Long Arthritic Poems

How unparticular the day had particularly been,
On March the third of two-thousand and eighteen,
For the caretaker at an historic Adirondack Inn,
Had lacked company, and therefore, dopamine.

 ‘Twas Sunday when all the guests had fled,
From either...

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Impossible mission to captcha infinitesimal moment

alternately titled: tick tock runneth amuck
seconds elapse imperceptibly 
leaving me dumbstruck,
how quickly fleeting tempus fugit; 
ofttimes imagined as time thief.

Hence following vignette: quiet as a mouse lurks the time thief...

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Sneaking into the museum to avoid the sudden rain
Raisin said, “I don’t want to get soaked right through again,
It was bad enough when that truck through that puddle dashed
And you and me - but mainly...

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This is the Second Part of the Translation from Rabindranath Tagore, Nobel-Laureate Philosopher Poet from India. 





Father only smiled; thought, "women
are emotionally heated balloons! 
Life is a difficult  salvation, they don't have that knowledge", 
After...

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They called her Cookie at Animal Welfare, she had a white body with one black ear and a black spot on her upper butt. She had a friendly face and was 
pretty girl. Could not...

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                           The wind is blowing cold tonight 

 ...

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...the village shivers   a hive of restless souls
skin pricklin' with anticipation
as costumed runners fixin' to gather — hearts a-thrummin'
              ...

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You are now about to witness my lack of street knowledge
Straight outta lockdown,
lazy brother named THE DUDE
Formed a gang called diggers With Altitudes
Work is called off, I got a paid off
Strains getting quicker, and bodies...

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The following fictitious scenario I evoke

Analogous to fire breathing 
puffed up imaginary dragon
(in a land called Honah Lee)
ye might rightly think
what the deuce
haunting spectre ace of spades 
goodfella aiming to be a poet all about,
meaning...

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Our bank accounts nearly emptied so we could afford a vacation; two young working girls who'd never been far from home. We were looking forward to finding love on a romantic tropical island. Maybe someone...

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Wrinkled forehead creases as he looks at me
From the burgundy sofa where he lives most days
Free of things like water bills and car payments
He lies down to eat and drag slowly on a cigarette

The smoke...

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END TIMES : ONE 

[Poet’s Note : This poem arose out of a play on quote in Bible by Christ : “I will open my mouth in parables. I will utter things hidden since the...

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After the Vietnams and the Me Leis
Steel skull
Stone eye
Blooming jungle rot
Itching on the crotch
Jack scratches the trigger of his M14
Kisses the golden egg
And throws like the Babe.
Jack is now back from hell and trying to...

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Past unconcerned hens that distractedly 
Scratch
Under frowning protestations from the
Sheltered Lee;
Into the cloaked shadows lain across the 
Cobbled courtyard,
Behind which squats the twisted form of
The old brooding, arthritic apple tree.
Past the neat little cow-byre 
Hosed...

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Sappho Translations XI by Michael R. Burch


Sappho, fragment 92
translation by Michael R. Burch

“Sappho, if you don’t leave your room,
I swear I’ll never love you again!
Get out of bed, rise and shine on us,
take off your...

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Callum is an old-fashioned man on the verge of becoming history’s memory

Ancient even in that he holds only one job but that is for privation of another 

Sort of a whiz kid at what he...

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SAPPHO TRANSLATIONS

Eros harrows my heart:
wild winds whipping desolate mountains,
uprooting oaks.
—Sappho, fragment 42, translation by Michael R. Burch



Sappho, fragment 113
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

No droning bee,
nor even the bearer of honey
for me!



Sappho, fragment 113
loose translation/interpretation...

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My eyes grow weary with the days.
Ebbed of youthful looks, I dare not despair.
    I live my life alone now, surrounded by the loneliness.
      Time was all...

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When I met the tall and amiable Vietnam War veteran,
my shyness showed,
yet, my throat dried and tightened when he softly
spoke the words, "The war never goes away."
All these humanity destroying wars never cease,
soldier's names, faces,...

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Enea's Pope!  (2)

I suppose it’s common knowledge
(and not tedious, I hope!)
that two-thirds of the Sacred College
must concur to elect a pope.        

With eighteen cardinals gathered,
twelve was the...

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You ask me now to sum the beauty in sun's eyes
And make of love the distinction that love despise
And all figures come only to my praise of the gift
God gave to Adam, when he unreplenished,...

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Old man Carter lived all alone, quietly nestled in his quaint little home. 
Arthritis kept him crippled, writhing in excruciating pain, his wife long 
since departed, leaving him nothing more to gain. His children made...

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In blackness,
 I hear forked tongues 
whisper wicked witchery,
hope within arthritic 
  ink slowly f a d e s
as darkness descends  
upon snow-speckled heart, 
and a murder of 
   crows can...

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“no!” …

he said, “they’ll ne’er take Piccadilly!”
then downed a pint in one gulp …
tucking five pounds under the edge of
his sodden Churchill coaster,
“bloody awful price!” he grumbled quietly,
turning sharply on his heel to
depart the pub...

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Who is that man staring back at me in the mirror?
I keep looking and searching, analyzing that mans
reflection, and he keeps doing the same thing.

Who he is is a mystery to me, it's a little...

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