In this world of miss opportunity
I can barely sing in this atmosphere
I’m living in this world where reflections are used as fear
Im look all around till I see through these spheres
Everyone is ready to throat cut the melodies of my soul
The world revolves and evolves even through flaws
So when I’m living out my dreams I’m not going to be just sleeping
I’m all around
•
I’m a sphere in this atmosphere
Fear is now my melody for flying
The world filled with mirrors and I’m now dressed in tunes and dreams
My voice is now the soil of my soul
Choking up the air that once held me in horror
The devil and the lord are just passengers in my flight
•
In my fight with spheres and mirrors
I’m pursuing dreams and pictures
Paintings and boxing rings pump fear
Broken glass, I can see many reflections
The big picture here in the spheres and mirrors
Can’t depict the world in which we’ve all created

of a repeat image he did employ
which was akin to an advertisement
this being the artist's own singular ploy
did he do it for some little amusement
in galleries these very works can be seen
where they will feature an alike object
as if the viewer needed a copy screen
to understand the picture's subject
a dozen or more on the white background
they displayed a famous maker's name
who did blend the tasty liquid's abound
that was captured in a pop artist's frame
on this night I've written about the man
known far and wide for depicting a can

I showed my best friend
A picture of me from years ago.
She told me the light is
Gone from my eyes.
That it looked as though a
Ghost had went through
Me and ripped my spirit out.
In a way, that did happen.
Only you aren't a ghost,
And I still have a spirit,
It's just lost.

When she goes out, it's like it's her last night alive.
When he goes out, he clears his mind by taking a midnight drive through the countryside.
After a long night alone in an empty bar, she decided to take a chance and get in her car.
He went out too but didn't make it very far. Only 10 miles.
10 miles from home, 2 lives were lost.
10 miles from home, she didn't think about the cost.
10 miles from home, 2 families will never be the same.
10 miles from home stands a memorial with a picture and their names

Snapshots
by Michael R. Burch

Here I scrawl extravagant rainbows.
And there you go, skipping your way to school.
And here we are, drifting apart
like untethered balloons.

Here I am, creating "art,"
chanting in shadows,
pale as the crinoline moon,
ignoring your face.

There you go,
in diaphanous lace,
making another man’s heart swoon.
Suddenly, unthinkably, here he is,
taking my place.

Published by Tucumcari Literary Review, Romantics Quarterly, Centrifugal Eye, Poetry Webring, Poetry Life & Times and The Eclectic Muse. Keywords/Tags: snapshot, picture, photograph, photo, album, memory, keepsake, remembrance, token, memento, art, replacement

One day I'll wake up to a different day,
as I bid farewell to my past.
I'll wake up to a different sky.
A beautiful day.

You'll see my eyes grin
as the warm sun kiss my face in joy,
And my hair dance to the tempo of the breeze.

You'll find me hop past the pink meadows like a merry child.
And then you'll see me run.
And I'll run as fast as I can,
like a firework in the sky,
rejoicing every stride towards freedom I take,
in this beautiful maze called life.

Chain smoking sadness, slapped by time.
Winter doesn't freeze the pain.
There was one thing that
Mom wanted more than
anything else in the world:
It was to have a
picture of her
seven kids all together,
in one place,
at one time.
There was an age
difference of
23 years between the
youngest to the oldest,
and 1000 miles separating us.

In December of 1987
two weeks before Christmas,
I held a picture of
the seven of us all together.
I put it in the
right front pocket of
her navy blue blazer.
After the funeral,
we buried her with it.