Epigrams V

Epigrams Autumn Conundrum by Michael R. Burch It’s not that every leaf must finally fall, it’s just that we can never catch them all. Piercing the Shell by Michael R. Burch If we strip away all the accouterments of war, perhaps we'll discover what the heart is for. Epitaph for a Palestinian Child by Michael R. Burch I lived as best I could, and then I died. Be careful where you step: the grave is wide. Styx by Michael R. Burch Black waters, deep and dark and still... all men have passed this way, or will. Childless by Michael R. Burch How can she bear her grief? Mightier than Atlas, she shoulders the weight Of one fallen star. Stormfront by Michael R. Burch Our distance is frightening: a distance like the abyss between heaven and earth interrupted by bizarre and terrible lightning. Mate Check by Michael R. Burch Love is an ache hearts willingly secure then break the bank to cure. Incompatibles by Michael R. Burch Reason’s treason! cries the Heart. Love’s insane, replies the Brain. Grave Oversight I by Michael R. Burch The dead are always with us, and yet they are naught! Grave Oversight II by Michael R. Burch The dead are either naught or naughty, being so sought! Imperfect Perfection by Michael R. Burch You’re too perfect for words— a problem for a poet. Ironic Vacation by Michael R. Burch Salzburg. Seeing Mozart’s baby grand piano. Standing in the presence of sheer incalculable genius. Grabbing my childish pen to write a poem & challenge the Immortals. Next stop, the catacombs! Expert Advice by Michael R. Burch Your breasts are perfect for your lithe, slender body. Please stop making false comparisons your hobby! don’t forget by Michael R. Burch don’t forget to remember that Space is curved (like your Heart) and that even Light is bent by your Gravity. Kissin’ ’n’ buzzin’ by Michael R. Burch Kissin’ ’n’ buzzin’ the bees rise in a dizzy circle of two. Oh, when I’m with you, I feel like kissin’ ’n’ buzzin’ too! Liquid Assets by Michael R. Burch And so I have loved you, and so I have lost, accrued disappointment, ledgered its cost, debited wisdom, credited pain... My assets remaining are liquid again. Caveat Spender by Michael R. Burch It’s better not to speculate "continually" on who is great. Though relentless awe’s a Célèbre Cause, please reserve some time for the contemplation of the perils of EXAGGERATION. An unbending tree breaks easily. —Lao Tzu, translation by Michael R. Burch Once fanaticism has gangrened brains the incurable malady invariably remains. —Voltaire, translation by Michael R. Burch My objective is not to side with the majority, but to avoid the ranks of the insane.—Marcus Aurelius, translation by Michael R. Burch Booksellers laud authors for novel editions as pimps praise their whores for exotic positions. —Thomas Campion, translation by Michael R. Burch If every witty thing that’s said were true, Oscar Wilde, the world would worship You! —Michael R. Burch The Po-Biz by Michael R. Burch A poet may work from sun to sun, but his editor's work is never done. The editor’s work is never done. The critic adjusts his cummerbund. While the critic adjusts his cummerbund, the audience exits to mingle and slum. As the audience exits to mingle and slum, the anthologist rules, a pale jury of one. I sampled honeysuckle and it made my taste buds buckle. —Michael R. Burch Love is either wholly folly, or fully holy. —Michael R. Burch Death is the ultimate finality of reality. —Michael R. Burch love was a little treble thing— prone to sing and sometimes to sting —Michael R. Burch Dry Hump by Michael R. Burch You came to me as rain breaks on the desert when every flower springs to life at once, but joy is an illusion to the expert: the Bedouin has learned how not to want. Chiasmus and Spoonerisms To avoid being a hack writer, hack away at your writing.—Michael R. Burch Love is either wholly folly or fully holy.—Michael R. Burch To fall an inch short of infinity is to fall infinitely short.—Michael R. Burch Love's full of cute paradoxes and highly acute poxes.—Michael R. Burch Apologies to Shakespeare a tweet by any other name would be as fleet! —@mikerburch Civility by Michael R. Burch Civility is the ability to disagree agreeably. US Verse, after Auden by Michael R. Burch “Let the living creature lie, Mortal, guilty, but to me The entirely beautiful.” Verse has small value in our Unisphere, nor is it fit for windy revelation. It cannot legislate less taxing fears; it cannot make us, several, a nation. Enumerator of our sins and dreams, it pens its cryptic numbers, and it sings, a little quaintly, of the ways of love. (It seems of little use for lesser things.) Sumer is icumen in a modern English take by Michael R. Burch Sumer is icumen in Lhude sing achu! Groweth sed And bloweth hed And buyeth med? Cuccu! If God has the cattle on a thousand hills, why does he need my tithes to pay his bills? —Michael R. Burch I have my doubts about your God and his “love”: If one screams below, what the hell is “Above”? —Michael R. Burch God and his "profits" could never agree on any gospel acceptable to an intelligent flea. —Michael R. Burch since GOD created u so gullible how did u conclude HE's so lovable? —Michael R. Burch The best tonic for other people's bad ideas is to think for oneself.—Michael R. Burch Religion is the difficult process of choosing the least malevolent invisible friends.—Michael R. Burch How can the Bible be "infallible" when from Genesis to Revelation slavery is commanded and condoned, but never condemned?—Michael R. Burch Birdsong by Rumi loose translation by Michael R. Burch Birdsong relieves my deepest griefs: now I'm just as ecstatic as they, but with nothing to say! Please universe, rehearse your poetry through me! Keywords/Tags: epigram, epigrams, epitaph, epithet, humor, humorous, nonsense, irony, literature, word play, writing, short, brief, aphorism, adage