These heretical poems on the subjects of God, religion and Christianity explain why I “left” the Religious Right.
If one screams below,
what the hell is "Above"?
—Michael R. Burch
Religion is regarded by fools as true, by the wise as false, and by rulers as useful. — Seneca, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch
Bible Libel
by Michael R. Burch
If God
is good,
half the Bible
is libel.
These are love poems by Michael R. Burch: original poems and translations about love, passion, desire, sex, flirting, dating and marriage. On an amusing note, my steamy Sappho and Baudelaire translations have become popular with the pros ― porn stars and escort services!
Preposterous Eros
by Michael R. Burch
“Preposterous Eros” – Patricia Falanga
Preposterous Eros shot me in
the buttocks, with a Devilish grin,
spent all my money in a rush
then left my heart effete pink mush.
In the quiet of the night,
We find a truth profound: there are no borders in our souls.
No lines to mark where you end and where I begin,
In the vast expanse within, we are kin.
Our hearts beat in unison, a universal song,
In the dance of life, we all belong.
No walls can hold the spirit, no chains can bind the heart,
In the realm of the soul, we are never apart.
These are poems about poetry, poems about writing, poems about the process of composition...
The Composition of Shadows (I)
by Michael R. Burch
“I made it out of a mouthful of air.”—W. B. Yeats
We breathe and so we write; the night
hums softly its accompaniment.
Pale phosphors burn; the page we turn
leads onward, and we smile, content.
And what we mean we write to learn:
the vowels of love, the consonants’
strange golden weight, each plosive’s shape—
curved like the heart. Here, resonant,...
These are prayer poems by Michael R. Burch, along with a few hymns and hymn-like prayer poems. There are also poems on the subject of God and religion—the Christian religion in particular. In my youth I wrote some devotional poems but my later poems tend to be heretical, after in-depth study of the Bible revealed things unworthy of decent human beings, much less a perfect deity.
I Pray Tonight
by Michael R. Burch
I pray tonight
the starry light
might
surround you.
I pray
each day
that, come what may,
no dark thing confound you.
The Best Poems of Michael R. Burch, Part II
The Most Popular Poems of Michael R. Burch, Part II
She bathes in silver
by Michael R. Burch
She bathes in silver,
~~~~~afloat~~~~~
on her reflections...
Kin
by Michael R. Burch
O pale, austere moon,
haughty beauty ...
what do we know of love,
or duty?
Styx
by Michael R. Burch, age 16
Black waters,
deep and dark and still . . .
all men have passed this way,
or will.
These are longer poems and longish poems by Michael R. Burch.
These Hallowed Halls
by Michael R. Burch
a young Romantic Poet mourns the passing of an age...
I.
A final stereo fades into silence
and now there is seldom a murmur
to trouble the slumber
of these ancient halls.
I stand by a window where others have watched
the passage of time—alone,
not untouched.
These are poems about sinking, poems about drowning, poems about loss, and poems about new discoveries we sometimes make while feeling lost...
Sinking
by Michael R. Burch
for Virginia Woolf
Weigh me down with stones…
fill all the pockets of my gown…
I’m going down,
mad as the world
that can’t recover,
to where even mermaids drown.
Door Mouse
by Michael R. Burch
These are love poems I wrote for my wife, Elizabeth Harris Burch.
Once
by Michael R. Burch
for Beth
Once when her kisses were fire incarnate
and left in their imprint bright lipstick, and flame,
when her breath rose and fell over smoldering dunes,
leaving me listlessly sighing her name ...
"AFTER CUMMINGS" POEMS
These are poems that I have written "after" e. e. cummings. Many of these poem were written during my early "Cummings Period," which started around age 14-15 when I discovered his poems in an English textbook. I have a cummings-ish type of poem that I call a "ur" poem. I will explain that modus operandi when we get to the first "ur" poem.
