Long Zigzagging Poems

The Original Sin: Rhyming Haiku!
 
Haiku
should never rhyme:
it’s a crime!
-Michael R. Burch
 
The herons stand,
sentry-like, at attention ...
rigid observers of some unknown command.
-Michael R. Burch
 
Late
fall;
all
the golden leaves turn black underfoot:
soot
-Michael R. Burch
 
Dry leaf...

Read More

The Alaskan Oil Pipeline

Nineteen sixty-eight confirmed the year
Of discovery by ‘Humble Oil’
To North America’s largest oil field,
On the North Slope of the Brooks Range;
A west to east Northern Alaskan mountain chain.
An area forty miles wide...

Read More

I was in a love affair with art, which had lasted for most of my life,
As beauty graces bush tree and field, whenever hued blossoms are rife.

I started painting at a young age, and had...

Read More

 
The day, following their nuptials, was like most days.  The humans that had come to witness the Joining had all left early, thanking the elves for their hospitality and packing their carts with...

Read More

Trifolium pollinated courtesy bombus

Before landscapers mow swaths
across undulating waves of clover
(the father/daughter team
usually cut grass every Tuesday)
bumblebees alight from one to another flower.

Meanwhile, I lie splayed
mid morning June 28th, 2022
with stomach upon natural carpeting
quietly basking...

Read More

Haiku Variations
by Michael R. Burch

This is a poem composed of haiku-like stanzas:


Variations on the Seasons I
by Michael R. Burch

Lift up your head
dandelion,
hear spring roar!

How will you tidy your hair
this near
summer?

Leave to each still night
your lightest...

Read More

I was charged one morning with the task to consider,
That certain notions of who I was,
Had merely become a pretext for avoiding
Becoming someone else. 

In the world I faced a new coordinate system was needed.

I...

Read More

If the world were a soccer ball I'd be mighty tempted
to kick it high to kingdom come.
After what I learned today I feel ripped off,
feeling the sparse warmth of a dimmed out sun.
Pray tell who...

Read More

Akin twin invisible presence coaxing...paranormal

Action across ouija board
herald Faustian bargain
as fingers of left hand appear to move
planchette of their own accord...
inexplicably, silently, and verily
along a barely traceable minuscule chord
dance, with some spatial force
from outer limits,...

Read More

Akin Twin Invisible Presence Coaxing...

Action across ouija board
fingers of left hand appear to move
planchette of their own accord...
inexplicably, silently, and verily
along a barely traceable minuscule chord
dance, with some spatial force

from outer limits,
perhaps a dimension unexplored
of...

Read More

Be brave, said I, said I…Hey Duke, you are bramazing – brilliant and amazing combined…I hope you view this poem – I have a lot on my plate and I really like you…’l’ stands for...

Read More

Racing thoughts come zipping and zigzagging in my noggin; I’m 
Recovering from losing you – my mind bleeds with utter 
Regret…piling up with numerous debts… I was upset for no apparent 
Reason…. but just give...

Read More

You can never be free of old love
it'll always be caged in your heart and head
At any time the ghost of old love can hijack your brain
turn it into a forest of monkeys 
shaking the...

Read More

(writing for the voice of my son who has terminal illness)

Reality is searingly intimate. But they say anguish,
woes and sadness are emotions best shared.
I am not saying I enjoy lamenting on them or heaping
tribulations on...

Read More

Bed time story

  Night sky stood still inky dark and gloomy
  There came a light that flickered zigzagging behind the clouds
  a sudden resounding loud sound of cymbals
  Heavy pouring rain...

Read More

There was movement on All Hallows’ Eve,
with stirrings all around,
The moon was full in the blood red sky
dark shadows came and went, just who was lurking by?

I don't know why I went so far
from home...

Read More

SHOT AT…
Yes I went shooting with some city fellows to the Moonie
We got a place to shoot that had the wild pigs
So we are walking through a crop of something green and blooming
When a porker...

Read More

Aloof brother concedes duty evaded...

Foremost gratitude heavenly indebted,
jumbling kindling, linkedin mourning
numbness overlaid, pervaded, quashed,
routed thoroughly undermined vibrant
warbling, when xing yesterday's youth

zigzagging, accompanying blitzkrieg
cleaving deafeningly exploding,
formative grim homelife, indelibly
jabbing kid, (little me) nonstop,
overwhelming progeny, quintessentially

robbing, stunting,...

Read More

Aloof brother concedes duty evaded...

Foremost gratitude heavenly indebted,
jumbling kindling, linkedin mourning
numbness overlaid, pervaded, quashed,
routed thoroughly undermined vibrant
warbling, when xing yesterday's youth

zigzagging, accompanying blitzkrieg
cleaving deafeningly exploding,
formative grim homelife, indelibly
jabbing kid, (little me) nonstop,
overwhelming progeny, quintessentially

robbing, stunting,...

Read More

Past psychological development
describes zigzagging mama's yoyo
casually, aye publicize, (asper
mein kampf) personal woe

unpleasant memories indelibly
etched, jagged, scar outlined like ticktacktoe
solitary games invariable resultant
draw between every “x” and each "o"

metaphorical of course for this poetic,
formerly non opportunistic
generic...

Read More

ACROSTICS DU JOUR

ODIS

Once upon a very sad time,
Disappointment crossed my hapless mind.
Instead of thinking that would be fine,
Someone gave me this dog to walk behind.

SUZANNE

Supple and sweet within my reach
Under starry skies or sandy beach
Zigzagging...

Read More

.              O                    ...

Read More

When I was five, I played
Around other children
At the park 
On the west edge
Of town, where the gray concrete slab served
As our skating rink.

I recall
Their presence, but not their faces-
Their laughter, but not their smiles-
Their...

Read More

Early morning sun leaks through the window 
A gentle paw upon my chest 
I yawn - good morning boy, good morning world 
Raise myself gently out of bed 
 
A stretch and a yawn and...

Read More

Zealots are totally incapable of any emotion other than rage. It is an unalterable law that people who claim to care about the human race are utterly indifferent to the sufferings of individuals.
— Quentin Crisp

ZEALOTS

The...

Read More