Long Rowboat Poems

Poems about the Coronavirus I


yet another iffy coronavirus haiku #1
by michael r. burch

plagued by the Plague
i plague the goldfish
with my verse



yet another iffy coronavirus haiku #2
by michael r. burch

sunflowers
hang their heads
embarrassed by their coronas

I wrote...

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These are translations of some of the oldest Japanese waka, which evolved into tanka, renga and haiku. 

While you decline to cry,
high on the mountainside
a single stalk of plumegrass wilts.
—O no Yasumaro (circa 711), translation...

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Yosa Buson haiku translations

On the temple’s great bronze gong
a butterfly
snoozes.
?Yosa Buson, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Hard to describe:
this light sensation of being pinched
by a butterfly!
?Yosa Buson, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Not to worry...

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A Brief For The Defense 

Sorrow everywhere. Slaughter everywhere. If babies 
are not starving someplace, they are starving 
somewhere else. With flies in their nostrils. 
But we enjoy our lives because that's what God wants....

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Deep in the dark depths of disaster, disassociated disaster
distracting distraction distracted
Bleh, bahumbug!
Why should I care how I start this
this will just be tossed to the wayside all over again 
Forgive me, my swift carelessness of...

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hashtagmetoo-  yes me too
I see it    in nightmares-
paralyzed with fear   did I do something
wrong?    will anyone believe me?
I knew something   was very wrong ...

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The Tumid River of Acheron (the journey) 
Part One- Final revision

Darkly,  the tumid rushing waters flow
where any man most wisely fears to go.
Liquid blackness singing in epic pain
torture, misery and cries of the insane!
Echoes...

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The Tumid River of Acheron (the journey) Part One-Revised

Darkly,  the tumid rushing waters flow
where any man most wisely fears to go.
Liquid blackness singing in epic pain
torture, misery and cries of insane!
Echoes of  Eperius...

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Saturday Afternoon Before Jack’s 2nd Birthday

A Caravelle wall clock behind me
  ticks away muffled minutes,
Its black pointed hands 
   reaching upward and downward;

The EXIT sign above the open white door
  ...

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The Tumid River of Acheron (the journey) Part 1

Dark the tumid, rushing waters flow
where man most wisely fears to go
Liquid blackness sings of epic pain
torture, misery and cries of insane
Echoes of evil Eperius in the...

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I was remembering my father,
just the other day.
It’s been a lotta years,
since Daddy passed away.

My name is not important.
My fathers name was Jim.
He never called me by my name!
I was always Butch to him!

Fishing was...

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I had a date (not a great date but a date)! Could our covid nightmare be ending? 

An actual one-on-one date - can you imagine? It was with Noud, a university student (from Holland) I...

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Happy Birthday to a dear son,
I think of all the good memories we shared.

The beautiful picnic at Whit church,
With our relatives , there was a pond, very scenic.

The years growing up and going to school,
The...

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Dearest Cousin Madelyn,


Let’s sit in the rowboat, near the dawn’s verdant shore.
Where a squirrel sits under the Oak, that we once...so adored!


We can discuss music, or our fabulous families’activities.
Later, listen to jazz, Dave Brubeck, who...

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Hand me a pen so that I may write the most stunning 
love poem in the world.
Hand me the most luxurious paper so the writing appears 
elegant and well placed.
Let the words flow from my...

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Grace Darling

Tempest spits upon the gunnels
But Grace Darling manhandles the paddles,
To rescue the folks of the Forfarshire crash,
Stranded on Farne Islands off Northumberland coast.

The spirit of innocence to give more than ought,
Took on the challenge...

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When we were young our parents used to rent a cottage,
These were my favorite summer days.

My favorite cottage was the North Bay cottage,
This was a rustic cottage on the bay.

You could swim in the knee...

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My first encounter with a brown bat was at Long Lake as a kid. It was in the dark of night. I was in a rowboat with a friend guiding the boat. I was watching...

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Takaha Shugyo haiku and tanka translations

hatogata horarete ichiju haya mebuku

A single tree
with a heart carved into its trunk
blossoms prematurely
—Takaha Shugyo, loose translation by Michael R. Burch

dôkefuku nugazu tentômushi no shi yo

Still clad in its clown's...

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Epiphany 

It was an incredible summer in 1950 the war was over things were getting 
back to normal, mother's new boyfriend who worked at a factory had 
a rowboat and paid holiday leave. A Sunday...

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I always liked country music, but never could figure out what country it was from.

I will shortly be a contestant on "American Idle"

When my mother first saw a microwave at my brother's house in Ohio,...

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Epiphany 

It was an incredible summer in 1950 the war was over things were getting 
back to normal, mother`s new boyfriend who worked at a factory had 
a rowboat and paid holiday leave. A Sunday...

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I could've gone to Holland. I could've gone to Spain.
I could've gone to Denmark. I could've gone insane,
But instead I came here, where the river mirrors life
In a fractured, dream-like way on this brilliant summer...

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There alone it sits as rippling waves sway
As each one hits there sitting in the bay
It has dreams this little old rickety vessel
For oh! what all seems, within its own will 

But it's anchored the...

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Pathological spit-steroid addict,
blame-shifting weightlifting fanatic
Decathlon cracked lip truth ... 
Jumping over another 
	high      cloudy crystal
	methane alibi 
aloof sprint hurdle 
Twisted twin-lip discus throw 
on a poppy milk turbo fan blow
Veracity...

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