Long Icicle Poems

Part 1: FORE SIBERIAN FATE

silk wings wet -
angel on the lake.
starlight glitter
separates from

the golden wheat.
her docile hair,
prophecy of ice.

winter pink,
pinched cheeks.
ice skate scrapes -
flecks of flakes.

the snow queen
before her relentless
reign, a pretty thing.

her smile warms
the...

Read More

I’m stronger than I realize,
I’m not alone
And I’m not a failure

I am focused on the prize -
God’s Kingdom today, though I’m on my own
Feeling like a Jailure

I was brave enough
Life can be quite rough
I was...

Read More

I’m stronger than I realize,
I’m not alone
And I’m not a failure

I am focused on the prize -
God’s Kingdom today, though I’m on my own
Feeling like a Jailure

I was brave enough
Life can be quite rough
I was...

Read More

I.
You can always tell by the eyes
When they’re starting to go
You’ll fall for a few of their lies
Before you begin to know
And you will just defy it
(But they know you will never go)

They’ll glide through...

Read More

Bombarded by myriads of daily data without cease,
I suggest a forthright discourse on this topic,
carousel of trend and sound adherence  merely looming?
some unwitting sentiment  an aspirational diction,
reverberation or innuendo pending aftermath augur,
the world...

Read More

Like the breathless air of twilight,
As the moon softly rises and tempts the stars
Into the quiet revelations, admissions
Grace, splendor, magnificence…
Painting the dreams with a quivering ink,
Spilled upon the emptiness beneath the still, white page,
Simplicity at...

Read More

A Vain Word
by Michael R. Burch
 
Oleanders at dawn preen extravagant whorls
as I read in leaves’ Sanskrit brief moments remaining
till sunset implodes, till the moon strands grey pearls
under moss-stubbled oaks, full of whispers, complaining
to the...

Read More

Frost leaves my heart feeling cold and clammy, like a icicle hanging down from a gutter, dripping liquid sparkles as the sunlight softens the edges of my feelings and frees my thoughts to believe in...

Read More

A Frog

Frog, what did he do wrong?
He was run over by a car, dead.

Long and bitter cold winter months
he was hiding in a cave, frozen,
did not move like a rock. 

When the earth began yawning
the...

Read More

Beneath the snow blankets and spicy silence,
Where laughter blends with radiant lights,
Glistening on the night breath, kissing away the moments,
As December flows with its naked limbs and hide n’ seek reflections,
Soothing away the ache of...

Read More

As my way is made among the thorns,
An inner beauty a rose adorns.
A darkness present, tries to hide,
Still, the rose blooms bright inside.

The thicket of thorns, of brambles too,
Meant to discourage my getting through
To reach...

Read More

These are modern English translations of haiku and tanka by Takaha Shugyo...

ochitsubaki ware naraba kyuryu e otsu

Oh, fallen camellias,
if I were you,
I'd leap into the torrent!
—Takaha Shugyo, loose translation by Michael R. Burch

dôkefuku nugazu tentômushi...

Read More

These are my modern English translations of Takaha Shugyo haiku and tanka...

hatogata horarete ichiju haya mebuku

A single tree
with a heart carved into its trunk
blossoms prematurely
—Takaha Shugyo, loose translation by Michael R. Burch

dôkefuku nugazu tentômushi no...

Read More

Paying The Bill
 
You may come to this some day
It may issue from nowhere
A moment un-strident
A loose flagging half remembrance
Something which neither carries
Nor contains
But a fickle shadow 
Thin and as meaningless with an empty whimper
Not...

Read More

To anybody that has ever felt
anything at all, especially you -
I ran my fingertips across the leather notebook on your desk
and I felt your thoughts crackling below my skin;
overflowing with cursive letters and lines that...

Read More

When I came upon the ancient temple
it was in a howling storm of a sand
arid dust blinding me to everything I am
 
I had staggered across the thirsting deserts
while dreaming of the water
I held within my...

Read More

It never melted for starters
but then you have to start somewhere
the Magic Icicle could talk
it had humors jealousies aversions
deep rending tides of love
and week long fits of giggling
It had been crafted by Father Frost
The Emperor...

Read More

Sponsor : Robert James Ligouri 

IRON MAIDEN 

Iron maiden was she 
fathered from loins of 
Zeus flow free ~
surrounded by swords 
steely three, icicle aura 
bounded hounded 
innocence thorned 
crowned exiled
white mane this maiden 
iron...

Read More

Torn and Tattered Wings

It’s not easy to have seen
All the darkness inside you
Places I have been
Sorrow and degrading
Thrusting their blades epithetize 
Hard into your heart

I look in your eyes
See the padded cells of your tears
Their...

Read More

[A classic example of a tale that wouldn’t 
Behave itself]

Pilchard the penguin shed icicle tears
He cries at the movies as Christmas time nears
While watching ‘The Snowman’ he claps and he cheers
But cries when the friendly...

Read More

My post-mortem may bear the stroke of your hand, in your lap,
On your knees with a single tear so priceless
That may fall on my cold cheek with power to revive, resurrect.
But not this time, not...

Read More

I watch your exuberant glowing eyes as they shimmer in the radiance of your joy, 
False, false joy, 
The tears of your desperate smiles break from the icicle of confusion, 
Confusion I cannot explain, 
My...

Read More

Time To Shower...When Pervasive Odor Of Ureic Acid

Doth strongly waft, sting,
and nauseate about me
olfactory nose flying zone
bombarding cilia of
nasal passageway analogous
to displeasure wrought by

crashing, deafening, exploding,
ear splitting xylophone,
also synonymous isolated like
barenaked lady within
remote location of...

Read More

childhood (puzzle poem)

                                ...

Read More

My muse is a poetic
flower garden,
blooming lilacs in 
barren meadows,
but I still remember 
how I heeded
haunting heartbeats
in paradise,
whilst praying 
for your lustrous light,
to descend onto 
my hazy horizons.

Your eyes like 
captivating sunsets,
made me dream away,...

Read More