five poems
by Wayne F. Burke
A Place in the Sun
all I ever wanted
but even that comes
for a price, you
must fight for it,
they will put you
in the shade otherwise,
say that you belong
in the shadows, make
you out to be a child of
darkness, tell you
that they own the proprietary
rights, bought with their blood-
stained lucre.
Between You and Me
My old buddy Jack
of toothsome gleam
from honeyed Connecticut
had been football coach
at Yale then lieutenant
in the Marine Corp in
Vietnam—where he went
to save lives of soldiers, he said
not to kill anyone—he prefaced
all remarks with “do not tell
anyone this.” I never knew
who or whom he thought
I would tell what to:
“just between us, okay?”
Did he work for the CIA?
I never asked. He was so
poor when I knew him, he
used toothpaste as shaving
cream, but after his father
died, he inherited a house,
no mortgage, and a big roll
of cash to pay for all the
shaving cream he needed.
Bark
A man calls “come
when I call” and
a small boy comes running.
I lay my book aside
turn my head and
run with him
step for step
to the big car
duck
weave
into the back seat
to avoid the back-handed
slap of
a bastard long dead
who lives-on
in the dark snarl
of a stranger
while I live-on as the boy
who must run
who cannot bark
who says “yes master
I am coming!”
Kate
She blew me like she meant it:
like she wanted to, not as favor
or reward, but to please because
she felt I was worth it: noisily
sucking, determined; red-
cheeked with the effort…
She was the best, but I was
too dumb back
when, to realize it.
Cops
checking me out as
I sit in the park, they
are going to stop and
ask me to button the
top button of my shirt,
they are going to ask
what I am writing and
why, they are going to
follow me to my place
and peek through windows
to see how often I go to
the bathroom and for how
long, they are going to
gather stool samples to
see what I have been eating,
they are going to subpoena
my library card to see what
I have been reading, they
are cops, they cannot help
themselves, they have cop
souls and act as they must.
Photo of Wayne F. Burke
BIO: Wayne F. Burke's poetry has been widely published online and in print, including in BLOOD & HONEY. He has authored ten poetry collection, most recently WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY WAYNE? Hog Press. 2025. He lives in Vermont (USA).