Long Tennessee Poems

“SUMMER”



Where 
has Summer 
gone?

The world 
has lost 
Summer

Sweet 
little 
dream

missing 

all those other 
beautiful  
small dreams 

seen as toys
small and 
inconsequential 

casually tossed aside, 
disposable play,
things

pure shining lights
smiling eyes once so bright, 
switched off,

'neath...

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Limericks VII - Naughty, Bawdy, Risque, Absurd

There continue to be modern sequels of the famous "Nantucket" limericks, including this bawdy one of mine:

There was a lewd whore from Nantucket
who intended to pee in a bucket;
but...

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Limericks I - Relatives and Relativity

The Cosmological Constant
by Michael R. Burch

Einstein, the frizzy-haired,
said E equals MC squared.
Thus all mass decreases
as activity ceases?
Not my mass, my a$$ declared!


A$$-tronomical
by Michael R. Burch

Relativity, the theorists’ creed,
says mass increases...

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Alone I arrive, walking from Frederick
over the gaps, across gentle hills
out onto a knoll
overlooking this burnished landscape.
Before me I see countless writhing rows
of indiscernible shapes gathered
in terrible rituals mid fire and smoke
darkening the sun.
From distant...

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Limericks VI - Religion

Pell-Mell for Hell Mel
by Michael R. Burch

There once was a Baptist named Mel
who condemned all non-Christians to hell.
When he stood before God
he felt like a clod
to discover His Love couldn’t fail!



Why I...

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Doggerel II: Doggerel about Doggerel, or, More Nonsense Verse

The Board
by Michael R. Burch

Accessible rhyme is never good.
The penalty is understood:
soft titters from dark board rooms where
the businessmen paste on their hair
and, Walter Mitties, woo the...

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CRISIS TEAM : HELLO WE ARE HERE TO HELP 

AGENT BROWN: I AWAKEN EVERY NIGHT IN TOTAL FEAR FOR MY SAFETY AFTER WEARING WIRES PREGNANT BUYING WEAPONS AND DRUGS FEARING FOR MINE AND MY CHILDREN...

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NOTE:  This is the 2nd THIRD of a funny 3-part piece. No other way to post it due to file size limitations. It's a really fun poem, and I hope you'll take the time...

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The guy slipped in around 8 p. m....the place was fairly packed...and wearing what they call a ‘hoodie’, quickly took a seat
Just inside the window, and I guessed - by how he looked - having...

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NOTE: This is the final THIRD of a funny 3-part poem. You'll find the 1st and 2nd parts on my homepage, of course. I hope you'll take the time to read the whole thing, it's...

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The Great Lakes acronym spells homes

I chose titled topic by a fanciful whim,
nevertheless still consider my knowledge 
of aforementioned material slim.

Housing multivarious biomes
register ecological syndromes
whereby constituents of NOAA 
Great Lakes Environmental 
Research Laboratory writ tomes.

Pellucid...

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In these United States of America, there is a little town not very far off the beaten path. Neither gold nor silver has ever been mined in or near this town of fertile delta soil....

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I started out life as Anna Mae Bullock,                           ...

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"Fraudulent"



A writer writes of people 
walking lonely dark streets
begging for bread, shelter and cold without all

like he’s been there
trudging up and downhill knocking on doors 
that judgmentally remain closed after glimpsed twigging -

a monumental fail,...

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Ya' gotta feel sorry for this ding-bat - 


The clouds were drifting eastward through a cool late-evening sky, as I was barreling down a road in eastern Tennessee. 
Whipping through the traffic in a new...

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My father died prematurely while away on 
a business trip from a rogue blood clot to the heart  
I never doubted he loved me, would have liked me, 
(not the same thing), adult to...

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My roommates Leong, Sophie, (Charles) and I were coming from a Yale sporting event. The sky looked like a dirty Swiffer-mop and the wind seemed to be ignoring the posted 20mph speed limit. It was...

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"The Unicorn and The Sticky Asphalt Jungle"



Bedtime stories
now walk through fog
The Unicorn skips 
on lines of sticky Asphalt

The father writes his play
The mother seen as absent
becomes deus ex machina
she will be the only one 

to...

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It was a glorious summer day and I woke up with the lark
Got my wheelchair ready and then headed to the park
I noticed a girl out jogging, with her dog down by the lake
And felt...

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“Just when he thought he’d had all he could take,
April arrived like a careless mistake.” 

From DRIVING DIXIE DOWN by Anonymous Brown
Smithstonian Folkways Recordings catalogue # 317-704-1106

When something is broken, it’s no longer of any...

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Preface: 
On February 4, 1861,
the seven states that had seceded
by this point convened and created
the Confederate States of America
under the leadership of Jefferson Davis.

Just under two months later,
on April 12, 1861, Confederate forces
opened fire on...

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Who wrote the book of love
Why do fools fall in love
You Can't Hurry Love
You can if you're making it
Does Blondie's Sunday 
I Don't Know What Love Is
Ask someone who knows
Love Me Like A Hurrcane
And bow...

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We crept down a meandering country road, gravel crackling underneath our tires. The countryside stretched before us like a great quilt of golden, brown, and green squares held together by the thick green stitching of...

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It was about seven in the morn as the sun was starting to rise
Unbeknown to the folks of Milton Creek they were in for a surprise
Outside the saloon wagons were unloading, before noondays heat
Rumour had...

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Elvis Aaron Presley, Elvis, came from poor beginnings
born in Tupelo, Mississippi to Vernon and Gladys
this boy loved the gospel music in church . . . . 
at thirteen his family moved to Memphis, Tennessee 
when...

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