Long Shrine Poems

The first soft snow: 
leaves of the awed jonquil 
bow low
—Matsuo Basho translation by Michael R. Burch

Come, investigate loneliness! 
a solitary leaf
clings to the Kiri tree
—Matsuo Basho translation by Michael R. Burch

The cheerful-chirping cricket
contends gray...

Read More

These are peace poems, prayer poems, hymns and lullabies I have written for family, friends and the world over the years ...

Peace Prayer
by Michael R. Burch

for Jim Dunlap

Be calm.
Be still.
Be silent, content.

Be one with the...

Read More

Grasses wilt:
the braking locomotive
grinds to a halt
—Yamaguchi Seishi, translation by Michael R. Burch

Oh, fallen camellias,
if I were you,
I'd leap into the torrent!
—Takaha Shugyo, translation by Michael R. Burch

The first soft snow:
leaves of the awed jonquil
bow...

Read More

No Mark
by Michael R. Burch

A wave implodes, 
impaled upon
impassive rocks...

this evening
the thunder of the sea
is a wild music filling my ear...

you are leaving
and the ungrieving
winds demur...

telling me
that nothing returns
as it was before...

here where you have...

Read More

The Moon as a Metaphor for Your Mouth
by Michael R. Burch

When I was closest to love, it did not seem
real at all, but a thing of such tenuous sweetness
it might dissolve in my mouth
like a...

Read More

Enheduanna is the first writer we know by name. She created the first poetry anthology and hymnal, circa 2250 BC, in ancient Sumer. She was the daughter of King Saragon the Great. 

Lament to the...

Read More

"The Sleeper and The Supernaturalist"


The Sleeper
shone as she walked 
through the Woods

shining alive 
like nothing
natural could

caught 
in the moonlight 
unaware

the innocent
red-caped roses stared
the trees whispered,

"beware, beware"

barefoot softly 
the Supernaturalist 
transfigures instead

from under shine 
she bares...

Read More

If you spill your secrets to the breeze,
Don't blame the wind for laying them to light.
Once said, words are disclosed, even to trees.
And claim peace in the leaves that rustle and fight.
Whispered tales of a...

Read More

We'd laid old George to rest the week before,
at ninety-one he now rejoined his wife,
no heirs to his estate, so one thing more
to do, and that's clear where he'd spent his life.
Downstairs had been quite...

Read More

As time passed on by, they settled and married
producing a fine brood of children
yet growing more and more unsettled
until one day they headed off again
this time going to the far north
where the lands were bound...

Read More

Finding Peace

                                 ...

Read More

“Beloved Femme Fatale”


Musk and Neroli satin skin spoons
Naked feet ‘neath The Pillars of Petra
She towers majestic above you, colours your grey skies
You are worshipping her on your knees
What does it matter, anymore? Before your eyes,...

Read More

They met at the foot of the tree when the temperature was minus zero degrees, the wind was blowing, the trees were shaking, and her body was subdued in the cold. She has been living...

Read More

Through shadowed trails, beneath the moon’s cold stare, 
     Its Amber gaze: a burden hard to bear.
This feathered prize found peace in my gut,
     No slumber dreamt;...

Read More

You wonder why, my love
These memories flitter in the hallways of my mind
Knocking on the door
of every room
Where I’ve hung
Do not Disturb Signs
For I don’t want to remember you
My Paradise Lost and yet….

Oh, you wonder...

Read More

Treading Down the Journey of Life

                            I have...

Read More

From north, south, east and west 
This is the town to beat the rest,
Where history and present blend
As through its many streets you wend. 

Where once a monastery so great
From every view would dominate,
Where Pilgrims...

Read More

Placed 9th in:
A Brian Strand Premiere  No. 1224 Poetry Contest


                        ...

Read More

Have I failed you as a man?
Our only communication was what washed up on shore 
But there's so much space between the ocean floor and the sand 
One cascades and the other crystalizes 
But you...

Read More

"Pick -A- Title Vol 42 Poetry Contest"

"Cry for the soul that will not face the body" Dory Previn 

                ...

Read More

I HEARD THE WISE WORDS

The day wise words were spoken
It was over near the beaten path;
Where I first heard them uttered.
“Beware of the fool in his folly
Who may be clever in presenting his story;
Only for...

Read More

It is an unseasonable March day.
My kitchen blinds are drawn against morning sun,
their slender slats like new skin protecting the body's vital organs;
eyelids before this rose-covered tablecloth as though the blooms
are the pale larvae of...

Read More

Back when the strange appeared uncommon, 
I knew I was just beginning 
To scratch the surface of the truth.
So I got myself a shovel.

As I dug deeper, I discovered my scent so jaded
As to not...

Read More

HERE. ONCE STOOD OUR HOME

I can't forget in a hurry,
Here once stood our ancestral home,
As was told my great- great- great- grand father
Who told my great-great-grand father,
Who told my great grand father and who 
In...

Read More

I HEARD THE WISE WORDS

The day wise words were spoken
It was over near the beaten path;
Where I first heard them uttered.
“Beware of the fool in his folly
Who may be clever in presenting his story;
Only for...

Read More