Behind the mask
I feel my warm breath
Grateful
For the Grace of life

Behind the mask
I don’t need
To speak so much
Grateful
For the Grace of Silence

Behind the mask
I see her smile
In her eyes
Grateful
For the Grace of smiles

Behind the mask
We hug
With smiles
Grateful
For Grace of hugging eyes

Behind the mask
I see all of creation
In the lap of Mother Earth
Hiding
From themselves
Suffering
Behind masks
I pray
Grateful
For the Grace of prayer

I pray
For front line workers
Leaders of nations
Poor and hungry
Sick and dying

I pray
For people and plants
Gardens and dungeons
Earth and skies

I pray
With folded hands
Streaming tears
Wetting my mask
Grateful
To you
For the Grace of reading

It’s only thing that brings me back to my truest self,
the self that only the wild air , trees and inhabitants know
Its spirit meshes with mine and I am whole.

gimME that ol’ time religion!
by michael r. burch

fiddle-dee-dum, fiddle-dee-dee,
jesus loves and understands ME!
safe in his grace, I’LL **** them to hell—
the strumpet, the harlot, the wild jezebel,
the alky, the druggie, all queers short and tall!
let them drink ashes and wormwood and gall,
’cause fiddle-dee-DUMB, fiddle-dee-WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEee . . .
jesus loves and understands
ME!

Keywords/Tags: Christianity, intolerance, hell, chosen few, love, grace, salvation, favoritism, Jesus, wormwood, gall, fire, brimstone, eternal torture

her nose is a perfect shape
the kind that points perfectly out
and is perfectly straight
her eyebrows are short
as if somebody took a razor and shaved them off
leaving only a few strand by the bridge
her eyes are cloudy
not particularly sultry, yet unexplainably seductive
her lips are the type you see in old movies
with the upper lip all pointed
and the lower over lined and round
she's got tons of scars but i can't see them
and it's not because i'm not looking hard enough
trust me i am
its because every time i look at her
all i see is her
that's why her features are so hard to describe
she's so familiar to me
her face looks like
her face
her body resembles that of the gods
she's picture perfect
the way she lies there
my god I could look at her forever
I could hold her forever
she is the epitome of grace
the epitome of excitement
and above all

Standing still in soothing steeping sunlight
She, my basil beauty in the limelight
Queen of shrubs, she truly deserves the name
Straight as a lilly, heading high her fame.

Tiny flowers, but leaves spreading fragrance
Slender body, trumpeting radiance
Holy, Lemon, African, Thai or Sweet
What wide varieties for us to meet.

Tender childish greenish leaves her stems hold
Dried and crushed spreaded over pizza folds
With honey she opens wind pipes at ease
And open gates of heaven for the Greece.

Wonder how to stop praises of your grace
Let me have some divine leaves for my vase.

Her Grace Flows Freely
by Michael R. Burch

July 7, 2007

Her love is always chaste, and pure.
    This I vow. This I aver.
If she shows me her grace, I will honor her.
    This I vow. This I aver.
Her grace flows freely, like her hair.
    This I vow. This I aver.
For her generousness, I would worship her.
    This I vow. This I aver.
I will not **** her for what I bear
    This I vow. This I aver.
like a most precious incense–desire for her,
    This I vow. This I aver.
nor call her “*****” where I seek to repair.
    This I vow. This I aver.
I will not wink, nor smirk, nor stare
    This I vow. This I aver.
like a foolish child at the foot of a stair
    This I vow. This I aver.
where I long to go, should another be there.
    This I vow. This I aver.
I’ll rejoice in her freedom, and always dare
    This I vow. This I aver.
the chance that she’ll flee me–my starling rare.
    This I vow. This I aver.
And then, if she stays, without stays, I swear
    This I vow. This I aver.
that I will joy in her grace beyond compare.
    This I vow. This I aver.

Keywords/Tags: Love, grace, vow, pure, purity, desire, ******, equality, freedom, trust, joy, aver, state, affirm, affirmation

gimME that ol’ time religion!
by michael r. burch

fiddle-dee-dum, fiddle-dee-dee,
jesus loves and understands ME!
safe in his grace, I’LL **** them to hell—
the strumpet, the harlot, the wild jezebel,
the alky, the druggie, all queers short and tall!
let them drink ashes and wormwood and gall,
’cause fiddle-dee-DUMB, fiddle-dee-WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEee . . .
jesus loves and understands
ME!

Keywords/Tags: Christianity, intolerance, hell, chosen few, love, grace, salvation, favoritism, Jesus, wormwood, gall, fire, brimstone, eternal torture

Chloe
by Michael R. Burch

There were skies onyx at night ... moons by day ...
lakes pale as her eyes ... breathless winds
******* tall elms ... she would say
that we'd loved, but some book said we’d sinned.

Soon impatiens too fiery to stay
sagged; the crocus bells drooped, golden-limned;
things of brightness, rinsed out, ran to gray ...
all the light of that world softly dimmed.

Where our feet were inclined, we would stray;
there were paths where dead weeds stood untrimmed,
distant mountains that loomed in our way,
thunder booming down valleys dark-hymned.

What I found, I found lost in her face
while yielding all my virtue to her grace.

Originally published by Romantics Quarterly as “A Dying Fall.” Keywords/Tags: Night, onyx, skies, love, ***, sin, thunder, lightning, virtue, grace, moons, lakes, winds, mountains, Chloe