Long Abashed Poems

No Mark
by Michael R. Burch

A wave implodes, 
impaled upon
impassive rocks...

this evening
the thunder of the sea
is a wild music filling my ear...

you are leaving
and the ungrieving
winds demur...

telling me
that nothing returns
as it was before...

here where you have...

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I beg for your forgiveness once more
I said too much again…need I say more?
It’s been a crappy, snappy day for me and today will be my day
An attitude of gratitude instead of dismay would be...

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(oh, mercy ... )

amazing eye whites,
perfect and pure as glacial ice -
they draw me in,
like diving into a clear Caribbean lagoon,
fluid and cool ...
brown iris so dark in contrast,
that they're lost in the inky black...

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Stimulated off of asphyxiation 
Chortling silence kills me alive
Ignoring the pain of your rain
I’m your everything
I’m nothing without you

Love is where home is
Joy is where home is
Spiraling, mad as a hornet once again
Spinning, sad cuz...

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Let your healing rain fall down on me today
Everything will be alright…
Things will work out at night
Things will fall into place I pray! I pray!
But, He whispers to me "no worries, don't let your heart...

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Don't take this as an ordinary joke

While I was in the middle of an
Enchanting dream,
You blew my pathetic mind 
I tried to sharpen my senses
Shadows were encircling my eager soul
Rising from dimming skies
Chasing after the...

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I seem to live in a dream
I have lost all control it seems
I deem to be on your lovely team
I scream as we turn to the seams

Gleam like those eyes in the river’s reflection
I lost...

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Eyes that can't see clearly,
Ears that can't hear keenly 
Shame embraced me, never leaving my presence 
I hated the moments you called me a boy that's dense...
It just doesn't make sense...
Hence, I think up on...

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Once upon a time
There lived, on an Earth as we know it not
An enchantress
A recluse
Living isolated in her forest!

She was content with her lot
For she had never known love,
Companionship or even the jolts of desires!

Then,...

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ON LOOKING AT SCHILLER’S SKULL
by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Here in this charnel-house full of bleaching bones,
like yesteryear’s
fading souvenirs,
I see the skulls arranged in strange ordered rows.

Who knows whose owners might...

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BARREN DESERT

           I wander in open wide barren desert alone
           on camel-ride drawing in the...

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I sat in the rain with the world at my feet
and I sighed.
Staring into it's eyes; it's limitless gaze.
I swooned amidst the tragedy of a starving visage.
I cried at the birth of morning light;
Of the...

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The triumphant South Paw  (lefty)

I wanted to use my artistic bent 
To a world renowned manufacturer I was then sent
"I want to paint your plates and other things
And learn how to put on the...

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I am free as a bird
Ready to discover this wondrous world
I am dressed to the nines
Seeking a knight in shining armor

He will be handsome alright
Defending me from life’s lows and sorrows
I shall be his flower,...

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We went to a Chinese restaurant, but couldn’t get a seat
The waiter found us a table, and said we were in for a treat.
A wedding party was booked, he said, we would join them
We decided...

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Into the tunnel we went
In search of danger, black deeds and terrifying mystery
Armed as the Romans for this ghastly adventure
With EMF*, night vision and digital recorders
Prepared to capture in these haunting sepulchers
Disembodied voices, and hair...

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On the edge of metropolitan midnight
he lays in a breathless silence
rasping the evanescing yesterdays to his windows
both open and locked,
while the unknowing below in stale smoke barrooms,
wait to sear his wounds and retell his life
in...

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(Of poetry, I open up the book
Turn past pages of contents and title 
Enter upon the plank and set sail, then...)

I am swept away by the writer's winds, further and further
Through seconds on the clock,...

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On a farm in a community of drudgery and toil lived a man alone
He had lost so much in his life and had so little to show
For the multitude of years, sweat and love that...

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“Lost Road to Kashmir”



Tenderness arrives 
late sometimes
in the 11th hour 

soft cashmere 
wrapped like a child
love around your knees

pale roses
tease golden grail
visions

blushing again
in the twilight years
on some kind of mission

birds 
become
bees

honeyed wings
sweeten the hallucinatory
messages written...

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WE SEE WHAT WE WANT TO SEE 

          Moon at noon allures me though barely visible.          ...

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I am losing you again

White, oh your skin, whiter than pearls…
I sit here, trying not to stare,
Serene you are, as you lie in your bed,
How awful could agony become?

I am losing you again

Chapped and faded...

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Ah, those isolated places where once
cars and bodies huddled together,
the “lovers’ lanes”, in which
submarine races were observed
with no winners posted,
“to score”, an abashed innuendo 
of conquest and shame.
These secluded spots.
grass trampled down by
blankets and cars,
where...

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I see you're Right
  Her Path is Light
    I can hardly wait to meet Her
     Hurry, please ~ Take Me to your Leader

I've lived life all wrong
...

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Hawkins County Sheriff’s Report

Complainant advised that he thought
His girlfriend the thief that he sought
So he set up a trap
Near the couch where he sat
Believing this time she’d be caught

One envelop had dollar bills
One envelop had...

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