Bio: Paul Burgess, an emerging writer, is the sole proprietor of a business in Lexington, Kentucky that offers ESL classes in addition to English, Japanese, and Spanish-language translation and interpretation services. After a ten-year hiatus, Paul started writing actively again in late 2024. He has contributed work to Blue Unicorn, The Orchards, Lighten Up Online, Trembling with Fear, The Asses of Parnassus, and several other publications and has recently begun writing short fiction.
Some Influences: A passionate musician and a voracious reader of books on dozens of topics, Paul draws inspiration from philosophers, scientists, musical artists (Richard Thompson, David Bowie, Howlin’ Wolf, Charles Mingus, Frank Zappa, Mozart, and countless others), and literary figures (Shakespeare, Byron, Bécquer, Borges, Cortázar, Akutagawa, Montaigne, Ovid, and many others) from many languages, cultures, and eras.
Contact information:
Paul Burgess
customlanguagesolutionsbypaul@gmail.com
Publication History (Excluding academic research, ghost-written articles, work published in literary magazines of institutions attended, and commissioned translations)
- General/Literary Poetry
4 L P H 4 N U M 3 R 1 C (a Zoetic Press Podcast)
“One of the Good Ones” (2025)
https://www.zoeticpress.com/4lph4num3r1c
All the World’s a Page (A Quillkeeper’s Press Elizabethan Sonnet Anthologyscheduled for release—TBD in 2026)
“Apology to a Turtle”
“The Darkling Thrush’s Ear” (first published in The Orchards)
“Democracy’s Ellipse” (first published in Blue Unicorn)
“The Real Nightmare”
“Ropes” (first published in Snakeskin)
Blue Unicorn
“Democracy’s Ellipse” (Spring 2025)
“Cicada”(a.k.a. “Promised Land”) (accepted for future publication)
“Imperfection” (accepted for future publication)
The Ekphrastic Review
“The Flaying of Marsyas” (May 2025)
https://www.ekphrastic.net/the-ekphrastic-review/the-flaying-of-marsyas-by-paul-burgess
Form in Formless Times
“Reynardine’s Farm (November 2025); first published in Snakeskin
https://formalverse.com/2025/11/21/paul-burgess-reynadines-farm/
The Orchards Poetry Journal
“The Darkling Thrush’s Ear” (Winter 2024)
https://kelsaybooks.com/products/the-orchards-poetry-journal-winter-2024
“A Rock Bridge Defaced” (Summer 2025)
https://kelsaybooks.com/collections/the-orchards-poetry-journal/products/the-orchards-poetry-journal-summer-2025
“Foul-weather Friend” (Upcoming, Winter 2025)
Pulsebeat
“One Last Bet”
https://pulsebeatpoetry.com/pulsebeat-11/paul-burgess/
“Your Broken Promise to My Niece and Her Dog” (upcoming, January 2026)
The Road Not Taken
“Final Ride” (accepted for future publication)
Snakeskin
“Ropes” (July 2025)
“In Praise of Stairs” (October 2025)
“Reynardine’s Farm” (November 2025)
“Byron in the Underworld”
“Byron and I Meet Henry VIII in the Underworld”
“Byron Discusses Elizabeth I”
“Byron and I Meet Santa Claus in the Underworld”
https://www.snakeskinpoetry.co.uk/
Society of Classical Poets
“Bear Spray” (May 2025) (a children’s poem)
“Lady Fame’s Monologue: A Fragment from The New House of Fame, an Abandoned Epic” (May 2025) (a satire)
https://classicalpoets.org/2025/05/bear-spray-and-other-poetry-by-paul-burgess/
“Today Like Yesterday” (A Verse Translation of Bécquer’s: Rima LVI: “Hoy como ayer”) (May 2025)
https://classicalpoets.org/2025/05/today-like-yesterday-a-poem-by-gustavo-adolfo-becquer-translated-by-paul-burgess/
TrashLight Press Burn It Down – Issue 02
“Truth Made Great Again” (a triptych) (2025, upcoming)
Honest King Don II. Reverse Socrates: Praise the Mighty Leader III. You’ll See that They Won’t See
https://www.canva.com/design/DAGz5zbvYWQ/RsQvJ5hHvnmKQRxO4I-hJw/view?utm_content=DAGz5zbvYWQ&utm_campaign=designshare&utm_medium=link2&utm_source=uniquelinks&utlId=h302f81254e
The Road Not Taken
“Final Ride” (Fall 2025)
https://journalformalpoetry.com/archive/2025/TheRoadNotTakenFall2025.pdf
Well Met
“A Rock Bridge Defaced”(Upcoming); first published in The Orchards (December 2025)
“Ropes” (upcoming); first published in Snakeskin (December 2025)
https://journalformalpoetry.com/archive/2025/TheRoadNotTakenFall2025.pdf
Humorous and Satirical Poetry
Asses of Parnassus
“Edna St. Vincent Millay: Back at You, Haters” (2025)
https://assesofparnassus.tumblr.com/post/781545474026061824/edna-st-vincent-millay-back-at-you-haters
“Mad Lear” (2025)
https://www.tumblr.com/assesofparnassus/785988066750889984/mad-lear?source=share
“The Singularity: Cyberdyne Systems Model Musk” (2025)
https://www.tumblr.com/assesofparnassus/782987174728646656/the-singularity-cyberdyne-systems-model-musk?source=share
Defenestration
“Dickens: Chic House” (August 2025)
“Robert Frost: “Hitman” (August 2025)
https://www.defenestrationmag.net/2025/08/robert-frost-hitman-and-dickens-chic-house-by-paul-burgess/
Light
“Killing with Kindness (May 2025)
https://lightpoetrymagazine.com/paul-burgess-winter-25/
Lighten Up On Line
“Ars* Poetica” (June 2025)
https://www.lightenup-online.co.uk/index.php/issue-70-june-2025/interval-five-parodies-and-pobiz
“Because I’m Worth It” (June 2025)
https://www.lightenup-online.co.uk/index.php/issue-70-june-2025/paul-burgess-because-im-worth-it
“Divine Providence in the Plant Kingdom” (March 2025)
https://www.lightenup-online.co.uk/index.php/issue-69-march-2025/interval-two-fives-and-sixes
“Early Birds and Night Owls” (June 2025)
https://www.lightenup-online.co.uk/index.php/issue-70-june-2025/interval-four-a-bakers-dozen-of-eights
“Light and the End of the Tunnel” (September 2025)
https://www.lightenup-online.co.uk/index.php/issue-71-september-2025/interval-four-from-stick-to-shoot-out
*4 additional pieces have been accepted for inclusion in future issues. (2025)
The New Verse News
“Demagoguery for Dummies: Lying with Impunity” (March 2025)
https://newversenews.blogspot.com/2025/03/demagoguery-for-dummies-lying-with.html?m=1
“No Roof, No Door” (March 2025)
https://newversenews.blogspot.com/2025/03/no-roof-no-door.html?m=1
“Feeding the Fat Cats” (May 2025)
https://newversenews.blogspot.com/2025/05/feeding-fat-cats.html
“Prove that You Matter” (June 2025)
https://newversenews.blogspot.com/2025/06/prove-that-you-matter.html
The Omnificent English Dictionary in Limerick Form (OEDILF) [Workshopping Editor]
“aisle”, “assassin”, “brain”, “cow”, “depressed” (with Janet McConaughey), “die”, “dilemma”, “dog”, “effect”, “free gift”, “gloom”, “god”, “insure”, “intrepid”, “irate”, “Irish whiskey”, “irk”, “Irrawaddy dolphin”, “irreption”, and “Irukandji jellyfish”
http://www.oedilf.com
Parody
“Elizabeth II” (2014)
“Kate Middleton” (2014)
“Likest Thou My Facebook Post” (2014)
https://www.parodypoetry.com/p/pdf.html?m=1
Children’s Poetry
Dirigible Balloon
“Frog Prince” (March 2025)
https://dirigibleballoon.org/poem/Frog-Prince
“Crashing an Emu” (March 2025)
https://dirigibleballoon.org/poem/Crashing-an-Emu
“The Mouse House” (March 2025)
https://dirigibleballoon.org/poem/The-Mouse-House
Short Prose Fiction (Drabbles, Micros, Flash Fiction, etc.)
365 Tomorrows
“My Forever Home” (April 2025)
https://365tomorrows.com/2025/04/24/my-forever-home/
4 L P H 4 N U M 3 R 1 C (a Zoetic Press Podcast)
“A Bloody Miracle” (2025, upcoming)
Flash Phantoms
“Melissa’s Final Exotic Pet” (May 2025)
https://www.flashphantoms.net/may-micro-fiction-horror
The Fear Driver (A Dragon Soul Press Anthology of Drabbles) (2025)
“Black Cat Semiotics”
“Bobby’s Last Song”
“Happily Ever After?”
“My Last Fishing Trip”
“The Drive to Feed”
“The Frugal Crematorium”
“The Last Sun Bear”
https://www.amazon.com/Fear-Driver-Dragon-Press-Anthology/dp/B0FRGCT7FP/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0
Trembling With Fear
“Before and After the Cazas: An Unholy Trinity” (I. Cazadores de Vampiros, II. A Bloody Mis-stake: Perhaps We Needed the Cazas, and III. A Reluctant Hunter) [part of the A Wolf in Vampire’s Clothing drabble sequence] (April 2025)
https://horrortree.com/unholy-trinity-before-and-after-the-cazas-by-paul-burgess/
Word Puzzles/Games
Quibble Lit
“Dream”—Wordlem #7 (04/30/2025)
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/18QdVjsrQC/
https://www.instagram.com/p/DJJ4g0WBT7b/?igsh=MWVybTU3YXYzYjBjcQ%3D%3D
Paul Burgess, Writing and Language 