Long Strum Poems

Somehow, 
Forward, and headlong
I knew it was day again

There was a shift in the dark mutterings of the Devil,
Who now refused to sleep as I refused to sing,
Almost an anticipation in his voice,
As if he...

Read More

I heard two distinct voices in the night,
Conversing amongst themselves most eagerly
They whispered like children in excitement
Their sardonic mouths sung many savvy tunes
It was Death I could perceive, defending me,
And he, a strange, distant friend
Seemed...

Read More

The Dance of Salome
Herod bellowed out the night's festive orders..
"Bring the torches, bring the tables..
more wine, that we may rejoice,  
for tonight we revel in kindred friendship."
Herod strolled onto the terrace, nearly stumbled in...

Read More

I’m on my way, I’ve got to go
(the reasons why you’ll never know),
whisked away in winter’s winds, your sleeping sighs remind me.
And I’ll ramble where I please,
sometimes slipping to my knees,
phantom memories a’ chasing close...

Read More

The air was filled with expectancy, my mood mellow and sultry,  The sun had just sunk Into a golden horizon, and a shy full moon, was rising into the twilight.  I skipped on...

Read More

America at a critical political crossroads...,

nevertheless hope springs eternal,
especially after listening
to Vice President Kamala Harris
and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz
speak at the The Liacouras Center
1776 North Broad Street,
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19121
on the evening of August sixth,
two thousand...

Read More

I’m willing to care for myself and believe in a higher power, which is God of course I must admit!
An inner peace that shares with me unconditional love - my broken-hearted spirit adores it
Restoring sanity...

Read More

My love for you
is beyond prophecy or endowment
and lay before you a love letter from the heart
beneath the moonlight's glow
where our eyes find a silent understanding
that embraces each passionate emotion
swirling and entwined in the depth...

Read More

There once was a piano that wanted to be
Anything other than of white, black keys
She loved her parents and her fabulous family
But she lacked love for self and her maroon melody

She asked the trumpet so...

Read More

"I follow the Moskva
and down to Gorky Park-
listening to the winds of change" - Scorpions

All the heads of state and their spouses (or significant others) have arrived and been seated for this, my last show...

Read More

The Guardian
		Melodic lullabies echo	
		As heart strings strum secret chords
		As transcendental images appear
		Stargazers are lost for words
		Kaleidoscopic Illuminations
		Paint the sky in optimistic light
		Hope descends in serene silence
		Floating through shadows of the night
		Dancing spirits move to dulcet...

Read More

Interview With Rock Star - Johnny Bravo

So Johnny, what happened? Why did you quit your musical career before it even got started?

It was that guy with the crazy curls, Greg Brady, who quit Johnny Bravo....

Read More

Tell me
Have you ever felt you could runway
Far away to a secret place
Where time stands still
The hot sun mostly shows its beaming face.

Well come!
Take my hand
And I'll take you to that place
A world away in...

Read More

I am trying to compose a rhythm that everyone can sing, I am trying to compose a rhythm that everyone can join in. You did not go to school and you don’t know the golden...

Read More

I hear an echo, echo, echo in my heart’s cage
I feel a halo, halo, halo in my mind’s blank page
Hear my silent radiance and my dandelion breeze
Feel the drums at the dead of night at...

Read More

“I Am as I Am complete
Though ego opines otherwise
Invoking grace we feel God’s heartbeat 
What else does there remain for us to realise” Unseeking Seeker

When the sun and soul  
speak in seraphic silence,  
I...

Read More

As life is in chaos and the times are stressed here are four Sonnets of the Sea to allow your mind and soul to escape...May peace and blessings come to all in these the times...

Read More

I don't like to say goodbye,

And I don't mind an honest white lie.

If you could hold me,

If you could love me,

If you could lie to me,

And tell me one last promise we both know you...

Read More

Pop (corn) Music


Introduction

It’s time to dance, time to tango
There’s a Canadian on the banjo
When he sees the guitar strings
Jack’s mirth grows soaring wings;
As he scans the rhapsody drums
While busy the Banjo he strums!


He strums with...

Read More

These are modern English translations of poems by the German poets  Ingeborg Bachmann, H. Distler and Johann Georg Jacobi.



“Song”
by Johann Georg Jacobi
translation by Michael R. Burch

Friend, tell me where the violet fled,
so lately gaily...

Read More

My love for you
is beyond prophecy or endowment
and lay before you a love letter from the heart
beneath the moonlight's glow
where our eyes find a silent understanding
that embraces each passionate emotion
swirling and entwined in the depth...

Read More

These are English translations by of Latin poems written by the ancient Roman female poet Sulpicia.



V. Reproach for Indifference
by Sulpicia
translation by Michael R. Burch

Have you no kind thoughts for your girl, Cerinthus,
now that fever wilts...

Read More

Sappho Translations XII by Michael R. Burch

In the following short translations the fragment numbers are mostly Lobel-Page. All translations are by Michael R. Burch and should be so credited if they are used in any...

Read More

FAMILY PORTRAIT

My teacher once told us to draw a family portrait,
i was 8 and drawing was never my stronghold,
but it was my teacher i had to do as i was told.
this drawing was not going...

Read More

For mature readers…

I wonder if you think of me every single moment of every single day
Oh my, if only I wouldn’t doubt and wish you’d wash away my dismay
I desire your lovingkindness amongst my own...

Read More