Long Turf Poems

Instruction
by Michael R. Burch

Toss this poem aside
to the filigreed and the wild tide
of sunset.

Strike my name,
and still it is all the same.
The onset

of night is in the despairing skies;
each hut shuts its bright bewildered eyes.
The...

Read More

Medieval Poems



Wulf and Eadwacer
(Old English circa 990 AD)
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

My people pursue him like crippled prey.
They'll rip him apart if he approaches their pack.
We are so different!

Wulf's on one island; I'm on...

Read More

"White Noise and the Mother Load of Dark Matter" 

underneath the static
what exists 
is never seen nor heard

for what it truly is 
the eyes and mind 
retaliate in the deciphering

the invisible return 
each night and...

Read More

I miss the old days where only you had my key
I miss the old times - running wild and free
I miss the old house and your pool and banana tree
I miss the days when it...

Read More

Stood I there, that last day,
On an iron bridge...
An aqueduct by design,
Where, looking dreamily out over
The Ernes Lower Lough,
My compressed shadow 
Momentarily paused -
To contently recline:
Amidst coy Junes radiant beams 
of sweet benign!
All was stilled,...

Read More

OUR BABY GIRL TURNS 21

ON 1ST JULY 1990~ THE ANGELS DID SOMETHING ALMIGHTY
FROM HEAVEN THEY SENT US OUR LIFE-LONG DESIRE-A PRECIOUS DAUGHTER TO LOVE AND ADMIRE.
TRUE TO YOUR NATURE YOU ARRIVED WITHOUT FUSS OR PAIN--THE...

Read More

Date:  May  2051

Damian CJ Adonis and Kyon watched
As did family and other relatives did
Also, while quite many new players
Replaced other younger players
That needed a break. CJ  announced 
The new players on the...

Read More

May   2051

Damali was preparing for the big event
Beginning today "12:30 bright and
Early like my Dad said". Damali 
Was thinking. DJ was on video phone 
Now. "Hey Damali! You know who'll 
Be here today...

Read More

Shame and guilt sabotaged mine healthy growth...

and let yours truly not forget emasculation
that prickly emotional immobilization
whereby these lovely bones 
subject courtesy senescence 
upon cremation reduced to obliteration.

Inching closer to mortality
linkedin with concomitant
subtle deterioration of body...

Read More

Mud and leather
dirt and nerve
bloodied laughter
collision to serve,
distance, drive and demolition
battle axe ambition in the wild air
muscle and mind joined in steeled instinct, 
a stitched pigskin ball, the grail of the Fall
to fumble it means...

Read More

Average affluent Almost Afternoon 
11:30 morning time.  Damian was
Still asleep as were DJ and 
Amadeus. Molly and Dolly were 
In the kitchen planning Barrington 
And Godfrey's birthday party.
"Come sis are we baking this cake...

Read More

Turning the maxim familiarity breeds contempt on it's head...
not just in time for Valentine's Day
but the remaining days of our lives
as the world turns
on all our children
the young and restless
now grown to womanhood

After being married
for...

Read More

In the raw expanse of land where rivers sigh,  
marked by the shadows of cats and dogs,  
with each puddle of yellow reminding us  
of lives once lived, hearts bound to the...

Read More

Unquotable Quotes VIIIL : SEXUAL HARASSMENT* - the feminist kind

(*”aggressive pressure or intimidation”: Is it really “any different” in most cases in the act, judging by Hollywood standards?)

STOP: ARREST ALL GIRLS
 - standing with legs...

Read More

In the beginning after God had finished creating this land.    
Satan boldly challenged the heavens for the absolute control of man.
Gods’ architectural blueprint stretched for ages across the sky 
He watered the...

Read More

THREE WAYS of Swiping the World Cup

"It is sweet and fitting/glorious to lay your life down for your country » - from a poem by HORACE

(See my story selected to represent France in the 2006...

Read More

Once at the roundabout, I stopped for precaution
Stretching my arching legs, so much exhaustion
Many a long mile I have been, 
I am steadfast without chagrin. 

Left there yesterday to get here early
Didn’t get lost but...

Read More

All that does encompass bespeaks wonder in everything
bubbling brooks and waterfalls does your glory ring
terrestrial and celestial ever fill our eyes with seeing
how can not it's splendor not fill our very being
 
raindrops in waters...

Read More

Pittsburgh, hammertown, Chuck Knoll and his boys
established the best Superbowl Era dynasty
with the "Steel Curtain" defense and the "Blonde Bomber" Bradshaw,
a defense disciplined on shrapnel and elite ego,
"Mean Joe Greene" and Jack Lambert, a compulsive...

Read More

A long verse on an even longer subject

The eye of most everything is money
Their power over us is unsurpassed
Hey, got the dough? May call me “honey”
To get away, to buy me things, to have a...

Read More

Us kids on the scrap heap estate, we were never going anywhere
poverty deprivation criminal activity was here to stay
Social Services, poor bastards, had no idea what to do
no, no one had a blasted clue
then, some...

Read More

Damn bad reputation counts 500 plus paw whet tick stints

The following fictitious poetic vignette attempts a feeble tale of one ordinary day in life of anonymous miscreant.

"I don't give a damn 
about my bad reputation."

I...

Read More

It’s Sunday afternoon and several of us, Leong, Sunny, Anna, Lisa and her new BF Dave (well, he isn’t ‘new,’ he’s 26) and I are watching an NFL football game. The Eagles vs the Jets.

There’s...

Read More

Memorial Day – 2024... origin of holiday

Strong and brave men and women 
gave their level best
crème de la crème 
strongest and bravest
leaving grieving significant others 
with emotional agony 
within treasured chest
o'er the redoubt  
the...

Read More

Unquotable quotes: Fashion modeling with an eye on footballers – XXVII

Isn’t “haute couture” like “cordon bleu cuisine”? Both equally edible? You still have to pull the shrimp scales apart to get at the meat.

What do...

Read More