Swiftly Poems

As a child I could not wait
Plotting and planning my classmate’s fate
Figuring out all the tricks I would play
All squelched by the teacher 
Before the end of the day

We would whisper at recess
Giggling like combatant loons
Sharing all kind of crazy...Read More

Are Flowers for Picking?

I question myself,
silently standing beside
the quaint wooden kiosk 
in the centre of the square.
My eyes scan the freshly 
picked assortment of roses, 
carnations, lilies, and orchids.
The array of colours tempts,
softening niggling doubts
arising from tender pity.

I enter the...Read More

Quiet Soul

1963
Her skin is that of alabaster. Wide circles of red rouge pronounced her thin lips and each cheek.
She is soulfully unique.
Her hair of dried stalk was approving to her eyes of vacuous emeralds.
She traveled the two blocks from her...Read More

First Steps
by Michael R. Burch

for Caitlin Shea Murphy

To her a year is like infinity,
each day—an adventure never-ending.
She has no concept of time,
but already has begun the climb—
from childhood to womanhood recklessly ascending.

I would caution her, "No! Wait!
There will be time...Read More

These two poems composed to honor this truly great poet,
Elinor Wylie....
 
(1.)
Heaven Smiles And Its Light Awaits
 
Icy winds have died, winter fled
Hope has sung, Spring has sprung
Love and promise have wed 
new life's radiant glow has brung
music to wake...Read More

Despite the distance prohibition
    I was visited today by an audacious caller
          Defiantly coming within an inch of me
         ...Read More

Stand back! Get out of the way!
The Master Chef is here to play!
I looked in amazement as the man ran in.
He was wearing a beard by his chinny chin chin.

Who is he? I asked my friend’s son.
I don’t know he...Read More

I do not want to use the dreaded d-word
Because I don’t think it is that
But all I want to do frankly
Is nap, nap, nap, nap, nap.

My state of mind is fogged and smack
Allergic cough, right ear is clogged. Hack. Hack....Read More

We've experienced pandemics before
but the COVID-19 virus is new.
This coronavirus we can't ignore
so self-quarantine, we're told we need to,
it’s not safe to socialize anymore.

The whole world abruptly ground to a halt
as airlines and cruise ships swiftly shut down.
And although China...Read More

At the Marina Beach
I saw me as a child collecting seashells
To adorn the sandcastle I was to build 
Impervious to the roar of the sea, 
The tall rising and approaching waves
And the swiftly flowing wind;
For that child,
The many risks and...Read More

a fear-driven person
wearing another blue mask
walked past me

I cannot tell if she was smiling
the perils of the mask
like windshield that is too darkly tinted

corona virus just getting started
predictions dire
schools and families slamming shut

I ponder wearing my own mask
not ready, too...Read More

DO-liciously said i   fell in Love
be(*)(*)Tween your most'ist gloriously
grand trait Oars swiftly guided my
strong and long co AWK went the 
swallow chasing her boyfriend
and babies are beautiful in
Spring.

:: 03.11.2020 ::...Read More

Daylight Savings Time – March 8th,   2020

Two o'clock anno Domini nostri Jesu Christi 
hour hand clock sprung forward sixty minutes 
round about same of month every year, what a bum
er, an inconvenient truth diverged from this chum
purposelessly manipulating...Read More

Did you think my friendship fickle,
thus deserving of the sickle
did you think that it would wither up and die?

Did you think my friendship faded
thus transforming true to jaded
did you think you could revive if you try?

Did you think my friendship...Read More

spare change

he takes shelter in a cardboard box
old newspapers for a bed
threadbare clothes rumpled and dirty
a concrete pillow for his head

picking up used cigarette butts
from the crowded littered street
dumpster diving for table scraps
searching for something to eat

huddling in an open...Read More

An invisible power,
brings forth a new rider.
The second of four,
rendering an eminent fire.

War and destruction,
he's dispatched to deliver.
Countless souls will perish,
their blood flowing like rivers.

His judgement now emanates,
cast swiftly throughout the land.
Repent convinced,
or prepare to engage in a last stand.

His...Read More

TV for breakfast, snack time and lunch.
Taking all my energy, swiftly, easily
Advertising sugary cereals like Cap’n Crunch
TV for supper until we go to bed
When I am lying prone in my recliner
I might as well be dead.

...Read More

Hymn to Aphrodite
by Sappho
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Immortal Aphrodite, throned in splendor!
Wile-weaving daughter of Zeus, enchantress, and beguiler!
I implore you, dread mistress, discipline me no longer
with love's anguish!

But come to me once again in kindness,
heeding my prayers as you...Read More

On the day he came to visit me there was nothing out of the ordinary
This day had started rather grey with rain clouds overhead
But when I saw him at my door to me this day meant so much more
This day...Read More

I would like to propose to the leaders,
Of all the countries in the free world,
That there should be a day in a year,
When there is ban on spoken word!

No adult allowed any verbal attempt,
All communications only be by signs,
Children under...Read More

Swiftly and bravely,
The Hare scatters from its home,
a glimpse of nature.
...Read More

Rebirth

Grey ghostly clarions
Swiftly travel
To the east of darkling day
Riding on a dirge wind
Blowing harsh
Over waters that reflect
The fading dawn
When they turn to blood red, 
Glowing crimson,
As they color the vast and swirling grey
Trumpeting to the earth,
With light retreating,
The call of...Read More

A Lull

An event that surfers know too well,
for it visits upon them, time and time, again,
and upon its occasion, it is best to parley.

Friends are made whilst best friends meld,
as addresses are traded, and rendezvous are created,
amidst an extension of...Read More

Well, which is it – till, until or that odd-
looking miscreant ‘til, a botched up job?
And how and why does it matter if the use
of ‘til by writers is not seen as an abuse?
Granted, when spoken it matters not a...Read More

Darkness has swiftly fallen
and caught me unaware.
Upon an unknown path
in the middle of despair.

The footsteps I hear behind me
are the ghosts of yesteryear.
Lights that use to guide my way
seem to all have disappeared.

Foggy are the memories
that once had held a...Read More