Long Unread Poems

Translation of Eric Mottram’s Courbet: Elegy 8 by T. Wignesan

Blanches oeuvres ouvertes
résident dans les jours
la surface du banc de travail est noire
les géraniums-lierres
les fougères et les adragans
accumulent leurs oeuvres et jours:
La toile noire de Courbet
un...

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Poems about Children II



On Looking into Curious George’s Mirrors
by Michael R. Burch

for Maya McManmon, granddaughter of the poet Jim McManmon

Maya was made in the image of God;
may the reflections she sees in those curious mirrors
always...

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Starlight and Moonlight II

These are poems about starlight and moonlight, moons and stars, dreams and visions, illuminations and intimations …




Deliver Us...
by Michael R. Burch 

for my mother, Christine Ena Burch

The night is dark and scary—
under...

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In the dark of night a wind took hold,
With powers charged to shake the sky,
By moody swings of gods up high,
Their breath alone enraged and bold.

In the dark of night history spoke,
Of a world alive...

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Prizes for Ultimate Sacrifices


    prizes for the abstemious  for abstinence  chastity ?
                 the countless...

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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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“The External World of the Internal”

when the Internal 
finally woke up,

it was like all the words 
in that book, flew at It 
like flaming arrows, 
an external barage, a tale, 
of trading 10 for 50,
a...

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Like a Phoenix, I rise up from the ashes of my past 
Your beautiful tune mended the Earth with exquisite mirth 
Like a runner, I'm running forward to the finish line oh so fast 
You're...

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I feel rather empty…
Flushed, confused, free me?
I’m feeling kinda dirty
To be honest, I’m fake happy

Wearing a smile like the rest of us
But, there’s a million rivers and fires between us
So, don’t throw me under the...

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I killed my friend,
I never wanted,
Do not see me cruel,
I did it for love.
We both ran naked
Under this influential shower.
No one uncoupled his lips
Against this faint madness,
We were indebted,
Either had to earn the prize.


It was...

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"The Unlit Flame at Blue Feather’s Cross Roads"



Words these days are seldom Red
like drops of lifeless blood falling cold on a hot frying pan,
sentences are scattered, stuck in Go Nowhereland,
semi-solid, immovable coagulating gelatinous, turning dark...

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His walk into town would prove fateful that day,
As his mind wandered idly while finding his way.
His footsteps were brisk like fall chill in the air,
Past Wellington Gate, south of Denby town square.

He paused for...

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You, alone, can be the cure to my grief
The guilt that overflows and then gives birth to mirthwhile relief
Because of you, my temporary highs don't easily wear off
Because if you are here, life would be...

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“Never forget 
everything Hitler did 
in Germany was legal.”
- Martin Luther King, Jr.

drop by drop lady liberty bleeds
red on white and blue
common sense vexatious 
verboten spins askew 

“We can and we must 
write in the...

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How it feels to be in my shoes,
Humming softly the sacred blues
Of yesterday's tomorrow
And its saturated sorrow 
Because it's okay to cry your heart out
When it shatters into shards of drastic doubt 
You know what...

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Save me from becoming numb
I'm aware that you don't care
Be my best friend unlike some 
All these scars I, alone, bear 
Beware of my blessed breeze as it slips out of my finger tips 
I...

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I'm not strong 
Cuz I don't belong
I long 
To be on your tongue 
And on your mind, swinging along 
All alone, all along or maybe I'm the one in the wrong 
Oooooh oooooh ooooh
Mmmm mmmmm...

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growing up too soon

	you said: is there anything more excruciating than lagging behind
						being passed by
	a hasbeen
				still knocking on portals
twitching toes twirling thumbs
         in fidgety drawn-curtained waiting rooms

and...

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Silent thoughts


Candles burning brightly bring visions to my eyes.
Shadows dancing in the corners give this room a supernatural vibe.
As I sit here under the covers, all fears are held below;
I gaze into the broken mirror,...

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When the little things no longer matters...
When the little things are lost...
Forgotten and misplaced...
Left on a shelf like a book that is unread for days...
It no longer has it smile...
It no longer carries a taste...
When...

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Alas, a US Marine saved a baby in Afghanistan.
The USA, as a way to say thank you, puts him 
under investigation?

Yes, a true hero, made the horrid mistake?
Of being honored at a Trump rally, ...

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                       I
  “What in carnation is this?”,
A July sun breaks my winter...

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Don’t you ever wonder and wander in your sleep?
I dream of you and I just want to weep like a creep
I’m stumbling in the deep until the hill’s too steep
Can you hear my moans and...

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"Forbidden"

the knowledge 
acquired 
from the story
I’ve lived 
is forbidden
to be written

I listen to 
their voices
carried in the 
rustling leaves 
the whispering 
of ghosts behind me

hushing me
I haunt them

the rain transports
me as if it is music
I...

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Lay down your old ink pen...
Rise from the table...
Push back your chair.
Gather them all up...
Put them out of sight now...
Place them safely in the cupboard 
Bare.
Wrapped in stiff brown paper,
Strung tightly together
With thin white string;
Turn...

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