Michael R. Burch

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Michael Ray Burch (born February 19, 1958) is an American poet.

Life[edit]

Michael R. Burch (born February 19, 1958) is an American computer company executive,[1] poet,[2] columnist,[3] essayist [4] and editor[5] who lives in Nashville, Tennessee.

Also a peace activist, he is the author of the Burch-Elberry Peace Initiative,[6] which has been published online by United Progressives and the National Forum of India. On October 21, 2010, Burch presented the Burch-Elberry Peace Initiative to Aziz Mekouar, the Moroccan Ambassador to the United States, at a reception[7] held in the Grand Ballroom of Nashville's Vanderbilt Plaza hotel. Burch was also one of the featured speakers at a Freedom Walk[8] for Palestinians held on October 10, 2009, in Nashville.

Burch has been very active in the poetry movements known as New Formalism and Neo-Romanticism. When Kevin N. Roberts founded and launched the poetry journal Romantics Quarterly, he selected five poems by Burch to lead off the premier issue (Winter 2001), and Burch had three or more poems in each of the first eight issues. Burch also encouraged contemporary formalists he had published, such as Richard Moore, Rhina Espaillat, Jack Butler, Annie Finch, A. E. Stallings and Harvey Stanbrough to contribute to Romantics Quarterly. After Romantics Quarterly ceased publication, Burch published a number of the journal's best poems through his literary website The HyperTexts [1], which has been online for two decades and according to Google Analytics has received more than 9.8 million page views since 2010. In addition to the poets named above, Burch has also published Jared Carter, R. S. Gwynn, Julie Kane, X. J. Kennedy, Jan Schreiber, Tom Merrill, Joseph S. Salemi and other formalist poets of note.

Burch's poems, essays, articles, and letters have appeared in publications such as TIME,[9] USA Today,[10] Writer's Digest,[11] Writer's Journal, Writer's Gazette, The Lyric, Light Quarterly, Measure, Poet Lore, The Raintown Review, Trinacria, Ancient Cypress Press,[12] The New Formalist,[13] and hundreds of other literary journals. He had a weekly column in Nashville's City Paper,[3] for three years until it folded in 2013. He is an editor and publisher of Holocaust, Hiroshima, Trail of Tears, Darfur and Nakba poetry. He has also translated poetry from Old English[14] and other languages into modern English. Poets translated by Burch include Basho, Bertolt Brecht, Robert Burns,[15][16] William Dunbar, Allama Iqbal, Ono no Komachi, Miklós Radnóti,[17] Rainer Maria Rilke, Renée Vivien and Sappho.[18]

Burch is married to Elizabeth Harris Burch, a singer and actress; they have a son, Jeremy Michael Burch, who is a musician, singer and actor.

Awards[edit]

Michael R. Burch has five Pushcart Prize nominations, from The Aurorean, Romantics Quarterly, The Raintown Review, Trinacria, and Victorian Violet Press. His poem "Ordinary Love" won the 2001 Algernon Charles Swinburne Poetry Award. Altogether, he has won seven poetry contests and received awards in 42 writing contests.[11][19][20] .

Published works[edit]

Books

  • Violets for Beth. White Violet Press. 2012. ISBN 9781466489516.
  • O, Terrible Angel. Ancient Cypress Press. 2013. ISBN 9780988964815.
  • Auschwitz Rose (forthcoming from Multicultural Books of British Columbia, Canada)

Awards

  • "Ordinary Love" won the 2001 Algernon Charles Swinburne poetry award
  • "In Flight Convergence" was nominated for the Pushcart Prize by The Aurorean
  • "Ordinary Love" was nominated for the Pushcart Prize by Romantics Quarterly
  • "Isolde's Song" was nominated for the Pushcart Prize by The Raintown Review
  • "Discrimination" was nominated for the Pushcart Prize by Trinacria
  • "Just Smile" was nominated for the Pushcart Prize by Victorian Violet Press
  • "For Rhonda, with Butterflies" was nominated for a Best of the Net by Victorian Violet Press

Anthologies

  • The Bible of Hell
  • How Sweet The Night (a poetry CD published by Romantics Quarterly)
  • Blood to Remember (anthology of Holocaust poetry)
  • Velvet Avalanche
  • Love Me Knots (a collection of 100 top contemporary love poems)
  • Voices Israel Anthology
  • There is Something in the Autumn
  • Captivating Poetry
  • The Book of Hope and Dreams[21]
  • Washing the Color of Water Golden (Hurricane Katrina anthology)
  • listening to the birth of crystals
  • Sailing in the Mist of Time
  • The Best of The Eclectic Muse 1989-2003
  • Poems for Big Kids
  • Anthology of Contemporary American Poetry
  • Little Brown Poetry "Best of 2002 Anthology"
  • A Bouquet of Poems for children of all ages (published by The Lyric)
  • The Centrifugal Eye's Anniversary Anthology 2005-2010

Reviews[edit]

References and External Links[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Michael Burch". Marquis. Retrieved August 22, 2013.
  2. ^ "Michael Burch". Famous Poets. Retrieved August 22, 2013.
  3. ^ a b "Michael Burch". City Paper. Retrieved August 22, 2013.
  4. ^ "Mike Burch". ArtVilla. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved August 22, 2013.
  5. ^ "Michael R. Burch". The HyperTexts. Retrieved August 22, 2013.
  6. ^ "Burch-Elberry Peace Initiative". United Progressives. Retrieved August 23, 2013.
  7. ^ "Burch-Elberry Peace Initiative in Nashville". The HyperTexts. Retrieved August 23, 2013.
  8. ^ "Freedom Walk for Palestinians in Nashville". The HyperTexts. Retrieved August 23, 2013.
  9. ^ TIME 05/18/2009
  10. ^ "USA Today Opinion". USA Today. December 9, 2010. Retrieved December 12, 2010.
  11. ^ a b "Writer's Digest". Writer's Digest. Retrieved December 12, 2012.
  12. ^ "Ancient Cypress Press". Ancient Cypress Press. Retrieved August 22, 2013.
  13. ^ "Mike Burch". New Formalist. Retrieved August 22, 2013.
  14. ^ "Wulf and Eadwacer". A K Haart. 18 December 2011. Retrieved August 22, 2013.
  15. ^ "Catcher in Rye". Study Mode. Retrieved August 22, 2013.
  16. ^ "Catcher in the Rye". JD Salinger blogspot. Archived from the original on August 23, 2013. Retrieved August 22, 2013.
  17. ^ "Hungarian Poems in English". English-Test. Retrieved August 22, 2013.
  18. ^ "Ancient Worlds". Ancient Worlds. Archived from the original on August 23, 2013. Retrieved August 22, 2013.
  19. ^ "Winning Writers". Winning Writers. Retrieved August 22, 2013.
  20. ^ "PRWeb". PRWeb. Retrieved September 15, 2006.
  21. ^ "The Book of Hopes and Dreams". Dee Rimbaud. Retrieved August 22, 2013.

External links[edit]