#spire
Crescendo Against Heaven
by Michael R. Burch
This is a poem about a crisis of faith that occurred after the death of the wife of a fellow poet.
As curiously formal as the rose,
the imperious Word grows
until it sheds red-gilded leaves:
then heaven grieves
love’s tiny pool of crimson recrimination
against God, its contention
of the price of salvation.
These industrious trees,
endlessly losing and re-losing their leaves,
finally unleashing themselves from earth, lashing
themselves to bits, washing
themselves free
of all but the final ignominy
of death, become
at last: fast planks of our coffins, dumb.
Together now, rude coffins, crosses,
death-cursed but bright vermilion roses,
bodies, stumps, tears, words: conspire
together with a nearby spire
to raise their Accusation Dire ...
to scream, complain, to point out these
and other Dark Anomalies.
God always silent, ever afar,
distant as Bethlehem’s retrograde star,
we point out now, in resignation:
You asked too much of man’s beleaguered nation,
gave too much strength to his Enemy,
as though to prove Your Self greater than He,
at our expense, and so men die
(whose accusations vex the sky)
yet hope, somehow, that You are good ...
just, O greatest of Poets!, misunderstood.
Published by The NeoVictorian/Cochlea, Poetry Life & Times and The Eclectic Muse (Canada). Keywords/Tags: crescendo, heaven, salvation, price, cost, hymn, funeral, grave, graves, coffins, cross, crosses, cemetery, graveyard, church, spire, God, distant, silent, misunderstood
Mar 22, 2020
Mar 22, 2020 at 1:02 AM UTC
It's easy to get angry
and see the worst in
everyone & everything
isn't it?
No one is above the
bottom mounted
power supply
if one is
One likely bleeds money profusely
At the bottom pointing
fingers at the
portions of pie
passed around
Get your pitchfork
Get your rock
Get your virulence
Put your words to work
Put the words to terms
Put the terms to head
Blow the brains
Serve justice upon the lame
Serve justice upon the poor
Serve justice upon the tray
Of silver fear
With the money
Make guns
With the gun the
Money, make or break
With the money
Buy guns
With the gun ****
With your gun away
All these people fighting over
Fences and personal defenses
Look more and more like ants
On this elevator up
As the poverty line rises
The middle meets the bottom
Resources are scarce as it is
Now add to that the opulence
Wanting younger sibling of
The richest parts of a country
And you have two distinct groups
That don't understand how
The U.S. government works
That don't understand mass
Media conglomeration
That don't understand those
Two groups fight and also
Fight the churches for the
Remnants of our human soul
Earth is the perfect farm
Introduce a material form of power
Then put your bids on the board
Watch as the poor and the poor
****** each other for the right
To dive on coins
Left.
Right.
Up.
Down is where we're at.
Jul 3, 2018
Jul 3, 2018 at 10:30 AM UTC
have you tried to count
all these grains?
do not bother; instead
count all the ways you
can put them together.
until then, I will
grab a handful
and a shovel and some
quiet splashes of water
to pass the time.
this one has long spires
pointing above with all its
might, as if showing me
that the only way
to go is up.
another has windows beside
windows and they invite
me to come take a look, yet
I keep distance in fear that
I see something painful.
over there has a drawbridge
a shortcut to go the easy way
in or easy way out; or maybe you
will pull it up when you've
let it more that you can handle.
that farthest one is actually
the same as the home of princes
with towers and balconies where
together they spend their days
watching the flowers bloom.
this right here is my favorite
the youngest one, still a flat
expanse of soft ground that
begs to be held and to be
formed and loved.
choose one. call it by name,
because now you shall own it.
Embrace it, but take care
that your elbows fit the spires
and your shins are at peace.
but sooner that you wish,
the water retreats with the
will of potential; until it
finally roars back with
the bellow of decision.
and alas,
it is clean again.
Sep 14, 2015
Sep 14, 2015 at 7:00 AM UTC
Let fire consume the world
the it wash away your soul
let it burn you away like coal
let it prosper
let it spire
let it burn you away
like fire
Feb 4, 2015
Feb 4, 2015 at 10:44 AM UTC