Long Mediterranean Poems

Observance
by Michael R. Burch

Here the hills are old and rolling
carefully in their old age;
on the horizon youthful mountains
bathe themselves in windblown fountains...

By dying leaves and falling raindrops,
I have traced time's starts and stops,
and I have...

Read More

Unquotable quotes: The Janitor, Gardienne, Landlady, Housekeeper, Portero, the Sereno and the Hausgast – XXXI  Part One

Be they so named or not in these here parts, visions of shrieking furies with Gorgon heads and...

Read More

* This poem was written for a contest originally, but was used by Professor Anne-Marie Thornton of Bilkent University in Ankara, Turkey, to teach her WAR POETRY class in the spring semester of 2017. My...

Read More

Her small angelic face ...

Once a place where broad smiles bloomed like butterflies on marigolds,
is streaked with the furrows that countless tears have etched into the
layers of dust and dirt and explosive residue that now...

Read More

Unquotable quotes: Paris, the last week of the August reprieve – XXXV Part Two
                 II

The first signs reek tell-tale
Buffer-to-buffer...

Read More

Archaischer Torso Apollos ("Archaic Torso of Apollo")
by Rainer Maria Rilke
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch 

We cannot know the beheaded god
nor his eyes' forfeited visions. But still
the figure's trunk glows with the strange vitality
of a...

Read More

Unquotable quotes: Paris, the last week of the August reprieve – XXXV
 Part One                     ...

Read More

Age defiant was this spruce and spirited citizen slinking blithely past the burgundy red doors of her enigmatic country dwelling.
As her olive skin neatly curved fingers 
slid over an intermittently scratched carbon black handrail she...

Read More

Human foot-traffic is flowing along slightly faster than 2020,                          ...

Read More

As October 1 approaches, HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY……………………
I have enormous tracts of land and vast volumes of water, but cannot feed myself.
So I spend $1 billion to import rice and another $2 billion on milk.
I produce...

Read More

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

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

Read More

 Diary Notes: Lament at Dawn A Year Ago and yet now No Change
				                     ...

Read More

the grace of Paris
lingering in my thoughts. . . 
Madrid’s grimy walls

As our small group of students entered Madrid, it was an early morning in late January. We had left behind us what has been...

Read More

War leaves scars. They are emotional. They are physical. They are spiritual.

My brother had proposed to my sister-in-law on Valentine's Day, and so it was on that fateful day, 12 years later that his and...

Read More

Dear friiends those who first read my poem i left an important line out in the donkey story

The first dance after our wedding,
Was absolutely exciting, intoxicating,
My darling whispered in my ear,
My wedding present to you...

Read More

This is a tale of ancient times
And a knight of valiant heraldry
Who followed true his knightly code,
The weight of righteousness his load,
All sheathed in heaven's grace he rode,
And practiced naught save chivalry.

From the Pope a...

Read More

PRELUDE
There has always been animosity between Greece and Turkey as far back in history as we wish to go.  Greece was occupied by the Turks during the Middle-Ages for almost 500 years.  My...

Read More

Diary Notes: Lament at Dawn
				                             …at the...

Read More

Daughter  of Mary and  Louis
(Named after my late grandmother ) 

My name is  Charmaine
a name originated from latin
Charmaine means -a song

Eldest of two siblings
Wife and Mother

Born and raised
in the sun-kissed land of...

Read More

I will be 75 on June 26th and married for 50 years on August 27th. 
I have a Master's Degree in Labor Economics and BA's in Sociology 
and Psychology. I was Supervisor of Labor Market...

Read More

A handful of stars 

In the right pocket of my trouser

Eliminating all the tsars

Inside the child of wild world

Time in a swirl

And another handful of moon pieces

Bridges and beaches

In the left pocket

My room in a...

Read More

Then I Cried and Cried Horn Haiku

Before never cried;
Until one day my dad died
And I cried and cried.

My dad was killed on the Aircraft Carrier Intrepid.
It is in New York Harbor with my dad's name...

Read More

Look at the president
dressed in patriotic drag
See how he’s bubble wrapped
in his American kilt flag
Notice how he sashays about
in his patriotic beauty pageant dress
Asking you to give your country more,
when he always found a way...

Read More

I'll dibble dab and squiggle on my pad,
I'm just a lad, and if it's good it's bad
and bad is good, words are misunderstood,
not could, would and should or does and mood.

Food for a dozen with...

Read More

When Sunday's Children of Grace entered into Sunrise musical recording
studio to record their musical video "Yahshua, we are your chosen people."

They received a different reception from the ever increasing numbers of pro 
Hamas domestic terrorists...

Read More