Long Genteel Poems

Epigrams by Michael R. Burch

If brevity is the soul of wit
then brevity and levity 
are the whole of it.
—Michael R. Burch

To write an epigram, cram.
If you lack wit, scram!
—Michael R. Burch

Conformists of a feather
flock together.
—Michael...

Read More

MODERN SONNETS I

I prefer the original definition of the sonnet as a “little song” of indeterminate form and length. These modern sonnets vary from more-or-less traditional to free verse.


Maker, Fakir, Curer
by Michael R. Burch

A poem...

Read More

LOVE POEMS II

These are love poems by Michael R. Burch: original poems and translations about passion, desire, lust, sex, dating and marriage. On an amusing note, my steamy Baudelaire translations have become popular with the...

Read More

Beware The Ides of March 2023
 
Ides simply referred to first new moon, 
which usually fell between 
the thirteenth and fifteenth day
of a given month.

The following events all occurred
fifteenth of March 
across span of millenniums.

One:...

Read More

Love has a Southern flavor: honeydew,
ripe cantaloupe, the honeysuckle’s spout
we tilt to basking faces to breathe out
the ordinary, and inhale perfume ...

Love’s Dixieland-rambunctious: tangled vines,
wild clematis, the gold-brocaded leaves
that will not keep their order in...

Read More

“Women Have Loved Before As I Love Now”
by Edna St. Vincent Millay

Women have loved before as I love now;
At least, in lively chronicles of the past-
Of Irish waters by a Cornish prow
Or Trojan waters by...

Read More

I had gotten to that stage,
Where true love was but a mirage.
When one is hurt too many times
By these daughters of Eve,
The heart must surely cease to give
Until such a time as right
To smile again...

Read More

Inevitable death defines afterlife - deux

Flinty stones figuratively rolling inside
whooping out that primal 
binaural beat of your drum
ma mind haphazardly 
ricocheting axon to neuron
inducing inxs of chaos 
wreaking entropy beheld 
by beauty and the beast
enveloping...

Read More

Jinxed jesting jejune junior jobber...
just jabbering gibberish (A - J)

Again, another awkward ambitious
arduous attempt at alphabetically
arranging atrociously ambiguously
absolutely asinine avoidable alliteration.

Because...? Basically bonafide belching,
bobbing, bumbling, bohemian beastie boy,
bereft bummer, bleeds blasé blues, begetting
bloviated boilerplate bildungsroman,
boasting...

Read More

"Gospels"

 

Gospels are lost on a god
words are never hidden
under rocks 
unturned stones
for the hiding

Poets caress swords
a legend firm in their hearts
undrawn they hold it out
as victor for witness
and target, practice

to fall on love 
brutally...

Read More

One generic baby boomer, (a garden variety sexagenarian)...
offers his interpretation of critical race theory

I, (an articulate, charming, domesticated, 
erudite, friendly, genteel, humorous, intelligent,
kind, learned, male, albeit modest – married) 
with freshly clipped formerly gnarly toenails
discounts...

Read More

SELF PORTRAIT DEDICATED TO LEON TROTSKY (by Frida Kahlo)

                          ...

Read More

The moon has groaned home;

And soon the shadow’s drum,

Resonates the rhythmic silhouette,

To the ferocious pains of the spine;

Hear the heavy throbs of the drum,

The panting steps of the trumpet,

And the singing sage of the flute.

See...

Read More

Born in the Goshen ghetto,
bound by an Ashkenaz forged umbilical chain
Beloved mother was Jim Crow lynch poor,
adored father was the Uncle Sam same
Third-generation slaves,
pauper freed allegedly
But royal blood their ancestors  
sweaty tears did bleed
From...

Read More

While on the topic 
of blood kith and kin,
I relate another 
fabricated poem about 
blimey bloke of a fisherman. 

Trawl tale of a fictitious seaman told to ye...

Courtesy webbed whirled wide net wit
cursing thwarted life,...

Read More

Dapper Drac had a panic attack, and topping off the dread
His trendy boots clashed with his suit, plus his white shirt was stained red

Sure his hair was right, and dynamite, as seen in the mirror
Yet...

Read More

Ottava Rima & ABC. Sadly, due its lack of artistic values and matching verbiage that would have met with an arguable challenge, hail an NFC poem--you see, as I found the bite in this baby...

Read More

The Goddess of Love


The exuberant fire that burns within my soul,
In that first embrace of a lovers smile;
Shall forever be held, in equality to the power of love.
Her servant shall forever wish for her luminous,...

Read More

When that storm arrived,
the entire congregation 
in genuflection 
knelt before 
Her poetic prayers,
they saw themselves shining,
eventually, in Her reflection 

scandalously quiet 
like perculating thunder, 
their minds cracking open,
their whole chicken little sky 
falling closer ever...

Read More

Two Poems on Musical Themes


Salieri Speaks

His genius brought me to the brink of a fearful inadequacy.
What does one do when you reach a mountain top
only to find yourself on a foothill?
I thought posterity would acknowledge
the...

Read More

Five miles of neatly spaced suckered palm planted 
Bustling promenade,
Not withstanding a provincial cafe-culture 
Of restaurants and exciting little bars,
Enhance upon regal elegance of the crammed hotels
Regency period style facades;
Their fashionable shadows slowly lifting and...

Read More

Ten: A New Global Health Scare, 2003
After accumulating reports 
of a mysterious respiratory disease 
afflicting patients and healthcare workers 
in China, Vietnam, Hong Kong, 
Singapore and Canada, 
the World Health Organization 
issues a heightened global...

Read More

These are poems about shadows and shadowy things...

Transplant
by Michael R. Burch

You float, unearthly angel, clad in flesh
as strange to us who briefly knew your flame
as laughter to disease. And yet you laugh.
Behind your smile, the...

Read More

A languorous morning 

Nestled in between warm duvets, a goose feathered pillow or two…a luxury 
A striped kitten, a beautiful shade of grey, on a windowsill grey too; purring, gentle breaths, authenticity so appealing
A glass...

Read More

‘ Legendary … ' ( Part  2 (of) 4 ) 


And Now … may Troubadour … Spin A Tale, So Precisely
Aye … May Bard, Weave Thee Well, into This Tapestry …

… of Starry Skies,...

Read More