Long Erato Poems

Talent
by Michael R. Burch

for Kevin Nicholas Roberts

I liked the first passage
of her poem: where it led
(though not nearly enough
to retract what I said.)
Now the book propped up here
flutters, scarcely half read.
It will keep.
Before sleep,
let me...

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“Look! The aging poet sleepwalks again.”
“Sir, should we wake him from his nightly tour?”
“No! God no! His heart could not stand the strain.”
“He’s heading for the open study door 
His ambulant steps on the floorboards...

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I.

Eros walked slowly through the forestland,
   Near Mount Olympus, in the soft twilight.
By his side, he held his bow in his hand,
   As he walked on through the advancing night.
Above the...

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1.
Uninvited you come, oh Erato*, you muse of poetry, the 
Majority of the times,
Knocking at my soul’s door at any given moment
Insisting on letting you in, your message to deliver
Disregarding at what state my soul...

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Inside my mailbox late last month; nine packs of seeds - a mystery!
I hadn't ordered anything, but curious was I to see
what might become of planting them. So grabbing trowel, hoe, and rake,
I set about...

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Safe Harbor
by Michael R. Burch

for Kevin N. Roberts

The sea at night seems
an alembic of dreams—
the moans of the gulls,
the foghorns’ bawlings.

A century late
to be melancholy,
I watch the last shrimp boat as it steams
to safe harbor...

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The nine muses
Daughters of Zeus
Inspiring of mortals
And nurturers of the arts
The first was,
The divine Calliope,
Beautiful-voiced,
Was the muse of the epic poets
A writing tablet in her hand
Calliope was Homer's muse
Inspiration for the Iliad
Divine influence of the...

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Embracing Poetry

Freedom on the lam where the poet sings
To hearts imprisoned against their will;
Inspires the bereaved mind to spring to life
And uplift hearts bloom burst liberated
When pain of incarceration ceases.
‘Gloria excelsis deo’ in the world.

Frolic...

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Erato

Out of an ethereal mist her form –
round, soft edges shimmering, a milky

apparition, like the full moon on a foggy
July night. Myrtle and roses came first

in the aroma that took him to the shores 
of...

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Oh! Erato, 
Divine Muse of the poetry of love,
I beseech you to inspire me today
For
I aspire for HIM to write 
HIM: CUPID, the son of Venus
Goddess of beauty, and of Mercury, the cunning
Messenger of Gods.

Guide...

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CUPID/EROS 


Oh! Erato, 
Muse of the poetry of love
Inspire me today
I supplicate you for 
I aspire for HIM to write 
HIM: CUPID, the son of Venus
Goddess of beauty, and of Mercury, 
The cunning messenger 
Of...

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Hippocrene (hip'?-kren‘) is a fountain on Mount Helicon, Greece, sacred to the Muses and
regarded as a source of poetic inspiration. 
Mnemosyne (nemoz'ini) is a titan who is the personification of remembrance. She is the
mother of...

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Of all the gods and goddesses
Found in Greek mythology,
My favorites are the nine Muses*,
Each means something special to me:
Calliope is epically bombastic;
Urania has stars in her eyes;
Erato's love poems are fantastic;
And Melpomene says of tragedy,
"It's...

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Homecoming at evening for her and the birds.
They settle in, she watches them, white whorls 
on green, wreathing tree tops, as is their wont, until 
sentries spot storm clouds, sound an alarm, (word-
wings their e-for...

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Calliope has turned her back on fate,
She will be a muse no more,
She has halted all her metrical speech,
She no longer frolicks,
At the fountain of Hippocrene,
She no longer answers Apollo,
The Mousagetes,in Delphi,
Corycides,the cave on Mount...

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Rhyme and Rhythm

The supple face of poetry without the smile of rhyme
Is like a clock with pretty hands but fails to mark the time.
The rhyming words of poetry enhance through artful dance
Import of stirring much...

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or

A Poetic Tribute to You Know Whom

"Humility is a virtue in others."
-- the human ego
 
*   *   *
 
The paragon of bards whom I admire
anonymous hath opted to remain,
beseeching humbly mine...

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Whenever a Melancholy Moon,
Radiantly brimful, looms low,
And gilds the tops of the trees,
The hills, the flowing streams,
and languorously reclining lakes,
My Muse appears to me
from nowhere like a dream,
Like a flash of inspiration
to a muddled mind.

She...

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These Four Muses Sing


These four
 Muses simply pour
Epic words poets eat
 great writes can't be beat

Calliope sent charm and wit
 those favored she made it fit
Euterpe gave imagination as a boon
 graced with wisdom from...

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To one who places pen to paper,
one may work the whims of Terpsichore

Those who write a witty Chastushka,
may be hearing the voice of Polyhymnia

Those who give thought to a Fibonacci,
could possibly have heard of Melpomene

Those...

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I'm perplexed! My breath chocks as Euterpe, Calliope,
Erato, Apollo, and modest Muses leading me
Through the refreshingly flooding streams of Antiope
To heavens, where I am, like an eagle, endlessly free

I can breathe here a frankincense-filled aromatic...

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(Summon the Muse)

Calliope drops sensuous
sounds from her fingertips.
My outstretched arms catch
and hold them to my bosom,
wherein they suffer death.

Clio presents her backside.
My impassioned pleas fall
on deaf ears. All the old
stories stay locked inside
aged trunks in...

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Winter's quality can by no means merge with my love,
Elating the stigmas,freshing the trees but stay not long.
Graced with illumination,concordance with the sun,
In-turn in fury,scorching it,the sun made it mourn.

Venus and Erato,dearly a pair,
Drenched in...

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At the Feet of the Goddess
by Michael R. Burch

“What will you conceive in me?”—
I asked her. But she
only smiled.

“Naked, I bore your child
when the wolf wind howled,
when the cold moon scowled . . .
naked, and...

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Erato, muse of love poetry
Inspires all of us to tell our tale,
Of when that magic spark set us free,
And the loneliness began to fail.

Some poets write of love at first sight,
Some of a smoldering love...

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