Long Assailing Poems

Epitaph for a Palestinian Child
by Michael R. Burch

I lived as best I could, and then I died.
Be careful where you step: the grave is wide.



Autumn Conundrum
by Michael R. Burch

It's not that every leaf must finally...

Read More

Radiance
by Michael R. Burch

for Dylan Thomas

The poet delves earth’s detritus—hard toil—
for raw-edged nouns, barbed verbs, vowels’ lush bouquet;
each syllable his pen excretes—dense soil,
dark images impacted, rooted clay.

The poet sees the sea but feels its meaning—
the...

Read More

These are poems about Dylan Thomas, as well as poems "for" and "after" Dylan Thomas. Dylan Thomas was one of my favorite poets from my early teens and has remained so over the years. I...

Read More

Myth, after Dylan Thomas
by Michael R. Burch

Here the recalcitrant wind
sighs with grievance and remorse
over fields of wayward gorse
and thistle-throttled lanes.

And she is the myth of the scythed wheat
hewn and sighing, complete,
waiting, lain in a low...

Read More

Hard driven by the embarrassment,
                              ...

Read More

I had a dream I walked the earth                  
above my head the sky was black   ...

Read More

I was a private detective, and I was deemed one of the best,
As the colorful tulip fields, are forever attracting guests.

My skills seemed often in demand, and indeed kept me moving,
As gold days seem to...

Read More

A magnet for tsuris

Summation notation of achievements
wrought absolute zero
pridefulness to self -
a veritable highstrong yoyo
(lame at walking the dog)
a solitudinarian devoid of xoxo
methinks (writer of these words)
Hebrew a legacy of woe
courtesy self apathy
expanding across his...

Read More

I owe appreciative courtesy to alternative press...

for enlightening my senses
to the evocative, reciprocative
and suffocative
auditory and visual material
publicized in The Nation
magazine January 2025 issue
on page 59 about Macklemore
(his given birth name
Benjamin Hammond Haggerty)
an American rapper
composed protest...

Read More

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...

Read More

Poems about Poets VI

beMused
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...

Read More

Now that no one can escape
      its time to turn it up a notch,
going over to my other “victim”
           I...

Read More

I am just an Empty Chair
Seated in a Sea of Flooded Sand
Holding a Personal and Lonely Vigil
On this Riskiest Edge
Of both Soft and Solid Land.

My legs beneath me are Strong
I cannot allow myself to become...

Read More

O' Cenobite, Dar'est Thy Soul Await

Alas! By what right is such assailing
amidst uproar, then half-truths a'telling
Does not morn gift upon grass falling dew
yet truth perseveres despite what others do
Aye! But 'tis not fickle applause a...

Read More

Though (supposedly) only
     the good die young, urn holding
     cremated ashes a mere cup
full, every last man standing falls,
     cuz nobody else
 ...

Read More

When empty bubbles of stillness brimmed the place
Upon an emerald carpet of meads, she genuflected with gathered grace
Of languished bones and reverence plucked from nunhood hearts.
Mighty potentate dear, the wonted beseeching starts. 

Oh! May the...

Read More

'Helpless' is an adjective I never thought
my hand would write to describe the despair
that's wound its way deep inside my heart.
Honestly, I'm only the catalyst of my own life,
the taproot that strengthens my mindset,
my cornerstone,...

Read More

April 14 Relationship to God Bible Meditations Based on 1Chronicles 13-15

Key Verse –1Chronicles 14:2 And David perceived that the LORD had confirmed him king over Israel, for his kingdom was lifted up on high, because...

Read More

Destiny demands that we be the debtor 
that we sacrafice for the skin of our future,
We left the cradle of the Caucasuses to explore,
to plant the dreams of our Creator,
venturing into the virgin chaos
where the...

Read More

Therewithal, profluent life ettles it's while.
Thitherward, from Death's bleak campanile
Grim antiphonals serenade.

A capriccio, the slashing swipe of the reaper's scythe
 will serenade.
Stringent Death forthwith anoints the mithridate to
Life's cantankerous and rankling ado

Hither now come, anon...

Read More

Earned to date,
nee absolute zero
academic bankable bragging rites
explained arduous, horrendous, onerous
agonizing, heartbreaking,
nerve wracking travails

hamstringing, hijacking, hobbling...
maximization of potential
e'er since yours truly
begat when ma dada
fired off his johnny rotten sex pistol
handy dandy blues clues unsheathed

ejaculated gun...

Read More

A few things you should know about the things I love
like the magic of watching asteroids above
the fact that I was born on Easter Day
the joy of buying a summertime bouquet

off-hours where I quietly sit...

Read More

Absent Motility Against Staid Inertia

impossible to describe listlessness
     bedeviling this body electric aye attest
motivation to counter glumness
     seizes motility temporarily

     to stave off...

Read More

(alter knit lee titled: vita in oculis nudato)

goo goo gaga I wanna yell
cuz, synonymous 
     with other wordsmiths, 
     or...well
whatever will eire'n burr, 

   ...

Read More

LOVE IS... from A to Z:

Almighty force since God* is omnipotent source
Building life along grace toward triumphant course…

Compassion at work, exemplified by Lord Christ
Directed for man’s redemption, heavenly priced…

Earnest care for others, setting aside own...

Read More