Ordinary Love, a Villanelle

Ordinary Love by Michael R. Burch Indescribable—our love—and still we say with eyes averted, turning out the light, "I love you," in the ordinary way and tug the coverlet where once we lay, all suntanned limbs entangled, shivering, white ... indescribably in love. Or so we say. Your hair's blonde thicket now is tangle-gray; you turn your back; you murmur to the night, "I love you," in the ordinary way. Beneath the sheets our hands and feet would stray to warm ourselves. We do not touch, despite a love so indescribable. We say we're older now, that "love" has had its day. But that which Love once countenanced, delight, still makes you indescribable. I say, "I love you," in the ordinary way. Published by The Lyric, Romantics Quarterly, Carnelian, Poetry and Art Competition, Famous Poets and Poems, Poetic Voices, Poetry Renewal, Poetry Life & Times; also winner of the 2001 Algernon Charles Swinburne Poetry Award. Double Trouble by Michael R. Burch The villanelle is trouble: it’s like you’re on the bubble of beginning to see double. It’s like you’re on the Hubble when the lens begins to wobble: the villanelle is trouble. It’s like you’re Barney Rubble scratching itchy beer-stained stubble because you’re seeing double. Then your lines begin to gobble up the good rhymes, and you hobble. The villanelle is trouble, just like getting sloshed in the pub’ll begin to make you babble because you’re seeing double. Because the form is flubbable and is really not that loveable, the villanelle is trouble: it’s like you’re seeing double. Villanelle of an Opportunist by Michael R. Burch I’m not looking for someone to save. A gal has to do what a gal has to do: I’m looking for a man with one foot in the grave. How many highways to hell must I pave with intentions imagined, not true? I’m not looking for someone to save. Fools praise compassion while weaklings rave, but a gal has to do what a gal has to do. I’m looking for a man with one foot in the grave. Some praise the Lord but the Devil’s my fave because he has led me to you! I’m not looking for someone to save. In the land of the free and the home of the brave, a gal has to do what a gal has to do. I’m looking for a man with one foot in the grave. Every day without meds becomes a close shave and the razor keeps tempting me too. I’m not looking for someone to save: I’m looking for a man with one foot in the grave. Keywords/Tags: villanelle, love, romance, marriage, wife, woman, women