Long Whitened Poems

Sonnet LXXXI-LXXXIX

Day, and Night
by Michael R. Burch

The moon exposes pockmarked scars of craters;
her visage, veiled by willows, palely looms.
And we who rise each day to grind a living,
dream each scented night of such perfumes
as drew...

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So I wrote again. This took longer than it should have. Only fair to warn you, this is a long one.

SHANGRI-LA

Prologue

The village gates stood, like old men stand

Worn with age and bent by time

Rust had...

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In the red desert of the rising sun  
In the surrealness of its silence  
The sky turned grey and ominous  
Amidst the blackened  rain   
As the suns fell into...

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At the time I thought I was in love 
At the time I thought there was no one who could come above 
What we had all those days we spent 
All those days when I...

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I wish you would’ve told me,
That I was no longer worth your time.

Your back-handed alabaster murmurs
Stroll passed my skeptical exhales
As I greeted you like adults should

But, your whitened pupils
Spoke louder
Than your failed dreams
To be a...

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Haiku Translations I

As the monks sip their morning tea,
chrysanthemums quietly blossom.
—Matsuo Basho, loose translation by Michael R. Burch

The fragrance of plum blossoms
on a foggy path:
the sun rising.
—Matsuo Basho, loose translation by Michael R. Burch

The sea...

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I am a pandora's box.

Let loose upon an unsuspecting society.
Once my night life begins,
complications arise.

Let me pen an example.
Keep in mind, it was not my fault.
well, not entirely.

I awoke in my usual good humor. ...

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Blackberry kisses, within the celestial starlit mornings hour....

Stirring these passions aglow, amid the flickering flames of desire ~

Caressing such thoughts of you; smouldering embers, that burnish so very brightly!

These ardent heated emotions; florids, of the...

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Blackberry kisses, within the celestial starlit mornings hour....

Stirring these passions aglow, amid the flickering flames of desire ~

Caressing such thoughts of you; smouldering embers, that burnish so very brightly!

These ardent heated emotions; florids, of the...

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While rifling through outdated poems of mine
some written quite a number of years ago,
the following mewing effort, I decided to post
for all purring cyber surfers linkedin 
to the webbed, wide world to read.

Prince Of A...

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Gazing toward the horizon, embracing this now setting sun

While as stepping through this threshold, to find myself

Once more mesmerized by these thoughts of her portrait

Born, inside such cupids eyes of love

A feeling somewhat familiar begins...

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The thing that went...

The first thing that went wrong - 
was the buzzing in my left ear,
the one not buried in the pillow,
the one that was open to the world.

The second thing that went wrong
was...

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Gloria

I have always been a lover of art,
So much that I did no harm to any human,
Feared all creation as sacred creatures,
That wait only to shout to God, Gloria!
Gloria to Shembe! Gloria to Shembe! 

Through...

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Driving along a coastal road

The top drawn down

On a magical seaside day

She, thumbing through a magazine

Reaching for the stereo dial

"Stop," I say, she smiles

The wind, dancing about her hair

Waltzing, she seems so, astonishingly beautiful today...

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Preface to this brief bitty
written snap ting snapshot – word ditty
dates back before I reached gritty
age of eight and fifty, aye recall a kitty
rescued by my youngest sister, who took pity
and felt aghast, 
at a...

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White Magic 

In our uninhibited exuberance for the beauties of Mother Nature;
We sometimes seem to forget the strength of nature’s dark force.
Peel back the layers of beauty only to discover a sinister black magic,
Hidden amid...

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Big hands of this man 
Who I remember as a child? 
Growing up in and at a time, 
When real men were fathers then. 
Supporting that family, no matter what, 
Working their fingers to the...

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IT'S BEEN A BUSY SEASIDE SUMMER DAY..
     WHILE THE SUN WAS AT IT'S HEIGHT AND BURNING
     UP THE DAY...
     ON THE BEACH THEY'RE...

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-I love the simplicity of the old one. But this extended version is special, I think...-


Caskets unmade 
Naked bodies sprawled in waste
Yellow, white and pale brown skins all in one
Emaciated fear lingering in the pale...

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To the end, the Home will uproot itself in nomadic urge -
The Flesh will ache to lift as paper from its delicate strands 
 with their reddy pulse, to float off as the slip of...

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Of Cigarettes And Non Smokers Blues

The  smoker,  he smokes incessantly,  breathing out smoke like a dragon afire...
As I observed, it played in my mind, it's good thing one smart alec has long...

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down deck, down deck, on and on-
such an awesome ship it had been-
100,000 tons, or more, I guess-
that it will sink seems such a sin-
this mighty ship afloat-
not much longer, I did know...
and even with...

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Take me , my love to the waters source
souls naked to each other and our course
my praise lifted the apple of  mine eye
art thou glorious , tis mine song to cry
 
You must lead...

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October

Late morning light that casts a slanted path from Eastern sky
Upon a decaying terrain of diminished day
To torch the tumble of crisp and fragile foliage
Where a multitude of basking golden shapes rest serene
Waiting for some...

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It's Opposite Game day
says JayJay
to on-screen enthusiastic friends.

I have no adult time or patience 
to see or hear
right as not not opposition wrong

Right, like left,
only appositionally spaced
like I have timeless time
for western this nor eastern...

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