Long Perils Poems

Epigrams

Autumn Conundrum
by Michael R. Burch

It’s not that every leaf must finally fall,
it’s just that we can never catch them all.

Piercing the Shell
by Michael R. Burch

If we strip away all the accouterments of war,
perhaps we'll discover...

Read More

Poems about Poems (I)



What the Poet Sees
by Michael R. Burch

What the poet sees,
he sees as a swimmer
~~~underwater~~~
watching the shoreline blur
sees through his breath’s weightless bubbles...
Both worlds grow obscure.



Muse/Goddess
by Michael R. Burch

“What will you conceive in...

Read More

Where Does the Butterfly Go?
by Michael R. Burch

for the children of the Holocaust and the Nakba

Where does the butterfly go
when lightning rails,
when thunder howls,
when hailstones scream,
when winter scowls,
when nights compound dark frosts with snow ...
Where...

Read More

The Making of a Poet
by Michael R. Burch

While I don’t consider “Poetry” to be my best poem—I wrote the first version in my teens—it’s a poem that holds special meaning for me; I call it...

Read More

State of the Art (II)

These are my "ars poetica" poems about the art and craft of writing poetry. 



What the Poet Sees
by Michael R. Burch

What the poet sees,
he sees as a swimmer 
~~~~underwater~~~~
watching the shoreline...

Read More

Juvenilia: Early Poems IX

These are early poems of mine, written in my teens as a high school student and during my first two years of college.

Shock
by Michael R. Burch

It was early in the morning of...

Read More

Merciles Beaute ("Merciless Beauty")
by Geoffrey Chaucer
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Your eyes slay me suddenly;
their beauty I cannot sustain,
they wound me so, through my heart keen.

Unless your words heal me hastily,
my heart's wound will remain...

Read More

As to the this and the that and the how and the why,
    I pass no judgement on the tale at hand.
And leave it to scribes to much later decide
  ...

Read More

Poems about Poets I


The Wonder Boys
by Michael R. Burch

for Leslie Mellichamp

The stars were always there, too-bright cliches:
scintillant truths the jaded world outgrew
as baffled poets winged keyed kites—amazed,
in dream of shocks that suddenly came true ...

but...

Read More

Stood upright, between two roads,
On a thin metal rail,
A solitary, brown coloured bottle 
Of beer,                    ...

Read More

Now that Crimson Fire was gone
Fire Eagle needed to gain experience.
For over ten years he travelled the lands
helping people, learning from many other druids.
One day he knew he would be called up on to
take the...

Read More

We are nearly all macro-economic capitalists
Yet micro-economic cooperativists
with those we trust

S/he said
while burning up
and out.

Yet,
a Patriarchal Capitalist
has also fully monopolized
his LeftBrain lessons
and monotheistic idolizing faith
in micro-economic,
familial
monocultural tribalist,
nation-state exceptionalist,
straight white male privileged
zero-sum competitive 
commodified consumer relationships

S/he...

Read More

 *Inspired By Jocko Willinks Triumphant Victory Affirmations/ I AM Victorious/ 
 Alpha Affirmations 


 O' Great Victory, How you have shined down upon thee
 On these Wings Of Triumph, So High, So Victorious, like...

Read More

All things that glow and move,
all things that change and pass,
I gather their delight
as in a burning-glass;
Judith Wright

The Queen's Conjurer
1.
'Given to magic and uncanny arts'
'Art mathematical' to make strange works
 Genius of movement artificial
Mechanical scarab...

Read More

Part 1 - A raven alone, ravaging around in the darkness..... 

i.

Ultimately aware, suspense is such, though truly I am sensing,

something dark diverting mind withdrawn, the silence muttered,

since melancholy holds suspicion where to probe now...

Read More

a heave and a shove, into the ocean she goes
where she stops no one knows,
floats and floats till it may sink
you may spot it with  red ribbon bows.

message in a bottle set off to...

Read More

 Inspired By O.G Nanda a.k.a Paramhansa Yogananda :)

 Vanquishing the darkness that veils the Light
 from Ashes to Dust to Illusions of Night,
 Sailing Adrift to Shores of Bliss
 Sinking Ships that drift Aimless,...

Read More

Written: January 22, 2025 for contest Sponsored by: Kai Michael Neumann

Quote: “In the dynamic world society which is the objective of the United Nations, all peoples must have equality and equal rights" By Ralph Bunche,
...

Read More

Humanity Canteen

My restaurant is exclusive and classy no paupers allowed though I
have to declare that I picked up the chef near the township where
on a paraffin cooker in his garden of plenty lots of dishevelment...

Read More

I was enthralled by each panel 
     a world in my grasp.
Comic books whisked me 
     beyond time's clasp.
Starlight's soft shimmer 
     on...

Read More

The human heart…the young human heart. I look at our lives, the confusion we live in. Falling in and out of love, having friends..with benefits…dreaming of perfect relationships…unrealistic ones. Sometimes I wonder what kind of...

Read More

The grey clouds are slowly moving away and it feels like something good is coming my way, the financial jamboree is skipping up and down the street and the banks are messing with my heartbeat....

Read More

I beg on behalf of the human race re. our effects on mother nature.

Help is what she needs, her abilities slighted
Atrocities committed by man impeding her adventure.
Verily, all things are so bad, and by us...

Read More

cliche`


Imaginism


Title:

"Every cloud has a silver lining"


Passing through a dark cloud in turbulent weather,
High in the air above 35,000 feet,
Plane dipping, sometimes lower.
Ooops! says some passengers, as you silently pray.

The shaking continues, Captain's warning signal
Comes on....

Read More

Written: November 10, 2024
                    ______________________________

In the quiet of a twilight room,
heartbeats harmonize with a haunting hymn,
each...

Read More