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
Copyright © Michael Burch | Year Posted 2020
Post Comments
Poetrysoup is an environment of encouragement and growth so only provide specific positive comments that indicate what you appreciate about the poem. Negative comments will result your account being banned.
Please
Login
to post a comment