Long Parlor Poems

Poems about Dogs

This Dog
by Rabindranath Tagore
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

Each morning this dog,
who has become quite attached to me,
sits silently at my feet
until, gently caressing his head,
I acknowledge his company.

This simple recognition gives my...

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Once upon a weedy lawn
At Cedar Oaks Retirement Home
There sat my mother, weak and old
On an afghan knit to block the cold.

It was summer, but in mom's grey eyes
Was winter, when all around us dies.
I...

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Doggerel II: Doggerel about Doggerel, or, More Nonsense Verse

The Board
by Michael R. Burch

Accessible rhyme is never good.
The penalty is understood:
soft titters from dark board rooms where
the businessmen paste on their hair
and, Walter Mitties, woo the...

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Dog Daze
by Michael R. Burch

Sweet Oz is a soulful snuggler;
he really is one of the best.
Sometimes in bed
he snuggles my head,
though he mostly just plops on my chest.

I think Oz was made to love
from the...

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(Musings of a poet with huge doubts and a fragile faith)

Introduction: Is God A Joke Or Human Vanity?

When close friends die and other’s thoughts are suicidal,
When mankind’s soup du jour is loneliness with anguish	
When mental...

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Date:   April  2046

In Damian's mansion the twins
Justin and Jordan were preparing 
To celebrate their 15th birthday.
Damian and his older brother 
Carter Junior were talking in the 
Dining room. CJ said, I bought...

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WINTER, 1948 [40 Saxton Street]

for W.W

The winter nights that pass now
are so unlike the winter nights
that passed before, that I often
struggle back in those suspended moments
when sleep grapples for a hold,
to once again hear the...

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Two new crutches and two double shots of Bushmills Irish Whiskey enabled Joe Faherty to move from the back seat of Moira Murphy's 1976 Buick into Eagan's Funeral Home for Tim McGillicuddy's wake. At 87,...

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I was raised in one of those white nationalist churches,
passing itself off as a Christian evangelical Bible church,
where "evangelical" meant fundamental
and "fundamental" meant we did not interpret scripture
but accepted it as God's literal trans-historical Word
of...

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“I must say, Rian,” Joulupukki addressed the Dark Elf. “I find you a bit disappointing.  From all of the stories I've heard, I expected so much more from you.”
     “I...

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spend your day expressed by grace ordered from a Payton place
cheer each moment from the edge of the setting sun a very well done
climb each pillar of thought and deed to reach forth every bit...

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Everybody love to say they’re number one,
but it takes two
to make beautiful music, 
so we’re told
Pitch perfect
That one favorite song two lovers have,
it never gets old
After ninety nine repeats, 
it sounds one zero zero multiple...

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It's styles of a nameless brand pristine day
an exclusive star-sheathed shadow after 
overwhelming luminous glare fainted
a somewhat true-to-life footpath in
a back of structured quaintness

Encountering myself at a passionate spring
oozing its life gliding o'er its rocky...

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Since childhood I was always fascinated with nature
Curious to know how plants grow 
Always intrigued by the ingenuity of ants 
And mesmerized by the coordination 
And spectacular tactics of birds. 

Birds come in different colors...

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Ever so often you come across a composition that leads one to take flight.
In the distance their are corridors that lead to places of resistance,
transformed we will glow such as these writings have taken you.
to...

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One afternoon Martha the mother of Jack, who was in her early eighties, told an amazing story about her son while having coffee in the parlor with her neighbors; it was a weekly gathering to...

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Death Comes

All arguments and denials were fruitless;
The deceased fell prey to the Master Thief.

The “One” whose icy-cold touch is . . .
Just Too Cold to Resist! . . . They Say!

No worries though . ....

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It was in the heart of frigid winter, that my car had broken down,
I was frustrated and so cold, so like the snowflakes falling down.

I had called for a mechanic, but I had been waiting...

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The first time I saw my father I was a year and 8 months old. He had returned home for a short respite  before shipping out to England to prepare for the invasion. It...

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Mirror, mirror on the wall ~
don't let me fall for a narcissist's words
for fear I'll find myself tangled in the web
of silk threads cunningly spun to lure me in. 

You might take those words to...

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It's Christmas eve dawn
and something is very wrong
For the children unable to wait
watching for Santa and it's late
The stockings are empty not even a lump of coal
no presents under the tree did Santa bestow
Three little...

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Welcome back my weary friends
I promise you this story ends
But not before your time flies through
A tale with a horse or two...

On streets of cobblestone and gray
Where beggars sleep and orphans play
The aged, sick and...

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A piece of waiting clay adapts
To a sculptor's finite stroke,
Infants heads were shaped by hands
Of older thinking folk.

Eight times a molder in his chair,
A newborn child held near.
Tiny heads-so softly stroked,
By my father's hands so...

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There is a spot in my grandmother’s home
It is reserved for guests
Older aunts and uncles on a visit, the parish priest, old friends that grandma wanted to impress
I have always wanted to sit in it,...

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Come come come and dance with me 
Come come come and sing with me
A sweet aroma is churning in the air
enchanting everyone far and near
Nature is emitting  goose bumps upon my flesh
And I can...

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