Long Hangman Poems

Here and Hereafter
by Michael R. Burch

Life’s saving graces are love, pleasure, laughter ...
wisdom, it seems, is for the Hereafter.



Laughter’s Cry
by Michael R. Burch

Because life is a mystery, we laugh
and do not know the half.

Because death...

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Juvenilia: Early Poems XI

Myth
by Michael R. Burch

after the sprung rhythm of Dylan Thomas

Here the recalcitrant wind
sighs with grievance and remorse
over fields of wayward gorse
and thistle-throttled lanes.

And she is the myth of the scythed wheat
hewn and...

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World War II Poems and Holocaust Poems - VI - Chaim Nachman Bialik, Erich Fried

After My Death
by Chaim Nachman Bialik
translation by Michael R. Burch

Say this when you eulogize me: 
Here was a man—now, poof, he's...

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Bugs are crawling in my brain
I want to go out into the rain
And laugh and sing and dance all night
But mine is not a happy plight
You see, they say I am insane

I say, I just...

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‘Fragments and crumbs of life, all the little pieces’
                          ...

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Story of a Condemned Criminal

In a secluded investigatory chamber
a veteran detective is conducting an examination 
on a suspect who insists he did not commit the crime.

The investigator must commit the suspect for trial
because he arrested...

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Irelands uprising in ninteen sixteen was crushed by the state
The ringleaders were arrested and death would be their fate
Charged with the crime of treason against the British Crown
Fifteen men faced a firing squad and without...

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Holocaust Poem: "On The Slaughter of the Jews"
by Chaim Nachman Bialik
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Merciful heavens, have pity on me!
If there is a God approachable by men
as yet I have not found him—
Pray for...

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My chamber teems with tensions, taut, that logic can’t withstand,
fragmenting mental masonry with memories unplanned,
as bitter tears from hazel eyes reduce the stone to sand.

Dim shadows cast by candles flit across the haunted room,
beleaguer apparitions,...

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Humdumpty was an analyst, a Cambridge Ph.D.,
A noted bio-atomist, whatever that might  be. 
Indeed, from earliest childhood it was his single aim 
To analyze no matter what might enter his domain. 
He analyzed his...

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Bank robber Jim was one unlucky bloke
Went to draw his gun but the holster broke
It dropped on the bank floor
And went off with a roar
The shock was too much and he had a stroke...

Though he...

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To my ex you can paint the picture of me being an evil ex just make sure you do it beautifully 
Tell him how we used to be
How you played hangman with the truth but the...

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I didn’t know if I was going to make it through the night, my feet were as cold as ice, my heart was where it was supposed to be, but I had this strange premonition...

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It shouted to him from the rooftops and he was prepared to jump

‘Go out with a deafening bang’ for the bell had told crashing demise

Sadness and bitter oblivion pointed the way from screaming nowhere

Yet deadening...

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HISTORY IN POETRY

REMEMBER, REMEMBER THE 5TH of NOVEMBER.

The world still remembers Mr Guy Fawkes,
who plotted to blow up the House of Lords.
Tortured, guilty of treason, the story is told
how he cheated The Hangman; he jumped...

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Turning 

Across this land 
Across this fractured waste
With each cycle of the earth, 
The Joker in repose 
The Tower in flame 
The Enchantress a blaze 
Death does not make the change
Fortune is crucified on his...

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UNQUOTABLE QUOTES - XLIII(Continued)

A black-listed writer tops every publisher’s reading list.
Half a loaf is better than no love.
Don’t dig your ears while tying your shoe laces. Just wear slippers.
Eat only what’s available in the stable...

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A funny thing happened on the way to the john.   
I felt something magical coming on.			
I’m afraid there’s no denyin’				
I accidentally let one loose.				
Don‘t blame the quiche, Lorraine!			

I have a special secret to...

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trying to keep this simple
a message to myself
something for me
a way to keep whats mine for me
a not in my pocket
of the things im achieving, striving, actively doing...
a note in my other pocket
my aspirations
the things...

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Words hanging from parched branches confused and betrayed

Under a canopy of shadows in the recess of belittled thoughts

A prison of speechlessness bereft of expression and meaning


Letters motionless in disarray fighting lost battles lonely at heart

Starved...

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Nero fiddled while Rome burning
A poet dead at home while singing
There lived a poet,a fisherman
In pain of cancer the hangman
No cure, beyond medication
A radio recorder,his last requisition
His spouse acquired it in no time to wait
Disposing...

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One day in Soup Creek City, 
There was a duel 'tween Cunningham and Watt 
Tom said to John "I hear you're good, 
Let me see, son- what you've got" 

John said to Tom "You're not...

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Laughter from Another Room
by Michael R. Burch

Laughter from another room
mocks the anguish that I feel;
as I sit alone and brood,
only you and I are real.

Only you and I are real.
Only you and I exist.
Only burns...

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Nuremberg, Nuremberg, I’ve done nothing wrong
only followed orders, the children only song.
First it was the word, next it was the book
then it was history, surreptitiously they took.

From a child’s birth, others choose the way 
raising...

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In a far away land
Was a castle prison
In the left back tower they were held captive
The Fool
The High Priest
The Magician

Hours to days
Days to night and months to years
They all looked out the tower windows
The magic...

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