Long Gale Poems

Psychologically still thirteen 

Ordinarily meaning pre Internet days
familiarization with me would entail
bringing the avid listener 
into my private mancave hideaways
less a physical place than a juncture in relationship, 
(whereby one or the other of us)...

Read More

Epigrams by Michael R. Burch



Negligibles
by Michael R. Burch
 
Show me your most intimate items of apparel:
begin with the hem of your quicksilver slip ...



Negotiables
by Michael R. Burch

Love should be more than the sum of its...

Read More

Epitaph for a Palestinian Child
by Michael R. Burch

I lived as best I could, and then I died.
Be careful where you step: the grave is wide.



Autumn Conundrum
by Michael R. Burch

It's not that every leaf must finally...

Read More

Athenian Epitaphs

Mariner, do not ask whose tomb this may be,
but go with good fortune: I wish you a kinder sea.
—Michael R. Burch, after Plato

Does my soul abide in heaven, or hell?
Only the sea gulls
in their...

Read More

Athenian Epitaphs II

These are ancient Greek epitaphs for lost family and friends, including dogs and other animals ...

Now his voice is prisoned in the silent pathways of the night: 
his owner's faithful Maltese... 
but will...

Read More

I went again today ... to that place, the allurement overwhelming ... the one
we called "ours" so tritely, "mine" before you, "mine" again now, (tho' others
have doubtless staked claimed - ages before and since). I...

Read More

My mind a ship in darkness                             ...

Read More

The Earth dry and bare; waiting eagerly for the drops of care;
 


Caught in the hot, steaming summer’s snare;
 


The flowers and creepers decorating window sills; all look desolate and ill;
 


As the nature withers...

Read More

*Note 
I had to bring this one back, though I've been posting mostly new writes here that PS hasn't seen before. This poem has been edited many times over the years. I consider it to...

Read More

Sometimes I think I should have started this prose
With a disclaimer of sorts
To my readers, many of those
Who may think me out of my gourd

Sometimes I think this disclaimer should be
Short and sweet, honest and...

Read More

'We have a future king to make,'
Said the deep, resounding voice.
'But it is not a proper fit for everyone.
For a king must know first how to obey than to command,
And to abide rather than reign.'

'And...

Read More

Coffee or tea?

Fragmented frogs frolicking fruitlessly freeing flavoursome fairy freckles,
But what of the speckled hound in the bin?
Well he growled,
He snarled,
The sole paw pilot pivoting,
How interesting was it to note though that the frogs although...

Read More

I.

The Fish Crow is an outcast amongst the seagulls
Standing on the hot Miami sand
At the end
Of our rose-colored beach towel

Nodding and blabbing half-heartedly
Nuh-uh nuh-uh
To the lack of crumbs

From us
The stingy blue collar visitors
From freezing old...

Read More

Tell her you saw me ...

Tell her I was out on the bluff at the Cape
during a gale, much too close to the rocks.
Tell her the surf was tormenting the ledges,
its roar far too loud...

Read More

......Flight......

Enter into the mind of madness, as it sets itself free
This is the only way that I see..
Take a trip through the universe,, called the mind..
Set yourself free leave all behind. .
Thoughts are currents of...

Read More

Pittsburgh, hammertown, Chuck Knoll and his boys
established the best Superbowl Era dynasty
with the "Steel Curtain" defense and the "Blonde Bomber" Bradshaw,
a defense disciplined on shrapnel and elite ego,
"Mean Joe Greene" and Jack Lambert, a compulsive...

Read More

I saw you …

high …
atop the promontory
spinning with manic madness
pirouettes et fouetté
lost in yourself -
in movement …
your upper back split, low
and, I swear -
feathers … peeking …
tucked under your shoulder blades
splayed and black as black
(obsidian...

Read More

"Invisible"



Trapped
within 
4 Walls 
A ghost 

escapes
it's prison 
through 
unlocked door

beyond
freefall
a bird
now soars

The Ocean 
calls the wild
Sargasso in
Me

Rochester’s 
Mirage 
ecstatic 
Bacchae
 
Maenad 
possessed 
submerged
Blue-Green

(Ladylabyrinth/2020)
for my daughter, 
Georgia






“Come Near Me” / Massive Attack – Ghost Poet
https://youtu.be/KY0TZQTwwbk






“There is...

Read More

Little child
Your tiny hands hold a little flower
Delicately, you start weaving a story about peace
In your gentleness, you understand how happiness works
It is the sanctuary of warm softness in the heart
Free of all clouds and...

Read More

Poet:  Ken Jordan
Poem: A Raven's Curse 
Edited by:  Sparkle Jordan
written:  February/2015


        On a late January, (winters night),  when once wake eyes now sleeping,  dogs now howling, and cats now screaming -

       ...

Read More

Approbation Deeded Gratuitously Just Because...

(this endeavor more self directed to progeny,
whose psyche wounded, strafed, and nicked.)

Incumbent upon me own
     purring impetus, a sincere
desire arose NOT to ask
    ...

Read More

Spring had sprung and the weather was wild, the winds were everywhere.
Yep, it was time to fly kites, but with Dragon involved, a time to be beware!
A great kite-erian was invited this year, from Japan,...

Read More

The darkness, now descending, floods the city as it dies
while shadows lurk in legions 'neath the looming Evil Eye.
Its frozen stare envelops all, it penetrates and pries,
denouncing loathed dissenters to the keepers in the sky....

Read More

A new command would counter their attack
to stay the storm that harkens at your door.
‘Twould be a feat that stunned the iron pack
for nothing dared defy the wolves before. 
And though his pack could see...

Read More

Brumby.

A strong gale cuts its path across the snow laden mountain tops,
light and tough the timor, thoroughbred mix, leads his mob at a trot.
A day spend grazing the valley below they now ascend the range...

Read More