Long Tilled Poems

Fahr an' Ice
by Michael R. Burch

From what I know of death, I'll side with those
who'd like to have a say in how it goes:
just make mine cool, cool rocks (twice drowned in likker),
and real fahr...

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Something strange

and unexplainable comes this way,
this way, it comes to us sly and fast, 
some say, perhaps, 
it has already arrived, 
it walks unseen, in the midst of all, of us 

we go about our...

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February 27th, 2018 literary tinkering rejiggered October 11th, 2024

I believed fortune cookie maxim 
cryptic message couched
Apple Macbook Pro update process
alternately titled “markedly 
a Luke warm welcome Matt unfurled
courtesy Jimmy John,
who embarked on 
imp apostle bull...

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Now as the years passed by everyone became so tired
the heaps of things scattered around became too much to bear
some benevolence was certainly grand but this was too much
the two felt unable to undertake ...

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He was born in backwoods Missouri.
1840 the year he arrived.
Conflict, sickness and hard times prevailed.
Through it all he grew strong and survived.
Skills to live were a gift from his father.
Faith in God from his mother...

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Along the desert SANDS of what seemed to be a 'no man's LAND' in Eastern Mesopotamia, there was discovered a KING and a people group of unknown language and ORIGIN. No one ever knew for...

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LOVE Of Our Life

Life’s journey swim links 2 defined moments - birth & death.
To survive its stretch we swim different strokes,
Delivered inner strength combats heavy tides & puncture pokes,
Hidden forces compatibly energize different folks,
Fortifying for...

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The Letter         

A young man strolled along the waterfront,
His mind and heart at ease.
Said an old man, sitting on an upturned punt,
Gazing out towards the sea. 

“Come...

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Ink roached infestation didst derive within mice elf

Minor emendations to following
just posted verse
oversight to correct dissatisfaction,
yours truly I do curse
ah... methinks if hands of time 
can be made to go in reverse
a more exemplary version
to...

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Ink roached infestation didst derive within mice elf

Thus writer of these words
forever mus lee experiencing 
craving to eat cheese,
a milk product 
eternally preserved within 
annals, chronicles, epistles, 
et cetera of human civilization 
and it's discontents...

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American Thanksgiving (1621)

Passengers in England boarded the Mayflower
To sail across the Atlantic to the New World,
And escape religious persecution for their faith
In worshiping God, which they believed to be righteous,
With separation of God and King,...

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Sweet Centerless Sixteen
by Michael R. Burch

Inconsolable as “love” had left your heart,
you woke this morning eager to pursue
warm lips again, or something “really cool”
on which to press your lips and leave their mark.

As breath upon...

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THE NATURE OF THINGS

THE NATURE OF THINGS

Birds ATE Worms,
Worms tilled Soil,
Frogs ATE Flies,
Bees Made Honey,
Fish ATE Worms,
People ATE Fish,
Cats ATE Fish
Butterflies and bees
Pollinated.
Grass Grew, and the
Dandelions flew
al around' all around'
and Were Welcomed,
Life was simple back...

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TIS thine bottled tat's tasked whence be thine edge
Be naught in wallows dew supine vogue cast
Youth triumphed hour as a young promised fledge
Barkeeper, be thoust days numbered--till asked
All stand 'tis proper thine talents measure
Skills they'd...

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lover! lover! lover!

you think human heart 
is an open page, 
a requiem to be read 
at leisure? 
or you think it a black hole,
impenetrable thick darkness
to peep through? 

what is essential to the heart 
is...

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agonizingly dutifully didst wait
to distract anticipatory anxiety,
(analogous to an expectant father)
while protracted procedure promised
nothing short of a millennium

whereby echoing thru the corridors of time
olly olly gluten free ranging NON GMO, oxen
oiled lubricated cloven hoof
nsync cup...

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An old man long in years, in threadbare coat, with grizzled hair, and eyes aged and heavy.
Stood with withered hands once strong and true, which clung to an old cap.

For years he had tilled the...

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Puberty set off affright
seeding decades long
     terrestrial space flight
freighted existential blight,
wherefore from that
attempt to live airtight
many scores yesternight
ago, I barely (except

     on par with grateful
  ...

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A naughty glimmer then came to her eyes,
she grabbed her man’s wrist, and led him inside,
and for a month this arrangement went smooth,
sure, some people talked, but naught could they prove,
until Preacher John saw things...

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Ink Roached Infestation Didst Derive Within Mice Elf
(thus forever experiencing craving to eat cheese)

Nothing but gridlock traffic
(far as thee eye could see)
heading east on Schuylkill Expressway
(oxymoronic name for quickest route
into center city, albeit Philadelphia),

yet this...

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Regardless of our faith, in Love we can believe,
For Love's within us all, if we choose to retrieve.
Should we choose to leave Love in a dormant state,
Then we invite into our heart the bitterness of...

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this middle aged rue stirring bummer
   haint no stranger to cold,
when dark hen stormy wintry days
   eggs hit from Arctic portal en fold
ding Atlantic Seaboard

   in a blizzard of...

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...she was ensnared within her prized gardens
There among a tempest of roses.
Entangled in the mournful whispers 
of… 
Weeping willows
From noon till night.

Within her bustling haven, 
the envy of neighbors.
A source of joy and delight.
But her...

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Compared with us, the kids today
Too little play and too much weigh.
Alone indoors they snack and sit
And buttons hit, while we stayed fit.

We'd quickly chores and homework do,
Then dash through doors to fun pursue,
To basketballs...

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For millions of years man has lived on this earth
Only him and Gods natural sounds
They lived in the forests, the meadows, the plains
And they foraged for natures abounds
They could hear the bee buzz and the...

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