Long Pageant Poems

“Son”...”say goodnight to grandpa”

Spurred by mother dearest 
as well as other politesse
drummed into her second born
fobbing blandishments as incentive
tumbled off fingers of prodigal son
tripped wordsmith to splutter forth
forthwith the following lines.

Back in the day 
quaint...

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Poems about Children II



On Looking into Curious George’s Mirrors
by Michael R. Burch

for Maya McManmon, granddaughter of the poet Jim McManmon

Maya was made in the image of God;
may the reflections she sees in those curious mirrors
always...

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Queen Elizabeth Alexandra Mary ll
Her seemingly eternal monarch--God has now beckoned
Balmoral Castle, reigned over the United Kingdom
"God Save The Queen" The British national anthem
21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022

“We are all visitors to this...

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"The Returning" 

Inside us all 
a strange forest

where light and dark 
are fed to us by 
curious creatures,
their unexpected gods 

in thoughts and deeds
joy and fear 
hate and love 
belief and disbelief

inwards
our dreams 
turn to
The...

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In glamor-light of sunset
a new crowd of cumulus clouds arrive
and revive a sepia sky-scene—
unworldly woolgatherers gather
spinning fantasy fluff into quixotic yarns
of debutantes dancing with honeymoon hunger;
their dewy eyes blurred by the sawdust of stardust

pseudo-princess-pleasure-seekers
—drama daring...

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Yuletide pageant merry go round

Panoply of mystical elements of holly day style 
breathe prez sense frostily exhaled aired
per millennia athwart 
(this terrestrial spaceship planet Earth)
two plus seventeen carousel rides resonated
veritable pantheon of pagan rituals 
and...

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I find my entertainments close to home
as nothing could be more wildly hilarious
and downright curious
than my own complex teenagers
who sometimes speak
and do their math
about what adds up toward our shared
and independent 
futures.

Then there are cacophonous...

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The chilled musky air torments the aging Saxon stone;
whistling through the aisles, the sound reverberating
as it sweeps along the colonnade.
Moonlight penetrates ancient glass stained windows,
initiating reflected shadows, as an innocent mind pulsates tempestuously,
he who was...

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my love I love you beyond your soul

the aroma of your soul;
pageant of your screams;
What does this really mean;
The kiss of your breath;
Your blind caress;
Leaves me openly honest;
my love I love you beyond your soul;
I...

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We ponder Pandora as the person preordained
to unleash a plethora of plagues upon our persons.

But here's what I heard:
Pandora had two sisters,
Persephone and Proserpina.
Pandora perused poetry 
while Persephone practiced petite-point.
But Proserpina possessed the predilection
for picking...

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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...

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Children's Poems VII

These are poems for children and poems about children and their mothers, fathers, grandmother, grandfathers and extended families. 



Sailing to My Grandfather, for George Hurt
by Michael R. Burch

This distance between us
—this vast sea
of...

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She smiled at him, from a distance.
Imagination, betraying trust.
Mesmerized; he moved towards her.
His heart was racing, his mind.

Looked liked she landed from heaven.
Wearing a yellow skirt, red tops.
And a laced white jacket over her,
Perfect bosom
Her...

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I am whatever you say I am 
currently I'm the eyes of the world
it's what they discovered when
daddy tied a pork chop around my neck just to get the dog to play with me
first time...

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While rifling through outdated poems of mine
some written quite a number of years ago,
the following mewing effort, I decided to post
for all purring cyber surfers linkedin 
to the webbed, wide world to read.

Prince Of A...

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He walks around town
bouncing
over size t-shirts
baggy jeans half way his butt
each day wearing a mysterious smile
today with this
tomorrow that
as easy as his wink
so they come and go

She thinks she is the It gal
Beauty and brains...

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Being the clan’s chosen representative
Dad Chimpanzee prepares himself with fervor’s zest
ready to attend this significant event
exposing creature’s welfare development
over centuries against challenges
since in his cognition, changes are inevitable indeed.

Reaching the conference hall
he shakes hands with...

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Now, unlike my usually trenchant literary librettos, i regale the unknown (tum me) reader for savoir faire articulation, elocution, and indomitable tour de force proffered by spectrum of bounteous expropriated hegemony rightful to Mother Nature....

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A horrendous act
that could only be imagined
as Insidious and contemptuous
Many were massacred
Thousands displaced
The Hausa Militias took over
Zaria was in their palm
A horrendous act
That could only be imagined
As Insidious and contemptuous
Many were massacred
Thousands displaced
The Hausa Militias...

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In numerous locales countrywide, they hold sway
Pirouetting at intervals like ballerinas from Bolshoi
Beauteous, feline and very feminine
Slender to the point of emaciation, not quite
Cultivating the undernourished look on a frugal diet
Decidedly austere for a longer...

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~ Oh, maiden of light cracks the wispy air open ,
wandering around viscous spaces
like virgin shadow caressing the edge
of sleep… and the days stretch longer,
taller than guava trees dreamingly shedding
laces of northeast streams when
songbirds, orbits,...

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Journey starts
Kunming portraits;
Highway song


Here old and new
Merge yet apart;
Vignettes juxtapose


China welcomes
Both ancient and modern;
Sign of the times


Tour group confronts
Unfamiliar grounds;
Rough edges grind


Quaint ways of old
Ancient tales displaced;
Modern day norms intervene


Spectacular vistas
Natural wonders;
Man seems insignificant


Flood tide...

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It was a party of fleas who dropped some tea into the sea 
Created a baby that lifted its mommy
Now there is an elephant and donkey in the room
So, might asked who’s the bigger ***?
A...

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The Kuiper belt with frozen realms
our eighth of planets overwhelms,
for if Neptune had not formed
that collection could have swarmed
into a body neophyte,
habitably considered quite
outside the city of tranquil light.

Suggestive of domains of ire
or hellish greed...

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Your chosen name was Sarah
So named many moons ago

Nursing my growing belly
Consumed by the moonlight glow

Watching above twinkling starlight
So planned whole life with you

Thinking before you were born
As Sarah inside me grew

You were my total...

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