Long Coolly Poems

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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Imitation! Creative Compliment, Lacking in Originality, or Plagiarism? 

This week takes me back to college days. I was taking a graduate course (as a Physics major)   in 'Modern Poets' at the University of...

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The day after the mutiny incident:
DJ again pitched his idea. 
He gathered the Older children 
Again, "Okay everybody we have
To make up to Dad Ma and Auntiema.
Today."  The children remained 
In the large kitchen...

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**Trigger Warning**



"I Knew Anne Silently - My Ravenous Poe" 

I knew Anne.
you’d think 
with a name like hers
she’d be able to find her way 
out of unchartered waters.

it didn’t come as a suprise, 
then, on...

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Brazil

As I drove through the heavy snow of Manquiville,
Deep in silence back to Grandfather's house, all frightened faces
Full of solemnly dreams, I remember the smell of the sea.
	The unseen Grandpa's hands, pulling and pulling
	The full...

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If I ask you to come and get me tomorrow
Would you turn down my request to come?
If I ask you to come and get me tomorrow
Would you lay down your burden and come?
Tomorrow might be...

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In the beginning after God had finished creating this land.    
Satan boldly challenged the heavens for the absolute control of man.
Gods’ architectural blueprint stretched for ages across the sky 
He watered the...

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“Words We Cannot Escape”

Words we can no longer speak

we tap dance over keys 
bruised blackly numb
Winter palette in hand 
Autumn now gone 

across white-washed notes fixated on stark enclosed walls 
the scent of old Lavender...

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The burial ground,  groomed to greet
the gatherers of their love apocalypse
with garlands grown and sown
from the rose fire of Athena's throne,
on this day they come to mourn
the Poet who perished for the passion of...

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stones
by michael r. burch


i.
far below me lies a village
with its houses hewn from stone
and though Everyman who lives there
bravely claims he’s not alone,
i can tell him, yes u are!
for u cannot touch the stars
no matter...

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ANYTE OF TEGEA

Stranger, rest your weary legs beneath the elms;
hear how coolly the breeze murmurs through their branches;
then take a bracing draught from the mountain-fed fountain;
for this is welcome shade from the burning sun.
—Anyte translation...

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I was a professional, melodic dance instructor, at the flowery prime of the art,
And I taught its various, elegant styles, sweet joy of valuable living to impart.

The noble old classic styles will never die, like...

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Ancient Greek and Roman Epigrams

That country wench bewitches your heart?
Hell, her most beguiling art’s
hiking her dress
to seduce you with her ankles' nakedness!
Sappho, fragment 57, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Stranger, rest your weary legs beneath...

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Did you hear my heartbeats like the soldiers, marchin’ on the notable night of March? It was thumpin’ with thunderin’ pride and victory once upon a time!  
Can you hear me echo my empathy...

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Max Clayborn head there was a walkout coming,
being orchestrated by his high school,
they proclaimed they were fighting gun violence,
but to Max they just sounded like fools.
They said nobody was allowed to stay inside,
so Max went...

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Lyle Cosgrove had worked the Silver Queen
for two years now, ever since he had left
family drama back in Ohio,
he had simply left his home and moved west.

He made a living as a gambler,
had spent months...

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Resemblance
by Michael R. Burch

Take this geode with its rough exterior—
crude-skinned, brilliant-hearted ...
a diode of amethyst—wild, electric;
its sequined cavity—parted, revealing.
Find in its fire all brittle passion,
each jagged shard relentlessly aching.
Each spire inward—a fission startled;
in its shattered...

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The day Mitchell Malden became a hero
he had only meant to go for a drink,
paced slowly into Slimbed’s only saloon,
where he noticed an unpleasant stink.

He saw Delaney Hannigan at cards
and figured that explained the bad...

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Ancient Greek and Roman Epigrams

Stranger, rest your weary legs beneath the elms;
hear how coolly the breeze murmurs through their branches;
then take a bracing draught from the mountain-fed fountain;
for this is welcome shade from the burning...

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By evening five we started ,
Our christmas shopping activities. 
My wife on the lead, her purse full.
Me appreciating her choices elegantly;
Kevin, Andrea supporting my task ,
Our activities ended by nine.
tired we, wanted to sit and...

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LBI, Drifting Sands

Good Morning, Spring.  I know you’re awake.  I see your color rising with the sun.
Through the open balcony door of our third floor suite, the sea breeze coolly streams into our...

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That night when you realize that your husband is afraid of you
Lying in bed and hearing his plans for your life
How you will get a job any job that makes money will do
Something respectable maybe...

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The ammunition greased casings pepper skull and cross lovely bones, 
   lightening speedily deals mortal blow persons unaware,
   the final minutes/seconds of lives leased
shorn of existence, and akin to sheared sheep,...

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BARREN DESERT

           I wander in open wide barren desert alone
           on camel-ride drawing in the...

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I see you walking on the beach
with the shyness of a kite,
toes gripping the sand with eyes that float
to the ends of the sea - tell me

(why do you look to the stars, love,
when we...

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