Long Grandchild 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...

Read More

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...

Read More

Poems about Fathers and Grandfathers I

I translated the first six Native American poems for my father when he chose to enter hospice and end his life by not taking dialysis …


Cherokee Travelers' Blessing I
loose translation/interpretation...

Read More

Poems about Fathers and Grandfathers III




Success
by Michael R. Burch

for Jeremy

We need our children to keep us humble
between toast and marmalade;

there is no time for a ticker-tape parade
before bed, no award, no bright statuette

to be delivered...

Read More

Poems about Fathers and Grandfathers IV



Neglect
by Michael R. Burch

What good are your tears?
They will not spare the dying their anguish.
What good is your concern
to a child sick of living, waiting to perish?

What good, the warm...

Read More

Poems about Children IV

Salat Days
by Michael R. Burch

Dedicated to the memory of my grandfather, Paul Ray Burch, Sr.

I remember how my grandfather used to pick poke salat ...
though first, usually, he’d stretch back in the...

Read More

This is the 2nd THIRD of my 3-part poem - see Mark Stellinga on Poetry Soup for the other 2 THIRDS - couldn't be helped.



“What about neighbors,” I carefully pried...“do any of them check on...

Read More

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...

Read More

Poems about Children II



On Looking into Curious George’s Mirrors
by Michael R. Burch

for Maya McManmon, granddaughter of the poet Jim McManmon

Maya was made in the image of God;
may the reflections she sees in those curious mirrors
always...

Read More

The Ash Can  ©

I got the call on Sunday night.  I was traveling on business.  When I looked at the caller ID
 I wondered why my husband’s boss would be calling me....

Read More

The mute old drunk had gotten lucky the day before - a stranger had taken pity on him at the bridge, (under which he and many other homeless people lived), and stopped to give him...

Read More

This is an unfinished Heroic Crown of Sonnets dedicated to a friend's grandchild who was born with serious lower body issues 3 years ago...but he is so perfect and beautiful in every other way that...

Read More

When Grandma died, I found some things

                         Gifts midst tears that...

Read More

Sixty-eight and Sixty-nine
By Franklin Price
02/03/2022

In January sixty-eight, I was sent to Vietnam,
Was no internet back then, no Facebook, only Spam
I went to serve my country. Had signed the line in sixty-five
Going there to do my...

Read More

It was going to be the best Christmas of the most spectacular, magnificent Christmases in the world.Certainly, the best one we had ever seen, for Grandma Winslet was coming from England which is big.
She used...

Read More

The inspiration for this partially true piece was my older brother, Joe, and his 2 grandkids (circa 1994) - 


I can clearly see the moon, and feel the sultry breeze
(It was an unforgettable event).
Despite the...

Read More

Friday afternoon year 
April 2032 the weather was 
Just right. Damian sought to
Purchase a barrage of a 13
Bicycle collection. It would be
A surprise for his adoring family.
He needed help with 
The project.  He spoke...

Read More

Early last October, on a cool and breezeless morning, one o’ my grandsons, Grant, and I had a half a dozen lines 
Bobbin’ near the cattails, in a small secluded bay…catchin’ perch and crappie…when the...

Read More

This is very close to a true story...


My wife and I were sitting in a real old high school gym, halfway up the bleachers, at a small town antique sale, 
When, just behind us, we...

Read More

"The Silkworm’s Birthday"





Mulberry leaves flutter in the breeze
Kookaburra brave Joker bluffs a sky blue breast 
Drops one feather for a quill, a song hidden in a laugh, no bitter pill
magic never rests, like a crystal...

Read More

I met you on the road of Longing,
As you took me hand in hand,
My heart burst with love wide open,
And so our journey began.-

My Kings, my life is yours,
I have lived to this moment for...

Read More

I'm 51 today.
51 tomorrow, yay
Was 51 yesterday.
52 is months away,
And yes I'm thankful.
Although it's not my real birthday,
It kinda is in a certain way.
I'm still alive another day.
I had the notion to celebrate.
And be thankful.
Though...

Read More

I must tell you of a yarn 
About the Prince’s barn 
It sits on a hill 
Overlooking an area where there was so much kill 

Today it is a place where one goes to find...

Read More

Password Paranoia

Hey, how did you do that?
Do what?
Open that can?
I used the can opener.
I KNOW, but where did you put in the password?
What password?
The CAN OPENER password!
I stare at my 4-year-old grandchild, who is scowling...

Read More

Selfish L. was the meanest most selfish dad I have never met. I met his grandchild who explained his almost always loving father, Little A’s sorry story to me.  Little A, a loving man,...

Read More