Long Awaking 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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Vacuum
by Michael R. Burch

Over hushed quadrants
forever landlocked in snow,
time’s senseless winds blow...

leaving odd relics of lives half-revealed,
if still mostly concealed...
such are the things we are unable to know

that once intrigued us so.

Come then, let us...

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State of the Art (IV)

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



Hearthside
by Michael R. Burch

“When you are old and grey and full of sleep...”  — W. ...

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Southern Icarus
by Michael R. Burch

Windborne, lover of heights,
unspooled from the truck’s wildly lurching embrace,
you climb, skittish kite...

What do you know of the world’s despair,
gliding in vast solitariness there,
so that all that remains is to
fall?

Only a...

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“Warrior” 

When the Argonauts, came across 
the abandoned Starship, they 
found within the wrecked 
command console, a DNA code
with encrypted message. 
It took several attempts to 
reactivate, but when opened, 
the following was translated: ...

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"Ground Level Entry"

“She fits the bill”,
they say it 
insouciantly

visions of being 
carried in the beak 
of a bilious pelican 

where it builds
its rudimentary nest, 
it uses sticks and debris

no stones, yet,
from irreverence
thrown at it

no higher...

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While I was walking through a meadow, of blooms and sunshine,
I stopped to spread my blanket, for a gay picnic at lunchtime.

It was very pleasant, and I had brought many good things to eat.
Afterwards I...

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As time passed on by, they settled and married
producing a fine brood of children
yet growing more and more unsettled
until one day they headed off again
this time going to the far north
where the lands were bound...

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When I open your book of life,                            ...

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"The Returning" 

Inside us all 
a strange forest

where light and dark 
are fed to us by 
curious creatures,
their unexpected gods 

in thoughts and deeds
joy and fear 
hate and love 
belief and disbelief

inwards
our dreams 
turn to
The...

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His wise council and kind patience bolstered my resolve
to overcome my youthful woes and nightmarish troubles solve.
His humanity may have saved my life. His memory I hold dear.
But whenever the name Mister James arose—
Other kids...

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Step out with me,
if you would be so kind,
on my melting island of ice.

Full-heated summer sun
feels good on our backs and shoulders
and faces turned down and in to hunt,
to fish.
We start this day with gratitude
for...

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Step out with me,
if you would be so kind,
on this melting island of ice.

Full-heated summer sun
feels good on backs and shoulders
and faces turned down and in to hunt,
to fish.
We start each day with gratitude
for warmth...

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Awaking blithe each morning,
with eyes upon the World,
I wonder, are we mourning
with ebon flags unfurled –
or are they but a warning,
some draped like snakes and curled,
stray stars and stripes adorning,
sent from the netherworld.

I wander through...

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I had always adored purple lilacs, and never could get enough,
As wildflowers bloom abundantly, although times may get rough.

They had graced a backyard garden, that I'd known in childhood,
On a tree lined street of birdsong,...

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I can't sleep.
Or, I can
and did
for three hours
but I continue waking
into a Stephen King nightmare
too real to ignore
because I feel isolated
in this quagmire
of hopeless history.

In this my collective nightmare,
President Trump goes to Saudi Arabia
like Mr....

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There was something in that dream              
               ...

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'Twas the night before Christmas and all were asleep,
Not a creature was stirring, not even a sheep.
The cattle were snoozing, the pigs were at rest
And the chickens were settled asleep on the nest.

Apart from some...

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When the enchanted 
jailors of life, 
siezed my soul 
and those
sepals unfurling
manipulative
manuscripts 
ceased to 
script a twinkle 
above screams, 
I became a 
slave to my 
own silence, 
chained by 
granite wings of 
masked butterflies, 
who...

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Born within the realm of hell's fire, spawned in the ashen dawning,
Between brimstone's sacred flame, and sulfur's earthen cauldrons,
Given the spark of life by the elemental goddess, nature herself.
The she-devil sleeps, in her Multan rock...

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After two more hours of watching 
When the night was at its deepest 
Han roused Kwona for her vigil
Till the first light of the morning 

But a mood of laughter took them
By some magic of...

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Finally to Burn: Icarus, Resurrected
by Michael R. Burch

Athena takes me
sometimes by the hand

and we go levitating
through strange Dreamlands

where Apollo sleeps
in his dark forgetting

and Passion seems
like a wise bloodletting

and all I remember
upon awaking

is: to Love sometimes
is...

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Good King Wenceslas again
On the feast of Stephen
Saw the snow spread white and plain
Deep and crisp and even.
Afar a snowy hump in sight
Attracted his attention
Could it be that something might
Need royal intervention?

"Hither, page, and stand...

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Once upon a time there were two worlds,
One for children and one for adults,
Each owing its existence to the other,
With the children awaking to a new sun each day, eager to explore, 
Both, the boundaries...

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S ober your mind and clear the mist of ignorance
I mmediate reaction is required to gang up against perpetrators 
X enial approach is needed to shield the victims from prejudice
T o help everyone understand their...

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