Long Pastel Poems

Humanity keeps looking forward, toward the coming of a birth,
and we’re all deemed as equals on our first day on this earth,
but as the years go quickly by our lives become our own;
we’re seen as...

Read More

Epigrams by Michael R. Burch



Negligibles
by Michael R. Burch
 
Show me your most intimate items of apparel:
begin with the hem of your quicksilver slip ...



Negotiables
by Michael R. Burch

Love should be more than the sum of its...

Read More

Salve
by Michael R. Burch

for the victims and survivors of 9-11

The world is unsalvageable ...
but as we lie here
in bed
stricken to the heart by love
despite war’s
flickering images,

sometimes we still touch,

laughing, amazed,
that our flesh
does not despair
of love
as...

Read More

Hark and listen well, if those foretoken in the eyes of hungers lust
Trapped in their illusion, trampling the Stars into dust
Forced with the detestation stench by the swamp of absolute disgust
Thou blackest scorpion be accursed,...

Read More

Note to Readers of Previous Versions:
There are so many new vignettes scattered throughout the poem that I hope you will reread the whole thing! There are many new GEMS, improvements to previous verses and improved...

Read More

Toddlers' Exploration: 

Cardboard drum and a thunderous beast
With playful roars in tiny fists and feasts.
Fleeting wings glide to dreams just out of reach
Soaring through tales of barnyard Waddles and Squeaks.
Moo! Quack! Giggles tumble and bump.
Flaps...

Read More

Old Glory has Something He Wants to Say  
By – Roger White
The dawn’s first sunlight crests over the eastern horizon.  A midnight dark sky leisurely changes tinctures: blue becomes purple, bright azure and...

Read More

Alone

For in the end it's just one soul that's passed.
Alone I'll lie in sod of greenest grass
to answer for the sins that I've amassed
at gates of gold I'll see if I may pass.
In to this...

Read More

His eyes are dark, but, there's still a spark. 
There are canyons in his face.
His lungs are gone and it won't be long,
'Till his heart can't keep the pace.
He's lived three lives, had his share...

Read More

Fragments United In Perfect Imperfection
And all the smeared colours unite into white
	
All
     the
           little
       ...

Read More

Lisa and I finally tested covid-free! When we saw our results, we began an impromptu dance that felt like levitation.

Although my covid case seemed much milder, Lisa’s been nothing but supportive. Why just yesterday morning,...

Read More

Not too many decades out of college
I finally landed my first full-time job,
as a White House speech writer.

I know,
you would expect
I would not start at the top
and then claw
and grab
and snatch my way to the...

Read More

It was midnight and my dream was shattered
I fell into darkness
A nightmare
I was sinking, drowning, dying…
But then I heard the laugh of a child
Carefree and joyful was the music of her lips
She smiled and suddenly...

Read More

I was a zealous meteorologist, which I had been for a long time,
As the roving years work diligently, to create a very fine wine.

So content in my fond vocation, many deemed me tops in my...

Read More

Tonight the act of naming fell through the floor.
We speak permeable solids inflect’d by light.
Things move indistinctly: a pine palette floats
momentarily from semi truck’s bed, crosses
its body with windshield; ovidian shift from a
Forest to an...

Read More

The crescent ~ half awake,
yet wholly aware,
like the essence of my presence ~
drowsy and divine ~
glowing in golden hues
is the mentor leading
me through scented silence.

I am the thorn and the petal,
  the yin and...

Read More

Professed, nonwarranted kinfolk attest upon the secret florist
Herald stewards, forbear! Striplings, go not to entice the fawn’s forest 
Yonder snowy peaks, betwixt pearls, radiates the pinkest amethyst
Amidst, thy gently sloping curves, hymns of harmony praise...

Read More

You were there again just like before your eyes shifted a bit your smile still warm as that March madness the pile pastel poker chips the smell of disguarded cigarette butt's the feel of a...

Read More

I was a busy and active person, who loved to savor life.
I was also amiable and friendly, avoiding excess strife.

Like the glad golden sun, ever beaming blissful radiance,
Indeed drawing all others, with its cheerful brilliance.

My...

Read More

Moods Colors
My moods are most confusing
Viewed from the outside
Borne aloft on potent waves
Of Emotion's tides
I struggle against the current
Surrender all control
Drowning in the waters
As the cold enters my soul
My moods must be confusing
And it must...

Read More

The Midnight Visitor. 

(A lone voice whispers)

I stood over her luscious form
Bathed by the cool glare of the Crying moon as 

The Ancient Mother pretended to sleep but watched as she slept

Listened to her slow...

Read More

Drifting on the clouds I lie
With my head pointing
To yonder skies
In a sea of dreams 
 Where mind and spirit 
Igniting natures prize
To feel like you are heaven bound 
But feet standing firmly
 On hallowed...

Read More

Edna Morris lived in the town of Shadow Fells, in rich green, hilly country,
With doting parents and sister Violet, plucking fruit from their plum tree.

Pretty Edna was twelve years old, but she and Violet played...

Read More

The universe is all abloom with seasons, diamonds left in wakes of stars (1)
(whose flowers linger) viewed through lenses binding star’s birth to its death,
its ghost, perhaps, not there at all for life to visit...

Read More

“Nightingale and Roses”

the heart burst open
like a canary cracks open its cage with a song
listening to the nightingale with roses
flying like a throatful soul escaping 
from somewhere deep within,
soaring out the cavern measureless to man,
that...

Read More