Long Pompous Poems

You've heard that self-unfulfilling prophecy?
"I love humanity--
it's just people I can't stand."

I love healthy humanity--
it's just uppity and/or snooty people I can't stand

I love cooperative humanity--
it's just overly-competitive individuals I can't stand.

Not so distant from,
I...

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[Now ShallowMan is quite content
receiving FactoidMan’s consent
to quibble and express dissent
as long as keeping covenant
with fingers crossed and belfry bent
when viewing Facts in sealed cement:]

SM
“The Facts you give me circumvent
those ‘truths’ your chuckles supplement;
although they...

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Veronica Franco translations

Veronica Franco (1546-1591) was a Venetian courtesan who wrote literary-quality poetry and prose.

Capitolo 19: A Courtesan's Love Lyric (I) 
by Veronica Franco
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

"I resolved to make a virtue of...

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This whip is a relic of war
an instrument of severe education, 
come now Avia, look how lovely and vulgar,
it is essential for you to appreciate it's intention,
feel it's supple weight, the simple fright,
I use jasmine...

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They came from as far a way as New York and Dallas Texas. The class of 1981 wasn't a large class, it was the very first class of a very very private school. Their school,...

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Come post presidential election 2024... 

heil to the Wharton chief firebrand -
more worrisome than an ovarian cyst
every race, religion, nationality, 
gender, creed, et cetera with impunity dissed
brigand able, eager, ready and willing
to punch contenders throwing...

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Ask your friend, neighbour or even a stranger newly-met
Have they ever been damaged by a ‘trust’ ….now turned ‘regret’?
Most men, if not all, have fashioned their character on personal experience
Yet these damned hypocrites are themselves...

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Much has been felt
then written
about loneliness at the top

Less written,
yet perhaps far more often felt,
about claustrophobia in the center.

Problems with delegation,
boundaries,
predictable timelines,
responsive management focus,
follow through performance,
closeted partisanship,
competitions to be heard
listened to
appreciated
respected 
for our therapeutic,
and not...

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A Debate

The Atheist
I see no reason for a god
Indeed for any type of god at all
I look around at all the churchmen
The pompous richly dressed ones
And wonder what their founder would have thought
And then at...

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Political Poetry

Obama: what bard, what griot, what poet wouldn't want to tell -the miracles of our times in tales.
What courage, what evidence that man can endure; fulfilling the destiny for which he was bore.

Stones were...

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Strong suspicion a 2024 presidential win...

for the trumpeting don
spells loss for democracy
after inauguration day
witnesses his swearing-in
nepotism will run rampant
lawlessness the name of the game
of thrones breaking apart ramparts
of inalienable rightful
freedoms rent sunder, whereby nothin
can stop...

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I…breathe again…
Meditating on flowers of my pasture, plucked with my eyes,
Resting…open, like buds blooming, and resting…

“Take me…” he said weakly, so softly in my ear…

I greeted the demon with the warmth in my eyes, 
Upon...

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APRIL TO THRILL ME

                My Birth-Month April appears in mirth.
          ...

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I doubt it was a philosopher,
more likely an emperor,
but possibly both,
who first explored this sad relationship
between exclusion
and punishment,
colonialism
feeding repression.

I'll bet it was a Taoist mother
afraid bad weather would smother
all hope of restoring future peace
who first...

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Many see me as that crazy cat guy, 
who dresses in black all of the time,
and keeps to himself, or to just a chosen few,
and while the latter two accusations may very well be true,
"crazy...

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With lone intent, all freedom it will wrest
if obstinance you let these wolves deny.
As tonnage sinks beneath the torrid crest
your struggles for survival magnify.
Each flailing ship that ferries surety
is fodder for the fathoms of abyss.
Their...

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Blackmail, blackmail is a crime, designed to rob me of what is mine, blackmail, blackmail is a crime, designed to steal my hard earn dollar. I missed my stop and landed in Jamaica, it was...

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***** NONPARTISAN SHAM (BULL SH*T)...
SPECIAL NEWS BULLETIN updated *****

Innocuous, yet unhealthy threat looms across
(air/radio) telecommunications devices
where smart electronic devices enthrall
and decree they co-opt role bing boss
linkedin with plenti networks that criss cross
even primitive computers utilizing...

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When I was a lad and somewhat brash
I often read the poems of Ogden Nash,
whose humourous rhymes on many themes,
was motivation for my own poetic dreams.

Later when I took to reading Edgar Allen Poe,
more of...

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Your nothing put a pompous pig and you have the audacity to disrespect me,
You may have the money but you've lost your honour and any integrity,
You've never done anything but judge me,
You don't understand that...

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I was a creative choreographer, for superb Broadway musicals and plays,
As musical winds choreograph motions, throughout any of our rosy days.

I lived for charms of elegant dance, for its beauty will forever be with us,
As...

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Growing up with an angel that loved me.
Hovering close,with cane, walking.
Me, on a tricycle to the candy store,
Bright summer days I cannot ignore.

Though decades have past, his love and 
quiet spirit remain.
It's not like he's...

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I am Trump
Trump I be


That Trump you be
That Trump you be
I do not like you, Trump you be

Would you like me , here or there
Tanned and rich with gorgeous hair

I do not like you here...

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Suddenly the Storm
      by Amy Swanson


Beautiful spring day!
     Warm wind so soft
           playfully 
  ...

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WILL YOU PLEASE LET ME GET TO THE JOINT?

Listen 
I’ve got an indisputably effective plan
And it’s fundamentally and philosophically correct, man
So at once dash out that joint 
So I can reveal unto you my ...

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