Long Toppled Poems

These are early poems of mine, written as a high school student in the 10th grade. 

as Time walked by
by Michael R. Burch

yesterday i dreamed of us again,
when
the air, like honey,
trickled through cushioning grasses,
softly flowing,...

Read More

Postcard 1
by Miklós Radnóti
written August 30, 1944
translated by Michael R. Burch
 
Out of Bulgaria, the great wild roar of the artillery thunders,
resounds on the mountain ridges, rebounds, then ebbs into silence
while here men, beasts, wagons...

Read More

Brave Shadow Mane


Falling free at a tremendous velocity
Cursing my decision for acting in haste
Through clouds and frozen rain I could not see the ground
Losing consciousness, in my mouth blood I could taste

Now this was indeed...

Read More

“Oh please don’t worry.
I haven’t a heightened sixth sense… about the mint infused lilt here.”
There must be a compass without a point surrounding me
“Looking for directions.
The town you’re seeking is a few winding roads and...

Read More

My most popular poems on the Internet (III)

A number of my poems and translations have gone viral, according to Google, and some have been copied onto hundreds to thousands of web pages. That’s a lot...

Read More

Huge fluffy clouds began to form over 
Sanibel Island as the salted gulf splashed 
against the rocks around the lighthouse 
coastal waters rose up as a calming coolness 
carried this gentle warm breeze over to...

Read More

_\0/__\0/__\0/__\0/__\0/__\0/__\0/__\0/__\0/__\0/__\0/__\0/__\0/__


                                  ...

Read More

World War II Poems and Holocaust Poems - III - Miklos Radnoti

Miklos Radnoti was one of the greatest of the Jewish Holocaust poets. He died on a Nazi death march, shot to death in cold...

Read More

 
The day, following their nuptials, was like most days.  The humans that had come to witness the Joining had all left early, thanking the elves for their hospitality and packing their carts with...

Read More

But we of the Three Tribes live undiscovered 
   In the reverberating stillness of the 
 Three Gorges...
And are therefore unknown to the warring mongol;
    His impassioned lusts -- his...

Read More

Peaceful existence as a Being of light;
Not of flesh, not of clay, nor soil, yet made.
Created with the Breath of Life. 
     Spoken into miraculous awareness from the lips of The...

Read More

The monumental bane of OCD - obsessive compulsive disorder

As origin of Homo Sapien species surged ahead,
harboring nascent predominance
asper said primate reproductively bred,
(albeit via incremental fits and starts)
evolutionary forebears didst dread
Tom Tom Club former members
an American...

Read More

Existentialism emancipation proclamation manumission...

Flourishes amidst freedom 
once invisible (alice in) chains shucked
when soul no longer kept linkedin 
to jane's addiction 
with corporeal duty, entity, fealty... 
while formerly shed body electric 
gendered as former googly eyed...

Read More

There have been multiple attempts at dictatorial rulership of the world.                        ...

Read More

Apologies are due
Apologies are due
yet I am not the one to say them
Apologies are due but
but I am not the one
not today to give them
Fir all I have to give is a need to vent
a...

Read More

                               Etched in Stone

In the...

Read More

Humpty Dumpty lived in make-believe land, like dreamy shadows get long;
And he dwelt in a house near a wall, among merry, crimson, oriole throngs.

He had a figure equally rotund and jolly, and was therefore loved...

Read More

I walked a wooded path at night;
Down in the vale: a hint of light.
It shone as through an open door:
A faint, soft glow, and little more,
And sounds of bells, to my delight.

I crept up close...

Read More

I know of a river of more than average 
Sorts...
Meandering, when not dallying to maunder,
Between many differing contours 
And unruly contorts;
Where a privileged youth once
Happily sought -
Pursuing about his passions
In the traditional methods 
By which...

Read More

So many, maybe millions
No, billions. Trillions?
Of stars, a quiet, hot snowfall
of white stars; sandal season squall.
Each birch tree here outdoing 
January's record accumulation.

Weeks of hour after hour after hour
upon day upon day upon day of
birches'...

Read More

 Continued from Part 1 

The forgery of Multitudes between the Silhouettes
(and discarded cigarettes,
neath the haunted parapets)
mock my lonely echoed steps
         – mock my lonely echoed steps...

Read More

Poem inspired by a 2013 Australian apocalyptic thriller movie known as, "These Final Hours". Depending on certain criteria, YouTube is running this movie in its entirety free for most, if not, some of its viewers.

In...

Read More

Trees were toppled;                                ...

Read More

Cowpoke
by Michael R. Burch, circa age 16

Sleep, old man...
your day has long since passed.
The endless plains,
cool midnight rains
and changeless ragged cows
alone remain
of what once was.

You cannot know
just how the Change
will rape the windswept plains
that you...

Read More

This is the story of Gustybot Melly
His really small nose and his very large belly
He'd finished the biscuits, the cake and the jelly
And munched all the crisps like the ones on the telly

And when he...

Read More