Long Dante Poems

Epigrams by Michael R. Burch

If brevity is the soul of wit
then brevity and levity 
are the whole of it.
—Michael R. Burch

To write an epigram, cram.
If you lack wit, scram!
—Michael R. Burch

Conformists of a feather
flock together.
—Michael...

Read More

Poems about Poems IV

The Toast
by Michael R. Burch

For longings warmed by tepid suns
(brief lusts that animated clay),
for passions wilted at the bud
and skies grown desolate and gray,
for stars that fell from tinseled heights
and mountains bleak...

Read More

State of the Art (II)

These are my "ars poetica" poems about the art and craft of writing poetry. 



What the Poet Sees
by Michael R. Burch

What the poet sees,
he sees as a swimmer 
~~~~underwater~~~~
watching the shoreline...

Read More

Premise
The great poem by the italian poet Dante is the DIVINA COMMEDIA
I have tried to translate in english verses of INFERNO (HELL).
It was a very difficult task. 
I expect criticism.

When just the midway of my...

Read More

Already I reached the place where heard the sound
Of falling water in the circle next
Suchlike the rumble done by hives around,

When three spirits together changed their treks,
Running, out of  an horde just passing there
Under...

Read More

Poems about Poets I


The Wonder Boys
by Michael R. Burch

for Leslie Mellichamp

The stars were always there, too-bright cliches:
scintillant truths the jaded world outgrew
as baffled poets winged keyed kites—amazed,
in dream of shocks that suddenly came true ...

but...

Read More

(Continuing the trip through Hell of Dante with poet Virgilio)

Pah-peh Sah-tan, Pah-peh Sah-tan al-ept!”,
Started Pluto with his hoarse voice toss
And that gentle wise, who any knowledge kept,

Told to encourage me: “don’t have a loss 
By...

Read More

Toddlers' Exploration: 

Cardboard drum, a thunderous beast,
Playful roars in tiny fists and feasts.
Fleeting wings glide, dreams just out of reach,
Soaring through tales of barnyard Waddles and Squeaks,
Moo! Quack! Giggles tumble and bump.
Flaps flapping, bright colors...

Read More

Unquotable quotes: Poets, Poetasters and Platos – XXXVI

     For James McAuley – in remembrance of a memorable week in Cardiff 1965 

The greatest poet ever is NOT Homer, Lao Tse, Ovid,...

Read More

Within my quasi moat toad lily padded immediate environs

Meaning the corporeal complex edifice
housing these lovely bones, 
where linkedin logorrhea ably
strives to break out 
in meaningless song 
yobble hum hum diddle dee dee
and dance courtesy 
an...

Read More

The difficult translation of first Canto of Divina Commedia is here completed
In the part published before, Dante imagined to find himself in a dark forest where he met three beasts. 
Now he is going to...

Read More

“Sacred Lakes”



There is magic 
in your shaman bones
stories shaken like strange mojo 
busy under cover of autumn leaves 
turning burnished topaz gold 
idling unrushed roll over

in honeyed slumber

turning back hands
to face a time of 
blushing...

Read More

Ghostly spirits from deadly arsenal spell haunting annihilation

With mighty mouse and Hercules height 
tried to retrieve sanity spread loose;
a faded unpleasant memory - even enlisting
decades old cartoon characters: 
Natasha squirrel and Bullwinkle moose
flow of electrons...

Read More

It happens every two point- five years so make sure you are there. Pack some stuff and put in the land rover and meet me at the desert in California. 

We will have barbecue on...

Read More

“belles lettres” 

It’s a slow drifting
off, that moment 
before you dive 
into the dark

you surface 
to find a boat 
surrounded by 
shining pearls,

Styx, a mirror 
reflecting 
otherworldly stars
hypnotic, 

you trail
your long 
pale slender fingers 
in...

Read More

It was somewhere in Cambridge, when the amalgam of substances 
began to cloud our judgment. 
The changes were between vague and blatantly obvious, but 
we were masters at this terrifying craft. 
A small dose of...

Read More

The winter solstice has passed, so the spring dance can begin at last,
and everyone is invited, from every tree as far as the eye can see.
To each and every flourishing flower, the buzzing bees and...

Read More

So now you’re feeling sorry
for yourself? Your pain and
anguish gnawing at you?
Just because to start you
ended up the object of
another’s twisted fantasy
and there were four of you
but then Gloria asphyxiated
you have no claim to sorrow
you...

Read More

The Journey to the Cosmic Beyond

Life
God’s divine spark heralds our mortal presence on this Earth,
Whilst angels sing their mystic paeans to our cosmic rebirth.
The soul’s constant transformation transcends all mortality,
As it brings each of us...

Read More

"50 Words for Poe: Revenant"


Everywhere he looks for Her his melancholic Ghost Girl
does our lachrymose ignoble Phantom in his own thunder storm


In the Wind Song he listens
Her elusive whispers hail from another dimension 
echolocation through...

Read More

Could I leave you? Could I really fend off the tears that would batter my heart? Could I
Dante the man you love follow through, martyr my heart?

My life was slain with arrow and bows, they...

Read More

On Tue, Sep 25, 2018, 11:54 AM M Mc  wrote:
ENEMY ANONYMOUS 

So many forms, so many names 
Im Tina, Dope
No ing joke!
Let's start with Mary Jane.
First some weed, "it's not a need"
Now were escalatin'
toc...

Read More

"Here rise to life again, dead poetry!
Let it, O holy Muses, for I am yours,
And here Calliope, strike a higher key,
Accompanying my song with that sweet air
which made the wretched Magpies feel a blow
that turned...

Read More

It has occurred to me now that humanity has come to lack the culture once held 
O’ so very dear to our own existence.

  As Dante once walked with Virgil, down an epic path...

Read More

The destruction of the cell in the dialectic of negativity
Shooting arrows of light towards the body of the self
Solar processes and nuclear fusion
Sustainable Amazonian Euterpe precatoria trees
Color in the Persuasion of Sensibility
Structure of the ceiling...

Read More