Long Storefronts Poems

Lake county music company filled with 
slots carney folk real carny folk the little 
pete's illegal gambling road show throughout 
the  Midwest gaming like your idol Frank Peter 
Balistreiri the mad bomber stops Metropolis...

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THIS WAS BASICALLY ORCHESTRATED BY CIRO GARGANO IDEA MAKING DONALD PELLEGREN BELIEVE HE AND I WERE PARENTS AFTER A BREIF ENCOUNTER WITH HITMAN PELLEGREN HE BECAME OBSESSED WITH FATHERING A CHILD WITH ME HE RANTED...

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No One
by Michael R. Burch

No One hears the bells tonight;
they tell him something isn’t right.
But No One is not one to rush;
he lies in grasses greenly lush
as far away a startled thrush
flees from horned owls...

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Figurines


Lace up your shoes
Wear your black hoodie 
And your Timberland’s, too
You’ll never know what ‘ll happen to you 
Or where you’ll end up
On your way home 

Your ancestors have walked this land
In shackles and in...

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Bundled in a horse-drawn sleigh  
warm and snug on Thanksgiving Day
the children restless, we went on our way
as the shedding forest began to sway
and the gusts of wind set astray
the vestiges of autumn's display
that...

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The earth was void and without form…
And the voice of the Lord was upon the waters…

	In the roll of a tsunami wave across the Pacific
	Born of a collapsing mountain deep in the sea
	And in the...

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*Image of Mauna Kea Hilo Bay by Big Island Now.

*Hilo Town, Now and Then

Signs of
     Store Closed
          or Out of Business
 ...

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I peer back through the mists of time to muse and ponder,
Christmases when a lad, giving my mind free rein to wander.
'Twas a simpler time when life moved at a slower pace.
Wonderful memories flood my...

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A Bigger Slice of Sky

The sky was only visible
in long narrow slices
while we played on 
one-way
Brooklyn streets 
Thick with kids

apartment houses 
one next to the other
lined the sidewalks
like great canyon walls
rising six or eight stories
while...

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The end, or beginning
of the strip mall starts
at the Subway Subs
a set aside frontage overlooked
by bushes and idling traffic.

Further along, the ephemeral
Pop-up Party Shop; 
when not ‘up’
that commercial space 
sells T-shirts 
a print for printing...

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The water from these sinks is cloudy.
Everyone is, 
Creeping around. 
Faucets leaking. 
I could have fixed everything. 
Horrible places like this one.

Horrible places. 
When I wake up. 
There are more. 
Every speck of light out...

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dubbed trash by the many &
revered by the few,
sitting on the street curbs &
nesting on the steps
so if ya don’t like what you see
you better 
rub em’ till’ they bleed &
waiting on the piggies 
strolling...

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All abroad! Amazing airplane aims above Asia ascending at an ample airline.
Bestowing big buildings, busy businesses, beautiful beaches...
Camera captures candid cascading countryside.
Dozen dandelions display delightful destinations.
Everyone easily escapes enjoyment.
Families follow festivals featuring favorite foods.
Guests grow...

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Nail walking down the street
Carrying a bagful to fix something
For the master who owns my dreaming
Storefronts lolling sidewalks asleep
Night quiet jazz, Erie, PA
The endless road breaking cartons
Locked doors being kidnapped jumping
fences getting spotted running away
Dreaming...

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SEPTEMBER   SUNSET    OVER     ST.  PETERSBURG


Final fling  of color and movement from the sun
Celebration of  life  before it’s   done.
Bits and pieces...

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A white wash of striated clouds
stretch expansively 
across the arid desert sky
where Joshua trees commune
lifting up crooked cactus-like arms
towards the searing sun. 

Massive layers of brown boulders 
jut, forming endless sculptures 
hidden places where the...

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Color, beautiful colors so fair.
Decorates life with beauty, gemstones.
Days without splendor could bring despair.

The human retina, its rods and cones,
Designed to paint man’s world with grand hues.
View majestic colors on earth’s throne.

Hues that paint nightlights...

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In heat
the pulse of your streets.

I've heard the crack
of hard political whips
that pinch the air.

Cores of human topography,
your aging neighborhoods.

Your people kick cans
counting gravel like jewels,

while chiselers roast dogs
in the courthouse.

Swine flu kills
the papers.

And already...

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I walked for a while on the other side of the road
The whiteness of the late morning clouds
The moving rounded shapes of familiarity
Walking in the same uphill direction
With eyes in the sky
I do not remember...

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Husbands with ladders hang lights on their home,
As all who have no one feel sad and alone.
The churches are full of the faithful that sing,
For the birth of our Lord, is a spiritual thing.

The sound...

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Pastoral country
Where folks wave to passers by--
Farmers plowing

Exit 386
Wal-Mart, fast foods, and hotels-- 
Tourists stop

Modern businesses
Of every type one might need--
The short road to town

Refurbished storefronts
With arts antiques and barbers--
Downtown businesses

Houses big and small
Fill the...

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CENTRAL DARK

I used to walk those very same streets
Streets of sensuousness and sin
Those streets which once felt my feet
Those streets where my shoes once had been

The storefronts are new but the cement is the same
I...

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CENTRAL DARK

I used to walk those very same streets
Streets of sensuousness and sin
Those streets which once felt my feet
Those streets where my shoes once had been

The storefronts are new but the cement is the same
I...

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I gaze from my window as I rest on the sill,
With my head on my hands as the world lays still.
The houses and storefronts, 
and mountains of men
evaporate slowly from my eyes once again.
Valleys with...

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weathered fences broken slacks 
covered the shores of tan grit 
that stained the walk way

of uncharted territories  
i frolliced about tainted steel 
the hidden smell of poshed hair tonic 
as i reached for the...

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