Long Weightless 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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Poems about Poems (II)

Kin
by Michael R. Burch

for Richard Moore

1.
Shrill gulls,
how like my thoughts
you, struggling, rise
to distant bliss?
the weightless blue of skies
that are not blue
in any atmosphere,
but closest here...

2.
You seek an air
so clear,
so rarified
the effort leaves...

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Poems about Flight, Flying, and Birds



Flying
by Michael R. Burch

I shall rise
and try the bloody wings of thought
ten thousand times
before I fly...

and then I'll sleep
and waste ten thousand nights
before I dream;

but when at last...
I soar the...

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Various Heresies 3

Breakings
by Michael R. Burch

I did it out of pity.
I did it out of love.
I did it not to break the heart of a tender, wounded dove.

But gods without compassion
ordained: Frail things must break!
Now...

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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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The Making of a Poet
by Michael R. Burch

While I don’t consider “Poetry” to be my best poem—I wrote the first version in my teens—it’s a poem that holds special meaning for me; I call it...

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State of the Art (II)

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



What the Poet Sees
by Michael R. Burch

What the poet sees,
he sees as a swimmer 
~~~~underwater~~~~
watching the shoreline...

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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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DEADLY VOYAGE:
This is ANDERSON WALKINGSHOES 
Intro:
The road is slippery, 
And we got to tread cauteously, 
So we don't miss our step, basical
This is ANDERSON WALKINGSHOES 
This is ANDERSON WALKINGSHOES.... 
Chorus:
Hajei....hajei....hajei....
Perception is troubling everyone,
Everyone is being...

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Reducing sauces is a clever act that is not predetermined

Swimming in tepid waters often relieves tensions but a moose with a migraine prefers an ice cold bath. Bathing rituals signify statuses and this is referred...

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Nine times a fish tail is spun from thin yarn?

Swimming in tepid waters often relieves tensions but a moose with a migraine prefers an ice cold bath. Bathing rituals signify statuses and this is referred...

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IT’S A MAD WORLD In a Lancashire Accent.

I went to the Confectioners today, there was a long queue outside, a metre apart, and it had started to rain. 
The assistant behind the counter had shiny...

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Product of Dave the Brave

Product of Peace
Product of Poverty
Product of Happy
Product of Charity 
P-Product of crazy...weightless envy...bipolar blues...etc. etc.

Product of selfish ambition ...
A shameful sin in disguise 
Turning my cheek to this decision
Discussion goes beyond...

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This is my translation of Rainer Maria Rilke's second elegy from his Duino Elegies, which he began composing at Duino Castle in 1912. 

Second Elegy
by Rainer Maria Rilke
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch 

Every angel...

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Rebuilding bipartisan explorations,
at least two-sided appositions,
like generously inclusive
and conservatively exclusive
worldviews of MotherEarth

Sacred polytheistic strains
and peak experiences felt
through love of life 
resilient win/win relationships
weightless

Freeing secular monopolistic brains
deeply thoughtful glad
LeftBrain speaking minds
no longer stuck
in win/lose  sad
bad
mad...

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......Flight......

Enter into the mind of madness, as it sets itself free
This is the only way that I see..
Take a trip through the universe,, called the mind..
Set yourself free leave all behind. .
Thoughts are currents of...

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The Killing Field”

Ariana nodded, tremolo fingers,
and they ran across the killing field,
watching the steel-toed kite ascend—
a fleeting instant of triumph in the vacuum.
Josh scoffed as it dipped,
both caught in the pull of the abyss,
falling but...

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The Killing Field”

Ariana nodded, tremolo fingers,
and they ran across the killing field,
watching the steel-toed kite ascend—
a fleeting instant of triumph in the vacuum.
Josh scoffed as it dipped,
both caught in the pull of the abyss,
falling but...

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      In the purple shadows of the black's monoliths, where an ancient echo calls forth, at the blurry forge of "Ralkon Dis",
a salient dragon from mystery's petra cliffs drifts you...

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This is meant to be a manual, a set of sober instruction
that you can use, once you get past this lengthy introduction,
as a “how to” for learning to feel what it feels like when you...

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Achab*, Translation of Pierre Emmanuel’s Achab by T. Wignesan

One man alone stands erect before the king, and speaks
A man
Alone

The king is not accustomed to being confronted face to 
      ...

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So wake again.
Not as the one you were,
But as the one who has always been.
Between the lines,
In the quiet,
Where the soldier sleeps,
And the world remembers what it has forgotten.

For here, in the space of your...

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She killed me…she killed me…
I’m drifting into darkness
Melanie…Melanie…Melanie…
Did she ever really know how sorry I am
how I meant every word of my bleeding apology
what I meant when I said things were never to go this...

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I
At the marketplace
by sunrise
when the serenity of the dawn is ravished by unknown
voices…

When the Sun passes through the merry-go-round
beyond the horizon
when the turbulent wind is silenced,
and the voice of the cicadas
is no longer heard…

From a...

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Wine tears
Flowing through the contours of cheeks
To reach these valleys residing in heart
Listen
Let the echo jump into this abyss
Until it reverberates like a suicidal cry
And breaks like a rope 
Adamant on giving second chance to...

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