KEITH BURKHOLDER - POEMS

​Keith Burkholder has been published in Creative Juices, Sol Magazine, Trellis Magazine, Foliate Oak Literary Journal, New Delta Review, Poetry Quarterly, Scarlet Leaf Review, and Birmingham Arts Journal.  He has a bachelor's degree in statistics with a minor in mathematics from SUNY at Buffalo (UB).​

People resort to God for too many things
​

​Look at all the things people resort to,
This is in the name of God,
Yet, nothing changes for them,
I mean nothing,
As an atheist, God is not part of the equation,
The world is what it is because of evolution,
Evolution is reality,
Whereas God is like Santa Claus,
Spiritual concepts are nice,
But they don't make reality a better place,
You read about God,
Even see it on television,
People singing in a choir,
Chanting from the Bible,
Yet, nothing changes,
There is still racism,
There is still bullying,
More and more money going to the law enforcement and the military,
Natural disasters will always exist,
More segregation,
More sexism and classism,
Yet, I never see God and Jesus around to help,
This is how I feel,
Believe in what you want,
It is a free world,
Take care for now,
And may the future get brighter any which way possible for you or anyone around.

Creationism would be a reality if God did things for us on planet Earth

​I am an atheist and proud of it,
God is not here,
Or ever was,
Yet, creationism is still believed by many,
The money that goes into the military and law enforcement
is out of this world,
This is the way it is,
And will always be,
God is not real,
Neither is Jesus,
Yet, billions still believe in them,
Look at what COVID-19 is doing to people,
I could go on and on,
Believe in science,
Science will have the answers for COVID-19,
Believing in God and Jesus is a waste of time,
Believe what you want,
It is a free world,
Take care for now,
Try to be good,
And may a better tomorrow loom for you as the future carries forward.

​Space Bandits

They are from planet Earth,
They travel throughout the solar system,
They take risks,
Robbery is appealing to them,
They have stolen millions of dollars,
Yet, have never spent a day in prison,
They love to travel the solar system,
In their space pods,
They have seen all the planets,
Even far flung Pluto,
What other crimes will they commit?
They are crafty in their robberies,
This is their life,
They will carry forward as well,
Time will pass,
For the future of these bandits is unpredictable as they move forward in days ahead.
 ​

Things in life you can't choose

​Let's face it,
People love problems,
This is stemmed from evolution,
Hence, there is no God,
No Jesus as well,
You can't choose your classmates,
You can't choose you neighbors as well,
In life, you have to wait for a lot of things,
Being waited on at a restaurant,
Traffic,
For buses,
For people who are supposed to meet you,
People are weird in this world,
Choices happen and then go away,
The things listed one can't choose,
If classmates were great there would be no cliques or bullying,
Nobody would have problems with their neighbors, too,
Believe what you want here,
It is a free world,
Tomorrow will come and go,
Take care for now,
Be good,
Try to bypass religion,
Religion has no presence on reality,
May tomorrow be better for you as the future carries forward.

​Atheism isn’t a bad concept

​It is a reality for some of us,
We don’t believe in God,
The planet Earth is massive in size,
It is ridiculous to feel that something looks down upon us,
To make us feel safe and secure,
The planet is too massive for this to happen,
It is over 4.5 billion years old,
There is too much mass for a human to see others,
Between crime and poverty,
No world peace and natural disasters,
God have never existed in the first place,
This is just how it is,
This is how I feel about this concept,
Religion just tells us stories,
Again, this is a free world,
Believe in what you want,
For me, it is atheism,
Take care and be good,
This is all one can do and ask for as time passes us by.
 

God is not important to me

​God has done nothing for me,
How about you?
I have never seen God,
Or spoken to him,
Or shook his hand,
Yet, billions believe in him,
Stop forcing children to believe in this being,
Enforce children to be good,
To be an asset to society,
There are too many children in the world,
The majority of them are not a blessing,
Yet, the majority love to procreate,
God will never be important to me,
I don't believe in God,
The only way I could believe in God is
if we didn't need a military or law enforcement at all,
As you can see in the world, we need both organizations,
I blame evolution for human problems,
And meteorology for natural disasters,
Both are forms of science,
Whereas, creationism is mere fiction and story telling,
Take care for now,
Believe what you want,
It is a free world,
May tomorrow be brighter for you,
And again, carpe diem.

​Ignorance

​This is a sensitive topic,
A topic with many meanings and interpretations,
People need to learn,
To learn about differences in the world,
Ignorance is the easy way out,
The easy way of being informed,
Ignorance is sad,
A sad case to know,
One needs to educate,
To educate through independent learning,
To learn on one’s own behalf,
Ignorance happens in many different circles,
Whether it is religious,
Or skin color,
Sexuality,
Or even a belief in politics,
These are topics with different meanings,
One needs to understand in order learn,
Ignorance will always exist,
There is not much one can do,
This happens in many ways that need to be dealt with,
Take this in any which way that you can,
Education will be our ally,
An ally to help us learn about one another,
This is all that we can do to combat ignorance,
Fate is another way of change,
For fate is with us and hopefully over time ignorance will deplete as the future continues amongst the human race.
 
 

Who care about what professional athletes have to say?

​Professional athletes only care about money,
Not you,
Or I,
Events in the world don't change because of them,
Yeah, they are rich and famous,
Who really cares?
Evolution is the cause of human problems,
It always has,
It always will,
I can care less about what these athletes have to say,
They are multimillionaires who only care about themselves,
They are worshipped by too many,
Think about what I have said here,
What is more prestigious?
A nurse saving a life,
Or a football player running for a touchdown,
Obviously the nurse saving a life,
Take care for now,
Be good,
And may a new horizon be better in these unpredictable times.

Who cares what actors have to say?
​

​They are worth millions,
Who cares?
Do they care about you and I?
Nope,
They are in the business to make alot of money,
Good for them,
Issues in the world are really harsh,
Nothing really changes,
No matter what they say,
Just because a popular actor or actress says something,
I could care less,
Humans love controversy,
Look at the news,
It is nonstop,
No actor makes any difference,
If they do, it is rare,
Humans have always loved problems,
Whether it is now,
Or in the past,
Believe what you want,
Take care,
Try to be good,
And again, carpe diem.

Good people are becoming rarer each day

​Mind you, there are good people,
Just rare to find one,
Technology has changed people,
For the worse,
They get too wrapped in their phones,
Or any else technological,
Time will continue,
This is how it is,
People like to be bad,
They see goodness as a problem,
People do not understand anything at all,
Unless it involves them,
I am amazed at how many still get married,
And have children,
The statistics are staggering,
Many people get divorced,
Marriage is a team process,
Not one person and that's it,
I can go on and on,
Try to be good,
If that is possible,
The world is filled with phonies,
It is getting worse each day,
Take care,
And may time pass for the better,
Carpe diem.