Long Sips 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

Dusk-gliding swallow, 
please spare my small friends
flitting among the flowers! 
—Matsuo Basho translation by Michael R. Burch

A bee emerging
from deep within the peony's hairy recesses
flies off, sated
—Matsuo Basho translation by Michael R. Burch

That dying cricket,...

Read More

Poems about Butterflies and Bees



Flight
by Michael R. Burch

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



Album
by Michael R. Burch

I caress them—trapped in brittle cellophane—
and I see how young they were,...

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

THIS WORLD OF DEW

This world? 
Moonlit dew
flicked from a crane's bill.
—Eihei Dogen Kigen, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Seventy-one?
How long
can a dewdrop last? 
—Eihei Dogen Kigen, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Dewdrops beading grass-blades
die before...

Read More

The constant assault of the silence on his senses is intense 
Hands clenched in fist he wished for noise and bliss
Buddy stopped talking and drinking he begins pacing as he’s thinking 
Tired from walking he...

Read More

Ghost Of Tsali Comes

Lost in mist and maze
Ghost of Tsali in the corn
River water runs

Colors of fall alive
“Til moon replaces sun
That’s when Tsali comes 

Corn roots cling to bone
As he tends the empty weirs
This spot...

Read More

Gone now are the wondrous minds of old,
whose era treasured learning over gold,
And humble were the thoughts and words of these,
who, trothed to truth, would now be left displeased,
by hurried tempers bent on winning wars,
neglectful...

Read More

Jim Daley and Joe McCarthy had something in common. They died at 80 going to the bathroom in the middle of the night. Walt O'Brien, their protege, found this out when he called the homes...

Read More

Virgil comes to group therapy every week in his pick-up truck with his dog, Buster, standing in the bed of the truck. The sessions are held for veterans of Korea and Vietnam. Quite a few...

Read More

It was a cool, overcast and windy Sunday afternoon in March 2014. We were about 50 miles from Paris, at my Grandmère’s (grandmother’s) farm. She lives in Paris, but she owns a Château and surrounding...

Read More

I'd just checked out of a hotel in the town of Santa Fe 
Went to the store to collect supplies and went on my way
I was heading for the gold rush in the state of...

Read More

Perpetual Quandries of Dischord

Permanent irreversible Attatchment disorder
A lemonade stand at the Mexican Border
A traumatised disorganised old lady hoarder
The incriminating evidence on an old tape recorder 

Elements of discontent shivering through a crowd 
Firmaments of promises...

Read More

Another day in dreamland

Wake up.  Watch the sun ease in the light
like the day before, goin back, and on some more.
Cuddle with the reasons why while I collect
my unconscious back from the sky.
Okay, get...

Read More

Dear people,
A true Voice speaks pure truth in two tones. 
      Real Ears can only hear one. 
Get one half of two true whole truths, 
    ...

Read More

1

Sunrise, late winter
skunk smell
turkey flock
playful otter, too.

The white heron
a great blue,
white phase,
in the abandoned beaver pond.

Purple clematis
its long-awned achenes
in globose heads
spidery, fiery, extravagant fruit!

To identify or classify
birds by
the complexity or beauty
of their songs.

And so
what is...

Read More

He sits there with defiance in his eyes and listens to the choir as it sings the final chorus before it dies, the room was packed with critics and a mountain of problems was climbing...

Read More

CONVERSION

1
Everyday is a test, no rest, a contest, put up my best, I confess
Hardwired and tired, flawed with mud and mire, no liar but on fire
I will connect, will not fret but you can bet...

Read More

Stained Glass Scarlet, Scarlet Fasinera  . . .  a fictional character
          a vigilante haunting the streets of the Bronx
     ...

Read More

I made you a vow of paradise
Though I knew I could not find the time
To show you how much I cared and treasured
The sincerity of your love and devotion;
I wanted to take you to my...

Read More

Shane walked to the back of the bar and found the door opened to an alley littered with the garbage of the bar and the restaurant beside it, the one whose neon sign has two...

Read More

( a college life vignette)

It’s Thursday morning, usually no one’s favorite, but this one seems sugary new, as if beamed in from a different, better universe. The clouds look fluffy and freshly washed.

Even the freshmen,...

Read More

*                                  ...

Read More

Shane walks in, hurries to the back of the bar. He finds the door opened to an alley littered with the garbage of the restaurant beside it, the one whose neon sign has two lights...

Read More

Thought Train Location As of October 27th,2013
Take 1

…don’t even try to believe or perceive or conceive any of this*
when the clouds come to veil the stars and the night puts you in an unsure but...

Read More