Warm daze, when you wore flowers in your hair,
sleepless nights with your shawl wrapped 'round us both,
under glowing moon, paradise was there,
the blue of the night from the undergrowth,
down a dark garden, so far from daylight,
sharing the night with the sounds from the wild,
if the howls frighten you, I'll grip you tight.
With black flowing hair, in perfect mess styled,
take me to the beach, bury me in sand,
don't you know you are my approaching tide?,
the broken finger on the other hand,
for you, all of my doors lay open wide,
to places unknown and all things unplanned,
we'll hide there in golden castles of sand.

I don't know who you are, or where you are,
But something in my heart tells me that you
Are waiting somewhere safe, beneath the stars,
Also seeking, having no single clue.
Maybe I saw you in the sea of crowds,
And smelled the scent of mystery,
Passing me by so quietly like clouds,
Continuing my path upon the sea.
Maybe you are a friend, a wife or mentor,
Or maybe both; It is ungraspable,
To know the future now. I will explore
Everything for now that is practical.
    And so I'll live, from all suspicions free,
    Whoever and where my soulmate may be.

The times of existential angst are done,
And so are times of reckless assumptions,
Pretentiousness of insecurities gone,
Along the astray ways, and their seductions.
I have become twenty-two, and my eyes
See differently; no darkness anymore,
They're open wide like rosy morning-skies,
With a steady gaze, brighter than before.
But I don't claim to know it all, no – never,
For I surely know that I do not know,
Seeking meanings with all my heart forever,
Making me human, and making me grow.
    There is much left to see, and learn, and sing,
    I'm curious; let's see what fate will bring.

Beautiful tethered soul, does joy not come to mind?
Be it during your most difficult or easiest time?
Does the love of your father not make you smile-
Even when everybody else seem to have nothing worthwhile?
Not in the slightest do they know-
The things inhaled for you to blow-
Nor the heavy bricks that made you cry,-
"I am but a poor passion, tell me why?"
Beautiful liberated mind, you are everything good in this space.
In the utmost darkness of all, you shine all over the place.
Never underestimate the power of living you have-
Never look down on a diamond cut in half-
Courage is a seed sown by one's mother-
its flower is grown by the strength of you, the other.

School books never liked me, I’ve always known
but it’s not my fault! I like to have fun
and take swigs while smelling like acetone.
I suppose I’m an acquired taste, like guns?

Sometimes when I stand up too fast, I fall,
and sometimes when I cry too hard, I ball.
Doctor says water goes best with Tylenol,
but it tastes better with some alcohol.

My head feels like it’s splitting into two,
there’s no amount of medicine to help.
I’ve tried covering my mouth with some glue,
but ethanol seems to dissolve it well.

I think I shouldn’t drink this toxic brew,
but hell, “what’s one more swig going to do?”

Behold, a crow caw tears cold air,
ripping breezes to shreds tattered,
will Time **** her black bones fair?
He tries, but Her cries mattered.
Matters to whom, one can ask.
The Lady by her dim window unclear,
Using a clammy night for mask,
the docile heart, her beating, biding fear.
Ebony wings turn quietly…
Upon an evening dreary and sad,
fairest, My Crow, shrieks piercingly
and the Lady’s *****: glad.
For crow’s wails lament morbidly-
Screaming to and with the far too lonely.

Come!
by Michael R. Burch

Will you come to visit my grave, I wonder,
in the season of lightning, the season of thunder,
when I have lain so long in the indifferent earth
that I have no girth?

When my womb has conformed to the chastity
your anemic Messiah envisioned for me,
will you finally be pleased that my *** was thus rendered
unpalatable, disengendered?

And when those strange loathsome organs that troubled you so
have been eaten by worms, will the heavens still glow
with the approval of God that I ended a maid―
thanks to a *****?

And will you come to visit my grave, I wonder,
in the season of lightning, the season of thunder?

Keywords/Tags: sonnet, god, religion, Christianity, puritanism, chastity, ******, virginity, nun, ***, lust, desire, death, grave, passion, lightning, thunder, earth, womb, tomb, worms, organs, maid, maidenhead, *****

My shiny snake, you inspire me to write.
I hate the way you slither, look and hiss,
Invading my mind day and through the night,
Always dreaming about our first real kiss.

Let me remember where I went astray,
When you turned creepy, clever and awful.
Do you realise just how much evil dismay,
You caused me with your plight oh so painful.

How do I hate you? Let me count the ways.
I hate your terrible smile, tongue and eyes.
Thinking of your woeful words fills my days.
My hate for you can only grow in disguise.

Now I must away with a weepy heart,
Remember my cruel words whilst we're apart.