Long Wraiths 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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Nucleotidings
by Michael R. Burch

“We will walk taller!” said Gupta,
sorta abrupta,
hand-in-hand with his mom,
eyeing the A-bomb.

“Who needs a mahatma
in the aftermath of NAFTA?
Now, that was a disaster,”
cried glib Punjab.

“After Y2k,
time will spin out of control anyway,”
flamed...

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Of Ghosts and fiends in Twilight, Cont.


A thought flashed in my mind from the old tales told
The lore of the beast and I had felt his foul breath
I had seconds to act or be devoured...

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Swept up into piles; everywhere 
Abouts; in collected heaps all 
Around.               
It is almost as if the drab 
Streets were strewn...

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The Raven and the Bard
-Daniel Henry Rodgers

The Raven's quill drips shades of blackest night,
Its haunting words, a melody of fright.
The Bard's natural lines, like "Evangeline's" fair hair,
Shed history's warm light to chase away all care...

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Pasha Acremodios grew greedy,
discontented with the domain he dominated,
so he turned covetous eyes toward Farabia,
sending his soldiers to seize this ripened plum

Spoiling for a fight and fighting for spoils,
his army swept across Farabia
like a bloody...

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Gateway town, Mississippi and Missouri river flooding confluence,
with its celebration of manifest destiny, its looming, iconic archway.
Stainless westward marker, its culture flowed southward for influence
within the lawn-jockey, pink flamingo neighborhoods of moral decay. 

T.S, Eliot,...

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Cypress trees like evergreen steeples
rise above rows of gravestone woes,
their shadows lie side by side like railroad ties 
across writhing paths banded like snakes;
the gravel birth cords sinuous 
sensing the ground   seeking the...

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Shards of glass cover the floor, 
all bloodied and disarrayed,
The night of terror exposed to us all, 
the town came out and prayed.
For the ten were gone, yet none be found,
people were completely dismayed.

On a...

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"50 Words for Poe: camera obscura"



The Night Flower 
turns in her bed
in a dark room
stories of wraiths 
like flies buzzing in her head
and blood-sucking bugs that bite
Rippers and lovers dead
come to collect her from her
ornery...

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You’ve heard of the Flying Dutchman,
the ghost-ship that travels the seas,
there’s countless legends about it,
a great deal of variety.

Some say it’s just cursed to wander,
a result of some ancient sin,
a crew long dead yet still...

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Steadfast, he, as fortress guarded
In his ivory tower slept 
Fearing naught, though faith-departed
Knowing not his lover wept.
Cowardice, thought long-discarded
Secretly in silence crept
Corroded, as if silver, tarnished 
‘Twas his heart - her only quest.

Haunting, held-yet lamentations...

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The Ice King stood mockingly
The Shadowfire in his cold bony hand
The snow fell
On the land
Upon his freezing hell
 
Send me a knight!
With the courage to take this gem!
Otherwise I will shatter its' heart
In front of...

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Dawn broke
The eastern pink sky
Drew across the stars
As they faded and lost to the night

 

I called the eagle
To guide me
Piercing whistle
That I learnt as a boy
Running wild and free

 

I walked in the company...

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In the dark days of fighting hence
The Heartstone endured its' greatest peril
The power of magic on the battlements
Vanquished the wraiths
Knights fought and won
 
The arm, severed
clutching the sword
Fell into the Wraiths' black mist
It never hit...

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Love is like fragile wings.
romance an illusion of moonlight delusions.

I recall when summer skies hypnotised,
in the pleasure of your pleasing presence,
I used to gaze at the doves of love above,
admiring their delicate reflections in your...

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Elan's word?
Zulu's sword?
Heartsichordiums-convulsive-verb
"Anabantium", O wraith of mord.

So is it, it is for Hilerides-Dales, 
which green-discourse, 
Southeast of Wales 
or some other perch 
of liaisoned Angeles-porch ? 
Is one-way with a steep of glades newly born....

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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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Two wraiths in a gust in-between frames with a Third

...was it when i bumped into you last
           a little put out by the awkwardness
 ...

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A Wordsmith’s pen
Is mightier than the sword
For he can turn a tricky word
Into a verbal weapon
And win the day against the hoard
The words of the Bard
It’s not very hard
The turn of a friendly card
The changing...

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Burning snow falls quietly on
cold rusted wire and brittle bone.
An ancient creature looks to the horizon 
feeling is body built of razor wire and old bones, cold,
a delicate tone transmits from on far...
Wraiths walking in...

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 Continued from Part 1 

The Beggars ’neath the balustrades,
and broken Children, Chambermaids,
are running wild from wraiths, afraid
	of dreams where death redoubles.
They fritter time with tattered threads
(from ragged clothes they’ve left in shreds),
crocheting hoods to...

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O, solemn harmony of lonesome waves
Whose power tolls the bell of dreams!
Your passioned voice of rising freedom braves
All force whose will unfolds resentful streams!

The longing for past lives—though fading—may, 
Below the burning sky, adopt a...

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Most Beautiful Christmas Poem
	Christmas Rose	

The Christmas Rose bursts into bloom
As echoes of midnight’s final chimes resound –
Precious Bloom of Perfect Prophecy inhales a first breath 
Of winnowing starlight foretold
The Prince of Heaven steps into our...

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There is an illusion of dishonesty in darkness,
so we rejoice when spring sings saccharine serenades.
I've always been a soul yearning for summer scents,
but somewhere the seasons got lost in translation.
Not all honest hearts can remain...

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