I AM!
by Michael R. Burch
I am not one of ten billion—I—
sunblackened Icarus, chary fly,
staring at God with a quizzical eye.
I am not one of ten billion, I.
I am not one life has left unsquashed—
scarred as Ulysses, goddess-debauched,
pale glowworm agleam with a tale of panache.
I am not one life has left unsquashed.
I am not one without spots of disease,
laugh lines and tan lines and thick-callused knees
from begging and praying and girls sighing “Please!”
I am not one without spots of disease.
I am not one of ten billion—I—
scion of Daedalus, blackwinged fly
staring at God with a sedulous eye.
I am not one of ten billion, I
AM!
Fledglings
by Michael R. Burch
With her small eyes, pale blue and unforgiving,
she taught me: December is not for those
unweaned of love, the chirping nestlings
who bicker for worms with dramatic throats
still pinkly exposed, ... who have yet to learn
the first harsh lesson of survival: to devour
their weaker siblings in the high-leafed ferned
fortress and impregnable bower
from which men must fly like improbable dreams
to become poets. They have yet to grasp that,
before they can soar starward like fanciful archaic machines,
they must first assimilate the latest technology, ... or
lose all in the sudden realization of gravity,
following Icarus’s sun-unwinged, singed trajectory.
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I AM is wonderful1
Both of these poems are fabulous, and it is always a real treat to see Michael R. Burch’s work here. “I AM!” is especially phenomenal and is the one that I keep going back to. I’ve been sleeping on this wonderful poem for a long time, as I had never actually read it until very recently. It possesses (among other things) a most delightful musicality. I especially love the opening lines:
“I am not one of ten billion—I—
sunblackened Icarus, chary fly,
staring at God with a quizzical eye.
I am not one of ten billion, I.”
The legend of Icarus has resonated with me since I was a child, and I feel that “I AM!” and Mike’s other Icarus-themed poems do the story great justice and are in keeping with a timeless tradition. Bravo, Mike!