Long Lackluster Poems

Juvenilia: Early Poems V

Poetry
by Michael R. Burch

Poetry, I found you
where at last they chained and bound you;
with devices all around you
to torture and confound you,
I found you—shivering, bare.

They had shorn your raven hair
and taken both...

Read More

Poems about Poems III

Radiance
by Michael R. Burch

for Dylan Thomas

The poet delves earth’s detritus?hard toil?
for raw-edged nouns, barbed verbs, vowels’ lush bouquet;
each syllable his pen excretes?dense soil,
dark images impacted, rooted clay.

The poet sees the sea but...

Read More

"Present!"

It's a lackluster answer (1) to simple life question,
"Hi! How is it going Mom? You feel OK?"
She was lonely for sure, saw no chance of a rescue,
She fought for her kids, though art dreams went...

Read More

Bedlam and mayhem in the mistress's boudoir

Nsync with variations on a theme:
of drool worthy Reuben Sandwich
(consisting of corned beef, 
Swiss cheese, sauerkraut, 
Russian dressing between slices 
of rye bread that is grilled 
until the bread...

Read More

Mine slovenly unkempt appearance spelled embarrassment

spurred by most recent therapy session 
with Renee Cardone
whereby thematic thread
stitched how yours truly sewed
coping modus operandi,
viz avoiding emotionally volatile situations
courtesy mine trademark signature reactions 
rather than be in compliance...

Read More

Lonely & hurt 
Broken I remain
Can't shake the guilt
Living in shame
Put on fake smile
I slowly fade away
The nightmare of your death 
We live with every day
The meaning of it all this
to which my mind attends
Has...

Read More

(alternate title: days of yore bubba's zayda
flush with buggy boo horse sense).

Norristown City Hall police person
informed yours truly
on September 15th, 2020
mine automotive driver license expired,
thus between January 13th 2019
and September 17th, 2020
I drove automobile,
(whether borrowed...

Read More

Never fall in love with a Poet
for they are blackholes of the broken hearted 
Set on a treacherous sea blindfolded
to distracted by butterflies to properly set up a captain's log

Never fall in love with a...

Read More

Subject: Temper Tantrums

Give someone having a temper tantrum
an inch and they will take a mile's worth
of attention. You cannot kill the same 
dead horse twice or shoot a six shooter
a seventh time without reloading it.
Remember...

Read More

Written: September 18, 2023
Unwritten Absence Poetry Contest              Sponsored by: Ink Empress
______________________________________________________________

In the absence of ink—in a nexus of poetic dreams,
Anathematized by disconsolate...

Read More

I miss the nuances of daily life
while weeks are frozen in this quarantine.
I miss the lost normalcy of my days
in all aspects, obvious and unseen.
I miss turning my head to read the spines
of the novels...

Read More

I was a zealous, blue patrol officer, preserving the safer public environments,
As black, diamond nights come in sequence, with the glittery enlightenments.

I helped to direct ephemeral traffic, serving justice and enforcing eternal law,
Like moonlit streets...

Read More

Revelations about Dad’s infamous midnight lectures...
woke up courtesy therapy

Especially during past session
on May eighth
two thousand twenty one
between the hours of five and
six o'clock post meridiem.

Between three and four score years ago
the following poetic ill winds...

Read More

Time stopped.
Cynthia, frozen in glass shoes.
Time stopped
when she’d not accepted his proposal.

Prince Nicholas bided his time
to think. How could he persuade this lass
to wear his ring?

He looked over this fine partygoer.
She was having a ball,
so...

Read More

Freedom foremost, and the will to fight
to keep and protect our natural rights.
Nightclubs, jello shots, disco balls
mechanical bulls, beers cold and tall!
Baseball, football, and basketball games,
crazy rodeo riders on horses untamed.
Books by the millions, more...

Read More

I have wandered into a human stew of inopportunity, as my marriage/love/parental life have all come to an abrupt closure, noncompliance and final withdrawal from any real meaning. Am I dead yet? Not necessarily, but...

Read More

No rhyme nor reason why
yours truly recalled how
me late mother
(earlier in her fitbit livingsocial years)
non verbally communicated disgust
(insync with audible sigh)
quite often ultimatums
blasting fulminating nauseating
scathing well nigh
she loosed loathing against
grungy looking son (guess who)

futilely escaped...

Read More

Doctors (particularly biomedical engineers)...
really trolley train hard to keep track of patients

Eye tell ya we (spuds)
pulled up stakes after four yar
and zero scores ago living in Bryn Mawr
salutary heart and lungs figurative
storied Main Line Health...

Read More

A Life Unrepressed

Lighting surges through a war of 
disrespectful words, tears 
descending, wet.  In times of 
uncertainty, an unknown sadness 
is out of control, a smile, a gesture; 
or fear clings to a receptive...

Read More

Dear Jane;

My dear sweet animal…We have been left astray. for the strings of mankind torment me so, in my sparrows rusted birdcage.

It may have only been moments that we shared, but that’s more than enough...

Read More

Bedlam and mayhem in the mistress's boudoir

(Nsync with variations on a theme:
various and sundry
pseudo lurid fictitious escapades)
mostly I did merrily wet
whet madness aye ever did dream.)

The missus personal trappings
strewn helter skelter
every perilous step fraught
with danger...

Read More

GOODLUCK

Gutless muffled monarch wooed millions to the poll, 
Our feeble lord enforced by pathetic speech of poverty (I once had no shoes) 
On congruent grounds of pain we forced him, though we hated his coterie....

Read More

The Tree and I 

I met a tree today while walking under cloud ridden skies.  She was a young oak past her sapling age.  Her bare branches, still in winters hold, stood stark...

Read More

Genuine Fecklessness Exemplifies Despondent Creature Because...

Lackluster life lived
     as each subsequent day,
a carbon copy
of the one before,
though far from
being clinically depressed, this boar

ring guilt ridden Capitalist decries
    ...

Read More

The winding road of life snakes uphill
I’m tired of this drudgery, but I persevere still
Because it is easy to let go of my life and give up
But I try to fight the gloom and I...

Read More