Long Exceeding Poems

Sonnets XVII-XXIV

Discrimination
by Michael R. Burch

The meter I had sought to find, perplexed,
was ripped from books of "verse" that read like prose.
I found it in sheet music, in long rows
of hologramic CDs, in sad wrecks
of long-forgotten...

Read More

Today is assiduously
religiously different,
as I review our local RiverEast News.

Every week
Mike Thompson writes a solid Editorial
in a compelling voice.
I expect to only add
my hearty sacred
happy secular "Amen!"

Our nearly fearless Editor and Chief
calls for political "ACCOUNTABILITY!"
like...

Read More

Long in the tooth male doth recount, reflect, reimagine...
his woebegone damn dental daze today May 5th, 2021 

No particular rhyme nor reason
garden variety indentured flunky (me)
revisits his salmagundi salad days, 
when oral blight smote 
left...

Read More

Pride and Prejudice: The Lacking Margins

Pride and Prejudice, a passionate novel by Jane Austen, published anonymously in three volumes in 1813. A masterpiece of English literature, composed with penetrating wittiness and exquisite character delineation, it...

Read More

Severe surge regarding thou shalt not kill violations

Fifth commandment breached regularly
epidemic of gun violence in America
bullets fly, scream and tear into flesh
senseless rampant mass killings
rip across fabric of society
buzzfeeding, jump/kickstarting, 
paradigm of mortality.

Since January first
two...

Read More

I don't know,
S/He said,

(right winged left
exhaled downstream
past everyone's egopaled head)

If God is dead
and also much too Capitalistic,
LeftBrain dominant hegemonalistic

(like water to a philosophical shark)

If God is straight
and white
and a patriarchal supremacist accountant
calculating monoculturally ambitious values

Then...

Read More

"Evolution
takes its sweet time
in its work
on our collective consciousness;
the lasting leap from fear to love
in the human mind
will be its masterpiece."
     Walking to Listen, p. 139
     Andrew...

Read More

Most mind boggling mysterious mortal

Mystification prevails stupefying yours truly
befuddled, he blindly stumbles along rocky
pathway illusory impediments strewn helter
skelter intangible obstructions hinder access
psychological barricades effective impasse

detains, deters, detours manhood maturation
manumission manifestation materialization
linkedin, when permanent submission arises
beckoning...

Read More

I ask myself a rhetorical question regarding...
the durability, longevity, and tenacity of Homo sapiens,
after screaming headlines report one after another atrocity.

How did the human species manage to survive
with many means
of self destruction at their disposal?

Atomic...

Read More

Any face of before was there suppressed;
Two and no one the sinner’s wicked face
Was looking; and such way slow pace progressed.

As the green lizard when so strong lambastes
The heat wave of day, then changing the...

Read More

What does it cost
to love a degenerating Earth,
home,
habitat?

Where NO TRESPASSING signs
speak out for natural sound
defensive silence,
for spiritually medicinal fragrances
only,
in sacred space and times
forbidding mechanized transport
across Earth's MotherLands
and feminist HealthCare Oceans.

Degenerating natural landed bodies,
spiritually disconnected minds
cannot...

Read More

Back to you Billy, for ways I whiled away herding ennui

Ah...a flood of memories wash over
this anointed Goatama Boo Da,
whose respected G.O.A.T status
among generic green acres, 
which swathed across Highland Manor 
analogous to petty coat...

Read More

Wordsmith's Veneration...

Methinks, I post literary endeavors inxs
but tis with blood, sweat and tears
in case ye did not guess,
who struggles to craft reasonable rhyme
ideally read by a pleasing poetess.

Aye willy nilly understate (trying to)
tantalize, hypnotize, galvanize...
with...

Read More

Without memory there can be no insight. Without love, there can be no appreciation.
Anne Rice

From the deepest recesses of the crowded hall
Came a thunderous applause that shook the walls
An artist par excellence was on stage...

Read More

I cry when you're not satisfied
I tried but when I fell I hide
In truth and act I've lied
Often embedded in my stride

Condemned in my consent I relinquish my pride
When it's all done and said I...

Read More

Glad That God Is Here

Am always glad that God is here;
To me sincere and so very near;
Looking forward to
A life that is new,
And soon His Son will reappear.

Jim Horn

Happy Birthday Again

With God a new life...

Read More

Invisible

Have you ever felt so empty?
With no person that lend a helping hand
Have you ever felt so alone?
Like no one can see you but your own reflection in the mirror
Have you ever felt invisible?
That lives...

Read More

Angel of mercy please intercede

Weakest most lame specimen
among human breed
control of my life I willingly concede
wordless son of a gun fires off 
following capricious poetic deed 
done dirt cheap while 
traveling highway to hell
the speed...

Read More

Rounds
by Michael R. Burch

Solitude surrounds me
though nearby laughter sounds;
around me mingle men who think
to drink their demons down,
in rounds.

Now agony still hounds me
though elsewhere mirth abounds;
hidebound I stand and try to think,
not sink still further...

Read More

EDGE WALKER 

Waking up to the depth beyond such things every day
One day I choose to walk and become Queen of Mandalay

In the depth of my ocean mind
I Find my soul diving and trying to...

Read More

Dear PS Friends,
Many of my PS friends would be surprised to see this concluding part of this love story of 2014. 
I am concluding to-day the last part of this unique Love story of...

Read More

Upon bitterly cold dawning hours of one January 2000 day
the Harns family desperately sought a place to live – “hay
there” Nelson Swartley (an independent realtor) 
politely responded bringing unwelcome news viz our sos re lay
informing...

Read More

They all used to be in the 'Kwaya'.
Every Sundays and even Midweek,
Ate the bread and drank the blood at the altar.
Sang like angels but spiritually weak.

They are the saints during worship sessions,
Sweet-sounding tongues that thrill...

Read More

Part Three

Whether or not relations with the uncultured enamour
Do not seek to succour what should sour

What does it matter if you gain or lose inferiors
Who feather their own nests and leave you in a mess

Those...

Read More

heard ENOUGH about the debt ceiling yet?
have you been beaten over the head with
FEAR
as a citizen of this american empire that
spreads both its hands (a baton in each)
to pummel all those on this planet 
(with...

Read More