Ralph Burns Poems

A man staring at a small lake sees
His father cast light line out over
The willows.He's forgotten his
Father has been dead for two years
...

He continues to ponder
And his wife moves next to him.
She looks.They look at themselves
Looking through the fog.
...

Flap, flap went the mind of the bird
Who flew out of my grandmother's attic
Like heat in the creases
Where air used to be.One week
...

Two or more strands twisted together,
Oxides and baser salts, admixture
Of carbon, metal of lash and scourge,
Strung like a virus, barbed intervals,
...

After my student went to the doctor to
Check out the rash speckling his
Right hand and found out he had
Leukemia, that the cancer had spread
...