Long Plywood Poems

Snapshots
by Michael R. Burch

Here I scrawl extravagant rainbows.
And there you go, skipping your way to school.
And here we are, drifting apart
like untethered balloons.

Here I am, creating "art,"
chanting in shadows,
pale as the crinoline moon,
ignoring your face.

There...

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Sonnets XLII-LI

Distances
by Michael R. Burch

Moonbeams on water?
the reflected light
of a halcyon star
now drowning in night...
So your memories are.

Footprints on beaches
now flooding with water;
the small, broken ribcage
of some primitive slaughter...
So near, yet so far.



A Surfeit of...

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Starlight and Moonlight II

These are poems about starlight and moonlight, moons and stars, dreams and visions, illuminations and intimations …




Deliver Us...
by Michael R. Burch 

for my mother, Christine Ena Burch

The night is dark and scary—
under...

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Please Remember You Had Nothing To Say
                            ...

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LOVE POEMS IV by Michael R. Burch

These are love poems by Michael R. Burch: original poems and translations about love, passion, desire, lust, sex, dating, romance, relationships and marriage. 



She Was Very Strange, and Beautiful
by...

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The day was fine and sunlit,
Decorated by several clouds 
drifting aimlessly in the radiant ocean-blue sky.
Chorused by gentle puffs of the morning breeze,
Sending leaves on the streets twirling like
ballerinas in a dazzling and mesmerising dance.
and...

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Sun and traffic - day economy.
Six a.m. drive to plywood mill. Too tired
to be angry. Each day a step
toward death. What is being accomplished? The
small satisfactions
within each day. Book consciously read.
And frustrations. Package dropped, honey...

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The day was fine and sunlit, Decorated by several clouds drifting 
     aimlessly in the radiant ocean-blue sky. Chorused by gentle 
         ...

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He sat all alone, drinking jim beam and coke

Looking out as the waves crashed ashore

He kept to himself, drinking jim beam and coke

As the storm winds would batter the door

He'd only come in when the...

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"I Would Be....WOOD"


   "Knock On Me!" or more correct "Knock On WOOD!" You've probably said that and rapped your knuckles against me while saying it! I know you've knocked on me many times...

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Living in California is a brave thing to do, I’m convinced
Any time the ground around you could break into pieces, but residents seem so indifferent
of this threat that the ground they stand on could take...

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Black lives matter. Me too.
Not my president. Give peace a chance.
Luck runs out. I like immigrants. 
Power must be challenged by power. 

Equal and opposite reactions.
God is the answer. Love is the answer.
Walk on the...

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Advice to Young Poets
by Nicanor Parra Sandoval
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Youngsters,
write however you will
in your preferred style.
Too much blood flowed under the bridge
for me to believe
there’s just one acceptable path.
In poetry everything’s permitted.



Byron
was not...

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On the 1st day of Christmas my employer gave to me
A paycheck without an increase

On the 2nd day of Christmas my employer gave to me
2 tools from Tool World and a paycheck without an increase

On...

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 I am poetry  a nightingale stringing blues 
               Of medieval lyrics---swords sliding bows.
      ...

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The day was fine and sunlit,
Decorated by several clouds 
drifting aimlessly in the radiant ocean-blue sky.
Chorused by merciless gales of the morning breeze,
Sending leaves on the streets attacking like
Vikings in a brutal and violent dance.
and...

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I Hate Home Depot!

I hate Home Depot!
Just the sight of that
orange and white sign
makes my stomach turn.

However I know every
square inch of that store,
I’ve spent
thousands of hours there
as a paying customer.

I know what all is...

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Ode to Harris

So they showed you
the politics of poetics
showed you how to sculpt
quotations
as if discreetly yours

sure-e-e... 

they told you of your godhood
at Harvard
but they crucified you at Rowan Tree
fourteen light stained pages
4.95


6-15-00

__
Watching years go by
like...

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A Surfeit of Light
by Michael R. Burch

There was always a surfeit of light in your presence.
You stood distinctly apart, not of the humdrum world—
a chariot of gold in a procession of plywood.

We were all pioneers...

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Some very good friends sat around in their basement
I think we've all been here before
The room of course was smokey and wasted
The four buddies were bored right out of their gourds

They all thought they should...

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Diamonds

We all have so many diamonds that we own,
but we think of them as glass or bits of stone.
We often sell them as cheap pieces of junk,
but yet always we think of them as unknown.

The...

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You told me not to play on the doghouse.
You told me multiple times that day
That I should not play on the dog house.
Later that night, sometime after dinner,
I built a fortress made of thick wooden...

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KENNEDY= THE WAR YEARS
PT-109


After the attack on Pearl Harbor
He applied for sea duty in the war. 
Where Lieutenant John F. Kennedy
Became known for his bravery and more.

In the dark hours before dawn
On August 2, of...

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Schwegmann, Winn Dixie, the Superstore and more
Customer service was instilled indeed in you for sure
You hungry so you pull up in the drive thru
Welcome to McDonald's, how may I help you?

Baskins Robbins, oh so sweet
Brownie...

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So you want to hear a story, first of all there is no morning glory. Your feet touch the floor its cold as ice as is the water, what a surprise.
With sleepy eyes you look...

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