Cuckoo Poems

You're the best thing to happen to me,
So let our love fly free.
You're my dream come true,
Even if we are a bit cuckoo.
You're the woman in my life.
One day you'll be my wife.
You're the one I turn to.
I'm so glad...Read More

"To err is human, to forgive divine":*
That must be the ultimate cop-out line,
Forgiveness cannot be at our command,
Only the "Almighty" can understand.
Perhaps to some that is all very fine,
It is, however, no mantra of mine,
I think it is utterly asinine,
So-called...Read More

Red letter days
give birth to each other
like pregnant goldfish.

Once again
the red circled hides its face
on the far side of the fridge.

Dates clog the cyclic notches
on my prayer wheel of anniversaries.

I hear an untimely cuckoo
in every paper window.

I need buttoned down...Read More

a.m. and p.m.
like clockwork we’re greeted, Chris.
he’s cuckoo for love

1/14/2020
...Read More

       The second of the watch is short
       the bird has it's cuckoo time
       everyone lies down at night
   ...Read More

Hisajo Sugita was an innovative and influential female Japanese haiku poet:

I remove my beautiful kimono:
its varied braids
surround and entwine my body
?Hisajo Sugita, loose translation by Michael R. Burch

This day of chrysanthemums
I shake and comb my wet hair,
as their petals shed...Read More

There was a cuckoo-bird lived by a lake
Thought that a great fisherman he would make
   But when he baited his lines
   To devour the bait he pined
He'd snarf down all the worms for heaven's sake
...Read More

What's new with me...Matthew?

Well for starters Nationwide
road service emergency
one man cutting crew
with battery charger in tow knew
exactly why no juice (think electricity),
his hunch found trunk light kept lit,
an innocent looking (to me or you)
lady's handbag accouterment,

fifty shades of blue
stuck out...Read More

The journey of a loving poet

1
My fingers are like the twigs
in the autumn
having the construction of the sadness

2
Sunshine burned my skin,
Loneliness
unwitnessly comes as cancer.

3
Apple is sweet
eroding my teeth
-My silent faith

4
Tequila
basked under the sunshine,
betrayed the fragrance of that girl

5
The stars in...Read More

Tradition held sway and little Jesus emerged from the cellar

It had been cold and dusty next to coal and a pile of potatoes

There was no water all year and wine bottles were corked up

For the joy of Christmas celebrations and...Read More

Mr. Willie At CREATURES NORM AND WILD - A Narrative Poem

One day at a pet shop,
I met a man(named Mr. Willie) selling cockatoo,
For money he wanted to swap,
But I really wanted some cuckoo.

"Got any cuckoo?" asked I.
"For that's how I'll...Read More

Within my mind are dusty cobwebs
 where drafty breathings edge the corners of remembering
 as they hold in a picture stilled that looms, 
unchanged but not for lack of a broom;
 school books, pads and pens, and bookbag piled high,...Read More

Brittle autumn leaves
crumble to dust
in the freezing wind.
—Takao, translation by Michael R. Burch

This frigid season
nothing but the shadow
of my corpse survives.
—Tadatomo, translation by Michael R. Burch

With the departing year
I have hidden my graying hair
from my parents.
Ochi Etsujin, translation by Michael...Read More

Cuckoo has an undeserved reputation
Actually there should be a celebration
They understand it is best
To lay their eggs in another’s nest
Foster bird raises their young to fruition


...Read More

Angel’s songbirds awoke and flung the deal
Anisette chirps, sounds of reels
On that day my soul grew lyric
My heart couldn’t see it
Angels songbirds sing with me

And the harmonies never waiting
The sound singer souls singing
The song craft smiled
Ah, distinctly I was lullabying
And...Read More

Alousius was a most auspicious bird
He was also a bit daffy and wacky
And constantly went awry and absurd
As a bird one might say he was absolutely atrocious
And his appetency of eating rotten week old berries
Gave him the worst possible case...Read More

Lion 'bout grabbing tiger by tail

Holy mole lee
watch out fowl, balladeer
look out... i.e. donkey kong
primate doth share
footloose slothful writing,
essentially swiftly tailored hare

reed styled mountebank
gets made by mice elf,
an imperfect triangulated square,
while "fake" charioteer
looses neigh scent horsesense
glomming "fake" papier

mâché piñata across...Read More

Orchid buds are soaked in the stream alongside the hill,
Mud-free, among green pines the sandy path lies still,
In the nightfall drizzling cuckoo calls sound chill.
Who dare say that an old man can’t rejuvenate?
The river past the temple turns west in...Read More

Daybreak dangled in foggy strips.
Mizzle had mugged the day,
grey-flecked cuckoo spit
smuggled summer under hoary roots.

Bill formed an Indian gang
to snatch the light back.
Later, parting the scalp of a hedge
we saw the sun
tangled in an old hawthorn.

Meg, (Bill’s sister),
wanted to shin-up...Read More

Sumer is icumen in

anonymous Middle English poem, circa 1260 AD
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

Summer is a-comin'!
Sing loud, cuckoo!
The seed grows,
The meadow blows,
The woods spring up anew.
Sing, cuckoo!

The ewe bleats for her lamb;
The cows contentedly moo;
The bullock roots;
The billy-goat poots...Read More

swallows housemartins
once summertime sky wonders
screaming swifts missed




...Read More

       ON RIVERSIDE

      Come My Dear under the shady tree 
       on riverside of Ganges on frolic flow.
     ...Read More

Laying down, on my back, on my bed 
Eyes open, staring at nothing, disturbed in the head 
Hunting season, bloody reason, landscape turned red 
Out in the hall, clock on the wall 
Cuckoo, Cuckoo, Cuckoo
...Read More

After lunch, the clock slows down so  
             ~ But where, oh where, does the morning go...Read More

Cicely Catherine Charlotte,
Child of a cosmopolitan century,
Captain of the cruise vessel
Cooling its boilers in the cove.

Cicely dispensing catnip
creates crazy feline
cuckoo climbing, jumping with
crack me up comedy, provided free.

Conjuring cat creativity
catnip can’t cleverly control;
calamity aboard a cruise ship.

In crystal dreams of...Read More