Long Puns Poems

Limericks
by Michael R. Burch



Clyde Lied!
by Michael R. Burch

There once was a mockingbird, Clyde,
who bragged of his prowess, but lied.
To his new wife he sighed,
"When again, gentle bride?"
"Nevermore!" bright-eyed Raven replied.



The Platypus
by Michael R. Burch

The platypus,...

Read More

MODERN SONNETS I

I prefer the original definition of the sonnet as a “little song” of indeterminate form and length. These modern sonnets vary from more-or-less traditional to free verse.


Maker, Fakir, Curer
by Michael R. Burch

A poem...

Read More

Medieval Poem V

A Proverb from Winfred's Time
anonymous Old English poem, circa 757-786
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

1.
The procrastinator puts off purpose,
never initiates anything marvelous,
never succeeds, and dies alone.

2.
The late-deed-doer delays glory-striving,
never indulges daring dreams,
never succeeds,...

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

Deor's Lament

(Old English/Anglo-Saxon poem circa the 10th century AD)
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Weland endured the agony of exile:
an indomitable smith wracked by grief.
He suffered countless sorrows;
indeed, such sorrows were his bosom companions
in that frozen...

Read More

Poems about Poets VII

Gallant Knight
by Michael R. Burch

for Alfred Dorn and Anita Dorn

Till you rest with your beautiful Anita,
rouse yourself, Poet; rouse and write.
The world is not ready for your departure,
Gallant Knight.

Teach us to sing...

Read More

A Coffee Merchant was the first man to find,
The corpse as he started off on his daily grind!
What he saw filtered through, so he had grounds
To send for the Police, to investigate what he'd found!

He’d...

Read More

Across figurative and literal blackened white board...

Where death of democracy writ large,
nevertheless psychological strength predominates
unlike earlier chapters of mein kampf.

Mine hardscrabble existential debacle 
spelled losing game
swept me up in malevolent mindset 
far adrift from harbored...

Read More

My love,

I forget the way you smell, I remember the way you walked, I can recall the stories you tell
But I don't remember them all to well
I can feel you close to me in my...

Read More

Yours truly embarks on wild goose chase after elusive pot of gold

two alternate titles: 
1. Gander seeking goose that laid the golden egg
2. Incorrigible lottery dreamer
linkedin with previous poem I wrote
though modesty deters 
crafty, lofty,...

Read More

Wasted verses ushers quirky pathetic oeuvre

HENCE....herewith, 
a post (traumatic) 
stressed disordered poetic whim 
to summarize fantasy
incorrigible lottery dreamer
paradise visage and eyes 
zapping, swatting, and battling 
a bulge with dollar signs
whets imagination with 
Mega Million ticket...

Read More

An eggplant need not taste nor look like egg,
Nor in a hamburger ham need be there,
Where's pine, apple in pineapple, I beg?
Nor yet french-fries in France invented were.
They native are— American pure blood,
Wherein was born...

Read More

Flammer Me Gimbels #42
(a Vogon Pirate poem)

Flammer me gimbels, me trimbels and dromies,
Whenceforth I caminal scrabbit thy foamies.
Jeerbo or Jabox, ex labbit. Ex findle
Will not dethrail thee, ignibious twindle.

Ickwad of thrumpus, I salue wack vornage...

Read More

I was a happy, fluent linguist, fruitfully helping revive endangered languages,
As colorful rainbows walk across the sky, in buttery hours, turned languorous.

I enjoyed doing practical fieldwork, and establishing useful literary programs,
As the honeysuckle sun loves...

Read More

When looking into the mind's mirror
All that's found is fear there

Peering into that dark place
Not recognizing the face

Lurking there's the daemon, the monster
Yet some still see what they once were
Standing way off on a distant...

Read More

I'll dibble dab and squiggle on my pad,
I'm just a lad, and if it's good it's bad
and bad is good, words are misunderstood,
not could, would and should or does and mood.

Food for a dozen with...

Read More

Freeee me
Happy as can be
Never thot you’d rot,
Rooted to the spot

Don’t complain
About the rain
Yesterday’s tomorrow
A gift to borrow…refrain
From losing grip of reality
Exit reality with me for a while

Where shall I flee? 
I pray, I plea
Guilty
I...

Read More

As Medusa walks in, shuts the door,
caresses precision hand down the mahogany-
and shows one what for.

Senses in starbursts-cloudburst
flavor crystals accenting- your bloom 
of predicate corpus, cat claws in my brain, 
comes metamorphosis-
Led mushrooming depth of...

Read More

(randomly drawn years gone by
without gifted with pipe dream pot of gold)

Paradise visage and eyes 
   a bulge with dollar signs
   whetted imagination 
   PowerBall ticket bought

expected usual outcome...

Read More

Butterflies in my stomach,
Feeling as puny as a little ant
In pain…losing it…hittin’ the sack…
I am not strong enough or muscular enough – just some dumb old infant

My mind is blurry
Your taste is like curry…
So bitter...

Read More

I have prayed,and prayed hard, for the deaths of 2 people. Lest you think me a criminal, an explanation: one was my mother-in-law, a frail 89 yr. old who had a bad fall. Her organs...

Read More

He's packin' magic Viagra
Muse infused grooves set the mood
grab ya' and stab ya' 
we're opposites 
still we speak the same language 
teach and preach truth
every time I stop to see what he's droppin' 
my dang...

Read More

puzzling with all the words in the order
and changing them - around, and 'round again
effecting or affected by affective disorder
to sound around some pleasing refrain

what's to be gained, again, a chorus refrain
chanted softly by the...

Read More

Wordplay Beats Ban Adverse

In 2184 the thought-police declared war
On embellishment, feeling and emotion in literature and articles in any form.
Succinct 'plain English' was the name of their game.
Google's Knowledge Graph spewed out the answers to...

Read More

Achy with flu, but to tired to drift into a deep sleep, my body stalks the corridors of twilight, moving between being awake and floating on dreams.  Time is a stranger to physics and...

Read More