Long Slouching Poems

Epitaph for a Palestinian Child
by Michael R. Burch

I lived as best I could, and then I died.
Be careful where you step: the grave is wide.

This poem has also been titled "Epitaph for a Child of...

Read More

Here We Shall Remain
by Tawfiq Zayyad
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Like twenty impossibilities
in Lydda, Ramla and Galilee ...
here we shall remain.

Like brick walls braced against your chests;
lodged in your throats
like shards of glass
or prickly cactus...

Read More

These are prophetic poems and apocalyptic poems ...






Beast 666
by Michael R. Burch

“... what rough beast ... slouches toward Bethlehem to be born?”?W. B. Yeats

Brutality is a cross
wooden, blood-stained,
gas hissing, sibilant,
lungs gilled, deveined,
red flecks on a...

Read More

First they came for the Muslims

after Martin Niemoller

First they came for the Muslims
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Muslim.

Then they came for the homosexuals
and I did not speak out
because I was...

Read More

Cleansings
by Michael R. Burch

Walk here among the walking specters. Learn
inhuman patience. Flesh can only cleave
to bone this tightly if their hearts believe
that God is good, and never mind the Urn.

A lentil and a bean might...

Read More

Various Heresies 2

You
by Michael R. Burch

For thirty years You have not spoken to me;
I heard the dull hollow echo of silence
as though strange communion between us.

For thirty years You would not open to me;
You remained...

Read More

Sonnets LXXI-LXXX

Because You Came to Me
by Michael R. Burch

Because you came to me with sweet compassion
and kissed my furrowed brow and smoothed my hair,
I do not love you after any fashion,
but wildly, in despair.

Because you...

Read More

“22½ euros for a Martini,” Peter remarked, when he first scanned the menu.
“It’s not like we aren’t going to get them,” I said, “we’re not going to cheap our way to abstinence." The waiter came...

Read More

• By daniel miltz •


You're not born with cool, you've got to find it. A leather jacket that fits like a glove knows it. Cool is an act. Cool is by learning to stand out...

Read More

Private Residence

Sign at the gate – no solicitors –
Beyond the rosewood door sanctuary in seclusion
Untouched by hands racing round
A face framed by chimes and alarms –
Measures of mincing minutes
Exiled with suitcases packed
To astral planes of...

Read More

Night Labor
by Michael R. Burch

for Rachel Corrie

Tonight we keep the flame alive;
we keep the candle lit.
We burn bright incense in your name
and swear we’ll not forget—
your innocence, your courage,
your commitment—till bleak night
surrenders to irrevocable dawn
and...

Read More

12:30 a.m.: Wednesday 

I spoke in silent awe as I watched the sun breathe its final breath,
creating a beautiful silhouette which sat parallel to me.
She laid her gentle voice upon my ears,
as she sat comfortably...

Read More

VINEYARDS of HAPPINESS          ---------------------      GARDEN of SORROW

There is no greater Happiness,-----------when-----------Pulling away  sorrow
then being in my  lover's arms,-------letting go...

Read More

Oh my goodness!

I was just thinking about Erik Erikson,
psychoanalyst and essayist,
and his social analysis thing
about the U.S.
stuck in perpetual competitive
in-grown
culture-ungrown adolescence.

And Erikson suddenly reminded me of one of my dreams last night.

When The Donald
and a...

Read More

Exercising belief about unknowns.
Makes sense to take your best guess.
Using history, numbers, extrapolation.
Getting the trajectory right for re-entry.
Few dissenters left for climate change, evolution.
Nuclear power brings a process to earth
that occurs only in space. Dangerous
but...

Read More

It’s a holiday weekend, all of the ‘fellows’ have Monday off.
At lunch Wednesday, Lisa said, “We need a throw-down.” 
So, we made some invites and started spreading word around. 
“You know, we all work hard...

Read More

As the beams in departure
darkness, they crawl slowly
taking charge and ready to rule
that surrounded shell above all
slouching in their aging gray
fresh again after sloughing its light
as plants in shift of their breath
and creatures, they creep...

Read More

-                                  ...

Read More

I've been down this road before
     I've seen all the same sights;
it's a cycle I can never escape.
Or learn from for that matter
for I am here
     Yet...

Read More

Stand up straight,
Don't slouch,
Stomach in chest out,
Don't drag your feet.

All phrases to make the child in you cringe,
And widen the generation gap,
With the child's 'but Dad' or 'oh Mum' response,
As head is bowed,
Eyes turned towards...

Read More

Butterfly wing door vestibule builds anticipation  
Shuffled, carpet muffled greetings, familiar embraces                     
Piloted by...

Read More

Burning and burning in the widening grave. 
My hero ends cannot hear the hero;
Foes fall and get pulled apart, this card is centered in my fold. 

Named anarchist, as released upon the world. 
This was...

Read More

The images and the words
   come so fast, and
   with such urgency,
      that everything
assumes the same importance;
    "With ATand T there is...
Look whacha...

Read More

Something new and exciting
At our all boys school
Today we're going diving 
At an open air swimming pool .

All the boys are bragging 
As we get on board the bus
Not an ounce of testosterone was flagging
In...

Read More

Throgh the clamor of distressful days
I live in soulful memory of my ‘girl’
In vain, I keep my door ajar
For her light footsteps, once more to fall

On my lonely bed, I often turn around
For her closeness...

Read More