Long Disbelieving Poems

Where Does the Butterfly Go?
by Michael R. Burch

for the children of the Holocaust and the Nakba

Where does the butterfly go
when lightning rails,
when thunder howls,
when hailstones scream,
when winter scowls,
when nights compound dark frosts with snow ...
Where...

Read More

Juvenilia: Early Poems IX

These are early poems of mine, written in my teens as a high school student and during my first two years of college.

Shock
by Michael R. Burch

It was early in the morning of...

Read More

justice 

What does this vastly misunderstood word mean to you? 

Too what ends? 

May we seek? 

Who(m) may guide us? 

Endless deliberation (spiss spiss spiss)

Debated and glorified by us all 

Beloved; instilled among (a) core...

Read More

Bully me you, I exemplified archetypal scapegoat

Even as an old curmudgeon, aye pucker
and raspily suction, albeit toothless mouth
drawing reminiscent guffaws affecting 
(think feeble attempt 
impersonating plumber plunging - 
unclogging backed up toilet), 
flushed with satisfaction,
now...

Read More

Irrational exuberance at respite from reading...

(on a rainy May thirteenth
two thousand and twenty five)
as a balm against ennui
becoming engrossed, immersed,
and lost in space of orrery
regarding the universe created courtesy
Nora Roberts well crafted novel Montana Sky
perusing...

Read More

Finding the plot

Of lost innocence
engrained in untold memories

The silenced absence 
in past present unspoken
stories well hidden
and therefore evoking
my past and my future
not mine and mine

Quite a mind-field
mines bombs blazing
artillery burning houses

My antecedent shelter of
generational tapestry
knotted...

Read More

Bully me you, I exemplified archetypal scapegoat...

who suffered cuts by a thousand knives.

Even as old (dish) married 
(spooning) curmudgeon, 
who receives social security disability 
linkedin with social anxiety)
chose the fork less traveled 
aye pucker with...

Read More

AntiPoem 36
“Silent Mercies”

(Poet’s Instruction: Softly play in the background Mario Lanza singing
“Your Tiny Hand Is Frozen” from Puccini’s La Boheme, while reading this AntiPoem)


A

Look over there.
See the stunned grandmother knitting,
Not speaking a word neither, nor...

Read More

people always say to me
you clearly want to better me 
succeeding whilst I fell away 
conforming to normality 

I don't meet or speak to people 
face to face invisible 
but hey, nobody knew anyway 
one...

Read More

Nineteen Seventy-Seven Alumni

Some conspiratorial and malevolent force
     must be fast at work
     cranking chronology dial
an extraterrestrial force

     donning, housing, loosing,
   ...

Read More

Well, well, well!
The whole world knows by now, impossible dreams can come true,
In the game of professional soccer, it has just been proven at Leicester,
Starting the season with a laughable 5,000 to 1 odds of...

Read More

DLCW Dont Let China Win 

For the badminton pundits in this country, there are a great many of them...
In their eyes, the greatest badminton player is Lee Chong Wei , a true Malaysian...
If you are...

Read More

Why is it so frustrating to be frustrated?

Frustration,
a knot in the chest, a choke of the mind,
a silent scream in the loudest noise,
a dance with shadows, lost in the void.

It's the itch you can't scratch,
the...

Read More

Icy seas engulf the setting sun.  Fisherman turn their boats to shore, bellies full, their murderous day is done.  Scores of frightened eyes stare to darkened skies in search of help that will...

Read More

Even the stars tremble, ever so faintly, glistening
Revealing the heartbreak beneath the breath,
Stars, still as night, they listen… 
Beyond the shudders, the tremulous sighs,
Disturbing the silent prayers of dusk,
Aching to invite the shadows, from their...

Read More

Do you really think, that I am going to trade my eternal soul,
for your bowl of germ infested puke? Think again!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

O' sullen sullies of darkness....

How you often paint yourself so very innocent and pretty

While...

Read More

Setting Yourself Free

Searching exhaustively for the truth in everything one is taught by others.
Extensively evaluating all things in order to find which path to take.
Thoroughly questioning anything that one is informed by anyone, instead of...

Read More

Bully me you, I exemplified archetypal scapegoat

Even as old (dish) married 
(spooning) curmudgeon, 
who receives social security disability 
linkedin with social anxiety)
chose the fork less traveled 
aye pucker with sunken cheeks,
(especially without dentures)
and raspily suction...

Read More

Constantly shaking on edge feel at risk 
My insides feel like they got caught up in a whisk 
The aches and pains that define my days 
Take over my life in so many ways 
My...

Read More

Barefoot, I stepped on the twigs and the dry leaves,
Loving the cracking sound they make as they break,
Hating the noise at the same time,
As, they might wake those sleeping monsters
From whom I was running!

Barefoot, I...

Read More

In the suspended time 

In the suspended time between Christmas and New Year’s Eve,
I think of you. 
Time has passed, much time, and you have said in 
Clear words of silence, that you wish me...

Read More

Comatose To Life

Somewhere on a small island called Penang, historically known as the Pearl Of The Orient…
There is a heartwarming tale of how tender loving care revived a comatose patient…

The patient is a fully qualified...

Read More

Distressed, I attest,
					Like not blessed,
					A voice in my head,
					Said out of bed,
					So I was led to
					A quiet church,
					As owls sang out,
					Midnight gone tombs,
					And my tears appeared,
					Death beckoned long
					finger nails of distraction,
And so I gazed upon...

Read More

Six months gone now since that dark night, I was kitchen-bound for a bite
Hoping I in icebox there a slice of pumpkin pie could score –
While I searched, I heard a ringing, an insistent ding-a-linging,
Louder...

Read More

Bully me you, I exemplified archetypal scapegoat

Even as old curmudgeon, aye pucker
and raspily suction toothless mouth
drawing reminiscent guffaws affecting
attempt impersonating plumber
(think unclogging toilet)
please support your local bummer

back in the day one
long haired pencil neck geeks...

Read More