Long Ballet Poems

The first soft snow: 
leaves of the awed jonquil 
bow low
—Matsuo Basho translation by Michael R. Burch

Come, investigate loneliness! 
a solitary leaf
clings to the Kiri tree
—Matsuo Basho translation by Michael R. Burch

The cheerful-chirping cricket
contends gray...

Read More

Dusk-gliding swallow, 
please spare my small friends
flitting among the flowers! 
—Matsuo Basho translation by Michael R. Burch

A bee emerging
from deep within the peony's hairy recesses
flies off, sated
—Matsuo Basho translation by Michael R. Burch

That dying cricket,...

Read More

Moon sprites dotted the sky like lilies at dawn
    in a ballet meant to cause nocturnal delight.
While Fairies and Pixie Dust covered the lawn
    in a dance that would...

Read More

If ever a moment in real life deserved a romantic, melancholy
backing track, it would have been that one ... we'd spent the
entire afternoon at Ferry Beach, sunning and playing frisbee, I
playing guitar, she practicing her...

Read More

   Symbols cry in dry ice theater -
the expanse of aesthetic visa-
drawn-
from the romance of the silvery eye -
as it golden advances the lid of covenance 
in dynamic enzyme.
Open faced type interpreted-
interpreter-embossed embol-
in...

Read More

Mission Control, this is Flight Z924693744, do you read?
We're having some technical trouble. How should we proceed?

We have spotted a planet, that appears to be suitable to abort;
But, to return to earth, we will need...

Read More

I have so many places/acts dear to my heart
I’m just dying to share some with you
Not to boast, I but honor them, all played a part,
I'm sure helped to bring me in your view!

Tell me...

Read More

LIST POETRY - A FUTURISTIC INTERPRETATION 


You
must know
I cried yesterday 
and I think I broke the world
so I braided some words into twine
planted some sweet and sour coated seeds
I grew free standing expressions and then...

Read More

yet another iffy coronavirus haiku #1
by michael r. burch

plagued by the Plague
i plague the goldfish
with my verse



yet another iffy coronavirus haiku #2
by michael r. burch

sunflowers
hang their heads
embarrassed by their coronas

I wrote this poem after having...

Read More

Splat

Explosions do not always signify combustion but often combustion arrives after many years of layering the layers and tightly packing. Thus meaning that a fried piece of fat could slip and burst out of the...

Read More

Excerpt from “fake” encomium given years ago... 
at Lake Wobegone High School (my alma mater), 

and recently discovered ridiculous rough draft
amidst plethora of junk emails
while practice reading some lines 
regarding Midsummer Night's Dream 
upcoming performance.

Arch...

Read More

By George (burning hard), I Shaw tried to playwright

offers his unsolicited tidbits 
as scene courtesy 
the following virtually 
staged philosophical insight.

Arch back like 
a professional ballet dancer 
to stand out from other pedestrian applicants 
seeking...

Read More

Matsuo Basho New Haiku Translations

Air ballet:
twin butterflies, twice white,
meet, match & mate
—Matsuo Basho, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch 

Denied transformation
into a butterfly,
autumn worsens for the worm
—Matsuo Basho, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch 

Dusk-gliding...

Read More

Thank You!...

It's Black history month, so we come to celebrate, 
all the hues of brown that made our nation great! 

From Fredrick and Harriet to Mandela, and Muhammad Ali, because of the stance they took,...

Read More

My friends and I were out strolling, in a lush park one day,
Just enjoying the scenes of the afternoon, as time flew away.

Sun kissed blooms blushed and swooned, under pale lazy clouds;
And nature was lush...

Read More

Dare to live your life to the fullest.  Take a chance for you
      create your own happiness for it is a decision.  Life
     ...

Read More

Lisa and I went to a reception, yesterday evening, for students who’d landed summer fellowships at a particular hospital in Boston. (Yeah us!) It wasn’t formal, so I wore a crimson cropped sweater, a beige...

Read More

I saw you …

high …
atop the promontory
spinning with manic madness
pirouettes et fouetté
lost in yourself -
in movement …
your upper back split, low
and, I swear -
feathers … peeking …
tucked under your shoulder blades
splayed and black as black
(obsidian...

Read More

Lovely Roses

                                 ...

Read More

I'd been caught up in the middle, of one of those awful days,
When nothing seems to go right, with glitches and delays.

I was having a rough day at work, and the boss was now irate;
And...

Read More

we came from different worlds
cowboy boots and motorcycle
she carried pen and paper as did i
hers was to communicate with the world
mine was the labor in poems
i walked the high iron
she taught the deaf to speak
a...

Read More

I. Early Childhood’s Gifts

Gift 1:
Is love felt from our parents, our friends a true gift
or more something we earn bit by bit over time,
(a child adds to, subtracts from, as days turn to years)?
This is...

Read More

In a foreign lush green sprawling land
A patchwork carpet stitched together
In shades of tawny browns yellows and green
Rugged rock forest and wind-swept moor
Is a awe-inspiring spectacle to be seen

In summer's adorned frock adorned bushes and...

Read More

Into the woods we ventured, where darkness began to encircle us,
Their ancient murmurs mingling with the forest’s ominous chorus.
A chilling breeze, as if the very breath of the woods sighed,
Veiled in tempestuous clouds, the stars...

Read More

I was an irrepressible and happy young woman, and graceful ballet dancer,
Who lived for twirling on a world stage, as red berries are shrub laughter!

I had practiced for so many years, striving to become the...

Read More