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"grassroots" poems
The Kurds live In parts of Syria, Iraq, and Iran As well as Kurdistan Kurdish groups such as the KCK and PJAK Seek democratic autonomy for Kurds And democracies in Turkey, Iran and Syria Aposim is a grassroots socialist movement That promotes gender equality Apo is the political founder of the PKK and PJAK The female fighters of PJAK Don't have families Because this will weaken their commitment To the organization Thomas Morton Host of this Vice documentary Stays in a farmhouse He headed up to meet the fighters The PJAK division he met with Fights for women's rights Around the Iranian border They tell Thomas Women are being killed in Iran It is a mental persecution of women The PJAK representative says It is about the right to democracy Freedom, Equality, and education The woman explains that The Iranians use Sharia and Islam For their own purposes It is not true Islam according To the PJAK representative In true Islam there is equality and equity Thomas That really was priceless Watching you line dance with them Really funny I think the women of PJAK Got a kick out of it too God bless the women of PJAK Such beautiful smiles Full of life Standing up for women's rights
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Feb 26, 2015
Feb 26, 2015 at 1:48 AM UTC
Kurds Seeking Democratic Autonomy
Composed wandering the Commons, quietly listening to the sounds of Childish Gambino Confused Looking for the sixteenth time for An escape from the Pru Sipping a glass of Sam Adams Boston Brick Red at a corner of WHISKEY'S on Boylston Stopped in at Ben & Jerry's on Park: Bought a cone of ™ Paid for it with my Bank of America® VISA® P L A T I N U M P L U S ® Checked in on foursquare and read the protest tweets on my verizonwireless® hTC® ThunderBolt™ with Google: @OccupyWallSt #NYPD collapses on #Sanctuary and begins arresting clergy and occupiers inside. #D17 #Re-Occupy #OWS \_Retweeted by Occupy Boston @HoraceBoothroyd @OccupyWallSt Links to sanctuary/clergy violations? Erst I wandered the sights and thought of thoughts Tweeted a picture of the “pro-corporate” march Pictured Headlines: Area Cop Arrests Area Man for Obeying Traffic Signal "Didn't anybody tell him that's not how its done round here?" Cell of Young Idealists with ties to Low-Level Terrorist Organization Busted & Detained: Found Plotting the Grassroots, Digitized, Non-Violent Overthrow of the Status Quo Op-ed: City upon a Hill: “Whose city?! Whose hill?!” #SOPA #NDAA #OCCUPYBOSTON ~D.B. Guy, 12/17/11
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Nov 3, 2012
Nov 3, 2012 at 3:35 AM UTC
Another for #occupyboston
The sea stretches tight on a slight, white horizon unflurried by waves, by the clean, boneache moon. The water rests awhile, passing slowly through the ribs of continents, its deep, deep chest booming with the cries of extinct fish. I am not dead, though the salt has lifted me out and away, its sting green-silver like a safety razor edge. It rubs away chromosomes, the earliest layers of skin and remakes me pale and raw as a baby’s spleen. The land abandons me. The last little fishing vessel returns to its village, bearing upon its sun-slick floor the heft of my cells, my tiny stillborn children. I know I’ll never be a mother; the salinity of my blood has risen steadily these past million years; it itches against my arteries and calcifies in the deeper pockets of my lungs. I tower over grassroots, vivid as a corpuscle, drinking from the local well and dreaming of lysis.
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Jun 18, 2013
Jun 18, 2013 at 12:22 AM UTC
Fossil Mermaid
YES, the Dead speak to us. This town belongs to the Dead, to the Dead and to the Wilderness. Back of the clamps on a fireproof door they hold the papers of the Dead in a house here And when two living men fall out, when one says the Dead spoke a Yes, and the other says the Dead spoke a No, they go then together to this house. They loosen the clamps and haul at the hasps and try their keys and curse at the locks and the combination numbers. For the teeth of the rats are barred and the tongues of the moths are outlawed and the sun and the air of wind is not wanted. They open a box where a sheet of paper shivers, in a dusty corner shivers with the dry inkdrops of the Dead, the signed names. Here the ink testifies, here we find the say-so, here we learn the layout, now we know where the cities and farms belong. Dead white men and dead red men tested each other with shot and knives: they twisted each others' necks: land was yours if you took and kept it. How are the heads the rain seeps in, the rain-washed knuckles in sod and gumbo? Where the sheets of paper shiver, Back of the hasps and handles, Back of the fireproof clamps, They read what the fingers scribbled, who the land belongs to now-it is herein provided, it is hereby stipulated-the land and all appurtenances thereto and all deposits of oil and gold and coal and silver, and all pockets and repositories of gravel and diamonds, dung and permanganese, and all clover and bumblebees, all bluegrass, johnny-jump-ups, grassroots, springs of running water or rivers or lakes or high spreading trees or hazel bushes or sumach or thorn-apple branches or high in the air the bird nest with spotted blue eggs shaken in the roaming wind of the treetops- So it is scrawled here, "I direct and devise So and so and such and such," And this is the last word. There is nothing more to it. In a shanty out in the Wilderness, ghosts of to-morrow sit, waiting to come and go, to do their job. They will go into the house of the Dead and take the shivering sheets of paper and make a bonfire and dance a deadman's dance over the hissing crisp. In a slang their own the dancers out of the Wilderness will write a paper for the living to read and sign: The dead need peace, the dead need sleep, let the dead have peace and sleep, let the papers of the Dead who fix the lives of the Living, let them be a hissing crisp and ashes, let the young men and the young women forever understand we are through and no longer take the say-so of the Dead; Let the dead have honor from us with our thoughts of them and our thoughts of land and all appurtenances thereto and all deposits of oil and gold and coal and silver, and all pockets and repositories of gravel and diamonds, dung and permanganese, and all clover and bumblebees, all bluegrass, johnny-jump-ups, grassroots, springs of running water or rivers or lakes or high spreading trees or hazel bushes or sumach or thornapple branches or high in the air the bird nest with spotted blue eggs shaken in the roaming wind of the treetops.
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2k
Yes, the Dead Speak to Us
YES, the Dead speak to us. This town belongs to the Dead, to the Dead and to the Wilderness. Back of the clamps on a fireproof door they hold the papers of the Dead in a house here And when two living men fall out, when one says the Dead spoke a Yes, and the other says the Dead spoke a No, they go then together to this house. They loosen the clamps and haul at the hasps and try their keys and curse at the locks and the combination numbers. For the teeth of the rats are barred and the tongues of the moths are outlawed and the sun and the air of wind is not wanted. They open a box where a sheet of paper shivers, in a dusty corner shivers with the dry inkdrops of the Dead, the signed names. Here the ink testifies, here we find the say-so, here we learn the layout, now we know where the cities and farms belong. Dead white men and dead red men tested each other with shot and knives: they twisted each others' necks: land was yours if you took and kept it. How are the heads the rain seeps in, the rain-washed knuckles in sod and gumbo? Where the sheets of paper shiver, Back of the hasps and handles, Back of the fireproof clamps, They read what the fingers scribbled, who the land belongs to now-it is herein provided, it is hereby stipulated-the land and all appurtenances thereto and all deposits of oil and gold and coal and silver, and all pockets and repositories of gravel and diamonds, dung and permanganese, and all clover and bumblebees, all bluegrass, johnny-jump-ups, grassroots, springs of running water or rivers or lakes or high spreading trees or hazel bushes or sumach or thorn-apple branches or high in the air the bird nest with spotted blue eggs shaken in the roaming wind of the treetops- So it is scrawled here, "I direct and devise So and so and such and such," And this is the last word. There is nothing more to it. In a shanty out in the Wilderness, ghosts of to-morrow sit, waiting to come and go, to do their job. They will go into the house of the Dead and take the shivering sheets of paper and make a bonfire and dance a deadman's dance over the hissing crisp. In a slang their own the dancers out of the Wilderness will write a paper for the living to read and sign: The dead need peace, the dead need sleep, let the dead have peace and sleep, let the papers of the Dead who fix the lives of the Living, let them be a hissing crisp and ashes, let the young men and the young women forever understand we are through and no longer take the say-so of the Dead; Let the dead have honor from us with our thoughts of them and our thoughts of land and all appurtenances thereto and all deposits of oil and gold and coal and silver, and all pockets and repositories of gravel and diamonds, dung and permanganese, and all clover and bumblebees, all bluegrass, johnny-jump-ups, grassroots, springs of running water or rivers or lakes or high spreading trees or hazel bushes or sumach or thornapple branches or high in the air the bird nest with spotted blue eggs shaken in the roaming wind of the treetops.
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32
he awaits the brittle thought its naked vocal is neat and clean it comes to him from the open window overlooking Cinderella's shop of horrors her glass slipper now serves as a wine glass to the gluttony of the desperately affectionate old men who would melt at the thought of even her smile the brittle thought arrives and he unpacks its pieces parts and assembles himself in their divine image now a brittle man he wears his fractured frailty with a dignified pride take one for the team his new catchphrase the pieces parts swallowed wholesale become the recycled food for thought in the hipster gypsy's coffeehouse the brittle thought is more than a concept its a grassroots movement to be one of the pieces parts left in the wake of the slowly sinking titanic of sanity the brittle thought is there is more than a con artist pulling off his masterpiece its a game show host doing a miami vacation its a dollar store version in a Ritz Carlton lifestyle Cinderella's  shop of horrors is just his kind of place filled with the recycled gods and devils that made the old world such a colourful place to live Cinderella is giving away all expense paid trips for one to be lunch the privilege of being fed to lions is not to be missed the brittle thought finally breaks he walks home in the rain grateful to eat lunch not be it
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Nov 4, 2013
Nov 4, 2013 at 1:21 PM UTC
Cinderella's shop of horrors
Strangely induce By a lovely matron Instantaneous Gaiety While defrayal Skeptical to various reasons Which I try to figure To a woman whom I hardly knew A smirk that only a whisper can tell Who is she? A gracious beauty Meander misdirection I pause Masquerading my persona She uncovers Challenges that I arrange with deception Bewilder Her magnificent grassroots How elegantly her friendliness is shrewd? I am perch For her liquid perfection Which cannot be quench As my throat dries My language to her will be lost
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Dec 7, 2009
Dec 7, 2009 at 1:18 PM UTC
The Invigorating Rosabella
i have survived storms. i have survived a father's voice like thunder; handprint lightning flowers petal over my skin like i am a garden to sinners- adam and eve call my grassroots their home and hum lullabies- i have survived anger. pros and cons of clock-ticking therapy sessions where money is thrown at my gaze, fixed on the wall, dollar-a-second drumming fingers screaming so loud that heaven shuts the blinds and hangs a "closed" sign on the door. pros and cons of stumbling home, under a murky peerless crowd of smoke, slurring words trail around and behind me like moths to a porchlight. morning headaches, angry adults damaging drywall and breaking family portraits exhausting search for answers exhausting search in a silence that lengthens the disconnect from child to mother where your mind goes red and the honest truth that stays stuck to the roof of your mouth falls out where you become an overflowing mailbox and your hands shake the absence of parents who never taught you to hold your tongue i have survived hurt. i have survived the specific type of loss that you feel in the pit of your stomach the one that lies next to you when you stare at the ceiling and your face hurts from crying tears scrub your eyelids raw and you promise, "if i ever make it through this, i will never be here again." i have survived giving up, taking it all back, throwing it all away, parallel structures of contemplation and decision i have survived lonely. angry storms of abandonment, melodies of the lonely and the hurt i reprise to the ones that add injury to insult, you are not the worst thing that has ever happened to me. i echo choruses to the people that force me to grow up at sixteen i have destruction embedded into my neurotransmitters i have shooting post-traumatic pain in my memories i have survived a hell that your hands are not stained enough to touch. i assure you, my love, i will survive you as well
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Oct 5, 2016
Oct 5, 2016 at 8:18 PM UTC
durability
i have survived storms. i have survived a father's voice like thunder; handprint lightning flowers petal over my skin like i am a garden to sinners- adam and eve call my grassroots their home and hum lullabies- i have survived anger. pros and cons of clock-ticking therapy sessions where money is thrown at my gaze, fixed on the wall, dollar-a-second drumming fingers screaming so loud that heaven shuts the blinds and hangs a "closed" sign on the door. pros and cons of stumbling home, under a murky peerless crowd of smoke, slurring words trail around and behind me like moths to a porchlight. morning headaches, angry adults damaging drywall and breaking family portraits exhausting search for answers exhausting search in a silence that lengthens the disconnect from child to mother where your mind goes red and the honest truth that stays stuck to the roof of your mouth falls out where you become an overflowing mailbox and your hands shake the absence of parents who never taught you to hold your tongue i have survived hurt. i have survived the specific type of loss that you feel in the pit of your stomach the one that lies next to you when you stare at the ceiling and your face hurts from crying tears scrub your eyelids raw and you promise, "if i ever make it through this, i will never be here again." i have survived giving up, taking it all back, throwing it all away, parallel structures of contemplation and decision i have survived lonely. angry storms of abandonment, melodies of the lonely and the hurt i reprise to the ones that add injury to insult, you are not the worst thing that has ever happened to me. i echo choruses to the people that force me to grow up at sixteen i have destruction embedded into my neurotransmitters i have shooting post-traumatic pain in my memories i have survived a hell that your hands are not stained enough to touch. i assure you, my love, i will survive you as well
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50
AMONG the grassroots In the moonlight, who comes circling, red tongues and high noses? Is one of 'em Buck and one of 'em White Fang? In the moonlight, who are they, cross-legged, telling their stories over and over? Is one of 'em Martin Eden and one of 'em Larsen the Wolf? Let an epitaph read: He loved the straight eyes of dogs and the strong heads of men.
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1.4k
Dogheads
i listen to Dubstep music and sip tea i am the Post-Mark Pondering Gender politics and finishing my tea i am non violent, a pacifist But don't put it past me that i won't clench a fist With righteous grist If you make me feel alone in my considerations temporarily i'm not a weak soul am hardy folk Hardly lost faith when i realised God was a joke Like a big fat egg yolk splattered all over paper Christmas hogging 3 months of calendar A Consumerist campaign, but tell me i'm the miser Police tend to pass me in the streets, i think smart Skin colour ain't the first part One of the mainly white audience at the Public Enemy show The system as it stands fears me though If you stop and searched my heart you'd **** me though i Listen to Deep House and sip Lucozade Lost deep in this house i've never worked hard at a job So **** lucky at birth to have wealth But that's my parents money (and I'm not in any way responsible for slavery) Kanye West with his Confederate Flag **** "I'ts mine now, what you gonna do?" Little did we know that we were the 'New Slaves' Contemporary thinker, i read the game cover to cover After all they taught me from birth how to study i'm too uninterested in ticking boxes to earn money To satisy the transferable skills that you want from me I'll Enjoy a nights alcoholism instead of getting high and writing an essay Am I getting too wordy? i'm trying to spit now, can i? can I? The gender politics on my mind at inappropriate times i told the guy at the door i wasn't thinking about race Most people are thinking about 'the race' White Middle Class kid picked up a mic and tried to rap again... I listen to Hip Hop and drink water Hardly faded I'm perfectly sober I'm energised naturally, words seem to strengthen me I am the grassroots, I have been wrongly righted My Parent's deserve this so want me to sit tight But I'm jumping right into the middle of hip hop (and feminism) And theres nothing you can do about it. [For All My ****** and All My *******
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Nov 6, 2013
Nov 6, 2013 at 7:48 PM UTC
Response to Lord Jamar's Comments on White People being 'Guests' in Hip Hop
i listen to Dubstep music and sip tea i am the Post-Mark Pondering Gender politics and finishing my tea i am non violent, a pacifist But don't put it past me that i won't clench a fist With righteous grist If you make me feel alone in my considerations temporarily i'm not a weak soul am hardy folk Hardly lost faith when i realised God was a joke Like a big fat egg yolk splattered all over paper Christmas hogging 3 months of calendar A Consumerist campaign, but tell me i'm the miser Police tend to pass me in the streets, i think smart Skin colour ain't the first part One of the mainly white audience at the Public Enemy show The system as it stands fears me though If you stop and searched my heart you'd **** me though i Listen to Deep House and sip Lucozade Lost deep in this house i've never worked hard at a job So **** lucky at birth to have wealth But that's my parents money (and I'm not in any way responsible for slavery) Kanye West with his Confederate Flag **** "I'ts mine now, what you gonna do?" Little did we know that we were the 'New Slaves' Contemporary thinker, i read the game cover to cover After all they taught me from birth how to study i'm too uninterested in ticking boxes to earn money To satisy the transferable skills that you want from me I'll Enjoy a nights alcoholism instead of getting high and writing an essay Am I getting too wordy? i'm trying to spit now, can i? can I? The gender politics on my mind at inappropriate times i told the guy at the door i wasn't thinking about race Most people are thinking about 'the race' White Middle Class kid picked up a mic and tried to rap again... I listen to Hip Hop and drink water Hardly faded I'm perfectly sober I'm energised naturally, words seem to strengthen me I am the grassroots, I have been wrongly righted My Parent's deserve this so want me to sit tight But I'm jumping right into the middle of hip hop (and feminism) And theres nothing you can do about it. [For All My ****** and All My *******
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44
He broadcasts a misprint offender. He is advised to question plutocracy. He is deformed at birth and then again later. He goes to war with a violin case as a a weapon. He grabs all the paintings off the wall at once. He is in an art museum. He is in a grassroots rebellion against the free market society. He is crashing a boat into the Pentagon. He is chewing on a metal bottle cap and his teeth are all breaking off. He is not allowed into the back seat of his own car. He is watching a play from very far. He yawns in a diner. He lies in his bed. Everyone overwhelms a giant. Everyone recovers the disappointing vehicle throughout the famine.
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Feb 3, 2012
Feb 3, 2012 at 10:15 AM UTC
Giant
He broadcasts a misprint offender. He is advised to question plutocracy. He is deformed at birth and then again later. He goes to war with a violin case as a a weapon. He grabs all the paintings off the wall at once. He is in an art museum. He is in a grassroots rebellion against the free market society. He is crashing a boat into the Pentagon. He is chewing on a metal bottle cap and his teeth are all breaking off. He is not allowed into the back seat of his own car. He is watching a play from very far. He yawns in a diner. He lies in his bed. Everyone overwhelms a giant. Everyone recovers the disappointing vehicle throughout the famine.
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Feb 3, 2012
Feb 3, 2012 at 10:15 AM UTC
Giant
forget all your selfish rights its about our world’s birthday an organized campaign to remind you of public consciousness lets think about our annual environmental concerns event, but just for one day from grassroots to ancestral roots for our future youth who needs clean air, water, energy anyway Remember what you learned, now practice it in the next days Earth is the real house, the greatest phenomena, in life’s miracle play My birthright is give her my respects and repay Not to turn it into mother nature’s biggest grave
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Apr 23, 2017
Apr 23, 2017 at 1:05 AM UTC
Earth day ...
Once by Michael R. Burch for Beth Once when her kisses were fire incarnate and left in their imprint bright lipstick, and flame, when her breath rose and fell over smoldering dunes, leaving me listlessly sighing her name . . . Once when her ******* were as pale, as beguiling, as wan rivers of sand shedding heat like a mist, when her words would at times softly, mildly rebuke me all the while as her lips did more wildly insist . . . Once when the thought of her echoed and whispered through vast wastelands of need like a Bedouin chant, I ached for the touch of her lips with such longing that I vowed all my former vows to recant . . . Once, only once, something bloomed, of a desiccate seed— this implausible blossom her wild rains of kisses decreed. Published by The Lyric, Writer’s Journal, Grassroots Poetry, Tucumcari Literary Journal, Unlikely Stories, Poetry Life & Times. Keywords/Tags: kisses, fire, incarnate, lipstick, dunes, ******* heat, lips, breath, sighs, passion, desire, lust, *** bachelorhood, recanted
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Mar 26, 2020
Mar 26, 2020 at 3:14 AM UTC
Once
You tear our kind away, those pesky weeds                                             that stunt your plump full seeds  - that steal and cause decay. You landed by fortune, fortune of the windy chance - you earned it. What is different is dangerous less valued - not worth a glance. Warm soil in-between your fingers, You have power here in the garden, Pulling and wrenching the stems from home We’re unwanted, not needed Not useful, not beautiful, Not enough,                       but too much.                                      Strong weathered fingers grip our necks, Trampled under steel studded boots, We seep into the soil disappearing, Just like you wanted us to. Suffocating ignored as grassroots, condemned to be always taboo. Weeding is good, you say. Weeding is important. It keeps the garden healthy, comely, presentable. We’re the intruders, thieves! in search for better light. Worn down we grieve. why do you see not our might? A garden improved Standing up I arch my back, rusty and cramped. Tiresome work removing the unwanted. My hands scratched and torn, the limp bodies neatly packed, the garden is reborn. The flora look uniform now no insulting dark stems, only the long strong boughs of rightful King Oak, and no more of them. But a king without his subjects is a peasant. With our loss fades your treasured soil, your sterling root networks anchoring your   flowerbeds of wealth. We are the pests, we stole your soil, so why does it grow grey? You wanted growth I heard you say. You can’t have both. What a nuisance. Us or the decay? So I am a pest, you say? Well, to that I say, we pests always grow. Your tulips and rose corrode, but you reap what you sow. No matter the hate that spits our existence, the sharp teeth of the chainsaw or poisonous pesticide bidding good riddance, we are green, and life sustaining, and we are resistant. The aim is not good riddance, but co-existence.
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Mar 4, 2021
Mar 4, 2021 at 10:45 AM UTC
Nuisance
You tear our kind away, those pesky weeds                                             that stunt your plump full seeds  - that steal and cause decay. You landed by fortune, fortune of the windy chance - you earned it. What is different is dangerous less valued - not worth a glance. Warm soil in-between your fingers, You have power here in the garden, Pulling and wrenching the stems from home We’re unwanted, not needed Not useful, not beautiful, Not enough,                       but too much.                                      Strong weathered fingers grip our necks, Trampled under steel studded boots, We seep into the soil disappearing, Just like you wanted us to. Suffocating ignored as grassroots, condemned to be always taboo. Weeding is good, you say. Weeding is important. It keeps the garden healthy, comely, presentable. We’re the intruders, thieves! in search for better light. Worn down we grieve. why do you see not our might? A garden improved Standing up I arch my back, rusty and cramped. Tiresome work removing the unwanted. My hands scratched and torn, the limp bodies neatly packed, the garden is reborn. The flora look uniform now no insulting dark stems, only the long strong boughs of rightful King Oak, and no more of them. But a king without his subjects is a peasant. With our loss fades your treasured soil, your sterling root networks anchoring your   flowerbeds of wealth. We are the pests, we stole your soil, so why does it grow grey? You wanted growth I heard you say. You can’t have both. What a nuisance. Us or the decay? So I am a pest, you say? Well, to that I say, we pests always grow. Your tulips and rose corrode, but you reap what you sow. No matter the hate that spits our existence, the sharp teeth of the chainsaw or poisonous pesticide bidding good riddance, we are green, and life sustaining, and we are resistant. The aim is not good riddance, but co-existence.
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66
One lit wick amongst a sea of dismantled candles That one flickering flame, the one that still shines That one is mine But lately that fire has become my world entire Lingering on to the dying hope That this little flame will burn the rope That the world has tied around my neck And threw a bag over my head Lifted me on to a bucket But I won’t go down that easily **** it We live a crazy world Don’t we have the right go insane for little while? Put on a little smile and cancel out somebody else’s little frown Because hands down it’s better than that canned cloud you bought on sale because it was cheaper than spending a night gazing up at the sky and putting your imagination to work for more than minimum wage That canned cloud won’t cut it so melt it with your flickering flame Down to the same gut instinct that makes you hit snooze on your alarm clock even when you’re already late But wait, there’s more! While you enjoy your controlled snore cold war, withhold your neurons from running the relay race they’ve been training for until you’ve found a track that drowns your wrath and surrounds your knack for that weird little thing you do that makes you you Burn the rope and go insane train your brain to listen to itself instead of your bank account And count on this grassroots enlightenment isn’t on clearance sale and it doesn’t have a 24/7 drive thru it revives you ‘till you’re alive anew Water those grassroots with some good ol’ indulgence and improvisation Leave it out in the sun to dry and my oh my, you’ve just tried something bona fide
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Jul 22, 2012
Jul 22, 2012 at 8:31 PM UTC
Grassroots Enlightenment
One lit wick amongst a sea of dismantled candles That one flickering flame, the one that still shines That one is mine But lately that fire has become my world entire Lingering on to the dying hope That this little flame will burn the rope That the world has tied around my neck And threw a bag over my head Lifted me on to a bucket But I won’t go down that easily **** it We live a crazy world Don’t we have the right go insane for little while? Put on a little smile and cancel out somebody else’s little frown Because hands down it’s better than that canned cloud you bought on sale because it was cheaper than spending a night gazing up at the sky and putting your imagination to work for more than minimum wage That canned cloud won’t cut it so melt it with your flickering flame Down to the same gut instinct that makes you hit snooze on your alarm clock even when you’re already late But wait, there’s more! While you enjoy your controlled snore cold war, withhold your neurons from running the relay race they’ve been training for until you’ve found a track that drowns your wrath and surrounds your knack for that weird little thing you do that makes you you Burn the rope and go insane train your brain to listen to itself instead of your bank account And count on this grassroots enlightenment isn’t on clearance sale and it doesn’t have a 24/7 drive thru it revives you ‘till you’re alive anew Water those grassroots with some good ol’ indulgence and improvisation Leave it out in the sun to dry and my oh my, you’ve just tried something bona fide
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43
Will There Be Starlight by Michael R. Burch Will there be starlight tonight while she gathers damask and lilac and sweet-scented heathers? And will she find flowers, or will she find thorns guarding the petals of roses unborn? Will there be moonlight tonight while she gathers seashells and mussels and albatross feathers? And will she find treasure or will she find pain at the end of this rainbow of moonlight on rain? Published by The Chained Muse, Famous Poets and Poems, Grassroots Poetry, Inspirational Stories, Jenion, Poetry Webring, Starlight Archives, TALESetc, The Word (UK), Writ in Water Keywords/Tags: Night, starlight, moonlight, mystery, flowers, roses, petals, thorns, seashells, feathers, rain, rainbow, treasure, *** of gold, romance, romantic, romanticism, love, passion, desire, longing
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Mar 16, 2020
Mar 16, 2020 at 11:03 PM UTC
Will There Be Starlight
Corona by Michael R. Burch There was a moment   without the sound of trumpets or a shining light,     but with only silence and darkness and a cool mist       felt more than seen.       I was eighteen,     my heart pounding wildly within me like a fist.   Expectation hung like a cry in the night, and your eyes shone like the corona of a comet. There was an instant . . .   without words, but with a deeper communion,     as clothing first, then inhibitions fell;       liquidly our lips met       —feverish, wet—     forgotten, the tales of heaven and hell,   in the immediacy of our fumbling union . . . when the rest of the world became distant. Then the only light was the moon on the rise, and the only sound, the communion of sighs. With all the understandable gloom, doom and despair over the coronavirus, I was reminded of this early poem of mine that used the term "corona" in a much more positive light. I wrote this poem around age 18 and it has been published by Grassroots Poetry and Poetry Webring. Keywords/Tags: Corona, coronavirus, touch, union, communion, sighs, expectation, unity, trumpets, heart, pounding, *** arousal, union, ecstasy, consummation, consecration, omen, comet, shooting star, talisman, moonrise, moon rising
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Mar 25, 2020
Mar 25, 2020 at 11:44 PM UTC
Corona
coffee shop motion a city to standstill slow dance this turning sensual beat where free minds play and ideas take root in this grassroots gathering of love like the ocean swelling to drown out the sea and the cry of mocking birds sings me to sleep safe in the knowledge that change comes to mind when colorful trees strip with the time and this green earth keeps spinning powered by the powers below and above when angels and devils fear not to make love we'll tear down these walls built by greed and hate and show one another we make our own fate!
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Sep 18, 2012
Sep 18, 2012 at 12:11 PM UTC
coffee shop series #5
THE HOPE There is hope Until someone believes Though all corners seems so sorry We pray for a better place so shiny Grassroots of selflessness had already been decayed One in a million of being surveyed Could it be no hope at all No equal justice for short and tall No unconditional love to keep Seems to whoever heart we peek Could it be no hope at all From east to west a lonely soul.... THE HOPE (Reversal) From east to west a lonely soul Could it be no hope at all Seems to whoever heart we peek No unconditional love to keep No equal justice for short and tall Could it be no hope at all One in a million of being surveyed Grassroots of selflessness had already been decayed We pray for a better place so shiny Though all corners seems so sorry Until someone believes There is hope... written: September 29, 2014 @ 12:45 Mysterious Aries
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Aug 5, 2015
Aug 5, 2015 at 7:14 PM UTC
The Hope
Alias indomitable invincible Donald John Trump oozes wrath inexorably plunging every species of life toward apocalyptic warpath mercilessly threatentens world wide web promising bloodbath validating ex post facto commander in chief as nonpareil sociopath hence... this call to arms gives run for money challenging any psychopath lest inevitable according to dead reckoning prediction of wisest sages calculated math. Thus one poetic footsoldier doth broadcast dire straits emergency, and inveigh grassroots action mandatory meaning registered voters must cast ballot per se else planet Earth will... burn thermonuclear gray rendering oblate spheroid uninhabitable, I daresay if bleak forecast father time doth delay global warming would outweigh former worst case nihilistic scenario, nonetheless Gaia will serve as repurposed ashtray, whereby inextinguishable fiery storms approximating calculus of doomsday nsync with intolerable weather forecasts if complacency rides roughshod field day defying lack of immunization oy vey against opportunistic unfamiliar organisms viral and bacterial agent provocateurs microscopic gangbusters nothing could allay winning scrimmage play thinning overpopulation whereby scavengers make short shrift plethora once living flotsam and jetsam perhaps requiring rotting, putrefying, goods put on layaway (type of foragers - reference https://www.google.com/search? client=safari&channel=mac_bm&ei= KECaXe_UA6SO5wLh-7gY&q=list+ examples+of+scavengers&oq=list+types+ of+scavengers&gs_l=psy-ab.1.0.0i22i30. 58737.70074..70997...0.4..0.223.1875. 21j2j1......0....1..gws-wiz....... 0i71j0i273j0j0i131j0i67j33i22i29i30. wnDI0kLrKWM). now ye might hashtag me chicken little synonymous to Rome burning, while Nero did fiddle, perhaps scaremonger i.e. Cassandra alamist bah bing away, a realist foaming at figurative mouth with spittle, would you believe cautious optimist, who presents prediction, while this poem heed whittle.
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Oct 6, 2019
Oct 6, 2019 at 5:18 PM UTC
Impregnable fortified Donjon
Alias indomitable invincible Donald John Trump oozes wrath inexorably plunging every species of life toward apocalyptic warpath mercilessly threatentens world wide web promising bloodbath validating ex post facto commander in chief as nonpareil sociopath hence... this call to arms gives run for money challenging any psychopath lest inevitable according to dead reckoning prediction of wisest sages calculated math. Thus one poetic footsoldier doth broadcast dire straits emergency, and inveigh grassroots action mandatory meaning registered voters must cast ballot per se else planet Earth will... burn thermonuclear gray rendering oblate spheroid uninhabitable, I daresay if bleak forecast father time doth delay global warming would outweigh former worst case nihilistic scenario, nonetheless Gaia will serve as repurposed ashtray, whereby inextinguishable fiery storms approximating calculus of doomsday nsync with intolerable weather forecasts if complacency rides roughshod field day defying lack of immunization oy vey against opportunistic unfamiliar organisms viral and bacterial agent provocateurs microscopic gangbusters nothing could allay winning scrimmage play thinning overpopulation whereby scavengers make short shrift plethora once living flotsam and jetsam perhaps requiring rotting, putrefying, goods put on layaway (type of foragers - reference https://www.google.com/search? client=safari&channel=mac_bm&ei= KECaXe_UA6SO5wLh-7gY&q=list+ examples+of+scavengers&oq=list+types+ of+scavengers&gs_l=psy-ab.1.0.0i22i30. 58737.70074..70997...0.4..0.223.1875. 21j2j1......0....1..gws-wiz....... 0i71j0i273j0j0i131j0i67j33i22i29i30. wnDI0kLrKWM). now ye might hashtag me chicken little synonymous to Rome burning, while Nero did fiddle, perhaps scaremonger i.e. Cassandra alamist bah bing away, a realist foaming at figurative mouth with spittle, would you believe cautious optimist, who presents prediction, while this poem heed whittle.
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The Peripheries of Love by Michael R. Burch Through waning afternoons we glide the watery peripheries of love. A silence, a quietude falls. Above us—the darkening pavilions of clouds. Below us—rough pebbles slowly worn smooth grate in the gentle turbulence of yesterday’s forgotten rains. Later, the moon like a ****** lifts her stricken white face and the waters rise toward some unfathomable shore. We sway gently in the wake of what stirs beneath us, yet leaves us unmoved ... curiously motionless, as though twilight might blur the effects of proximity and distance, as though love might be near— as near as a single cupped tear of resilient dew or a long-awaited face. Published by Romantics Quarterly, Poetry Magazine, Boston Poetry Magazine, Triplopia, Shadows Ink, E Mobius Pi, Underground Poets, Emotions Literary Magazine, Grassroots Poetry, Poetry Webring, Poetically Speaking, The Poetic Muse, Poet’s Haven, Poetic Voices, Nutty Stories (South Africa) and Gostinaya (in a Russian translation by Yelena Dubrovin) Keywords/Tags: Love, face, recognition, water, silence, quietude, quiet, turbulence, clouds, pavilions, moon, white, pale, stricken, ****** water, wake
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Mar 19, 2020
Mar 19, 2020 at 2:37 AM UTC
The Peripheries of Love
At Once by Michael R. Burch Though she was fair, though she sent me the epistle of her love at once and inscribed therein love’s antique prayer, I did not love her at once. Though she would dare pain’s pale, clinging shadows, to approach me at once, the dark, haggard keeper of the lair, I did not love her at once. Though she would share the all of her being, to heal me at once, yet more than her touch I was unable bear. I did not love her at once. And yet she would care, and pour out her essence ... and yet—there was more! I awoke from long darkness, and yet—she was there. I loved her the longer; I loved her the more because I did not love her at once. Published by The Lyric, Romantics Quarterly and Grassroots Poetry. Keywords/Tags: Epistle, love, antique, prayer, pain, shadows, lair, touch, heal, healing, share, sharing, companionship
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Mar 28, 2020
Mar 28, 2020 at 11:38 PM UTC
At Once
Moments by Michael R. Burch for Beth There were moments full of promise, like the petal-scented rainfall of early spring, when to hold you in my arms and to kiss your willing lips seemed everything. There are moments strangely empty full of pale unearthly twilight—how the cold stars stare!— when to be without you is a dark enchantment the night and I share. Published by Tucumcari Literary Review, Romantics Quarterly, Grassroots Poetry, The Chained Muse, in a Soundcloud reading by Vex Darkly, in a YouTube reading by Jasper Sole, and in a Romanian translation by Petru Dimofte. Keywords/Tags: Spring, rain, rainfall, petals, blossoms, blossoming, promise, winter, night, cold, pale, twilight, void, emptiness, abyss, dark, enchantment
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Mar 25, 2020
Mar 25, 2020 at 3:16 AM UTC
Moments