Long Waxy Poems

"Who Put Luebella down the Wych Elm?"

There are rumours
about me, some 
come seeking me
with their geiger counters
and ouji boards
with their heart 
shaped planchettes

unanswered questions
in the woods, crackling
within the sounds of leaves
invisible dead things speaking 
underfoot...

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THIS WORLD OF DEW

This world? 
Moonlit dew
flicked from a crane's bill.
—Eihei Dogen Kigen, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Seventy-one?
How long
can a dewdrop last? 
—Eihei Dogen Kigen, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Dewdrops beading grass-blades
die before...

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January 13th 2024 - Happy Lxv-th birthday Matthew Scott Harris

date of conception:?  ~ Late March – mid April 1958.
date of parturition: January xiii, mcmlix.
date of expiration:? January i, eminem, 
where earth, wind, and fire...

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Happy Lxiv birthday Matthew Scott Harris

date of conception:?  ~ Late March – mid April 1958.
date of parturition: January xiii, mcmlix.
date of expiration:? January i, eminem.

A gangly, measly, and scraggly bundle
of lovely bones even as...

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The Earth dry and bare; waiting eagerly for the drops of care;
 


Caught in the hot, steaming summer’s snare;
 


The flowers and creepers decorating window sills; all look desolate and ill;
 


As the nature withers...

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I crowned the write full missus "champ paean practical joker"

The following moniker “innocent prankster” 
awarded, hashtagged, and qualified wife
as trickster de jure appended 
to alluded spouse 
(then of twenty five plus years),
when she pulled a...

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Everyone nose, I haint no otolaryngologist

Nonetheless this bard arse feels gratitude
courtesy Laurence V. Cramer, D.O.
without cerumen eye zing
May 17th, 2022 'ere
and thank dog guardian angels,
who find me continually blessed
regarding audiological sense to hear,
whereby faculty sound...

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"The Tree Hugger and the Lost Paradise"

They called her 
the tree hugger,
her forest was full 
of trees that watched
silently, they had 
no mouth to speak,
rustling their leaves
like fingers writing 
strange stories coded
for decoding a mystery
on...

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              If a poem was a spell at wizard's dell. 
Would it say in a state of dual-singularity come to life 3D...

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Chapter 12 (c) The Fireflower (continued)

So forthwith it was decided 
That upon the next day’s dawning 
They would send a party swiftly 
Inland by a river valley  
 
They would climb to highland forest...

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FREE VERSE VI

Reason Without Rhyme
by Michael R. Burch

I used to be averse
to free verse,
but now I admit
YOUR rhyming is WORSE!

But alas, in the end,
it’s all the same:
all verse is unpaid
and a crying shame.



What the Poet...

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Though a wimpy, tiny, and puny
(smaller than a breadbox) Ogre
whereat my portable minuscule
fingerhut size adobe abode ex
posed to Strunk and White raw
grammatical elements of style,

I counted Flip (Wilsonian) view,
to camouflage myself anytime
and anywhere as significant...

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"The Onyx Treasure"

formed of bands 
of chalcedony 
in alternating colors 

parallels embedded
cryptocrystalline 
dimension

bands of light and dark 
a strong contrast
a close union

harmonious love
protector of evil 
Onyx

eyes wide open 
talisman of Leo
Capricorn courage

the messages are read...

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...Even worse as his youngest grew bigger
he noticed things that had him quite alarmed,
the kid had blue eyes, Whitney’s had been brown,
his were brown too, he could not understand,
his facial features were not like Jerry’s,
he...

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Through the hills within the woods of a mountain's slithering slopes,
A road winds its way, on which rides a car driven by a misanthrope. 

Plucking from his pocket a pack of poison sticks with one...

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One day my grandad slipped away,
His face sunk into a waxy, pale grey,
With a sudden stillness and a wave of your hand,
You have ventured off into an undiscovered land,
If only I could go back to...

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Yours truly snapped, popped,
and cracked his crown out cervix
(I'll spare ye the bloody graphics),
whence obstetrician able, eager, and
ready underscored with italics

to pass (think football) garden variety
wrinkled newborn asthma
noggin heralded lix
plus deux orbits ago
sported an ordinary

uneventful,...

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hold still, eventide ...
   I am a capricious cad among wraiths,
     waltzing with a mop in
      a Marrakesh courtyard - catching stars
  ...

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A cupola shin, prickly dick creed, hoary 
 testes tossed, master baiting ova all eel trades
crossed the fecund Rubicon and ejaculated 
   olly olly oxen yawping, in utero seminal raids
with phallic coup d’etat...

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First person shooter,
on a hate tour of duty,
swinging a bullet sling blade
Buying a death row ticket,
worth fifteen minutes of fame
First person murder shooter;
womb-to-the-cradle-to-the-grave robber,
using your Automatic Revolver
to solve your anti-social mental problems
Sharpen that sling blade
on...

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Under 65 degree starry, onyx blanket
Containment of quarter moon identity

A whimsically soothing song exuded
In muffled taps & Prohibition era lyric

In the distance,
Snow-capped mountains reflecting lunar clarity
Off its tips of freedom

As we lay on recycled steel...

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An’ so, the saviors’ called -came bearing, as a breath in the cold
An’ as the autumn leaves pile, amassed- to rustle, brown an’ gold
An’ from betwixt the veil – stepped ghostly, from air, sea an’...

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In the court of the Queen,
With her eyes to the ground,
Who is shrouded in darkness
And silence profound

With her skeletal hands,
Wrapped in gossamer skin,
Rest on smoothed out mahogany, 
And gleam through the dim.

There is nothing to...

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Light minded people say I’m an uppity darkie
They color me bad, 
with a black face, felt pen Sharpie
Vanilla voices downright don’t like
the audio sounds of this mouthy darkie
They say I’m way too uppity,
don’t know what...

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She walks among you – the Valkyrie
Silent and diminutive, flitting through your lively ranks, 
Parting your shallow throngs of harsh color and raucous mirth
A somnolent angel of death and destruction, gliding 
Sensuous on marble limbs,...

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