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).​

Can you imagine if cures did exist for illnesses?
​

​You hear about this a lot,
There is a possible cure for an illness,
Then nothing develops,
But a new drug,
Folks, there may never be any cures,
The last cure of an illness was by Jonas Salk,
That was for polio,
We need doctors and other health professionals,
Yet, cures would be nice,
Billions of dollars are put into such events,
Yet, only a new drug is developed,
The pharmaceutical companies need to make money,
But, also, we as humans die,
Human life is not eternal,
As the Bible says it is, when it isn't,
We have to accept that cures will never take fruition,
Think about what I have said,
We all die someday,
There will never be any major changes,
The government has control over these things,
Cures would be fantastic,
But people need money from some place,
Doctors are great,
But in the end we all bite the dust,
Take care for now and be good,
And again, carpe diem.

​People love fantasies

​God and Jesus are fantasies,
War and destruction are not,
The military and law enforcement are realities,
Not pleasant ones, but realities nonetheless,
People like to feel good,
Why they believe in God and Jesus?
Who knows?
Who cares?
Fantasies are not real,
Like Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny,
Feeling good is great,
But religion has no reality to it,
None at all,
Not all of us are fans of the military and law enforcement,
But they are needed greatly,
God is never there to take care of us,
Neither is Jesus, the second stringer,
Believe all you want here,
Take this all in,
Be good to yourself and others,
This is all you can do,
And again, carpe diem.

Religion is nothing to fall back on, we all die anyway
​

​Think of all the hypocrites that are religious,
Which is the vast majority,
Yet, they feel we have an eternal life,
In reality, we don't,
You and I are living organisms,
We did not ask to be born,
Religion of any kind is mental control,
Nothing about it changes the world,
Humans change themselves through self discipline,
That all evolves in the mind,
Nothing more or nothing less,
You can believe all you want here,
It is a free world,
To me, there is no God and never was,
Take this all in,
Try to be good,
And may tomorrow be great to you any which way possible.

​Reincarnation is not a reality

​Reincarnation is great for story telling,
Great for fiction and fantasy,
Yet, not real,
When I die, I will not come back to life,
Our lifespan is limited,
God is not there for us,
There is no God,
Tragedy continues on our planet,
Every single day for that matter,
From human tragedy to natural disasters,
The dead are exactly that, dead,
You can be spiritual,
Or anything related to it, we all die,
Humans like to believe in reincarnation,
Especially the church,
Yet, again, nothing happens,
There are so many bad things that happen in the church,
From false promises, to pedophilia, to exaggerated claims,
Skies the limit in depressing  and terrible things in the church,
Yet, people still worship and pray for something they can't see or feel,
Again, this is a free world,
You can do what you want,
I choose atheism,
It works for me,
Take care for now,
And may the next venture in your life be positive any way shape or form.