Long Editors Poems

Rejection Slips 3

Rejection Slip
by Michael R. Burch

Whenever my writing gets rejected,
I always wonder how the rejecter got elected.
Are we exchanging at the same Bourse?
(Excepting present company, of course!)

When editors reject my poems, did I slip...

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Rejection Slips

With over 5,700 publications if I count poems that have gone viral, I suppose I shouldn’t complain … but I do have some poems that have never been accepted for publication. Here are a...

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The language and images of Mario Vitale's poetry are so closely bound to the natural cycles of seasons, of generations, of the body's functioning, that is surprising to realize how many of his poems deal...

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Back Door Side Door Front Door : Which door might a Confucian take
 
..................for René ETIEMBLE (Jan. 26, 1909 – Jan. 7, 2002)*

In homage - dedicated to the Chair Professor of Comparative Literature
.................at the prestigious...

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Translation of Eric Mottram’s Twentythird Legal by T. Wignesan

Le vingt-troisième légal

pendant la guerre le peuple devient obéissent de nouveau
plein du respect (et) de la confiance les enfants naïfs dans la foi
la gouvernance nécessaire  ...

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Alexander The Great was born in Macedonia in 356 BC, led to believe
From a boy by Olympias his mother, and to conceive
He was born of the gods, legend inferred he was the son of Zeus,
Ruler...

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Dear Local Boards of EcoSchool Education,
Departments of Environmentally Protected Walkable Transportation,
Cooperatively Maintaining Public-Private Works
and STEAM Play
and WinWin GreenGames,
Hysterical Historical Associations,
Social Work Departments of Climate Restorative Therapy,
and Public Health-Wealth Departments:

Did you leave anyone out dear?

Just the...

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Each English-speaker knows that funner means more fun than fun,
   and weirder means more weird than weird. And yet nary a one
of "proper" dictionaries has neologism words -
   the editors must...

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Highlights from Highland Manor

Courtesy Goofus and Gallant 
who began their broadly-drawn 
moral plays in the 1950s, 
initially depicted as identical twins,
but later on, editors for Highlights 
indicated the two were brothers, 
but not twins, and...

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We know Jesus is coming soon, 
     When events change the world map;
When we stare at the sun and moon
     Every day, keeping on looking up,
Into the...

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Now the enemy is a vague foggy ghost
brought so readily and intimately to the forefront
those well-known unknown faceless pernicious enough
a hidden host in a wanted posters photograph
come they have to invade your homes
to run their...

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Epigrams VIII

Less Heroic Couplets: Word to the Unwise
by Michael R. Burch

I wanted to be good as gold,
but being good, as I’ve been told,
requires something, discipline,
I simply have no interest in!



Brief Fling I
by Michael R. Burch

To...

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Our older sister, Lynn Ellen Dubarry.  Has an aggressive form of Leukemia. She has been transferred to Swedish Hospital's Edmonds Washington, USA. Hospice/comfort care. She is on their 8th floor.  I have requested...

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Rejection Slips 4

Editor's Notes
by Michael R. Burch
 
Eat, drink and be merry
(tomorrow, be contrary).
 
( and complain
in bad refrain,
but please, not till I'm on the plane!)
 
Write no poem before its time
(in your case, this...

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When the definition of Democracy

Comes negated at both the cost
and price of freedom of speech

And being told what we can and
can not say or do

That to me then becomes an 
overreach and abuse of power

Unless...

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Do you walk around and wear Him as a vest and only reveal Him when the heat gets too much
Does His heartbeat, beat to the beat of yours 
Is your blood infused with His and...

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For years when my wife was sponsoring forensic groups
Tasked me with "judging" high school oral presentations,
[The most difficult thing I was called upon to do]
Each youngster gave it their best and all were very good
Rules...

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There was once a man.
He’d always wanted to write,
But his biggest failing was
That he wasn’t very bright.

Whenever he started 
On a story or a plot,
Before he could pen it
He simply forgot

What he had thought earlier
And...

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LINES

We LINE up in traffic, or clear out the door, 
And there are BEELINES we make, to the seashore.
Get mad and we're "DRAWING A LINE IN THE SAND," 
He USES A LINE when he asks...

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I forgot who I was, almost lost myself 
in a mirage of diffidence, 
for a lingering stretch of time!
From the emotional age of twenty-one....
I switched to one role from another -
diverse roles, divergent responsibilities, 
But...

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Now before we get started let me tell you this.
Twenty five years I've been out of school.
Not one single day of it do I miss.
My writing is mine & there are no rules.

My words are...

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It was stupid of Walt
not to show it to Joan
before they got married
but he was too shy.
He had no idea 
what to expect
but he never expected 
her to laugh.
Not a laugh exactly, 
more of a...

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Dear Oxford English Dictionary editors,
     Please consider the following words for inclusion in your next edition: 

Amazone - the addictive, ensnaring vortex of shopping online. "She's been on her laptop all...

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Is Donald Trump a saint or a sinner? 

This question hangs
in bars and in corridors of power
This man, Trump, is habitually torn to shreds, by political editors representing the opposition, while some
people point out the...

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For years I have wasted,
Precious time spent with you,
And it is time I faced it,
You are mean-hearted and cruel,

You ravage the inspired souls,
Who fall for your covert snares,
And while the many pay their tolls,
You parade...

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