Best Quirt Poems

Penned like cattle, as if chattel,
     cages rattle, sounds of brattle,
          no more tattle, keen for battle.
Be free, my brothers!

The cause is great, our rights innate,
     not fuelled...

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State of the Art (III)

These are my "ars poetica" poems: the ones about the art and craft of writing poetry in a modern world that doesn't always recognize the artists or their work. 



Come Down
by Michael R. Burch

for Harold Bloom

Come down, O, come down
from your...

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I was working cattle with a crew a little south of Muleshoe,
When I watched a horse work with perfection and grace.
I said "pardon me gent, no offense is meant,
But your horse is the smartest thing on this place."

He broke out in a grin and scratched...

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Poems about Poems (II)

Kin
by Michael R. Burch

for Richard Moore

1.
Shrill gulls,
how like my thoughts
you, struggling, rise
to distant bliss?
the weightless blue of skies
that are not blue
in any atmosphere,
but closest here...

2.
You seek an air
so clear,
so rarified
the effort leaves you famished;
earthly tides
soon call you back?
one long, descending glide...

3.
Disgruntledly you...

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I  have  harnessed  my power, 
And  I  have  unleashed  its full potential, 
I  am  in full control  even in rush hour, 
I  dare  not  tell  the  truth  for ...

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You know that you’re old as dirt
When your whole body does hurt—
You grab a cane ‘stead of quirt
And you’re just too old to flirt.

It’s when you have to trim hairs
From your nose and your big ears—
You’re sure that those creepin’ years
Has justified all your fears!

It...

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...“From that day on I was just a damned whore,
two years I spent in that place on my back,
when I had finally paid back what was owed
they tossed me out and they said,’That was that.’

“But somehow word had reached back to London,
and my parents then...

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Poems about Poets IV



The Princess and the Pauper
by Michael R. Burch

for June Kraeft

Here was a woman bright, intent on life,
who did not flinch from Death, but caught his eye
and drew him, powerless, into her spell
of wanting her himself, so much the lie
that she was meant...

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beMUSEd
by Michael R. Burch

Perhaps at three
you'll come to tea,
to have a cuppa here?

You'll just stop in
to sip dry gin?
I only have a beer.

To name the "greats":
Pope, Dryden, mates?
The whole world knows their names.

Discuss the "songs"
of Emerson?
But these are children's games.

Give me rhythms
wild as Dylan's!
Give me...

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Orpheus
by Michael R. Burch
 
after William Blake

I.
Many a sun
and many a moon
I walked the earth
and whistled a tune.
 
I did not whistle
as I worked:
the whistle was my work.
I shirked
 
nothing I saw
and made a rhyme
to children at play
and hard time.
 
II.
Among the prisoners
I saw
the leaden...

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You know that you’re old as dirt
When ever thang done hurt—
And you trades a cane for quirt
‘Cause you’s too old to flirt.

And when you have to trim hairs
From your nose and your ears—
You done knowed those creepin’ years
Has justified your fears!

It ain’t that you’s gittin’...

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I was daydreamin' the other day a-munchin' on my oats,
Gazin' across the pasture at the cows, sheep and goats.
Them fellers sure do live a life of ease as compared to me.
When I tell you about my plight, I think that you will agree!

They get to...

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Tuning William Blake's Whistle
by Michael R. Burch

a musical prophecy, after William Blake

I.

Many a sun
and many a moon
I walked the earth
and whistled a tune.

I did not whistle
as I worked:
the whistle was my work.
I shirked

nothing I saw
and made a rhyme
to children at play
and hard time.

II.

Among the prisoners
I...

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I gained back all my trust
after I freed myself from guilt,
and not suffered much from it;
ah, bravery taught me a lot! 

Because of this hurt,
I hid myself behind a shadow,
every thought was full of sorrow;
whatever happened to faith?
I hoped for a serene tomorrow
to explore joy...

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Gunsmoke 
9/30/2024
Miracle Man

Dodge City had a handsome blacksmith called Quirt,
who was played by a Hollywood actor named Bert.
With cannons for arms,
pared with his charms, 
not one person in Dodge City mistook him for a squirt.
...

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