Long Stumps Poems

When I was a child
Everything was magical
Full of mystery and the unknown
I read hundreds of books
The library my haven
My home
Hours upon hours
Night and day
I read and got lost in text
They supplied me with adventures
Secret journeys
Fun...

Read More

This is the story of mad Molly Shaw
She might be mad now but she wasn’t before
she came home to find her man dead on the floor
She lay down her bible and let out a roar...

Read More

Various Heresies 3

Breakings
by Michael R. Burch

I did it out of pity.
I did it out of love.
I did it not to break the heart of a tender, wounded dove.

But gods without compassion
ordained: Frail things must break!
Now...

Read More

I.	  The Settlement

          Hickory bark bluffs
          at the blend of two 
    ...

Read More

PRELUDE.
When the sky and world are dark no sounds are heard in the woods. Perhaps the scrabbling of night creatures on the hunt fo food. But no sound of woodpeckers ra ta tatting, bird song...

Read More

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...

Read More

Invisibly tortured courtesy existential nihilism

Psyche wracked with agony
impossible mission to extricate lovely bones
they wanna remain permanently abed.

I chiefly function to amass knowledge
courtesy assiduously, habitually,
and judiciously reading
an eclectic assortment of written material.

Yours truly woke
with ambition, disposition,
inclination,...

Read More

FIRST MOVEMENT (Minor Key)

Times such as these test body soul and mind
So should our thoughts be pain and dark confined
Or loosed to concentrate on brighter things
Like furry puppies, flowers and girls on swings

In this bright...

Read More

Life is not cricket: though a game of cricket reflects life 
It portrays real-life conditions; from cradle to urn 
Starting with toss of a coin; ends in pulling bails off
Just as cricket life is simply...

Read More

PTSD

Like rabbit in the headlight caught
I want to move, i know I ought
But quicksand stuck, I’m petrified 
My body still, arms laid by side
Stretched out on mattress, naked, soaked
From sweat in which my body’s cloaked
My eyes...

Read More

There was once a widow who had nothing but her beloved twin babies, Rosemary, and Ethan. The Widow loved her twins more than the Earth loved the Sun, and vowed to give them anything they...

Read More

There were no gold medals to pin
and no starters gun to begin
but for sure we were out to win
               the Baptism...

Read More

When we were kids, kids we were without no pain or fears,
we’d do the ‘devilish’ of things to impress our peers.
The biggest dare or bravest feat would for the pack be tried.
Lord knows now when...

Read More

(To the Spartan Queen) 

Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra via
Mi inoltrai in una selva oscura
  
‘They drive horses down this hill’ 
She said, 
‘They take them to drink down there, that pool, there’ 
She...

Read More

Vapors of emerald and jade ribbon the hauntingly beautiful sky,
and I sat in wonder, transfixed, mesmerized
For me, it moved, more like danced
to a melody that only the heavens could hear
For it moved me, danced into...

Read More

The walls were made from old slats of wood,
That permitted the sun to prod through the gaps, where it stood.
Rows of wooden seats made in the same fashion,
Created by an artisan that seemed to lack...

Read More

Here is a lesson, a tortuous tale for your next-of-kin,
About a political hack we'll call the Bigly Pumpkin.
It's a bit like star wars, he is more an older Anakin,
Who fooled the Nation even though he's...

Read More

A Time of Terror – The Rwandese Genocide

A screeching sound woke me from my sleep, I looked around in fear and trepidation 
Sensing a lurking gaze in the shadows, beyond the room I slept in
Sweat...

Read More

Still, on a bench, watching eyes inquired
To the heights of Brakeman’s Hill
That on its rounded peak 
Poised a bright copper house
And held the company 
Of a strong oak tree
It bore a twisted truck 
And roots...

Read More

Not like a figwort but not an aster, either. Could he be a buttercup
with sepals, no petals, but sepals like petals? Alan is a bluebeech,
an ash if his books sell. Quick shake hands. Zach's bald...

Read More

The ability to stay calm is a hard task to manage.
The wooden bench I am sitting on creaks with every 
move I make. Each creak stabs my ears.
The open wilderness surrounding me has a sinister...

Read More

China, the rising giant;
China, the ruthless tyrant.
China, proud host of the Olympic Games,
China, notorious records of shame.
China, Olympic torch burning bright;
China, missing flame of human rights.
China, model of reform and openness;
China, cruel crackdowns with patent...

Read More

I’m mourning over my old mate Bill; the old codger’s no longer alive.
Yes, the old ‘bugger’s given up smoking and stumps are at eighty-five.
No more gambling and joking or swearing; he finished his long drinking...

Read More

Staking Claims: For Yucatec Maya & Native Peoples

The stones of the desert cry with me
They are brothers and sisters, but no bloody kin
New hearts see just cold rocks … no warmth or charity …
Might you...

Read More

Part Two

Do you remember your run-up to the crease
      your Lindwall-delivery dragging the clasping flannel round hobbled boots
your anger
           ...

Read More