Long Sagely Poems

Where art thou anonymous benefactor...to offer me succor?

Ah... methinks legal tender 
could be a boon to help me bolster 
mein kampf with necessary material equipage,
which prospect to acquire essential 
commodities sabotaged 
at the altar of...

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The Tender Weight of Her Sighs
by Michael R. Burch

The tender weight of her sighs
lies heavily upon my heart;
apart from her, full of doubt,
without her presence to revolve around,
found wanting direction or course,
cursed with the thought...

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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...

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For All That I Remembered
by Michael R. Burch

For all that I remembered, I forgot
her name, her face, the reason that we loved ...
and yet I hold her close within my thought:
I feel the burnished weight...

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It is decidedly so,
That I shall go where you go
And in our journeys
I shall never let my love tire
The stars deem it worthy
Your fire is my truest desire

For this is decidedly so
And nobody will quite...

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Canticle: an Aubade
Michael R. Burch

Misty morning sunlight hails the dawning of new day;
dreams drift into drowsiness before they fade away.
Dew drops on the green grass echo splendors of the sun;
the silence lauds a songstress and...

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We warrior poets
calligraphy ride boldly into the foggy fray
Our ancient, iron-will pens
are always getting battle-tested
time and time again     by cloudy blot resistance
We always rolled scroll win ... 
writing off into the...

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great expectations
anticipated in the 
poetic heart 
Havisham delivered
all and more for love, 
a separate unseen thief, 
tore the others’ worlds apart

webs like ectoplasm
from underneath a rock
scurrying swiftly out of sight
wrapped tight around a child
dressed in...

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You want to know its merits? 
Very well, then. Daylight slants 
deliciously across the boy's 
inclined, thoughtful face. 
His lace collar, crumpled, 
houses valleys of shadow. 
Or what about the Water Seller? 
Look at that...

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FLAME OF ASCENSION
 

No-one can escape Flame of Ascension 
           a glance, a glimmer, a gestalted shadow
ghosts or gestures guarded Hearts to
   ...

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Premonition
by Michael R. Burch

Now the evening has come to a close and the party is over ...
we stand in the doorway and watch as they go—
each stranger, each acquaintance, each unembraceable lover.

They walk to their...

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Knowledge gained liberates or mutilates.
Ramifications of reality’s realm reached
make your insides want to abandon the body ship.
Rocking back and forth as you hurl dry acidic pain
expelled by the force of shell shocked lucidity:
You’re not good...

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Note: This is a liberal English translation of an ancient poem found in the Classical Chinese Infinite Life Sutra (which dates back to the Cao Wei Dynasty of the three kingdoms era). I made some...

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Personal identity,
like politically empowered/disempowered identity,
evolves within EgoSpirited voices

Exchanging feelings
with EcoSoul's outside co-relational serenity,
anima mundi
uncovering ZeroZone bilateral Janus-faces,

Non-verbal language 
noticing co-relational
health and pathology
qualities sensed,
felt,
originally tasted

And

Verbal iconically quantitative patriarchal voices
for either Ego, or Eco
survivalist thinking
how to further...

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Are able to keep your joy when all about you
If you can appreciate another’s view,
But sagely keep advice, inside, anew,
If you can access this vital part of self,
Or you can protect your heart and your...

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Little drops of water wash the largest stone away.
They won't do it in an hour or even in a day.
Once those drops get started, you can kiss that stone good-bye.
Those little drops of water always...

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I hear the call of friends but I am slow to harken, 
What shall I say what would you want to hear? 
I will not write of Erotic images, I will not spew phony 
flowery...

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I pass the woman, but when I meet her sad brown eyes,
Something godly stirs within me, and I sagely feel,
We have a vast spiritual connection, with no surprise
Heart demands for me to bring her a...

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I encounter ebbs and flows, a peaceful solace sigh.
Wedged on the cusp of a cliff to endeavor a descry.
I'm heading somewhere to ascertain a fair minding.
Although I've ultimately arrived, I'm still screeching.

We will fit along...

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Easy Elimination of Stupid People 

By Elton Camp

(Note:  All these are paraphrases of actual product warnings)

For meeting this goal, the best way to go about
Just remove warning labels, let it sort itself out
From the...

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If I had a wishing stick I would ask for world peace 
The lovely beauty pageant contender said into the mike
Generous generous generous

You are allowed three wishes, the commentator said.
Oh, great! She said. World peace,...

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A labyrinthine of emotions sears through my being as I study my proud pastiche in new perspective, a new eye.
An angry eye, a stirred up eye, a nit-picking not-really-me-in-any-way eye.
I unenthusiastically toss some purple and...

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Grampa?

It’s a question usually posed with an inquisitive frown
On an angelic face with large, limpid eyes
And whatever I’m doing, I stop and put down
Peer sagely over bifocals and look grandfatherly wise

“Can you fix this grampa,”...

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To watch them pass on by
So pensive, grave, with winter in the lace
That shrouds each year that time cannot deny
A springtime switched to autumn graces
Has furrowed in their seasoned faces 
And covers gray of silken...

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My four-year-old grandson is all about singing 
While he swings today
Singing funny songs at first, but now a serious one
About a grandma and how much he loves her
Making my head swell. 

We have already played...

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