KEITH BURKHOLDER - POEMS

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

​High school is like prison

If you remember the past,
This title is true,
Teenagers are really villainous if you think about it,
From the cliques,
To the bullying,
I can't stand teenagers,
If you look at the world,
Especially Facebook,
High school continues on,
Who really liked high school?
People will do what it takes to fit in,
That is the sad part of it,
Kudos to home schoolers,
And people with online learning,
If parents have any brains,
Or common sense,
These two ways are the best to educate,
They force kids to be independent learners,
When kids go to college, they expect to learn as they did in high school,
This will never be that reality,
Independent learning occurs in college,
Believe what you want about high school,
It is like a prison in so many ways,
Learn to be good and nice to others,
This is all that can be said and done as time passes forward.
​

​Reincarnation

He was a former cop,
Well respected,
However, something happened to him,
He has reincarnated from the dead,
He has been dead for five years,
This happened to him recently,
No one can see him,
However, he can go about business in town himself,
He can always go back to his grave as well,
This new life feels great to him,
Death is a scary concept,
For anyone at large,
However, he is alive again,
Where will he go?
What areas will he explore in the world?
This is really up to him,
There is nothing else to add here,
For death is powerful,
A second chance at life greater,
Take care, my good man,
Do what you can while alive and live life the best way you know how now.

​Why do people who had it so bad growing up have kids themselves?

​This is a question to ponder,
Why is that these people who had so bad?
Have decided to marry and have a family?
Look nowadays it is really expensive to have a family,
Let alone get married,
My theory is that people have to fit in,
Or they love stress, a lot of it,
Think about it,
People love problems and causing ill will for others,
This has been around forever,
Too many people are having families,
This is at an alarming rate,
You can't tell someone that they are wasting their time,
We live in a world where people suddenly want to be nice,
Then when the responsibilities pile up,
They think otherwise,
We already have more than enough people,
On planet Earth, that is,
We actually could use a break,
For at least 50 to 100 years,
Again, as I have said before,
Believe what you want,
This is a free world,
I will believe in what I want to,
Take care for now and follow a path with prosperity,
Again, carpe diem.

Why does the military have chaplains?
​

​War is a horrible thing,
Yet, the military still has chaplains,
What can some religious person do?
When there is a war taking place,
I have never seen God or Jesus come out of nowhere,
When the news showed a war taking place,
They never help out any of the soldiers,
Yet, religion is forced down the throats of those fighting for our country,
We are a warlike people,
We have been since man was first on the planet,
Thanks in part to evolution,
God is not real,
Neither is Jesus,
What have they done for you and I?
Nothing,
Same with the military,
We need to realize people like problems,
They really do,
People get wired because of them,
When was the last you saw the quiet, pacifistic person with friends?
Never, because people like tensions and problems overall,
This will never change,
Ever,
Again, believe what you want to,
This is all you can do,
Take care for now and follow a good way in your future and again,
Carpe diem.