Long Sightless 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...

Read More

Juvenilia: Early Poems X

These are early poems written in my teens and twenties.

Regret
by Michael R. Burch

Regret,
a bitter
ache to bear...

once starlight
languished
in your hair...

a shining there
as brief
as rare.

Regret,
a pain
I chose to bear...

unleash
the torrent
of your hair...

and show me
once...

Read More

History’s Greatest Miracle Play

Let me tell you a story - Prologue

Actors gather to play their parts
To set the stage – backdrops and props –
In history’s greatest miracle play
Called to speak their lines
On redemption’s stage
In a...

Read More

The Dance of Salome
Herod bellowed out the night's festive orders..
"Bring the torches, bring the tables..
more wine, that we may rejoice,  
for tonight we revel in kindred friendship."
Herod strolled onto the terrace, nearly stumbled in...

Read More

Act 3. A dark, empty stage.

Marat
(standing up)

My eyes went blank. That's how it goes when
you have been doubly knocked flat on your back
in half an hour. He went, he went,
he went, he went, he went,...

Read More

POTD 30th August 2018 

The gently swaying branches of the old oak should elicit calmness
And yet a sense of foreboding permeates the midnight air
Wild imaginings?  Or did shadows flit across the leaf strewn path?
No...

Read More

It's styles of a nameless brand pristine day
an exclusive star-sheathed shadow after 
overwhelming luminous glare fainted
a somewhat true-to-life footpath in
a back of structured quaintness

Encountering myself at a passionate spring
oozing its life gliding o'er its rocky...

Read More

“The Tear”



How many oceans of salt 
does it take to form a tear?

Unrelenting waves of sorrow 
pounding a broken heart
hears the howl of sharp beaked foolish flying monkeys
ignorant feeding frenzies swallow whole lost families 
swept...

Read More

He plays throughout the house at night 
a braille touch for his lack of sight
and dreams of all the crippled things 
with broken legs and shattered wings.

The bandage on his wounded eyes 
will be there...

Read More

The great poets begged for muse and not for moments stolen.
We lesser mortals cup in hand beg, not for attentions’ span nor
cause to celebrate, but Time; a worthy goal.
Seconds spent pondering half-held slow bled moments
shuffling...

Read More

My twilight Dream Catcher.

Sweet melodies tug at my heart strings.
The waves roll in as the blue whale sings.
As empty moonbeams fade,
In the cosmos evenly laid.
Layers of complexity.
Clouds meandering are a formality.
A tonic of love, a...

Read More

New Horizons
One.
His lips kiss my skin
Whispering that I am not from sin
Words powered by artificial lust
Weaving lies into my vulnerable mind
Just to make me think it’ll be alright
Crimson regrets that line my arms and heart
Pleading...

Read More

The darkness, now descending, floods the city as it dies
while shadows lurk in legions 'neath the looming Evil Eye.
Its frozen stare envelops all, it penetrates and pries,
denouncing loathed dissenters to the keepers in the sky....

Read More

A sodden dreg with wooden leg is dancing for a dime,

to sacred psalms and other balms, all ticking with the time.

He’s 22, he’s almost through, he’s melted in his prime,

his bane is firm, the canker...

Read More

Tuck into the public
private seclusion.

My aversion to inclusion
includes a stub, a tub,
a carelessly careful curation,
a velvet rope, a hint of hope,
a folding chair, softened and stickied 
by foam and frothing soda spills.

A not soundless though...

Read More

Written: April 27, 2024

                      ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 Seraphic, sibilant wisdom,
    a grace-gorged vista,
...

Read More

Oh my darling, a white picket fence,
Oh my darling, a polite cricket wench,
In my face, you can't see, my soul.

Oh, my darling, oh, my darling, my pride has gone.
It's been replaced, it's been replaced by...

Read More

A love not to be forgotten
After the disaster, after the misery
Little sister of mine begged my dad for chicks
He tried to convince her what a bad idea it is
How a hard caring takes to keep...

Read More

“Oh you, so-called Prophet Mani, preacher of division, answer this simple question without strife?"

“What is your question which your soul wants to hear to see the unity of all life.”

“Your God, is he good or...

Read More

She was lost and cried all night, heart broken and sad
Old wounds ached from countless jagged scars and flaws
It was an evil monster, abusive and powerfully bad
From its sadistic, tormenting ways, never did it pause

How...

Read More

He paced the living room, furious with himself. What had he gotten himself into? Why had he agreed to Laila’s request to see her family? Here he was alone…all alone in the house with the...

Read More

A visitor, 
I sit by night and day
unmoved to pen a loving word
no more the Muse its lightning thrusts
of inspiration cast my woeful way
while waiting, watching, 
nothing left
of hope, of comfort – 
nothing right to...

Read More

A single branch, clawed and pecked, fickle and straining,
Lonely Nestling and father, paw and peck at their home
Lonely branch, spasms in the wind
Nestling and father paw and peck, yearn and whimper
These Flightless Birds, on a...

Read More

A DREAMERS PLIGHT ON JUDGEMENT DAY

Give solely sovereign sway & Masterdom.
The air nimbly & sweetly recommends itself unto my gentle senses
To commend the ingredients of my poisoned chalice.
But this same thing we desire the most
That...

Read More

Stuff your rock stars, your heros, your christs,
your anti-christs and anarchiests.
Stuff your false idols up your arse.
Stuff your regenerative ramblings;
the spiel of a million others
spilt in diluted misunderstanding.
The generic rhetoric of another blank generation.
Born under...

Read More