Long Coos Poems

2003 TAMPA FLORIDA I CRIED OUT TO THE FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION ARLINGTON HEIGHTS ILLINOIS JAMAICAN THIEVES BROKE INTO MY HOME RIPPING PAGES IN JOURNAL ARSON MURDER DYNAMITE CIRO GARGANO MY EX ABUSIVE HUSBANDS TORCHED...

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Poems about Mothers


Mother's Smile
by Michael R. Burch

There never was a fonder smile
than mother's smile, no softer touch
than mother's touch. So sleep awhile
and know she loves you more than "much."

So more than "much, " much more...

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Southern Icarus
by Michael R. Burch

Windborne, lover of heights,
unspooled from the truck’s wildly lurching embrace,
you climb, skittish kite...

What do you know of the world’s despair,
gliding in vast solitariness there,
so that all that remains is to
fall?

Only a...

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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.

This poem has also been titled "Epitaph for a Child of...

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First they came for the Muslims

after Martin Niemoller

First they came for the Muslims
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Muslim.

Then they came for the homosexuals
and I did not speak out
because I was...

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Sonnets XLII-LI

Distances
by Michael R. Burch

Moonbeams on water?
the reflected light
of a halcyon star
now drowning in night...
So your memories are.

Footprints on beaches
now flooding with water;
the small, broken ribcage
of some primitive slaughter...
So near, yet so far.



A Surfeit of...

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Cleansings
by Michael R. Burch

Walk here among the walking specters. Learn
inhuman patience. Flesh can only cleave
to bone this tightly if their hearts believe
that God is good, and never mind the Urn.

A lentil and a bean might...

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Poems about Things that Break III
 
These are poems about things that break and/or shatter: a bubble, glass, a mirror, a twig or tree limb, a thunderstorm, cities and towers in times of war, old...

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Such Tenderness
by Michael R. Burch

for the mothers of Gaza

There was, in your touch, such tenderness—as
only the dove on her mildest day has,
when she shelters downed fledglings beneath a warm wing
and coos to them softly, unable...

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He is looking at her a bit sanctimoniously
He is about to mansplain again

"Am I spooking you?" he asks grinning
"I'm not trying to propose, Cutie.
God no. Could you imagine?
I just think it's possible, you know?
I'm just...

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Poems about Poets VII

Gallant Knight
by Michael R. Burch

for Alfred Dorn and Anita Dorn

Till you rest with your beautiful Anita,
rouse yourself, Poet; rouse and write.
The world is not ready for your departure,
Gallant Knight.

Teach us to sing...

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Dead Man Tales
shards of glass pearl the emperor's rise,
his arms embracing upon our sins and lies, 

do not deceive yourself , my friend.
in the twilight of our beings our corruption merges and blends.

there is no...

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She took some care making her choice
A Valentine's Day card
It is a silly little thing
"It shouldn't be this hard"

But she still feels indecision
Selecting the right one
To set the proper tone for them
"With just a touch...

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Lockheed, is a fictional Marvel Comic character.  An alien dragon.  He is the
size of a large cat with purple skin, yellow eyes, sharp claws and teeth, curved
horns on his head and wings so...

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What say you naive with all your poultice,
                     foolish fervor to your reverie!?”
“Mark me damned...

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Cypress trees like evergreen steeples
rise above rows of gravestone woes,
their shadows lie side by side like railroad ties 
across writhing paths banded like snakes;
gravel birth cords sinuous 
sensing the ground   seeking the sun
crossroads...

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White Dove coos the light through the bedroom window
leaving puddles of glimmering pools on the darkened floor
as the evening wanes and night takes control.
The door slowly opens and you shuffle your weary body
through the moonlit...

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Poems for Poets X
Poems about Poets X



Sinking
by Michael R. Burch

for Virginia Woolf

Weigh me down with stones ...
   fill all the pockets of my gown ...
      I’m going down,
...

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“When Hell Freezes Over”



He said, “One last kiss for my soul?”
as he lay supine life spilling onto his Last Sunset Road.

The sun had set long long ago.
She lent down, whispered in his ear
Cherry Ripe Red...

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As the mediterranean torrents 
thawed away this wildflower of Medusa ~
once roaring in merciless thunders, 
now, I'm found swaying,
midst lemongrass fields ~
conversing with freshwater naiads
for, every weed is a storyteller
     ...

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Roller coaster by ian munywe
 
Shuffling of many a feet in the street, sighing reluctantly in this awful road.
As we draw closer to alien things, what we saw before not in sync,
Far so far we have...

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Dawn Forever Rising

It starts

Street lights fade
their tiny soft-winged tenants flee
checkerboard facades change
last night's illumined squares now dark
become but yesterday's portals
some polished
some weather streaked
all reaching to reflect first breath

Steam ascends from the city's vacuum
gratings rattle with...

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Toy collector:

He holds the bear gently in his old wrinkled hands as he gazes into its kind beaded eyes. The toy collector sees love lined in its double stitches and his childhood in the busted...

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I Am...
Calvin L. Genereux

I am an infant...
The world around me is full of joys,
Bigger ones like me make funny sounds
And faces to amuse me.
Every moment is an adventure,
I learn colours an words but
Only one thing...

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Mama says this is where 
  I was born on a stormy night
    the benignant horn was where
      she'd paused to breathe and reside

  ...

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