god

These are epigrams by Michael R. Burch ...

Love is either wholly folly,
or fully holy.
—Michael R. Burch

Let me live with joy today, since tomorrow is unforeseeable.
—Palladas of Alexandria, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Love renders reason senseless.
—Rumi, loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Hell hath no Fury like our furry Führer.
—Michael R. Burch

Springing, seeping,
Waters flow.
Lithely, floating,
Autumn glow.
Waxing, moaning,
Harvest sky.
Closing eyes,
Sorrowful cry.

"Cleansings" is a Holocaust poem I wrote while working with Holocaust survivors like Yala Korwin to translate Polish and Yiddish Holocaust poems into English.

Cleansings
by Michael R. Burch

Walk here among the walking specters. Learn
inhuman patience. Flesh can only cleave
to bone this tightly if their hearts believe
that G-d is good, and never mind the Urn.

These are humorous epigrams about love, sex, procreation, politics, God, the Bible, religion, life and death.

Less Heroic Couplets: Midnight Stairclimber
by Michael R. Burch

Procreation
is at first great sweaty recreation,
then—long, long after the sex dies—
the source of endless exercise.

Published by: The HyperTexts

***

Less Heroic Couplets: Liquidity Crisis
by Michael R. Burch

These are epigrams I have written over the years about God, religion, the Bible and Christianity. The first epigram is the first poem I remember writing as a boy. 

Bible Libel
by Michael R. Burch

If God
is good,
half the Bible
is libel.

I wrote the epigram above sometime between age eleven and thirteen, after having read the Bible from cover to cover and wondering how anyone could possibly consider the biblical "god" to be "good."

Redefinitions

These are my modern English translations of poems by the Russian poet Alexander Pushkin.

I Loved You
by Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

I loved you ... perhaps I love you still ...
perhaps for a while such emotions may remain.
But please don’t let my feelings trouble you;
I do not wish to cause you further pain.

These are heretical poems about Christian concepts such as heaven, hell and salvation. In the past I have published such poems under the heading "Heresy Hearsay." 

Less Heroic Couplets: Funding Fundamentals
by Michael R. Burch

“I found out that I was a Christian for revenue only and I could not bear the thought of that, it was so ignoble.” — Mark Twain

These are heretical poems beginning with the first poem that I can remember writing, "Bible Libel," which I composed sometime between the ages of eleven and thirteen.

Bible Libel
by Michael R. Burch

If God
is good,
half the Bible
is libel.

Published by Boloji (India), Nexus Myanmar (Burma), Kalemati (Iran), Pride Magazine, Brief Poems, Idle Hearts, AZquotes (Top 17 Very Witty Quotes), QuoteStats (the #12 Functional Family  Quote), and numerous other quotation websites

after Martin Niemoller

First they came for the Muslims
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Muslim.

Then they came for the homosexuals
and I did not speak out
because I was not a homosexual.

Then they came for the feminists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a feminist.

Now when will they come for me
because I was too busy and too apathetic
to defend my sisters and brothers?

Absolute
Black and White –
Resolute
Adamic domicile.
A black storm
Veiling blue sky.
Thin ray
Cast from persistent
Sun steadily
Erodes
Status quo and
Dubious good.
With sunlight
Upon crystalline
Droplets,
Rainbow backdrops
A dove fleeing
Noah’s flood with
Olive branch
Ushering in
An inclusive
Love and a
Greater good.