Burch

The platypus,...

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Poems about Poems (I)



What the Poet Sees
by Michael R. Burch

What the poet sees,
he sees as a swimmer
~~~underwater~~~
watching the shoreline blur
sees through his breath’s weightless bubbles...
Both worlds grow obscure.



Muse/Goddess
by Michael R. Burch

“What will you conceive in...

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Limericks I - Relatives and Relativity

The Cosmological Constant
by Michael R. Burch

Einstein, the frizzy-haired,
said E equals MC squared.
Thus all mass decreases
as activity ceases?
Not my mass, my a$$ declared!


A$$-tronomical
by Michael R. Burch

Relativity, the theorists’ creed,
says mass increases...

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Limericks III - Grab Bag

Being a peace activist, I once wrote a limerick in an attempt to stop needless wars:

Of Tetley’s and V-2's
(or "Why Not to Bomb the Brits")
by Michael R. Burch

The English are very...

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Poems about Poets I


The Wonder Boys
by Michael R. Burch

for Leslie Mellichamp

The stars were always there, too-bright cliches:
scintillant truths the jaded world outgrew
as baffled poets winged keyed kites—amazed,
in dream of shocks that suddenly came true ...

but...

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1
Though still within our infancy, 
we strive to thrive, but woefully 
we flash and flaunt our 'primacy',
display our trophies pridefully.
 
Our terra firma ecstasy
destroys survival's harmony,
lays waste to life on land and sea.
Mankind, thy name...

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I. The Love of Minds

The volume on the desk,
The one not claimed by dust or burned
By light, will follow her to bed tonight.
Its pages will be turned and smothered,
Each in turn, so as not to...

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K169 and K170 of CANTO XVII of the THIRUK-KURAL with Translations and Commentary

[If one could put together all that has been said, written and published on the Thiruk-Kural and on its progenitor Thiru-Valluvar, it could...

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In the beginning after God had finished creating this land.    
Satan boldly challenged the heavens for the absolute control of man.
Gods’ architectural blueprint stretched for ages across the sky 
He watered the...

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*Note 
I had to bring this one back, though I've been posting mostly new writes here that PS hasn't seen before. This poem has been edited many times over the years. I consider it to...

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You’re Not the Boss o’ ME!


“You’re not the boss o’ ME!” is a comeback you’ll hear among children when ordered by someone they feel has no privilege to force them to do - or to...

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Dad is that you?    What are you doing there in the mirror?

I am trying to shave and I don’t need any help.

Do they shave in heaven or is it just cribbage and...

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The year has finally yawned and turned       
Upon a half-revealed shoulder.
A vibrancy, intrinsic to a reemerging 
Enforcement of the strengthening light, 
In its deliberate and unconcerned   ...

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Who among you is brave enough
(or dumb enough)
to take the challenge
Bet your life to beat the odds ...
One out of six
Load the chamber with one bullet,
spin the cylinder, 
spin it good
Place the wager with a...

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"STRONG"



A child finds strength 
in the holding of his hand
The Beatitudes in his mind 
repetition 8 times cast
whispers the loneliness
in a Man -

Who held his hand?

Like Bede, venerable,
he's counting beads dropping 
like blood drops, 
steel...

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Sonny hid behind the melons 
In a busy Asian marketplace,
Near the plantains and the mangos 
Where the shadows could obscure his face.  
He inhaled the air around him 
And enjoyed the fragrant scent of...

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Let's dwell a tiny bit  on that  skill  most hanker after,
of mastering a language that especially enthrals,
infused with magic rhythm so fervent,
pulsing music lilt,  anthem-rich samba,
think for one ecstatic heady moment,
if...

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The Platypus: Double Limerick
by Michael R. Burch 

The platypus, myopic,
is ungainly, not erotic.
His feet for bed
are over-webbed,
and what of his proboscis?

The platypus, though, is eager
although his means are meager.
His sight is poor;
perhaps he’ll score
with a...

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In a clap-board building by the Tetons,
1919, if you’re wondering the year,
a man named Sid Hull sat down for a drink
in a saloon they called The Last Frontier.

Sid had been riding here for quite a...

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I have heard it is built with absolutes. I beg to differ, why not? There is past and there is future. Though the future may be indistinct, it is something tangible and inevitable. The past...

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Once i was a prince in your eyes my every wish granted
        even before I could wish it
eevaa peerankal muuvaa maruntu
the hot kuul boiling complaining in the chessman...

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What was said by death, I shall write in a mystery. And full of trouble as a shadow, such as one. And clean thing our of the number of his. He cannot pass for his...

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Bring on the rejection slips and/or lost wager

Though flush with good humor
pun one mock two yields negligible
true cash equivalent value won
dirt poor offspring privileged as prodigal son
pockets bursting with legal tender,
where just yesterday I had...

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" Ship of Doom "

Ship of doom so sailed to sea ~
Dark her course... 'twas meant to be ~

Into seas this great ship sped ~
Her past... her history... of naught but dread ~
O'er those waves...

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