Long Wrecks Poems

Family Poems

Mother's Smile
by Michael R. Burch

There never was a fonder smile
than mother's smile, no softer touch
than mother's touch. So sleep awhile
and know she loves you more than "much."

So more than "much, " much more than...

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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 Children


The Desk
by Michael R. Burch

for Jeremy

There is a child I used to know
who sat, perhaps, at this same desk
where you sit now, and made a mess
of things sometimes.I wonder how
he learned at all...

He...

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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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No Mark
by Michael R. Burch

A wave implodes, 
impaled upon
impassive rocks...

this evening
the thunder of the sea
is a wild music filling my ear...

you are leaving
and the ungrieving
winds demur...

telling me
that nothing returns
as it was before...

here where you have...

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The State of the Art (I)
by Michael R. Burch

Has rhyme lost all its reason
and rhythm, renascence?
Are sonnets out of season
and poems but poor pretense?

Are poets lacking fire,
their words too trite and forced?
What happened to desire?
Has...

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Sonnets XVII-XXIV

Discrimination
by Michael R. Burch

The meter I had sought to find, perplexed,
was ripped from books of "verse" that read like prose.
I found it in sheet music, in long rows
of hologramic CDs, in sad wrecks
of long-forgotten...

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MODERN SONNETS I

I prefer the original definition of the sonnet as a “little song” of indeterminate form and length. These modern sonnets vary from more-or-less traditional to free verse.


Maker, Fakir, Curer
by Michael R. Burch

A poem...

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Poems about Fathers and Grandfathers II



All Things Galore
by Michael R. Burch

for my grandfathers George Edwin Hurt Sr. and Paul Ray Burch, Sr.

Grandfather,
now in your gray presence
you are

somehow more near

and remind me that,
once, upon a star,
you...

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“Now behind the eyes and secrets of the dreamers in the streets rocked to sleep by the sea, see the titbits and topsyturvies, bobs and buttontops, bags and bones, ash and rind and dandruff and...

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MY Collaboration with Ricky Nelson in the Last Days of 1980

The eventful news of that day about what was found on board that crashed plane, won't replace that particular memory of Mr. Rick Nelson's hearty...

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Beware The Ides of March 2023
 
Ides simply referred to first new moon, 
which usually fell between 
the thirteenth and fifteenth day
of a given month.

The following events all occurred
fifteenth of March 
across span of millenniums.

One:...

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Jim Daley and Joe McCarthy had something in common. They died at 80 going to the bathroom in the middle of the night. Walt O'Brien, their protege, found this out when he called the homes...

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Sunset

                                  ...

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I Felt the Earth

There in the valley reaching for the sun
Our younger days were such fun
Though the struggle to be
Was so much for me?

The valley walls were so tall
That I would fear they would fall
Then...

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I watched “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” last night - we’re going to be reading Truman Capote’s book after the break and I wanted to start thinking about it. The movie rewrites Truman Capote’s story, turning it...

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the fire

He didn’t die straight off…the flames seared his flesh and burned his hair.  The Nomex flight suit he was wearing melted in spots as the fire grew hotter. They held me off as...

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RHYME SCHEME abcb

Thick mist / sharp rocks cut
Dense rain / strong wind whips
Vast drought / weak build folds
Trade boon / graft wrecks ships

RHYME SCHEME aaba

Thick mist / sharp rock strips
Dense rain / strong wind whips
Vast...

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Ides simply referred to first new moon, 
which usually fell between 
the thirteenth and fifteenth day
of a given month.

Smithsonian Magazine history buff
Tom A. Frail
posted March 4, 2010 issue
url = https://www.smithsonianmag.com/
history/top-ten-reasons-to-beware-
the-ides-of-march-8664107/
top ten reasons to 
beware the...

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The Seven Seas of  Rhye
A mythical destination for all those that do wrong.

This write sang to the tune of
When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again, Hurrah, Hurrah
        ...

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The River Mersey and The Black Pearl New Brighton 

Let the Caribee and sultry sea call to the pirates bold. 
But on this shore, with its tales of lore, The Mersey keeps its hold
For merchants,...

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Poems about Poets VI

beMused
Michael R Burch

Perhaps at three
you'll come to tea,
to have a cuppa here?

You'll just stop in
to sip dry gin?
I only have a beer.

To name the greats:
Pope, Dryden, mates?
The whole world knows their names.

Discuss...

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Now listen, 
you called me a Souper nova missing the pun, 
being clever with words ain’t for everyone, 
you comment mindless and tough
I laugh cus you're a spineless pup
 
do you ever think.. umm..
no you...

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‘Twas unsettled light which greeted me
  this morning first when after slept alone,
As though moon ascended too timidly
 and left no space for sun to call its own;
From nearby cars exhausted music played
 beneath...

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These are poems for children and poems about children and their mothers, fathers, grandmother, grandfathers and extended families.



The Desk
by Michael R. Burch
for Jeremy

There is a child I used to know
who sat, perhaps, at this same...

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