Long Wonderfully Poems

The first soft snow: 
leaves of the awed jonquil 
bow low
—Matsuo Basho translation by Michael R. Burch

Come, investigate loneliness! 
a solitary leaf
clings to the Kiri tree
—Matsuo Basho translation by Michael R. Burch

The cheerful-chirping cricket
contends gray...

Read More

Dusk-gliding swallow, 
please spare my small friends
flitting among the flowers! 
—Matsuo Basho translation by Michael R. Burch

A bee emerging
from deep within the peony's hairy recesses
flies off, sated
—Matsuo Basho translation by Michael R. Burch

That dying cricket,...

Read More

Grasses wilt:
the braking locomotive
grinds to a halt
—Yamaguchi Seishi, translation by Michael R. Burch

Oh, fallen camellias,
if I were you,
I'd leap into the torrent!
—Takaha Shugyo, translation by Michael R. Burch

The first soft snow:
leaves of the awed jonquil
bow...

Read More

THIS WORLD OF DEW

This world? 
Moonlit dew
flicked from a crane's bill.
—Eihei Dogen Kigen, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Seventy-one?
How long
can a dewdrop last? 
—Eihei Dogen Kigen, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Dewdrops beading grass-blades
die before...

Read More

Wounded Sacred Dementia

My last foster care-provider
and -receiver story
is also a sad story
of my last special needs adoption
of bipolar born,
and oppositionally reared,
alcoholism.

My BiPolar Wounded Child
turned an auspicious five
on the day I first saw her,
and promptly rejected...

Read More

Do you remember?
We lay in the moonlight, exhausted and content,
Moments from perfection, skin glistening with moisture,
Salty and sweet from love - love so amazing
That it stunned us every time ...
Always better than before, and always...

Read More

“I thought about the former days, the years of long ago.” * 

If you saw something beautiful in a people, a place, a thing;
If you heard about something captivating and fantastic;
If you felt something soothing...

Read More

These words of love I give to you, my dear
to have comfort in the stillness of time
and meld two souls to keep love's wishes near
when the length of the years and age will climb
I will...

Read More

~  Life,  God  Gave ~ 
( Octa- Tri ) 
 




~O~




God's Love glow 
From our hearts let it flow 
My Lord, You're my Light, Hope, Joy and Guide. 



~o~ 


You heal heart,...

Read More

On Fam'ly Traditions - 3rd third -


With 2 dinky bedrooms...and only 3 beds...the one time I'd been here I'd slept on a cot!  And tossin' a coin for the one with 2 beds...the-odd-man the...

Read More

“I thought about the former days, the years of long ago.” Psalms 77:5 NIV

If you saw something beautiful in a people, a place, a thing;
If you heard about something captivating and fantastic;
If you felt something...

Read More

(Remembering Innocence)


Note to Readers of Previous Versions:
There are so many new vignettes scattered throughout the poem that I hope you will reread the whole thing! There are new tales, improvements to previous verses, and improved...

Read More

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



Will There Be Starlight
by Michael R. Burch 

Will there be starlight
tonight
while she gathers
damask
and lilac
and sweet-scented heathers?

And will she find...

Read More

I ran out of breath on the road to Mumbai ...

    Not for sake of dust or smog or even health. I had rounded a curve on
    my motorcycle,...

Read More

7. Playing With Fire
My mom IS quite clear on the dangers of fire,
But if boy'S hooked on flame, then it'S hard to obey,
There'S a longing for “MATCH GUN” (6) that most boys acquire,
Small'S the chance...

Read More

Well I know it's been forever and you didn't know what to do
Fear no more your philosopher is back with his clerihew
Who will be now name victim of this wonderfully silly form
Probably himself and anyone...

Read More

Ceridfen had little trouble adjusting her menu to accommodate the new arrival.  She brought out a terrine of pumpkin soup, savory with a hint of spice and honey.  A casserole of squash and...

Read More

For the Valentine’s season
Send forth a tastefully written card
To any wonderfully wise person
Is a good endeavor. That’s not bad.

However, sending exquisite flowers
Is the best, sweetest archetypal way
To say, I love you many times over
Over, and...

Read More

I aped to a blue heron to a man who wrote his deed.
Once you're at the final of the story, no woe is needed.

If death appeared to be appropriate, life would be aimless.
If you have...

Read More

Incomplete metamorphosis of distilled adolescent...

therefore he characterizes himself as an anomaly...any idea why?

Mortified, petrified, stultified, et cetera sheltered, 
and mortally wounded prepubescent,

I consider myself
analogously buttressed, cocooned,
garrisoned (for bing keeler), 
hardened, insulated,
where cell baited jumping frog
o'...

Read More

VIII

In the minds fixed eye I see five newly discovered graves,              
Headless lions sat atop an impregnable "Triumphal Gate";   ...

Read More

Hypothetical Lust

                                 ...

Read More

Oh, these trees, arms reaching as they
      did then, but even wiser ... perhaps I as
         well have learned another thing-or-two
 ...

Read More

They say your not beautiful;
but you are, you are;
Because you were made by created by God. . .
They say your ugly, and you just don't
You don't, you don't fit it won't fit in
The images of...

Read More

(A reply to “The phenomenal woman” by Abul Mayen, “Hope John”)

This breezy morning
I have caught the right worm
Basking on a rock like a lizard
She twirled her waist in her briskly walk
A mile ahead of mature...

Read More