Long Whitman Poems

Radiance
by Michael R. Burch

for Dylan Thomas

The poet delves earth’s detritus—hard toil—
for raw-edged nouns, barbed verbs, vowels’ lush bouquet;
each syllable his pen excretes—dense soil,
dark images impacted, rooted clay.

The poet sees the sea but feels its meaning—
the...

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Come Down
by Michael R. Burch

for Harold Bloom

Come down, O, come down
from your high mountain tower.
How coldly the wind blows,
how late this chill hour ...

and I cannot wait
for a meteor shower
to show you the time
must be...

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These are poems about Dylan Thomas, as well as poems "for" and "after" Dylan Thomas. Dylan Thomas was one of my favorite poets from my early teens and has remained so over the years. I...

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Myth, after Dylan Thomas
by Michael R. Burch

Here the recalcitrant wind
sighs with grievance and remorse
over fields of wayward gorse
and thistle-throttled lanes.

And she is the myth of the scythed wheat
hewn and sighing, complete,
waiting, lain in a low...

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I heard two distinct voices in the night,
Conversing amongst themselves most eagerly
They whispered like children in excitement
Their sardonic mouths sung many savvy tunes
It was Death I could perceive, defending me,
And he, a strange, distant friend
Seemed...

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"Artificial Iris"


Orwell was lurking in the background, somewhere;
the dream was eerily familiar, 
the words and their meanings, read in Syntax,
once read between pages of hardcopy in school 
were aptly ignored - 

however, 
our Overlords were...

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Part I

Rock n Roll came through the slave trade
The Hippies and Moonies said “We’ve got it made”
“Rock n Roll sounds came from the jungle” [Lennon said]
The blues helped through the struggle
The rhythm and the movements...

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Quietly, the memory of my grandfather manifested itself,
In the colors and shimmers of the Holy Spirit, 
I saw his human face,
The familiar lines, the flesh,
The pair of oceanic eyes, slowly blinking 
Smiling,
Like a heavenly beam
Splashing...

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Pardon any absent adulation, bequeathed capitulation, devoted dedication, indiscretion, blabbering peroration, improper salutation or any unintended vexation if this unknown earthling sent a nearly identical message. He over-looked a small number of errors and hoped...

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It was a bitter morning, the ground hotter upon my flesh
I kneeled at the center of the pit on the twentieth day,
Remembering a tune sung so long ago,
A great song grieving for the incessant wars...

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From blank screen to logorrhea, I write with confused adumbrations

Methinks hmm, perhaps
I admittedly self plagiarize and quite aware
aforementioned amalgamated, conglomerated, 
fabricated, jerry rigged, and organized 
eye gripping titled
poem already aired a year plus ago,
though revisiting...

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“Our being is descending into us from we know not whence. 
The most exact calculator has no prescience that somewhat incalculable 
may not balk the very next moment. I am constrained every moment 
to acknowledge...

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Deep In Newly Disturbed Soil, Lies My True Love

(  “Our dead are never dead to us, until we have forgotten them” – George Eliot.)

Deep in newly disturbed soil, lies my true love
'neath a canopy...

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Translation of Eric Mottram’s TWENTYEIGHTH LEGAL (Part One) by T. Wignesan
 
N.B. If any one is interested in reading the continuation of the extracts of letters that Eric Mottram wrote from America during 1965-66 to...

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"Invisible"



Trapped
within 
4 Walls 
A ghost 

escapes
it's prison 
through 
unlocked door

beyond
freefall
a bird
now soars

The Ocean 
calls the wild
Sargasso in
Me

Rochester’s 
Mirage 
ecstatic 
Bacchae
 
Maenad 
possessed 
submerged
Blue-Green

(Ladylabyrinth/2020)
for my daughter, 
Georgia






“Come Near Me” / Massive Attack – Ghost Poet
https://youtu.be/KY0TZQTwwbk






“There is...

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From Blank Screen To Logorrhea, I Write With Confused Adumbrations

Methinks hmm, perhaps
aforementioned conglomerated eye gripping titled,
poem already aired
though revisiting said theme
downplayed as thoughts blare
though similar content
invariably communicated,
sans trademark Pi Seine fishtail career
as applies to other...

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Light—I was barely even myself, but some light…
Her light—no my own enemy Himself! 
—The Lord Eternal!—
How could I let this happen to me? – 

And I could feel my hand around her tiny arm,
Anxiously awaiting...

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Transl. of Eric Mottram’s A Faithful Private - 4 with a Clive Bush comment on Mottram's poetry 

Excerpt from an article, “From space to caves in the heart recreating the collective world in Eric Mottram’s...

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Rental rebate plus affordable rent...

One benefit living at
Highland Manor Apartments
until decrepit and bent...
constitutes qualifying for reimbursement
direct deposited into checking
as chump change event,
hence one generic grateful gent
feels self satisfied as Clark Kent.

After wing and prayer
granted courtesy...

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......define the moment or the moment will define you....
      
                    Quote...

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I’ve never put a candidate’s bumper sticker on my car before—
why not take sides—what are you waiting for?
Death puts a stop to daily low intensity warfare but in the meantime—
     ...

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EVERYBODY KNOWS THAT NOBODY KNOWS

The Paleolithic Era was a long time ago. 
It consisted of a few years in a row. 
That's pretty standard as eras go.
I don't know what happened,
but there's one thing I...

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dark matter(s)
by Michael R. Burch

the matter is dark, despairful, alarming:
ur Creator is hardly prince charming!

yes, ur “Great I Am”
created blake’s lamb

but He also created the tyger
and what about trump and rod steiger? 


The Echoless Green
by...

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are you free, humanity, by power of love 
or in chain by love of power or by lack of it? 

a student of The School of Resentment asks…

back in time,
at such dominant spaces  
called...

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Determined to read and plant the seed fast
   to emulate poets of the present and past.
I staked the library display Whitman, Kilmer, Frost, unnamed arrays
   including Sandberg and St. Vincent Millay.
It...

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