Long Varsity Poems

Where Does the Butterfly Go?
by Michael R. Burch

for the children of the Holocaust and the Nakba

Where does the butterfly go
when lightning rails,
when thunder howls,
when hailstones scream,
when winter scowls,
when nights compound dark frosts with snow ...
Where...

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Juvenilia: Early Poems IX

These are early poems of mine, written in my teens as a high school student and during my first two years of college.

Shock
by Michael R. Burch

It was early in the morning of...

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Thinking back on my all White
but One,
all Right
but One,
classroom learning experience,

I can see why
many of my straight white male classmates,
especially those with early varsity team excellence
and above average grade point systems
tipping toward future capital-valued employment
might...

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Working over Birk’s Works and other tunes my saxophonist admires—
Cheesecake, Blackbird—for the theoretical, applied mathematics
inside an abstract, audial harmonization of the Big Bang and The Fall.

The derivative reveals the slope of the tangent along the...

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To Varsity! 
Oh long awaited time
To study literature and rhyme
A time to learn to make words flow
And say to Life a big Hello.

Life’s cup is full up to the brim
And I’ve dived in for a...

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            In this world, where chaos reigns supreme,
I am the voice of the people, the one who leads the dream.
My heart beats with a...

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Dismantling Of A Growing Nation

Back in late 70s, while I was just another fresh face in a local varsity....
Racial based politics was gaining grounds with public sympathies....
Remembered distinctly DAP, the opposition party,  was gaining...

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High school sweet heart

Oh my darling,
I remember like it was yesterday,
Our first year in high school,
It was love at first sight, and that was so cool.
We shared a desk together, 
Do you still remember my...

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Sometimes things don’t work out as planned
not that Nate planned it, such is basketball love
and strong are the threads of the basketball net. 
He hooped all summer, sweating on outdoor court 
before moving to school...

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They channelized the news
the quick zapped flash of fact undeniably
taking the opportunity by storm
by the contortions of varsity
they proclaimed so devoutly
the new acceptable norm
of an already butchered normality

And who with applause
with the legalized blurb
of an...

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Sometimes you may feel like you're stuck on the benches of life 
Not knowing if you'll ever get in the game causing you anquish and strife 
Dismissed and unused never getting a chance to play...

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Reunion, Reunion I have to go
To meet those friends I used to know.
And talk about the days gone by
When we were young with spirits high.

But, all I found was a money speech
Asking for me to...

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When I was 18

When was 18, I wasn't worried about where my 21-year-old girlfriend was going to lay her head.

When I was 18, my hoop dreams began to wane with the realization I was only...

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Slinger
Waiting on the day
for the Swallow to transmute the air
between this ether and yours 
patterned after an annual bedsheet 
and full of a chest
swelling with blood
and a face 
as forgotten as chests 
buried beneath sea...

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A tall baseball player with a bat, he knocks it clear 
out of the park!
Whilst other boys sit so comfortably at their home, 
he is a Varsity player, under bright lights, in the dark!

So goal-driven,...

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Why the long face, son? Did someone die?
   Aw, Dad.  I flunked my math exam
Did you do your level best, son?
   I did, Dad.  I studied so hard for...

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PLAYIN' CATCH

Mom and Dad would have the car packed the night before we left,
the station wagon filled with all the essentials we'd need for our
extended camping trips. Dad always made sure I had my ball...

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She reminded mi of Liz thou prettier than Liz
She was engrossed in her smart phone... me relaxed
next to her chat chatting business... i could tell shes engrossed
not in her smart chats.... but in my chat...

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One of my grandsons, name of Benjamin
He likes eating toast made with cinnamon
But uses his wits
To not eat his grits
Then excuses himself like a gentleman

Charlie thrives on competition
Out smarting you is his mission
Bear hugs
Tiny bugs,...

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EAGLES ENCOUNTER

Mi was doing my nite rounds..
then was a student at a local varsity
when i had an encounter with them eagles
they offer me peace...salaams..
but they were really trying
to appear nonthreatening

one of them asked mi a...

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My Grandson's Toys;Christmas Memories

Dear Edward:
You grew from Little League to be Varsity 
star!
Sadly, we rarely see much of one another
anymore.

So Grandma, finds happiness in your...

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~~ A Grandmother’s Memoirs~~



God, did indeed, more than bless me with jeweled, precious memories.
And a family living so near. That’s no small thing, these days, when you only see family, once a year! 

I held...

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We are thirteenish.
We meet.
I know.
She does not.
We meet at times
When home for hols.
Then I’m at varsity,
She’s a student nurse.
We meet more often.
Deep down I still know,
It’s clear she does not.
We qualify.
We split.
She’s in London,
I am...

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Oh, those carefree days of youth
where did they go, where did they go?

He sits quietly in his recliner watching the TV drone on and on...
Handsome in his youth, now his body is gaunt and frail
his...

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Empty Closets
            by Odin Roark

How empty the content
Delusion's walk-in closet
Hideaway's glory
Filled to burst

Collected identities
Acquired by proxy
Guarded by duplicity's two-edge sword
Honed by loneliness

Obsessive darkness
Filled with...

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