Long Snuff out Poems

Heat Lightening
by Michael R. Burch

Each night beneath the elms, we never knew
which lights beyond dark hills might stall, advance,
then lurch into strange headbeams tilted up
like searchlights seeking contact in the distance . . .

Quiescent unions...

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POEMS ABOUT EROS AND CUPID

These are translations of ancient Greek poems about Eros. Eros was the Greek counterpart of the Roman god Cupid. While today we tend to think of Cupid as an angelic cherub...

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Preparations for 'Luau' (LOU-ow) or a Hawaiian Party-like event, for a church Luau, would be a 'Ho'ike' (hoe-'E-kay). The hunters will tie the hind legs of whatever animal will go into an 'i'mu' (E'-moo), which...

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The Sheriff, not a pleasant sort 
Was learning of a bad report
About a soul, Who stood defiant
And swore an oath, to topple tyrants

Who once was noble, but now has strayed 
Hell bend upon his rebels...

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One generic baby boomer, (a garden variety sexagenarian)...
offers his interpretation of critical race theory

I, (an articulate, charming, domesticated, 
erudite, friendly, genteel, humorous, intelligent,
kind, learned, male, albeit modest – married) 
with freshly clipped formerly gnarly toenails
discounts...

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UP IN SMOKE...

Tobacco companies you should be ashamed of your yourselves
pushing your nasty CANCER sticks
what a bunch of money hungry low lives and self centered PRICKS
GET out of my life forever hit the bricks!
I SEE...

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the Universe, a self-defining everything
  but then, what of the Cosmos wherein we all dwell?
  that big bang blast, forever on a far-flung fling
  from beyond and within which, lurks heaven and...

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The Eager Traveler
by Ahmad Faraz
translation by Michael R. Burch

Even in the torture chamber, I was the lucky one;
When each lottery was over, unaccountably I had won.

And even the mightiest rivers found accessible refuge in me;
Though...

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Preposterous Eros
by Michael R. Burch

“Preposterous Eros” – Patricia Falanga

Preposterous Eros shot me in
the buttocks, with a Devilish grin,
spent all my money in a rush
then left my heart effete pink mush.


These are poems about Eros, the...

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No matter what, I can't do it.
Bother someone else with my issues.
After all I created all my problems, right?
Of course I did, I needed no help in making them.
And I need no help fixing them.
No...

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Again, the great slow rolling rumble
The gray shield of the sky shakes above.

     It comes as does some giant, or prowling beast of such kind
     Black, swollen...

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When the wood to the fire that fuels us runs out and our flame flickers within, we can fully rely on God’s illuminating lantern that can be seen through all forms of darkness, confusion, and...

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Greeted by the multi-lit display
draped over the hedges
and the railing of our front porch,
the brilliant lit Christmas tree
winks at us, welcoming us home
from the Christmas Eve Mass.

You settle comfortably in your chair
as I walk into...

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He goes by the name of Lacrimosa
He is the plain picture of a man
Those who don’t know him see him as a monster
But you and I know better that he is a broken friend
His smile...

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Oh love – 
What dire straits you have landed in…
What great peril, what curse lies, 
Heaped upon your innocent lamb’s skull 
You were born under an unlucky star, 
Poor unsuspecting slaughter-house soul,
And here am I...

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When will I ever be good enough?
That one
stupid question
that plagues my dreams
day
after day
after day
and all I want in this world
is for someone to say
that I’ll be okay.
Even though I know
the whole world is falling apart
and...

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...Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am
against thee, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the
great dragon that lieth in the midst of his
rivers, which hath said, My river is mine
own, and I have made it for...

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See those two loners standing at the end of the bar?
One with a scowl and a face full of scars?
And the other much like him with a build just as slight?
Not the one on the...

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Worry wonders and doubts
It speculates on the hopes and habits
It ponders all the thoughts and misgivings
It deliberates on the joy and kindness
It even questions the peace and serenity

Worry seeks a heart to attack
A calm to...

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This is the earth
A beautiful garden of nature
Human is a born free part of it

In the time of human (part of nature) birth
There is no religion, creed, constitution, frontier, culture...
But the greedy predecessor names teaches...

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the solemn grey skies
of the first afternoon snows
up here in the mountains
by the lake

no buses roar
no blasting boom-box
no crack vials on my lawn

but no magic purple room
alive with music
no friends with whom to make it
no...

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To the downtrodden, the marginalized, and worn,
Is this the fate that's yours to mourn?
The bourgeoisie, a cabal of power and might,
Gather to crush the poor, and snuff out their light.

The poor, in turn, unwittingly join...

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Bristling, brazen bodily harm
Beat the diggings, darn his composure
Stalwart, states so smug, self satisfied
His wounded victim flees
Those with soul and feelings flee
His epitaphs burn deep
Like searing acid in the open wound
Scream to high heaven
Yet mugged,...

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It can take me when the end comes,
be it by sickness, age, or gun,

Snuff out a light started at birth,
stuff me down in cold, dark Earth,

Make my loved ones wail and cry,
when it comes my...

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CODE RED LIPSTICK 

Nobel Flower Petal: Tear ducts  permanently swollen from too much stolen Joy.                   ...

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