Michael R. Burch

Michael R. Burch (born February 19, 1958) is an American computer company executive, poet, columnist, essayist and editor who lives in Nashville, Tennessee.His writing has appeared in a wide range of publications, including TIME, USA Today, The Hindu, CNN.com, BBC Radio Three, and Writer’s Digest – The Year’s Best Writing. His work has been published over 11,000 times^[1] in literary journals, anthologies, blogs, websites, and newspapers worldwide.^[2]

Early life and education

Michael R. Burch began writing poetry at a young age and was first published in his high school literary journal The Lantern, followed by college publication in Homespun.^[1] Although these early publications helped affirm his interest for poetry, Burch became disillusioned after an early experience with a vanity press. This experience led him to pause submitting his work for several years.^[2]

Career

Burch resumed submitting poems in the early 1990s after a renewed interest in poetry inspired by ancient Celtic myths and Arthurian legends.^[3] His first confirmed publication outside of academic journals and vanity presses was in Golden Isis in 1993.^[4]

In 1998 when he discovered Poet’s Market and learned of systemic bias against traditional poetry in many literary journals, Burch began to be more selective about where he submitted, with increasing success.^[5]

In response to what he perceived as editorial gatekeeping and stylistic discrimination, Burch founded The HyperTexts, an online literary journal committed to publishing a wide range of poetic styles, including formal and previously published work.^[6]

Since its inception, The HyperTexts has received over 17 million page views and has published poems by both established and emerging voices. Burch has often described the journal as breaking the "rules" of contemporary literary publishing, especially in its policy of accepting previously published poems and promoting traditional verse forms.^[4]

Burch has served as an editor, board member or advisor for several other literary publications, including Borderless Journal, Better Than Starbucks, and The Chained Muse.^[2] His approach to poetry submission is nonconformist: he refuses to change his style to suit editorial trends, advocating instead for poets to remain authentic and submit work only to journals that support their artistic vision.

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.^[7]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.^[1]

Burch's poems, essays, articles, and letters have appeared in publications such as TIME,^[8] USA Today,^[9] Writer's Digest,^[10] Writer's Journal, Writer's Gazette, The Lyric, Light Quarterly, Measure, Poet Lore, The Raintown Review, Trinacria, Ancient Cypress Press,^[11] The New Formalist,^[12] and hundreds of other literary journals. He had a weekly column in Nashville's City Paper,^[13] 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]

Writing style and themes

Burch is best known for his formalist approach, frequently writing in rhyme and meter at a time when such styles are often marginalized in mainstream poetry.^[6]

Burch has been very active in the poetry movements known as New Formalism and neo-romanticism.^[19]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.^[20]

His poetry often explores themes of love, mortality, injustice, peace, mythology, and spiritual longing.^[21] He has described himself as the “Johnny Appleseed of poetry,” aiming to plant literary seeds widely across the internet to ensure the long-term survival and discovery of meaningful verse.^[4]

Advocacy and activism

Burch is an outspoken critic of what he calls the “literary kiss of death”, a reference to the restrictive demand by many literary journals that they only publish previously unpublished work.^[4] He views this policy as detrimental to both poets and readers, limiting the potential audience for quality poems.^[9] His editorial philosophy centers around accessibility, inclusivity, and the breaking down of artificial literary hierarchies.^[1]

Also a peace activist, he is the author of the Burch-Elberry Peace Initiative, which has been published online by United Progressives and the National Forum of India.^[22]On October 21, 2010, Burch presented the Burch-Elberry Peace Initiative to Aziz Mekouar, the Moroccan Ambassador to the United States, at a reception held in the Grand Ballroom of Nashville's Vanderbilt Plaza hotel. Burch was also one of the featured speakers at a Freedom Walk for Palestinians held on October 10, 2009, in Nashville.^[23][24]

Personal life

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.^[5]

Awards

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.^[10][25][26]

Published works

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^[27]
• 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