Long Irregular Poems

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 darkening...

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Translation with commentary of an archetypal Wild West Classic : " Summer Wine "

(I'd wage my bottom diamond dime future generations will re-discover and treasure this true American classic like only a few others of...

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He just appeared to me, like wispily curling 
Chimney smoke, 
One grim and early morning in the very midst of 
Decembers briefest days, on the highest slope,
Toiling through my daily round; where, slowly 
Driving up...

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So cramped ...
Strain to move,
Flex and budge in tiny increments ...
That's the limit.
Constantly testing, trying,
Pushing, pressing ...
Constrict, exert, constrict, struggle,
Spin slowly, push ...
That's it. That's all.
Nothing more.
But it helps ... relief,
A body sigh ...
But only...

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The mute old drunk had gotten lucky the day before - a stranger had taken pity on him at the bridge, (under which he and many other homeless people lived), and stopped to give him...

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Fishing Boats On The Beach at Les Saintes - Marie’s-de-la-Mer

                  Vincent Van Gogh (1853 - 1888), Arles, June...

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These are poems about Ann Rutledge and her romantic relationship with Abraham Lincoln. 

Winter Thoughts of Ann Rutledge
by Michael R. Burch

Winter was not easy,
nor would the spring return.
I knew you by your absence,
as men are...

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margins stimulate and juxtapose
  edges greet with troubled, disturbing friction
  faraway forces exert influence and combine relentlessly
  how the Sun and Moon dance together about the planet Earth
  their grasping hands...

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The word "Galaxy", is derived from the Greek "galaxias", literally "milky", a reference to the Milky Way galaxy. Galaxies contain varying amounts of star systems, star clusters and types of interstellar clouds. (Nebula is Latin...

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Open polynomial eco-metric universes,
please, not closed,
but multiculturing systems
Zero-Core RealTime Care
for 4D GeoBalanced SpaceTime,
bilaterally harmonic now,
between past and future trending relationships,
WinWin, regenerational
WinLose, through
LoseLose, decompositional
through anti-compositioned.

History's regenerate cooperative
and decompositionally too-competitive commercialized YangDish,
speak together in fractal 
double-binding 
appositional...

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Shallow-pitched tiled rooftops sparkle vividly
 When lavishly sprinkled with needle-shaped grains  
Of shattered mutton-fat nephrite; 
    There, clinging forlornly against the hanging grey   
  Smoke, tinged with barely...

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I am a singular event 
Occupying a particular span of time. 
I am a concrete mystic 
And an incurable skeptic 
Seeking an approximation 
Of peace and domestic tranquility. 
I am a Slavic soul brother 
Living...

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Although I had always adored flowers, I had never had a green thumb;
And while I tried awfully hard, my efforts always had sorry outcomes.

Like the sorrow of old garden roses, during the unanticipated drought,
Or storms...

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THE CLICHE SUBJECT MATTER
I tried to study you best way I could without weighing my infatuation
And before I knew it I was knee deep in a classless obsession
I added you to my thinking pattern, all...

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My hair has always 
had a mind of its own
Stays doing whatever
it wants whenever 
it pleases
Just never bothers to do 
any of it, at my convenience
Will take its sweet time 
to grow 
When I'm most...

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Chalk is the magic of blackboards, sports fields and
little girl's sidewalk games of Hop-Scotch.
How many equations and statements, measured lines, and boxes
do you imagine have been drawn upon those waiting surfaces?
Dare one imagine -into infinity?

On...

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A listing of the fires 
and all the survivors 
will be provided

Names of the dead 
are written on broken cobblestones 
at the bottom of the river

The sheet music 
is in the morgue - reconstruction 
of...

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We’re (my roommates and I) at a specific time of youth - a time I’ll call “close.” We aren’t fully adults but we’re close, we’re not completely out and independent, but we’re close. And once...

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What may suit them 
Be right up there street 
Or floats one's boat

Bearing in mind poetry is
more a form of art than an 
exact science 

This may in fact explain or
be the reason 

Why the...

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Like the sun rises by morning;
Like clouds take over by noon;
Like the winds blow from time to time;
Like the stars conquer over the night;
Like the moon is in control of the dark;
Like the rain falls...

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The poet Basho, whose name is acclaimed
worldwide for haiku esteemed,
wrote myriad works for their greatness famed
and frequently nature themed.

Japan in the sixteen hundreds was where
his lyric verses were penned
mid trips solitary in open air
which continued...

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Centered in the irregular rectangle of the caves entrance the fire popped and danced as the snow fell lazily before the backdrop of pines.Softly the wind moaned above the tree line.Francis sat on their makeshift...

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"Give me words, thousands of words,
I offer my kingdom for words, for I wish a
poem to write.
Not any poem but a masterpiece of a poem!" The aspiring
Poet shouted, and then in a lower voice added:

"Give...

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As the moon smiles down on the sparkling Mediterranean
The gentle rolling hills
Reach bejeweled fingers into the sea
Spilling the overflow of sparkling lights
Onto fishing boats that dot the horizon
The irregular coastline, encrusted with diamonds, rubies, and...

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"Supernature"

The walls have eyes here 
they are all hungry
they reach up to pluck words 
like apples to eat from sacred trees,
it feeds and fuels them 
on their irregular journeys
through their pleasing dappled gardens,
gone all dark,...

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