Tag Archives: Paul Burgess

Sonnet: Paul Burgess, ‘Asymmetrical War’

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They’re hoping schools won’t rain as rubble showers
resulting from an errant missile strike.
I can’t afford the drive to see the flowers
around the gorge I’d waited months to hike.
They fear they’ll find their children split in half
or buried under shrapnel, dust, and rocks.
I’m scared the jagged line upon a graph
will show decreasing values of my stocks.
Their sky’s become an endless sea of threats
erupting with the sights and sounds of war,
but over here, we’re making mobile bets
on every prop the market’s apps can score.
There’s something vaguely troubling, sad, and dark
about an age of gulfs so deep and stark.

*****

Paul Burgess writes: “I am grateful that we are safe here in the U.S., but I also feel queasy thinking about the fact that Iran is really experiencing the horrors of war while we are fretting about gas prices (with reason, of course), watching the stock market (again, understandable but minor compared to fearing for one’s life), and literally betting on various war-related scenarios and outcomes (sociopathic at best).”

‘Asymmetrical War’ was first published in the The New Verse News

Paul Burgess is the sole proprietor of a business in Lexington, Kentucky that offers ESL classes in addition to English, Japanese, and Spanish-language translation and interpretation services. He has contributed work to Blue Unicorn, The Road Not Taken, Light, The Orchards, Snakeskin, Pulsebeat, Lighten Up Online, Apricity, Star*Line, Asses of Parnassus, The New Verse News, and many other publications.

“Electron asymmetric motion animation” by Sbyrnes321 is marked with CC0 1.0.

Sonnet: Paul Burgess, ‘Reynadine’s Farm’

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“The chickens should have been a tighter group,
and Farmer should have purchased stronger locks
instead of whining now about the coop
and getting mad at Reynardine, the fox.

The chickens didn’t mend defensive flaws
or try to get a gun or sharper beak.
Why blame the beast with wits and stronger jaws
for weeding out the losers and the weak?

The victim here, whose name they’ve tried to harm,
has suffered public shame and sad disgrace.
To make it right, he must receive the farm.
I thank Your Honors now and rest my case.”

The judges ruled in Reynardine’s support
because the fox had also bought the court.

*****

Paul Burgess writes: “The Elizabethan sonnet, which I love to adapt to many purposes, is a natural fit for the structure I like best: a setup, a volta, and a jolt at the end.  Many of my best poems succeed, and my worst fail, because of my persistent embrace of tonal ambiguity. This poem is no exception. I like the tension between a seemingly folksy and witty parable and a traditionally serious, elegant form. For me, there’s humor in darkness and darkness in humor. The balance shifts, but I don’t think I could ever completely separate the two and still be myself, as a person or as a writer.”

‘Reynadine’s Farm’ was first published in Snakeskin.

Paul Burgess, an emerging poet, is the sole proprietor of a business in Lexington, Kentucky that offers ESL classes in addition to English, Japanese, and Spanish-language translation and interpretation services. He has recently contributed work to Blue Unicorn, Light, The Orchards, The Ekphrastic Review, Pulsebeat, The New Verse News, Lighten Up On Line, The Asses of Parnassus, and several other publications.

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Photo: “Ely Cathedral: Stained Glass Museum” by Phil McIver is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.