Long Spiked Poems

Epigrams by Michael R. Burch

If brevity is the soul of wit
then brevity and levity 
are the whole of it.
—Michael R. Burch

To write an epigram, cram.
If you lack wit, scram!
—Michael R. Burch

Conformists of a feather
flock together.
—Michael...

Read More

Twenty two years had passed  by

She blinked, and a lifetime had passed

She started this job as a lark

She never thought it would last

Two husbands and rehab were part of this bar

The husbands...her clients all...

Read More

The Roman administrators came for the wealth of our worship
demanding that I crack the church's coffers wide open
for their needs, for the Empire's desperate embellishments,
in place of gold I presented the poor
I told the onery...

Read More

Thou, O king, hast made a decree, 
that every man that shall hear the
sound of the cornet, flute, harp,
sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, 
and all kinds of musick, shall fall
down and worship the golden image:
And whoso...

Read More

Pay heed to those deeds from whence the heart must confess...
You're far from Rome Proconsul Caesar...
As they say, "All roads lead to Rome" Ariovistus
and all tresspasses are treated as threats of war...
My recent conquest of...

Read More

PSYCHOTIC JOURNEY
by
JOHN M. ARRIBAS


Feeling really beat,  I went to bed early last night
Suddenly awakened feeling something’s not right
There was total darkness, I was not in my room
Lying on a cold flooring, with a feeling...

Read More

(after Edgar Allan Poe's "The Angel of the Odd")

It was a tidy day and I sat, replete, under vellux blankets.
Sadly, my tea was weak, the bottle of cinnamon whiskey
tantalizingly low, and my feet swelling above...

Read More

Unquotable Quotes VIIIL : SEXUAL HARASSMENT* - the feminist kind

(*”aggressive pressure or intimidation”: Is it really “any different” in most cases in the act, judging by Hollywood standards?)

STOP: ARREST ALL GIRLS
 - standing with legs...

Read More

Reversals of Fortune
I. Most think luck’s just what happens, though love groks luck’s seized
by each seed that sticks (somehow) in less stone-filled ground
(which its siblings blow off or press past). That’s less luck
to my brain...

Read More

In the deep spiked pine forests

On a walk you forgot you took

Snow up your knees

Twenty feet away

An enormous old house

Not abandoned, smoke from the chimney

Large windows, dark wood walls

A forest castle here for you 

To explore...

Read More

Suicide isn't an option but I can't say it has never been,
I'll admit, I tried it once, way back when.
I was only a teenager,
And things had just piled too high.
At first, I just did designs,...

Read More

Dear, ice cold hands:
You came from a place of hurt and evil. You were used to people walking in and out of your life. You perfected how to push people out of your life, just...

Read More

Sex Hex
by Michael R. Burch

Love’s full of cute paradoxes
(and highly acute poxes).



Love
by Michael R. Burch

Love is either wholly folly,
or fully holy.



Nun Fun Undone
by Michael R. Burch

Abbesses'
recesses
are not for excesses!



Here and Hereafter
by Michael R. Burch

Life’s saving...

Read More

A Woman’s Worth
When she walks in the room
she wants people to stop and stare
not because they’re whispering…
what she got on girl, what’s up with that hair?
But because she looks good, conservative and chic
looking her best...

Read More

Baltimore 4-28

Lets start,
By being real, 

I mean really, real! 

With harsh truths that need to be freed from our fragile lie, 

It is easy to say, or see "thugs", "punks" in the streets of BWI!...

Read More

Art History

I stand erect with outstretched hand Representing liberty, for many, a foreign land My fire dances an incessant jubilant glow
I represent hope for the oppressed to sow

 Pungent salts mixed with glassy sands
 ...

Read More

A Daniel, Come to Judgment!

Before I give my judgment in this case,
my custom is to have the plaintiff read
aloud, before the other party, face to face

the statute law that’s pertinent.  The screed,
Miss Gentileschi, starts...

Read More

Let me tell you a story ...

Johnny Blaze, a stunt motorcyclist, who, to save the life of his sick father, 
a stunt rider also, gives his soul to the devil. But, the devil lies because...

Read More

Military maneuvers,
conducted by starship troopers,
make a Lot of king Chedorlaomer noise

Earhole space
penetrated by the Pentagon puffing pace ... 
stealth sound of smoke signals
Warning drumbeat signs 
of an incoming, deadly drone invasion

Attack helicopters hover
over tempting topography...

Read More

I Held Mary’s Hand 

I held Mary’s hand as John covered his face,
So still,
At Peace,
Faded are the slapping sounds of the whip against his flesh,
Gone now are the shrieks as his crown was pegged into...

Read More

 
The sun upon my face blinds me as my boat rocks gently
through the rolling swells that lap against the hull.
The sound of the droning engine mesmerizes my mind
bringing a dreaminess to this bright cool...

Read More

'Twas our Christmas Eve dinner; we all had sat down
at the table to eat. Grandma couldn’t be found!
We children were fussing; Dad rose to his feet.
shouting, “Where are you, Ma? We’re ready to eat!”

When from...

Read More

Marvellous things did He in the sight
of their fathers, in the land of Egypt,
in the field of Zoan ...
How He had wrought His signs in
Egypt, and His wonders 
in the field of Zoan ...
For, lo,...

Read More

Politech chef in the kitchen
cooking up another Microsoft microdot
meth batch of morphology
Walter White’s in the house
brewing more truth breaking bad
tweet juice chemical toxicity
And the viral caged bird brains
are getting subliminally stamped
with the neon glowing letters...

Read More

Alas
how they suffer
poverty seeds disease 
like a puddle breeds mosquitoes - 
the sickly buzz is everywhere..

the dirge of the drudge 
nowadays damn near everyone in refrain
rites and rituals --
enough to almost make this heartless
hooded old...

Read More