Long Shrilly Poems

Matthew delivers his latest bullet – tin...

from the Harris-Walz front
where liberal minded socially progressive
electorate doth agonizingly grunt
targeted in crosshairs scoped out 
eager and ready to be mortally wounded 
courtesy notorious big headed 
(and bigoted) infamous...

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World War II Poems and Holocaust Poems - IV - Primo Levi

Shema
by Primo Levi
translation by Michael R. Burch

You who live secure
in your comfortable houses, 
who return each evening to find
warm food, 
welcoming faces...

consider whether this...

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Poems about Flight, Flying, and Birds (I)



Flight
by Michael R. Burch

It is the nature of loveliness to vanish
as hummingbird wings, batting against nothingness
seek transcendence...



Southern Icarus
by Michael R. Burch

Windborne, lover of heights,
unspooled from the truck’s wildly lurching...

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On the night before Christmas, alone in my house, 
Sorrow gnawed at my soul, like a ravenous mouse.
Entombed in my blankets, I struggled to sleep,
Ready to snap if I counted more sheep.

I rose at the...

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Narrator:  I take you now inside the mind of a ten year old miniature Eskimo dog who
 lives happily inside a Rambler house with a fenced back yard that serves as his special 
area...

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“Where does Love live
It lives in The Light within
where time never ends it just begins”. 
Lady Labyrinth


"50 Words for Poe: The Lacrimosa"

Room 9 was haunted
this much was known 
with great fear and trepidation
all patients avoided...

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To Kill a Wild Rabbit - FICTION

The small winding valley was cold and dank.
Nothing stirred as darkness descended quickly.
Dusk brought an ominous cloud of evil fog 
that, like a black shroud, spread itself over the...

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That night, I looked at the glorious moon
And chose, on the spur of the moment
To leave all that I was accustomed to
I would go, there, wherever my feet took me
I set out, with only a...

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Mosquitoes Please Beware


With an audible snort of disgust, 
I pushed back this chair of mine...

In my head, I angrily exclaimed...
Oh, no! Mosquitoes, they are at it again..

Dreaded mosquitoes, they make my life miserable..
Incessant buzzing and...

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Buna
by Primo Levi
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Mangled feet, cursed earth,
the long interminable line in the gray morning
as Buna smokes corpses through industrious chimneys...

Another gray day like every other day awaits us.

The terrible whistle shrilly...

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I know a boy named Willy Wolly Way
Parties all night and sleeps all day.
He is a boozer. He is a shmoozer.
Like a tomcat,he must stray.
He is a layer.He is a player.
I know a boy named...

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" The Horse and The Lion ... "

(From The Solomon Studies Series)
(Eccl. 3: 11 / Prov. 6: 6 / Matt. 6: 26, 28, 29)


The Horse and The Lion
Both Have Beautiful Manes

The Horse and The Lion
Both...

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Appreciation:
A big thank you Silent One for your splendid narration of this poem.

THE GANGSTER

Through foreboding, whispering, wintery air
A woken Heron shrilly shrieks somewhere
Reflective iridescent gem in a gloomy stream
The gangster with a poetic heart dares...

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There are those in our society
who scream about fighting bigotry,
claim that we hate people with dark skin,
when you fired for insulting them,
claim that our women fear for their lives,
when the female sex is lionized,
claim that...

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Sad Life 
At three years old my parents divorced
Father got full custody
Mother, visitation rights
My sister and I were too young 
yet still we understood 

Into our life another came
and she begat a younger one
who stole...

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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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Fluttering beneath the newly cut
Festive green hollies,
Decked out with heaped drapes
Of freshly fallen snow,
A bold little red breasted Robin,
Busily searching,
Cheerfully hops to and fro.

Darting between the soft, swirling
flakes 
Of unique crystalline, driven without 
respite,
He alights...

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How delightful is the softest sound of a clear and starry summer's night,
You may hear a moth bashing up against a cottage window pane near a lamp,
If you listen really hard you can hear him...

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CALM

When all the world seemed calm
The starlight met the dew
Birds chirps, did compete for tweets.
but sounded cheerfully sweet.
Cars moving slowly TO and FRO
Not much hustle in human bustle.
Not much chaos in the dawn.
Mommy would be...

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ENTREATED 

The gigantic motion patrolled 
In the dark room immersed myself 
No! This can't be it's no more
Giving out a shrilly sharp vocal
My throat adhering to dryness 
What a slurred pilgrimage 
I didn't realise it...

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Who in the darkness follows me 
Now I hear a sound very near 
I turn around and almost faint 
What's going on tonight is so bizarre 

I see weird things all the day 
Footsteps and...

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I once knew a boy named Billy
I thought he was originally from Chile
Mostly ‘cause he loved his hot sauce and chili
Toting everywhere his jar of piccalilli

It turns out Billy was really the local hillbilly
I should...

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Rise born 
To love or  hate
Right or sin  
Destroy create
Not give a hang 
One  yin one yang
Balanced to swing  
Time's tapping  drum
Shrilly  pipes blow 
As we war with ourselves
Over...

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Overshadowed by the green canopy of trees,
My heart finds its peace amid the singing of birds...

The cuckoo calls out to me shrilly,
I raise my head and look her in the eye,
She acknowledges my presence with...

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My angel I have heard on high.
I'm lost. I don't know who I am.
You seem so high up in the sky,
and I am really in a jam.

By the tinkling of heaven's chime,
I ask myself, suppress...

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