Long Glinting Poems

Beckoning
by Michael R. Burch 
 
Yesterday the wind whispered my name
while the blazing locks
of her rampant mane
lay heavy on mine.
And yesterday
I saw the way
the wind caressed tall pines
in forests laced by glinting streams
and thick with...

Read More

Do you remember?
We lay in the moonlight, exhausted and content,
Moments from perfection, skin glistening with moisture,
Salty and sweet from love - love so amazing
That it stunned us every time ...
Always better than before, and always...

Read More

I remember my cherished Wolf Cub pack, 
How I loved those Wednesday evenings, 
The games, the pomp and seriousness of the camps, 
The different coloured scarves, sweaters and hair 
During the mass meetings, 
The solemnity...

Read More

Juvenilia: Early Poems XII

Because You Came to Me
by Michael R. Burch

for Beth

Because you came to me with sweet compassion
and kissed my furrowed brow and smoothed my hair,
I do not love you after any fashion,
but wildly,...

Read More

Everybody love to say they’re number one,
but it takes two
to make beautiful music, 
so we’re told
Pitch perfect
That one favorite song two lovers have,
it never gets old
After ninety nine repeats, 
it sounds one zero zero multiple...

Read More

Early one morning, as fresh springtime was just ending,
I was hiking in the woods, and overhearing the birds sing.

And with a tranquil heart, and lost in a deep green world,
I was reveling in the gaiety,...

Read More

I was in my backyard sunning, while lost in warm daydreams,
Enjoying red raspberries, while listening to the birds sing.

Lying on afternoon chaise, in the golden midst of hot July,
As I watched mauve butterflies, and lazy...

Read More

In your eyes, reflected to me
are memories of beautiful,
trembling pieces of laughing hope
still colors of grace and belief
feelings pouring from the shadows
never just make believe
always like the wonder of quiet faith
the struggle between knowing
and just...

Read More

I was pretty talkative, and spent all of my days chit chattering,
Like galaxies of glinting stars, all the dark universe scattering.

I was always on the move, and loved cacophonic sights and sounds,
Like the deep thrill...

Read More

When vitamin and medication bottles became plaything of the missus

Mental health of yours truly
heavily reliant upon one selective serotonin
reuptake inhibitor named fluoxetine (Prozac)
aside from countless
(approximately seven) other
prescription medications kept
stashed in a plastic tray
until one or...

Read More

Insignificant,
My proses are nothing without you-
but scribbles, through and through
I dream a dark weary blur
of letters, a phrases, going by in a flur-
Even that; my thoughts seeming simple
even then it lacks luster given by you-
the...

Read More

Out on the the highway I was, in those apricot days of August.
I was returning from a vacation, and the birdsong was raucous.

My car had made the long journey, without any issues at all,
Like sun...

Read More

I had for long been impoverished, as is often the case with writers,
Though I worked most diligently, at times even pulling all-nighters.

Rosy dreams kept me going, although times were frequently rough,
As black night fuels its...

Read More

I lived a quiet but active life, packed with brilliant sparkle and warm shine,
Like devoted lovers strolling under the captive moon, sometime after nine.

I was the manager of a jewelry store, with a number of...

Read More

I was an active and happy person, whose sole hobby was collecting treasures,
As night collects vast amounts of silver, with its precious moonlight measures.

I loved to amass unusual items, like first edition books or movie...

Read More

I was an artistic, floral designer, intoxicated by the sweet-smelling blooms,
Like magenta butterfly swarms, at a standstill, intoxicated by floral fumes.

Gold days were full of my bloom designs, each one so original and unique,
Just as...

Read More

Tuck into the public
private seclusion.

My aversion to inclusion
includes a stub, a tub,
a carelessly careful curation,
a velvet rope, a hint of hope,
a folding chair, softened and stickied 
by foam and frothing soda spills.

A not soundless though...

Read More

There were images the grey man could not see 
Did not want to see, in all probability

Walking by the glass doors and windows of modern stores
No warmth of being within their cold crisp alloy frames
Where...

Read More

Outside the gladiator's window, outside in the growing gloom of night,

The nearby volcano is almost invisible, only smolders silently now.

Inside his room, he can almost tangibly feel the darkness gathering about him,

Can almost tangibly feel...

Read More

Early Poems XV

Ambition
by Michael R. Burch 

Men speak of their “ambition”
and I smile to hear them say
that within them burns such fire,
such a longing to be great ...

But I laugh at their “Ambition”
as their wistfulness...

Read More

Chapter 14b (King Ptolemy the Second)

With a travel bag to carry
Their belongings and essentials
And they rode by wheel-borne carriage 
On the road down to the harbour 
 
There they stepped aboard the vessel
That would take...

Read More

CHAPTER 9c

Swift a sand shark spiraled nearer
Baring teeth it eyed them coldly
Han spun full about and kicked it
In the center of its body
 
But at this the sand shark merely 
Shrugged and moved off several...

Read More

They could hear the mighty felines
Running in a line behind them
Han and Kwona and the children 
Knew that they were being herded
 
These great sabre-tooth cat hunters
Were the rulers of the forest;
Now they are no longer with...

Read More

She's a Messenger, a standard bearer of a Message of Love.  She's Love's unforgettable fruition and flower.  With Her trusty hounds bounding along beside Her, She suddenly races ahead, crossing the beach, down...

Read More

I sit here alone and I think – 
There’s no way you can be real…
I must have imagined you, two hours ago, 
When you made love to me, 
On my rumpled white sheets
When you kissed...

Read More