Long Gutted Poems

“The True Mother”

What part of a heart
in another could one trust
when betrayal comes
like a silver bullet, words and deeds
sharp piercing to burrow 
bleed out Life’s dreams 
rust crumbles to dust

Virulent apathy spreads 
Betrayal’s destruction 
hand...

Read More

“The Fallen”



Remote,
he sees himself 
in the reflection of cold close 
yet distant shop windows, 
his final journey along the 
Hard Time Road
walking alone, 
unforgiven, no home
for the rest of his natural life 
a million knives...

Read More

Come Down
by Michael R. Burch

for Harold Bloom

Come down, O, come down
from your high mountain tower.
How coldly the wind blows,
how late this chill hour ...

and I cannot wait
for a meteor shower
to show you the time
must be...

Read More

What Good Are Our Tears?
by Michael R. Burch

What good are our tears?
They will not spare the dying their anguish.
What good is our concern
to a child sick of living, waiting to perish?

What good, the warm benevolence...

Read More

THIS WORLD OF DEW

This world? 
Moonlit dew
flicked from a crane's bill.
—Eihei Dogen Kigen, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Seventy-one?
How long
can a dewdrop last? 
—Eihei Dogen Kigen, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Dewdrops beading grass-blades
die before...

Read More

Every year In Robin Hood Country Nottingham
There in October, they hold. What is known, as the Goose Fair. It's huge. and goes back centuries, straining the Middle Ages, perhaps even longer.
My pals and I back...

Read More

Regret
by Michael R. Burch

Regret,
a bitter
ache to bear . . .

once starlight
languished
in your hair . . .

a shining there
as brief
as rare.

Regret . . .
a pain
I chose to bear . . .

unleash
the torrent
of your hair . ....

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

The constant assault of the silence on his senses is intense 
Hands clenched in fist he wished for noise and bliss
Buddy stopped talking and drinking he begins pacing as he’s thinking 
Tired from walking he...

Read More

"Small Mutinies"



So what if my point of view
is not that which wraps 
you in comfortably warm
fluffed-up silky 
cashmere blankets 
of insecure insincerity
simple scribbles 
bleating from the 
chirping crickets 
and frog croaking
symphonies 
muddying waters
cutting pristine lines...

Read More

Contemplating on a previous conversation with Job and his wife,
I drew a breath of relief, remembering my humbling purpose
Sin was imminent on my brow, though I was beyond its impetuosity
Suffering dines with long-lived perspective, sharpening...

Read More

"The Monochrome Echo Chamber"




How many Roads
to "IT"
Black 
as Black & White? 
or Unicorns and Rainbows?

Unitarian 1 and only 1 
Trinitarian 3 exist in 1 
An answer 
arrives 
unheralded 

Reversed in Time
Something 
has lit the fuse
Something...

Read More

Now watch this video: Planet Earth: Blue Planet II
https://youtu.be/2f9SItUEtJ8







"Breath, in Blue"



Bluebottles broken scattered
shattered legions on the beach of my heart
my blue planet lungs rattle
my breath battered in the honeycomb maze
vanished all my bees belittled forgotten...

Read More

In Michigan, the weather can change for the worst in October.
This particular Halloween came a blizzaring.
The lights went out and in a dark, dark room, candles were lit; therein, the opaquest narrative was captured.

*

With the...

Read More

A LETTER TO MOM 1918
by
JOHN M. ARRIBAS


At Last Dear Mother, this Nightmare Will Cease
In a Few Short Hours There Will Be Lasting Peace
A  Full Armistice Will Go into Effect at Eleven
I Loathe These Soiled...

Read More

What did you do
once you knew?
We have competition
and cooperation cultures
in dynamic tension

What did you cooperatively do
once you knew?
Green ecosystemic student teachers
asked our healthiest remaining grandparents

How did you consecrate cooperative ownership
and mutually managed
robust water systems?
Aquamarine baptismal...

Read More

Times getting slower, The worlds getting smaller, The fires slowly burning, Weak knees
Bloody palms, Heat flows past my face, The anger urges Strictness, Wanting deeply to come
out, Hold on, Stop take a breather.
Fake away,
Bring me...

Read More

The day I woke up
I will never forget
Confusion
An enormous pang of guilt hits me in the solar plexus
I curl up into the foetal position
As I remember

The guilt
How can I face it?
Them
Explanations will be expected
I will...

Read More

A Fool now stands before me.
He also stands a side a cliff that sprouts dripping orchids and noisy dogs.
My voice has been cut out, like paper Marché dolls, my vocals are laid out in a...

Read More

I can remember passing through
this town as a child,
stopping for a pie
on our way north.
Now it’s bypassed – barely more
than a clot lodged 
in the spidery veins of a map.
Most of the houses are empty,
the...

Read More

This is a story poem. I call, ALL FOR THE LOVE OF BETSY

ILL start this little story by asking a question,what is love?
They say there is all kinds of love.
This story is about a new...

Read More

Oh, this life has pierced my soul many times,
        thrust me into bottomless pits;
impaled and bleeding-   this girl has plummeted down,
falling, tumbling, immersed 'til I am...

Read More

BUYING CONDOMS

I was desperate to buy me some condoms
On a Wednesday morning in June
My girlfriend had made me a promise
And we were meeting up that afternoon

For she'd noticed that in my frustration
My flat....which I kept...

Read More

'Knock, knock' on the door,
But, I won't let you in.
No, no.
The chamber of my heart is closed.
But 'knock, knock' you say.
Oh no!
I am stronger in this position than any other.
A huge 'liquidation' sign hung,
For months...

Read More

Hey you
You that looks like me
I'm supposed to leave you be
And expect the same for me
But the powers that be
Want you to hate me
And for me to hate you
Why is this?
I have no clue
I have...

Read More