Long Overcoats Poems

Let Me Give Her Diamonds
by Michael R. Burch

Let me give her diamonds
for my heart's
sharp edges.

Let me give her roses
for my soul's
thorn.

Let me give her solace
for my words
of treason.

Let the flowering of love
outlast a winter
season.

Let me...

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MODERN SONNETS I

I prefer the original definition of the sonnet as a “little song” of indeterminate form and length. These modern sonnets vary from more-or-less traditional to free verse.


Maker, Fakir, Curer
by Michael R. Burch

A poem...

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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...

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Sonnets XXV-XXXII

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...

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https://youtu.be/c1gNm21YzfI


When last I visited India almost a decade ago
I recall riding on my brother's scooter 
as he drove me around town,
And I saw fully veiled Muslim women
half their faces veiled, masked in Niqab 
driving scooters,...

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I Love You, Daddy
                        ( Previous title has been changed!)


Golly! I do...

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Roaring Twenties

Nostalgia and age like bacon and eggs,
With buttered toast and jam on the side for breakfast;
And coffee, and a glass of orange juice to drink,
And a memory in-between to rethink.

The day begins with boring...

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Showering white light illuminates 
  Bright-Moon Bay;
   In the overlooking Moon-Inviting Pavilion,
 Li Bai had raised his twinkling, rich amber
Coloured wineglass
    To invite the same reticent Moon.  ...

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 Continued from Part 1 

3. TEATIME INTROSPECTION
Amongst the many are the few
who maim and kill and think it’s true
that purple war’s a parlour game
when really they’re submerged in shame
for crimes for which they are...

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Along the corridors both in white overcoats,
I think that’s what unifies us, what charges the environment
Even with light shakes and occasional jades
With larks pretence to just keep the handshake a little longer
Every meeting moment, both...

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I watch as we all march blindly into the swells feet first,
scraping the ocean floor with drudgery
drowning in this academia, with starfish and sandcastles
and sentiments that wash away with each coming of the tide

We haven't...

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We flew through the air on a refurbished plane,
the shakes and the rattles sure gave us some pain.
But we were the ones who fortune had named
to spend years Far East with our dad’s army game.

The...

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I was born in 1943
in a rural backwater safe from the bombs
also a safety net still akin to the 19th century.
Neither electricity nor gas
only an old oil lamp and candles for comfort.
The luxury of the...

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She couldn't contain her rhapsody demeanor much more
hugging her husband and gushing with excitement as he closed the door
the third class cabin was modest but she thought it would do
finally spending time together in this...

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Three men head westward, towards the dusk's cool glare,
Together, yet alone.
Their legs more worn than their clothes.
Their heads more worn than their legs.
Their journey over,
Their mission done,
Yet they travel on,
Carrying swords, giving their eyes no...

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Autumn As Pictures, Sounds and Fragrance

Scenery either seen before,
Or only imagined in your mind,
Or felt in your heart,
Or heard without sound.  

Sound and sight,
Aroma and feel,
All captured by words written in
Dreams and memories.

The sound...

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They came as dawn's fresh light fell upon the land.   
With their hard hats and high viz jackets.   
Busy men clamour and plot,   
Measure and scratch,   
Cigarette...

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The winter has in store a vast supply
        of church cantatas, Christmas gifts, and joy;
           of Santa, snowball...

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“Twas halloween night and well it had been
till falling asleep and hell it then seemed...

I was sitting at home all by myself
Suddenly my eyes were drawn to the shelf
The clock had grown a vile, gruesome...

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Traitor/Hero

It was half dark in the yard where a group of men with heavy overcoats stood, this was a Nordic country and cold.
We´re freedom fighters but out enemy the occupier of our country, called us...

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Snow Cover

Protected by a gazebo in the park it is snowing and the park looks calm. 
A few days ago a storm and trees had been uprooted, a skeleton was
found, probably of a bishop as...

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it all seemed bazaar to me;

that Santa wore a thick fur lined coat,
but our sun gave off a blistering heat.

xmas characters wore overcoats, beanies and gloves,
but I was wearing shorts, T-shirt and thongs.

ice and thick...

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A Magician never divulges his secrets 
So how he managed to break my heart while already broken
I’ll never know
It was not viable, 
Then again, any trick can be duplicated, if remembered correctly  

Rewind, replay,...

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ONLY WHAT MATTERED MATTERED

It was a land with no clocks
Time didn’t matter
It was a land with no umbrellas
Rain didn’t matter
It was a land with no banks
Money didn’t matter
It was a land with no candles
Darkness didn’t...

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I have to crane my neck
the small coterie presses,
I am too short
for long distance seeing
walls tower over my eyes
like curtains.

“You have to see the hidden in the hidden”

The svelte tailored nose-whisper
expects me to know what...

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