Long Braking Poems

Poems about the Coronavirus I


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...

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R.I.P.
by Michael R. Burch

When I am lain to rest
and my soul is no longer intact, 
but dissolving, like a sunset
diminishing to the west...

and when at last
before His throne my past
is put to test
and the demons...

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Enola Gay

There on the ‘North Field’ tarmac of Tinian Island, Marianas;
Taxis the sleek designed ‘Boeing B-29 Superfortress’ to ready for take-off. 1
Glistening, polished aluminum under the blaring floodlights filmed for posterity,
Maneuvers' the ‘Enola Gay’, chosen...

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These are translations of some of the oldest Japanese waka, which evolved into tanka, renga and haiku. 

While you decline to cry,
high on the mountainside
a single stalk of plumegrass wilts.
—O no Yasumaro (circa 711), translation...

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Grasses wilt:
the braking locomotive
grinds to a halt
—Yamaguchi Seishi, translation by Michael R. Burch

Oh, fallen camellias,
if I were you,
I'd leap into the torrent!
—Takaha Shugyo, translation by Michael R. Burch

The first soft snow:
leaves of the awed jonquil
bow...

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My most popular poems on the Internet (I)

A number of my poems and translations have gone viral, according to Google, and some have been copied onto hundreds to thousands of web pages. That’s a lot...

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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...

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Words
The ship

Words come to me like spring. 
They set free, they shed the shroud, 
open with all their glory, beauty and sing. 
They stand tall, they ring out loud, 
from a life that blossoms with...

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The end to our sixteen years love affair
he didn't even try to hold on to my love
did I ever mean anything after that single wedding day
was this just your easiest way to be free of...

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Coronavirus microbe (COVID-19) begat...
heebie jeebies couple months before March 15th, 2020

More'n three hundred and sixty six days ago,
a pandemic did devastatingly blow
across the webbed wide world
dark shadows spelled glow
bull horror seeds of hell show
did terrify...

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I was a happy housewife and mother, and family was my world,
Like stars peeping at purple twilight, to see moonlight pearled.

My small children were in school, and my husband was a doctor,
As gold sunshine on...

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I'm not good at moon guessing,
but God created many a blessing;
and the moon is just one of them.
I'm neither scholar nor theologian,
but I observed that God made the
heavenly bodies, making no mention
of gender. The words...

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Here I am standing in this secluded space with the pillow of hope hanging over my face, I cannot go backward or forward, I am backed up into this corner with my hands tied and...

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THE AQUATIC GRAVEYARD

Beneath the deadly rough waves cryptic path of destruction,
There is an ethereal place of eerie silence, in the stilled frozen
Chilling depth, it is the final resting place for wreckage's carnage,
The aquatic graveyard of...

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Coronavirus microbe (COVID-19)

(alternately titled: yours truly doth mutter
asthma bowled dug gutter 
pin yon hated chap strikingly and gently weeps, 
whereby melts milquetoast like butter.)

Aye reckon eyes aforementioned 
entitled microscopic organism
doth strain credulity threatening 
Homo sapiens...

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A legend dwells in the polar biosphere of isolation,
In the frigid nomadic country of Siberia,
Within the forests of mighty Russia, this is the realm
Of the Manimal.
It waits in the night, lurking amongst the shadows
Of the...

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Born within the realm of hell's fire, spawned in the ashen dawning,
Between brimstone's sacred flame, and sulfur's earthen cauldrons,
Given the spark of life by the elemental goddess, nature herself.
The she-devil sleeps, in her Multan rock...

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The raven knows, listen to his soundings warning,
Beware and listen to what he says, harken unto this
Messenger of death for he sees all things, be it dark or light!
Black ebonies feathered sentinel, warily watching, as
The...

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These days, wet – with Linda, & Melanie .

Tears fall like dying leaves, their dust, blowing into my eyes.
Tears slide down my cheeks, slip off my chin, fall onto my shoulders.
They, given birth, created by...

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Sunny, hot, humid, summer morning, taking my first train ride
 I'm so excited and it's thrilling can't wait to go north where it's cool 
to stay with my grandpa and grandma.
Ma and pa say I'm...

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What's the problem is, the world is full of genocide
braking up rainbows
Polluting the skies, the skies
And still born children, old men fallen
Mothers and children crying, balling
fallen they fell down and
This world is just a Pandora's...

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Self destructive, even writing on pages without lines feels chaotic and liberating 
even though I know the frustration I will feel as my words slope downwards, down 
words. They angle, pitching against my embedded need...

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Woke up this morning missing the country way of living,
This city life is just breaking down my stride,
I’m yearning for the rolling rocky mountain highs,
And the deep lush valleys startled by ancient pines!
Sky scraper towers...

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What kind of a man am I?
What kind of a Man are you?
A beast or a man of the soil?
There was a time when a man raised his hand, clinched a fist to show a...

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I kept looking around to see if I knew anyone in this town but everywhere I turn I see the goal post digging and the people are singing Their faces have grown old but their...

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