Long Brutus Poems

Sic semper evello mortem tyrannis, high bred poiet?s of mine

     ("Thus always I cause the death of tyrants.”)
the purported line Brutus uttered 
after assassinating Julius Caesar.

     Alternatively...

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You Never Listened
by Michael R. Burch
 
You never listened,
though each night the rain
wove its patterns again
and trembled and glistened...
 
You were not watching,
though each night the stars
shone, brightening the tears
in her eyes palely fetching...
 
You...

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Beware The Ides of March 2023
 
Ides simply referred to first new moon, 
which usually fell between 
the thirteenth and fifteenth day
of a given month.

The following events all occurred
fifteenth of March 
across span of millenniums.

One:...

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We've been taught the terror of triumph from where the heart looks...
General Caesar Sir, 9th Recon reports that Pompeius Magnus has fled by sea to Egypt,
also, the body of Captain Crastinus has been laid on...

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POTD 30th August 2018 

The gently swaying branches of the old oak should elicit calmness
And yet a sense of foreboding permeates the midnight air
Wild imaginings?  Or did shadows flit across the leaf strewn path?
No...

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Through Their Eyes

The Poetry Murders Part 3 in the series

Murder She Wrote

It was a dark night with a full moon
The alley narrow, my hopes high
My footsteps echoed in the ears of the invisible
I quicken my...

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Circa February 12th, 2122 ~ 10:30 PM

Equals twenty one thirty 22:30 military time
future time traveler looks back one century ago,
oceanic waterways overladen with green slime,
yours truly attempted crafting id est feeble rhyme
far from madding crowd,...

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Back approximately half my life ago
dissociative disorder 
if qualified to self diagnose 
mein kampf psychological state...

I lacked emotions where others concerned.

That refrain replayed itself,
when wife picked up 
(like a broken record), 
where parents left off
before...

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Future time traveler looks back one century ago

I exhibit health and virility at one hundred and 
64 years astride planet earth, whereby spouse,
(who remained married to yours truly for about
one century – which elapsed in...

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This is the final CANTO of Hell. I am going to publish the full translation as epub on AMAZON. It was a very hard work to find rhymes in english.

“Vexilla regis prodeunt inferni now
Toward us;...

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When I was young, my father wrote poems, lovely poems, in Yiddish.
In one poem, he called me, his only son, his 'kadish'l, the one who would recite the Kaddish, the Prayer for the Deceased, for...

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Ides simply referred to first new moon, 
which usually fell between 
the thirteenth and fifteenth day
of a given month.

Smithsonian Magazine history buff
Tom A. Frail
posted March 4, 2010 issue
url = https://www.smithsonianmag.com/
history/top-ten-reasons-to-beware-
the-ides-of-march-8664107/
top ten reasons to 
beware the...

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You bite that apple!
Give it a go, put on a show
There is no shame
You said shame is a sham
And clams are happy
Do they hop or skip?
Tripping along the seafloor
Playing hopscotch
Eating numbers like cookies
Chips Ahoy!
Sleeve after...

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Rick Springfield's Jesse's Girl was playing on the radio,
we were all partying guys and girls out on my patio.
I prayed no one or you would catch me looking your way,
noticing what I was doing for...

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Antinatalist Poems

Habeas Corpus
by Michael R. Burch 

I have the results of your DNA analysis.
If you want to have children, this may induce paralysis.
I wish I had good news, but how can I lie?
Any offspring you...

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REFLECTIONS ON POSTWAR AMERICAN PRESIDENTS
 
Truman became President by accident, which
probably explains why, on the whole, he did a good job.
Eisenhower, deprecated as an inveterate bungler,
a shillyshallying,  grinning incompetent,
is now beginning to emerge as...

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In the vast and verdant landscape of African literature, a constellation of luminous stars once shone bright, their radiant light illuminating the complexities of a continent’s soul.
 
 O Achebe, Awoonor, Mongo Beti, Ama Ata...

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To Mr. Otto Osips Ochs
My friend, the dream is exhausted
But as long as you chase it, I will follow
Mr. Dylan Thomas 
Perhaps destiny it’s self will spare us
To yours, mine, our struggle 
Their smiles
Here’s to...

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The world is so mechanical
It is so scientific 
It's getting to be so-so difficult
Everything works at a fingers touch
Everything is speeded up too much
Neon lights the night
Smog darkens the sunlight
Time is to the seconds
While details...

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He made no move at all 
As the alarm clock went off. 
But ten minutes later, 
It was obvious he was awake. 
He lifted himself out of bed 
And went towards the bathroom.
He shaved himself...

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Brutus was always bad
                      But what can you expect from a liasion
  ...

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Brutus Iulius Trois Page 06

The defeated Pandrasus spoke out
his weary words weighted with wisdom. 
Linus is as Greek as I am Greek and as a Greek
let him inherit the crown, I'll name no other heir.
take...

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The afternoon's a fire, but my head still frozen to the pillow.
The fan blows soft and I lay softer.
Without a signifier I'll get up for the 4th hour in a row,
I'll stay ignorant to all...

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Brutus Iulius Trois page 08 

Suddenly stillness all sounds silenced  the last pirate slain.
From the bowels of the Tireme came cheers that grew louder
From men newly freed from their enslavement  to the Thracian...

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JULIUS CAESAR
When you start reading
You show your feeling
But not in Julius Caesar 
Whose chapters dip you in eager 
Onto the streets of Rome
Lay a royal home
Caesar's it was
Who was the boss
 He was the king
Bright...

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