Long Woodland Poems

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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I.	  The Settlement

          Hickory bark bluffs
          at the blend of two 
    ...

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These 2 different versions are separated by nine years

Part 1

MUST BE SPRING

Small speckles of wild grass 
Looking like tiny green drops 
That had fallen to the earth 
Were the very first sign 

Waving in the...

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April 9th, 2024 would be ninety fifth birthday poem for dearly departed papa

The following words crafted soon after the soul of me daddy set adrift into the empyrean realm joining the rank and file of...

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My TransITion began there
right there
in my woodland playground,
when I first knew
something right feels wrong to others.

I was blind to curve-balls
hurled at me.
Being "It" is not why I grow
this TransIt mind and body!

Or, is it?

Could I...

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1

The drummer beats slowly, the drummer beats loud
     as he beats of humanity wrapped in a shroud.

Well he beats of the rape and the killing of war
     and the mind mangling sorrow we blithely ignore
          and...

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April 9th, 2023 birthday poem for dearly departed papa

Borne aloft into the netherland
the body bearing thee soul   
of Boyce Brandon Harris
birth name given to my late father
buoyed aloft united with spirit
of mine late...

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I will begin my story with this concise summary,
Of the amazing things that have happened to me;

After I had lost a home, where I'd lived my life long,
So they could build a highway, for the...

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The sunshine and singing birds, awoke me that fine day;
And warmth caressed my face, as the wrens began to play.

I stretched luxuriantly in my bed, while smiling broadly,
At the gaiety of beautiful summer, in all...

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April 9th, 2021 birthday poem for dearly departed papa

Elysian fields embraced dada's soul
which rocketed into aerospace
(courtesy General Electric satellite)
just a tad more'n six months ago,
nevertheless melancholy
still plucks mine heart strings.

Mine psyche still situated awry
placid countenance...

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The Bell in the Bush

Down woodland paths the wolf did roam
Far away from his packs home
For game he’d wandered off to seek
The sick, the helpless and the weak
When happened he across a fawn
Tied amid, a...

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I loved sailing upon the blue sea, and I was never too far from it,
As one who knows sweet cravings, is seldom far from chocolates.

In my previous much loved vessel, I had sailed a thousand...

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Far Away, Far Away

Children when you dream at night you may see an awesome sight!
Magic fairies in the dew near trilliums of snow white hue.
You must search within your dreams by the light of midnight...

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4/8/24

Aww shucks
Still at the crux
In a state of flux
With reality still out of touch
I've been puzzled much
So I smoke a couple blunts
That's a double dutch
From dawn to dusk
I turned myself into a husk
Just so I...

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It was tranquil sultry August, and the birds were singing,
The insects were all buzzing, and toad frogs were springing.

And I was deep in the mountains, taking snapshots of nature;
For I felt I was a good...

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It was the summer of 2014, I was just about to turn 13, spending June of summer vacation with my Grandmère, in Paris. Tonight, we’re at a fundraising benefit for African relief (it’s always *something*)....

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SUMMER

-----------------------
It was one of the warmer summer days
Not a breeze or cloud in the sky
The humidity so high
I could almost reach out
And pluck it from the air

I watched the sunlight
Hitting the north side of my...

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Every time I change directions
lately, and possibly beforely,
Trees stand by to mentor
and nurture,
to feed with branched hands
to bleed when uprooted
from aptic past centuries
of hibernating winter naps.

Trees of original pheromone attraction,
August spawned
like Taurus colonizing crabgrass
embedded in...

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The delegation arrives in a procession of handsome, barbaric lineage
rugged in animal accoutrements and subdued in the presence of the future's skin,
the women, fine in wild beauty are bejeweled in beads, white and blues
that accent...

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In a house high on a hill an old man grows weak, many years have gone, he lays in his old bed,
Back in the day, a dashing young officer with a brilliant red uniform he...

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Take me to where the wildflowers grow and show me where to go, take me to where the wildflowers grow and wet my soul with the dew of the morning, wake up my spirit at...

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A walk home 
...And there he lie in fetid squalor,
Upon the chaise in vacant parlour...

“What befell this young man?” a query.
A sorrowful tale - tis quite dreary. 
Tricks! The superstitious mind doth play. 
Bested -...

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Among an unnamed female person known within mine black barbed ken

Analogous to black box
holding untold secrets,
(after deadly plane crash
no survivors except 
a journeyman foreigner),
I share the following self
introspection with ye dear readers,
which purported hidden truths
might...

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How Wiccans acquired a bad rep is not clear.
Misogynist bullies afraid of these women’s light,
A young teen with an ugly heart of jealous fear,
Might point a finger under cover of night.
But in Salem Massachusetts, hysteria...

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All In The Name Of "Progress"

The wrecking ball long since
demolished boyhood house zen
located at 324 Level Road,
a once nonagricultural,
pastoral, rural residence,
which soulful yen
I called home while
veritably sequestered, quarantined, positioned...
sprawled atop spaciously shingled roof
countless years (B)efore...

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