Best Flotillas Poems

[starboard port]

the ocean—an onyx plate predawn—
somnambulant ships preen with a swag of
warning lights

massive hulls: cargo ships, flotillas, tankers,
passenger liners loll; red lights buss
the somber slate of sky—spangled strings of 
bawdy bulbs on the riggings—pole dance
beside the quay—ridged, behemoth smokestacks
toy with the flames of gold and...

Continue reading...

This Regency Dandy flying across the river,
                        
              ...

Continue reading...

The Spanish had armadas;
the Americas, flotillas.
The Amazon has capybara;
the Andes has chinchillas.
Kentucky has its sassafras;
Madagascar has vanilla.
Napoleon lost at Waterloo;
Frazier, in Manila.
Will a person tell the Mexicans
how to pronounce tortilla? 
...

Continue reading...

Rejection Slips 2

The Shape of Mourning
by Michael R. Burch
 
The shape of mourning
is an oiled creel
shining with unuse,
 
the bolt of cold steel
on a locker
shielding memory,

the monthly penance
of flowers,
the annual wake,
 
the face in the photograph
no longer dissolving under scrutiny,
becoming a keepsake,
 
the useless mower
lying...

Continue reading...

Lozenge
by Michael R. Burch

When I was closest to love, it did not seem
real at all, but a thing of such tenuous sweetness
it might dissolve in my mouth
like a lozenge of sugar.

When I held you in my arms, I did not feel
our lack of completeness,
knowing how...

Continue reading...

Prose Poems II
by Michael R. Burch

These are prose poems (is that an oxymoron?) and experimental poems...



briefling
by Michael R. Burch

manishatched, hopsintotheMix, cavorts, hassex (quick!, spawnanewBrood!); then, likeamayfly, he’s suddenly gone: plantfood.



bachelorhoodwinked
by Michael R. Burch

u are charming & disarming, but mostly !!!ALARMING!!! since all my resolve dissolved!...

Continue reading...

Pointedly poignant points portend pointillism.
Pontiffs pontificate pointless pointers ponderously.
Pompous poems populate Pompei pottery potently.
Porous *********** portrays Portuguese porta potties.
Poppies pop Popeye’s popular popcorn.
Populist populism pots ponies properly.

Blithering blather blots bloody bleeping blips.
Bloomberg blogs bleach bleating bloated blinks.
Bluebloods bloom black blackberry bloopers.
Bluetooth blizzards blame blurry blackboards.
Blithe...

Continue reading...

Tonight the act of naming fell through the floor.
We speak permeable solids inflect’d by light.
Things move indistinctly: a pine palette floats
momentarily from semi truck’s bed, crosses
its body with windshield; ovidian shift from a
Forest to an old faux confectioner’s swatch,
lines up songs taking fleas for fleece....

Continue reading...

A thunderstorm passed over, 
gun turrets flash.
gray hulls rumble and roll
above tumultuous clouds.

Evening commences to weep -
an aftermath,
a damp emotive capsizing
that barely touches upturned faces
yet it washes fright from brows.

As seafaring battles go
it was a skirmish, 
flotillas of cruisers awash from
near misses;
they sailed away
leaving this...

Continue reading...

When anarchy consumes a barren soul,
the hatred overwhelms the beating heart.
It sickens minds and steals the body whole  
then rips the cloth of empathy apart.
Existence lies between what evil craves
and what your world may courier by sea.
Your life is steered by ships upon the...

Continue reading...

A thunderstorm passed over, 
gun turrets flash.
gray hulls rumble and roll
above tumultuous clouds.

Evening commences to weep -
an aftermath,
a damp emotive capsizing
that barely touches upturned faces
yet it splashes fright onto brows.

As seafaring battles go
it was a skirmish, 
flotillas of cruisers awash from
near misses.
They sailed away
leaving this...

Continue reading...

The Evolution of Love
by Michael R. Burch

Love among the infinitesimal
flotillas of amoebas is a dance
of transient appendages, wild sails
that gather in warm brine and then express
one headstream as two small, divergent wakes.

Minuscule voyage, love! Upon false feet,
the pseudopods of uprightness, we creep
toward self-immolation: two nee...

Continue reading...

In passing, the waters cleave the landscape heart,
Taking on their travel, in their course, parts of the land;
In passing, we hikers in that current,
Return to the seas and become as the sand.
In passing, the winds weave through the mountains,
Collecting in their pockets, on their way,...

Continue reading...

This woodland stream could be a small English river,
it dibbles and dabbles, it meanders, and has the air
of an old water way, one that never saw the need
to rush or gush.

The small ripples pace themselves; a sepia rivulet
that tugs at a nutrient silt, carrying it...

Continue reading...