Long Gored Poems

Lozenge
by Michael R. Burch

When I was closest to love, it did not seem
real at all, but a thing of such tenuous sweetness
it might dissolve in my mouth
like a lozenge of sugar.

When I held you in...

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Part 5

They continued to fry under a blistering sky
    With little water to stifle the heat.
When the Hippo put forth, "Considering our course,
    We have entered the waters of...

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Awaking blithe each morning,
with eyes upon the World,
I wonder, are we mourning
with ebon flags unfurled –
or are they but a warning,
some draped like snakes and curled,
stray stars and stripes adorning,
sent from the netherworld.

I wander through...

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Harry was waiting at base camp for his party of tourists
hoping that Beverly and her children would not be rowdy.
When they finally arrived, he got them settled in their tent.
Once unpacked they joined him in...

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I dwelt on a forest green, productive farm, in fruitfulness of golden autumn,
Where ragged scarecrows waved gladly, beneath turquoise skies, and plum.

Ours was the latest generation of farmers, like hued skies of late afternoon,
In their...

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Emotional guillotine clefts
     irredeemable psychological umbilical accord
witnessing heart breaking,
     woe-begotten inhumane rip cord
gut wrenching shuffle board
     (indiscriminately sporting)
     most...

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FREE VERSE VI

Reason Without Rhyme
by Michael R. Burch

I used to be averse
to free verse,
but now I admit
YOUR rhyming is WORSE!

But alas, in the end,
it’s all the same:
all verse is unpaid
and a crying shame.



What the Poet...

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Growing up in a middle class suburb of Chicago, is it any wonder that Polly learned the art of political malarkey.  Watching the City Council was probably the
place where she learned to see women...

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While walking my dog in a field one day,
a massive black bull appeared in the way.
It snorted and grunted and pawed at the ground,
I could tell by its face that I couldn’t walk round.

Now here...

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Adumbrated aeration regarding...

crafting reasonable poetic rhyme 
nothing to sneeze... at chew
asthma lingua franca – 
acts as supercalifragilisticexpialidocious glue
inspiring me to skip to my loo,
and ye to play altruist gist
imagining how and why I still rue
cashing...

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Manila folder,
Growing older,
Lying on table,
Watching other files,
Grow bolder,
It was earlier looked upon,
Now ignored,
As if it was dead,
After a bloody gore,
They had submerged in its custody,
A lot many papers and notes,
Carrying dates and events,
About people and...

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no (apparent) rhyme nor reason
(satisfactorily) explains academic
     disposition, ideally suited
     (swiftly tailor made,
     and harried styled)
     unflattering venomous wicked...

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Lifeblood of democracy hemorrhaging
ousting the "FAKE" president only recourse
to staunch impending grim demise,
since forefathers drafted
United States Constitution
ratified more'n two centuries ago

hoi polloi must take to the streets
denouncing severe curtailment
impinging sacred freedom of speech
linkedin with paramount...

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What takes you so long to solve the crime when you have all the evidence that you can find, what take you so long to solve the crime when you saw the man rang the...

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You refuse, refusing the salvant call,
laying there in fetal position,
enthralled by my hex of vinegar and scrawl of liquids release that just seem to pour out of me organically.
Hissing in Wormwood's frequency dwelling, Hollywood "your...

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"The Circe Effect" (Part 1)


Circe, Goddess of magic, nymph, witch, bold enchantress
daughter of Helios, Sun God, her father, can you imagine? ... 
let me paint you further, the tree of this wacked-out family canvas -
daughter...

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Many months ago, a man from Middleton moved to, 
A province of vices and soured delinquencies 
Where dreams remain dreams
And reality seems unnatural 
Like angels and demons in a guileful romance

Few months ago, a young...

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I’m calling the Suicide Hotline, 
This sad Cowboy poetry is getting me down, 
I’m looking for a happy thought, 
But one just can’t be found. 

   I’ve got a case of Cowboy Melancholy,...

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Red hot chili pepper poker face...

Born that way angry antithetical 
mailer daemon when...
all of Christendom bows their collective 
talking heads in supplication,
a temporary truce and reprieve 
against bigotry, deviltry, idolatry (nah),  
et cetera across...

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37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’[a] 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love...

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(America’s Mutant Megalomaniacs)

All Scientists know that our planet is warming,
No question remains too whose ox will get gored!
A contributing fact is earth's CO2's rising,
That surface of Venus melts lead not ignored.

The Venus disaster pre-destined to...

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So in the blinding light of times
A blushing sense of blinking occurs
Small, ridged glass shards
Engorge my view
And paint my soul scarlet, 
always 

Soaked in the scarlet ashes I grieved, 
And to those ends,
the loss of...

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In a garden green, where shadows creep,
Where secrets linger and sorrows seep,
There stood a tree, its branches wide,
But hidden within, a poison resides.

Its roots dug deep, in fertile ground,
Nurtured by anger, its essence profound,
Fed by...

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A turning point with
advantage of 20/20 hindsight
identifies severe dislocation
birthing emotional plight
intervening years since psyche wrenched
by rather innocuous event at first sight

exaggerated haunting shadows
sparred illuminated by dim backlight,
now conviction hammered home startdate
coffin unwittingly nailed airtight
death of...

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It was a time to bond and booze with dear Papa,
An interval all the more naughtily charming
As it inflamed the temper of irascible Mama.
Before happy hour, we two went shooting
With the three o three I...

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