Long Uncomprehending Poems

Enough!
by Michael R. Burch

It’s not that I don’t want to die;
I shall be glad to go.
Enough of diabetes pie,
and eating sickly crow!
Enough of win and place and show.
Enough of endless woe!

Enough of suffering and vice!
I’ve...

Read More

World War II Poems and Holocaust Poems - IV - Primo Levi

Shema
by Primo Levi
translation by Michael R. Burch

You who live secure
in your comfortable houses, 
who return each evening to find
warm food, 
welcoming faces...

consider whether this...

Read More

He just appeared to me, like wispily curling 
Chimney smoke, 
One grim and early morning in the very midst of 
Decembers briefest days, on the highest slope,
Toiling through my daily round; where, slowly 
Driving up...

Read More

They had kept me imprisoned there for three full days,
In that sparse, solitary room, of scarce sunshine rays.

Having good food to eat, had never been a problem; 
They brought hot meals, but the problem was...

Read More

An Echo Poem

Original: This Much I Know – Poem by Lora Colon of PoemHunter
Reprinted here with permission.

Soon the sun will set in this valley
Where I’ve roamed for many a year, 
So many questions left unanswered,...

Read More

I am a tempest of words, aching to burst forth.
(Years of structured lessons simmer beneath my skin.)

The most important thing is that I'm drowning in metaphors. 
Being a poet shapes reality, and twists what you...

Read More

Vino
Vinny
Vino
Vinny
There was no doubt I was seeing double
Vinny poured another glass
I actually think it was whiskey
There we sat, at the back of the Angelos Steak and Kill
The joke wasn’t lost on many
The joint was dark...

Read More

The singularity of my voice, 
Wailing out in this dark, wild, and philistine-infested wilderness
Today; Its uniqueness alone amongst several million babbling, 
Balbutient tongues, and inked pens and platitude-riddled pages on blinking 
Computer monitory screens,
The intelligible and the inane, 
The...

Read More

To cry…
Is to wash the soul from darkness 
And suffers
To exude the pain in matters, in seconds
To laugh…
Is to revive your soul and body 
Add minutes to your time
Add purpose to your life
To smile…
Is to...

Read More

Some are sparks

Some are the sparks from a Parliament bonfire,
That fly ever upwards to spin and whirl 
amongst the stars and then are extinguished,
falling as a fleck of ash to lie amongst many 
in a...

Read More

I am the color of roses, valentines, love.
I am the color of anger, war, intensity.
I am two polar opposites.

I am the delightful blush that graces a child's cheek, as a happiness that is stranger like...

Read More

Lost in the melancholic embrace of twilight,
I found myself anew, a soul drifting on the winds of fate,
Created to belong to that solitary spirit
For whom my heart would beat, rhythmic and thirsty.
Since the dawn of...

Read More

In the deep silence of the night, every whisper about her was an act of betrayal,
A knife hidden beneath the tongue, and to know her was the ultimate sin,
A slip into the abysses of guilt,...

Read More

(In Tudu Hospital in the former Saigon,
several hundred dead babies have been
preserved in formaldehyde.  They are
hideously deformed as a result of their
mothers having been contaminated by
Agent Orange, a chemical diffused in
Vietnam as part of...

Read More

THE SANDS OF TIME

We stop-- unquestioning the expertise of our Game ranger
focused--examining sand and road for tracks
Uncomprehending, we ponder waiting for clues he may disclose –the light of dawn

Finally- three words:”Do you see?”
A revelation for...

Read More

I am appalled..Sickened.' uncomprehending..!
Why a medical facility 'namley fort sanders'
Small s...' Intentional..) discharged this suffeing
Woman..? How could they.? Are they a care facilty?
Or a scare facility.'? Can any out there advise me?
On the oppresive actions,...

Read More

Greys, Part I

These things I ask, uncomprehending:

How is it we all come to be together,
In this particular place and time?

Also: How is it this world, its teeming billions,
Holding together with threads of love, hope and...

Read More

strange, but he never expected
   things to finally turn out this way;
      this is supposed to be the moment
         he...

Read More

Burger and fries
At a roadside stand
Constant buzzing of the flies
Under an angry yellow sun

The mustard dripped down from the hamburger
Onto her brand new dress

She stared down at it

When she looked up,
There was a tear in...

Read More

The Tragedy of Dementia

By Elton Camp

What was Lora has faded away
Slowly, inexorably, irreversibly 

Competence, intelligence, caring
Lost in a morass of tangled neurons

Unperceived by her in the early stages
Though all-too-evident to her family

“They say I can’t...

Read More

Akito’s World Comes To An End

By Elton Camp

Akito and I were born days and a world apart
He never saw the emperor, not I Roosevelt

Lives in peril, but we knew not why
Parents in hushed tones conversing

Events...

Read More

Akito’s World Comes To An End

By Elton Camp

Akito and I were born days and a world apart
He never saw the emperor, nor I Roosevelt

Lives in peril, but we knew not why
Parents in hushed tones conversing

Events...

Read More

Hate Is Not A Crime

I have hated
still bear the scars
that caused the hate
and the scars of hating
those who caused the hate.

I know the darkness
of my hate, its futile
longing to be freed
from it’s sordid legacy.

I fear...

Read More

Whatever You say God
Who am I to say it differently?
You see things to come
You know what it will look like
I can’t dispute You
My mind is of natural mind
I don’t see what You see
Think what You...

Read More

She isn't real.
Near mere measures of perfection,
Upon the pedestal to be placed.
All faults beyond my exception;
Within consciousness falsities laced.

Wanted to feel,
Mortal intimacies elicited by her proximity,
To finally feel wholeness fulfill.
Cover my existence with normality,
Ultimately gratifying...

Read More