Long Sermons Poems

Various Heresies 3

Breakings
by Michael R. Burch

I did it out of pity.
I did it out of love.
I did it not to break the heart of a tender, wounded dove.

But gods without compassion
ordained: Frail things must break!
Now...

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The Field
by Rumi 
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Far beyond sermons of right and wrong there's a sunlit field. 
I'll meet you there. 
When the soul lazes in such lush grass 
the world is too...

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Birdsong
by Rumi
loose translation by Michael R. Burch

Birdsong relieves
my deepest griefs:
now I'm just as ecstatic as they,
but with nothing to say!
Please universe,
rehearse
your poetry
through me!



I choose to love you in silence
by Rumi
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

I...

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Sonnets XC-XCVII

Artificial Smile
by Michael R. Burch

I’m waiting for my artificial teeth
to stretch belief, to hollow out the cob
of zealous righteousness, to grasp life’s stub
between clenched molars, and yank out the grief.

Mine must be art-official?zenlike Art?
a...

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I know that even when others deceive me, you can't decieve me with your blossoming ink of truth.
Go tell them what has happened to our budget,
Tell them that our budget is missing in a broad...

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Kentucky's late summer sunshine
sunk deep into their skin
as the boy rode on the back
of his Grandfather's coppered horse,
the tobacco harvest would begin soon,
aromas of sweet leaf darkness
were wafting in the field heat,
to the big barn...

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Word Fantasy in F Sharp Minor  (3 Movements)

1

(Andante con moto)

Hey man. Take this.

I got it last night,
under a fractured street light,
with shattered pieces of clear glass, scattered
at the nexus of an obscure dark freeway...

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Many of you live
humbly and heartily
patriotically and industriously
nutritiously and faithfully
in Western and Southern States,

United in this time of shrinking reservoirs,
dying rivers,
hurricaned coastal residents

Displaced by floods,
invasive mold,
voracious rot and rats,

Barren top soil,
failing electrical networks,
drought,
inhumane heat,
decimated forests

Bereft...

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Emerging from a fulcrum deep within,
arises a humming, magnetic pull,
which in each moment does afresh begin,
drenching us with bliss, making heart feel full.
Rapture ignition, thus in renewal,
becomes the new norm, just like our heartbeat,
love’s elixir...

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Aunt Mary was a small and wiry mother
of six;
four by birth
and two by informal adoption.

She sang in a small querulous voice
yet spoke boldly
filled with loving EarthMother
indigenous wisdom choices.

Aunt Mary was a serenely quiet mentor
and suspiciously...

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Image of Grandparents Country Home from my family collection

The Two Drivers In My Life

In my younger years ...
I got to know the souls of my parent's worlds,
were as distant as our known solar system.
Mom was...

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A Long Limerick Planned for Poems

This is my 6,466th poem. Shooting for 6.666
for some strange reason and time and season
and only teasing.

It sure seems much easier to put
all of my poems into one poem.

Put God...

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As I sit here on a Saturday night and prepare my heart for the Lord’s Day tomorrow I can’t help but reminisce about the days I spent in church as a child. The one thing...

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Ah the cake before the icing!!!!!! 

Notes:

Aimee Semple McPherson (October 9, 1890 – September 27, 1944), also known as Sister Aimee, was a Canadian born in Salford, Ontario. She was a Los Angeles–based evangelist and...

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DOOMSDAY:

All claim they revering Almighty GOD,
Same time hailing graven images as their lord.
Plainly they see it no wrong;
The inappropriate way of procuring mammon.
And their advertisment is just a come-on.
Now a norm having an individual deity,
And...

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YESHUA
His name was Yeshua, the legitimate, not immaculate,
scion of a young Jewish couple named Miriam and Yosef and surely
a brown-haired, brown-eyed Middle-Eastern man, sun-bathed and beige,
raised in the traditions of Abraham and Moses, David and...

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April has come but March still lingers, this is the reality of the east winds,
April and May, a the time for poets, as they write off the tyranny of reality,
Fickleness and uncertainty, has always been...

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The walls were made from old slats of wood,
That permitted the sun to prod through the gaps, where it stood.
Rows of wooden seats made in the same fashion,
Created by an artisan that seemed to lack...

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“How to Become 1”

the great resignation
calls dreams forth
when God knows
who we truly are

what we are

all worth 
out in the open 
without our lies 
and finery 

when titles 
no longer
justify existence
no longer matter 

the purpose of...

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Dear Dr. King,

I read of your struggle(s) over 50 years ago, & my heart brakes for how your life was taken prematurely on that day

I am a young black male, living in the year 2020

We...

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"Mi primo" means my cousin in Spanish.
He calls me his "primita"- little cousin.
This is the story of how mi primo
Taught me about the meaning of bread;
Of the meaning of tortillas...
He and I are exchanging languages...

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I was born 6 lbs. 9 oz. with blond hair and blue eyes. 
I was also born gay
I am anorexic. 
And you would think people would ridicule me for this instead of me being gay.
...

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Who speaks does indeed lie,
Who does not, surely knows more,
But keeps silent by fear to die,

The Walls have ears,
To listen and hear,
The brother became a foe to testify,
A brother sells a brother,
In this deep, dark...

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This story  tells the reality of the Ukrainian, Russian war. Not all Russian Soldiers want to be there but are forced by their Russian Commanders to fight. This is such a story, the ending...

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Reverend Dr. Margret A. O'Neall Developmental Minister

Unitarian Universalist Church
situated in Cherry Hill, New Jersey,
whereat every Sunday morning, I
Matthew Scott Harris) blessedly zoom
virtually attend congregation 
(recent attendee) experience

fellowship, albeit an outlier,
these two score plus one year...

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