Long Stag Poems

"The Payload" 

The payload 
came crashing down
like rain expelled
from the fat belly 
of a ruinous pregnant cloud 
bilious with buxom promise

it came crashing down 
like school fish released 
from the tight confines
of a course rope...

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It's Halloween!
Michael R. Burch

If evening falls
on graveyard walls
far softer than a sigh;

if shadows fly
moon-sickled skies,
while children toss their heads

uneasy in their beds,
beware the witch's eye!

If goblins loom
within the gloom
till playful pups grow terse;

if birds give...

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It's Halloween!
Michael R. Burch

If evening falls
on graveyard walls
far softer than a sigh;

if shadows fly
moon-sickled skies,
while children toss their heads

uneasy in their beds,
beware the witch's eye!

If goblins loom
within the gloom
till playful pups grow terse;

if birds give...

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At Tintagel
by Michael R. Burch

That night, 
at Tintagel, 
there was darkness such as man had never seen...
darkness and treachery, 
and the unholy thundering of the sea...

In his arms, 
who is to say how much she...

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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...

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The Song of Amergin: Modern English Translations

The Song of Amergin
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

I am the sea breeze
I am the ocean wave
I am the surf's thunder
I am the stag of the seven tines
I am...

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The Pictish Faeries
by Michael R. Burch

Smaller and darker
than their closest kin,
the faeries learned only too well
never to dwell
close to the villages of larger men. 

Only to dance in the starlight
when the moon was full
and men...

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All the guys and gals that I had graduated with, from Jimmy Dorsey High School, back in 1935,
Half a century later were dispersing all around us, surprising me with whom among my class was still...

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Now that Crimson Fire was gone
Fire Eagle needed to gain experience.
For over ten years he travelled the lands
helping people, learning from many other druids.
One day he knew he would be called up on to
take the...

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                      I
 Remember when days were long
   and all de children do...

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"Bits and Pieces III"      Posted 1 Aug 2021
Pun Ishment
	bread is like the sun      it rises in the yeast and it sets in the waist

English Class
	epitome...

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Taming a tropical topical tree? Taking a trunk? Telling a tailor? Traversing a tale? Many ideas. Much like the ideological dramas of a beach front. Wavelength of winds. Movements if the tides. Coconuts can jump...

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Red Sunsets On The Blue Hills

What of soft red sunsets on the blue hills
Or true love found in sweet dreams of the light
Just as night frights give deeper cold chills
Crimson sunsetting views show heaven's might.

Such...

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Aha - argh... oh my dog...
don't mind me muttering, eh?

Earlier today (May 5th, 2020),
I forget thee exact hour
found me utterly beside mice elf,
matter of fact even at this moment,
yours truly doth feel mad at himself
cuz...

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The Rottweiler

I wouldn’t provoke a Rottweiler
Not unless I were prepped like a miler
Seems a little inbreeding
Done without heeding
Has turned Benji into a Sieg Heiler

The Saint Bernard

Though not in his nature to beg
He would flip for...

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He thought they could build
a healthier multinational corporation.

She felt we could grow
a wealthier multicultural
sacred cooperative network.

He led a hierarchical Council
for World Class Communities.

She bled and blended sacred incorporated cooperatives:
Green STEAM neighborhood cafes,
Green STAG (science, technology,...

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Where are you going when the sun is shining? Where are you going when the tempest is raging? The shadows are burnt out of the sky; and the clouds are rolling by with a strange...

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Note: the "dd" in Welsh names is pronounced "th."

Merlyn's Birth
by Michael R. Burch

I was born in Gwynedd,
or not born, as some men claim,
and the Zephyr of Caer Myrrdin
gave me my name.

My father was Madog Morfeyn
but...

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It was on the night of midsummer's eve, there was a pregnant pause. Not even a leaf was moving,
the sky so starry bright and the moon benevolently shining lighting up the moors.
It was the kind...

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Saga     (1)
Seeing the lives of saga saints
I wanted to pass life reclusively
Nothing hoarding for further life
Holding only covering body
Two metres of clothe dwindled 
From shoulders to leg
One water holder for quenching...

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Sometimes we can go all our lives seeing something without really having any insight into what we are seeing. For instance, hands in prayer position.  Because they are praying we assume people will put...

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Oh in the mirror world, she dances on a stag all her own,
A reflected ballerina, stepping ever lightly in the shaded
Silhouettes of yesterday, twin figures of elegance, neither
Realizing that they are one in the same,...

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O balked from the tree of his righteousness
Dried out, crushed to bitter pulp, I am bleached
Of his nature, his image sin digest
Till I am a chemical drip, a leached
Embodiment of human reason, just
Paper without special...

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This is a true story of seven students
Agone days of those ill-famed fiddles
Musing with drolleries – assiduity on catchy missies
And lamed against educators animalism.
Books usually kept aside but concentration hard on last night
Weekends glossed upon...

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"England and America are two countries separated by a common language." 
                          ...

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