Long Ekphrastic Poems

Currents
by Michael R. Burch

How can I write and not be true
to the rhythm that wells within?
How can the ocean not be blue,
not buck with the clapboard slap of tide,
the clockwork shock of wave on rock,
the...

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Vacuum
by Michael R. Burch

Over hushed quadrants
forever landlocked in snow,
time’s senseless winds blow...

leaving odd relics of lives half-revealed,
if still mostly concealed...
such are the things we are unable to know

that once intrigued us so.

Come then, let us...

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State of the Art (IV)

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



Hearthside
by Michael R. Burch

“When you are old and grey and full of sleep...”  — W. ...

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Répéter Depuis le Début 
The Pink Studio, by Henri Matisse, 1911.

Perception fuses like melted rose quartz,
fuses on the lens of Matisse’s puzzled eyes
like the naiveté of childhood returned to age. 
Melted images rose in two...

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Monet's Impression, Sunrise

First impressions leave memories
that can linger for a very long time
and give a sense of peace and understanding
that rewards the solitude of the mind
with satisfaction in contemplative reflection.
This may be deceiving and can...

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Here’s a starry poem one might call ekphrastic
about an exploding fireball fantastic
from a ‘nova’, imaged with time-lapse clarity,
all the more remarkable for the rarity
of tracking its expansion– which researchers say
engulfs a place in outer space...

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Diego Rivera’s Flower Carrier

My load to carry is backbreaking,
But this I must do to feed my family.
Down on all fours on the ground, I pray
For fairness in barter and my safe return home
From this capitalist...

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The Swirling Green Storm

Sea foam splattered upon his panicked face 
his boat sank and life was torn asunder. 
He had run away, he was a disgrace; 
the storm worsened with a crack of thunder. 

Each...

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Hunters in the Snow

Slowly, the hunters break stride through the snow,
Hunched over in failure, their heads hanging low.
Below the hill where villagers at play
Will soon be sad with no food on the way.

The meagre kill...

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Hidden Lake Resting Between Snowy Peaks 

Cold lake in the clouds soothes his weary soul, 
among towering, silent, mountain peaks. 
Life's troubles have taken a heavy toll, 
sadness rasping in his voice when he speaks....

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A Painted Gaze

Sitting alone in soft and easy chair 
rustic gaze in artistic, painted scene. 
Yet, gentle beauty leaps from face and hair 
colors speaking, so softly blue and green. 

Were you happiest in your...

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Father's Gone 

Beside the seaside the fisherman's wife, 
her child in hand, walks asking about loss. 
Her father, years gone, left a life of strife. 
They both offer prayers with sign of the cross. 

A...

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Tickets are not easy to get at the Royal Circle. 
A lady does not wish to get a seat by currying favor; 
the flavor will eventually turn rancid and ruin her day. 
The scent of...

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Tag words: advertising, bebop, bird, bottle, Charlie 
Parker, Coca-Cola, Cole Porter, Dizzy Gillespie,
door, flag, heart, jazz, light bulb, Louis Armstrong,
Miles Davis, palette, Pepsi Cola, pluralism – found
object, retablo painting, sculpture

Arbitrary or subconscious, Saunders picked six.
Man...

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The Little White Church

The little white church engulfed by the immensity
Of Western Hemlock, Red Cedar, and Douglas Fir
On Nootka Island in Nootka Sound
Confirms the remoteness of the Yuquot Village
On the west coast of Vancouver Island.

The...

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Sweet Child Of Mine

Forbid that sweet child such a long cold view.
Winter delivers weeping deep chills,
upon our careless children right on cue.
Let household joy and warmth provide her thrills!

Nay! Her wants are all bright colors...

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Magical Mountain Where Blue Cat Resides

This Majestic mount made of magic stone; 
I climbed every night as a lonely child. 
Tall and regal, it stood there all alone, 
symbol of a world fantastic and wild!...

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Cultural Reverence / Cultural Fiesta ekphrastic poetry competition: 
facebook.com/share/p/EbeMGVKgPZnjyA31/

Thank you, Sukanto Roy and CULTURAL FIESTA 

Photography titled : Dawn Of New Hope. 

Photography taken by Kavitha Ramamoorthy,
India. 
Published in the June 2023 edition of Cultural...

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The Sun King (Roi Soleil)

The eyes and lips reveal the majestic, arrogant, smug smile
Of King Louis the Fourteenth, poised pompously in regal style.
Painted in robe of luxurious cloth of splendid colours,
Shod in high heels and...

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"Do you think I'm more the hue or the line?" she said.

He thought for a few seconds and then replied,
"I've always thought of you, like the bread and the wine"

"The idea is more of a...

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What pain you must have felt - what a life that you lived
A starving artist - swallows his own paint - in order to feel complete.
Painting the simple folk of a town
The tavern at dusk...

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Her Longing Heart Seeks Love's Relief	
  
         Pretty young lady, my how you steal the show 
how many admiring eyes look back at you? 
Perhaps a...

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while sitting at a local literary Louvre
with artists and some other radicals
waiting for return of grammatical groove
that had left me on today's sabbatical

I stumbled for some heartfelt words
to share with you of artistic notions
of whether...

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"How clear can art be?" Salvador asked,
"when surrealism is the order-of-the-day,
the order of my dreams, and for sale
at the gallery down one block and over two."

"Persistence - persistence always forays
to visions we never knew were...

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Wedding Kermesse

Common folk with few wants
(Toilers reaping earth’s bounty)
Enjoy life’s pleasantries
By escaping the harsh realities
Of day-to-day existence,
Expressed in a “Kermesse” dance
To the tune of simple instruments.

With joy in their hearts
And freedom unfettered,
They fling each other
Around...

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