Erotic Errata
by Michael R. Burch
I didn’t mean to love you; if I did,
it came unbid-
en, and should’ve remained hid-
den!

***

Less Heroic Couplets: Marketing 101
by Michael R. Burch

Love, a little church that standing all alone,

waits with open doors,

but nobody goes there to pray,

the prayers will go unsaid, now, where to go?

which way? love, be my beacon,

teach me to look at an empty sky without fear.

There is a land by faith I’ve seen

Where skies no clouded regions know;

Where they know not the sorrows of time

and no shadows fall to blight the view

That land no want has ever known,

Nor pain nor sickness nor distress;

there, Death, the last enemy, is slain;

There those who meet shall part no more,

And those long parted meet again.

There’s a land far away..

Beyond these wild winds and gloomy skies,

Beyond Death’s cloudy portal,

There is a land where beauty never dies

And love becomes immortal;

The Shijing or Shi-Jing or Shih-Ching (“Book of Songs” or “Book of Odes”) is the oldest Chinese poetry collection, with the poems included believed to date from around 1200 BC to 600 BC. According to tradition the poems were selected and edited by Confucius himself. Since most ancient poetry did not rhyme, these may be the world’s oldest extant rhyming poems.

Shijing Ode #4: “JIU MU”
ancient Chinese rhyming poem circa (1200 BC - 600 BC)
loose translation/interpretation by Michael R. Burch

Silently you move from the quay,
Where long you’ve enjoyed your moor.
Nimble you are as you slip away,
To explore some far away shore.

Your young rudder steers you afar,
Enjoy your adventure, your flight.
Onward till you count the final star,
Then return to me for respite.

Forward, even through the storm,
Or with following seas at your stern.
Go until with your sheets all torn,
For repair to me you return.

"Your Pull" is a poem I wrote for my wife Beth about the strange magnetism of love. 

Your Pull
by Michael R. Burch

for Beth

You were like sunshine and rain—
begetting rainbows,
full of contradictions, like the intervals
between light and shadow.

That within you which I most opposed
drew me closer still,
as a magnet exerts its relentless pull
on insensate steel.

Originally published by The Lyric

Keywords/Tags: poem, poetry, love, attraction, magnetism, pull, close, closer, closeness

These are poems about Ann Rutledge and her romantic relationship with Abraham Lincoln. 

Winter Thoughts of Ann Rutledge
by Michael R. Burch

Winter was not easy,
nor would the spring return.
I knew you by your absence,
as men are wont to burn
with strange indwelling fire —
such longings you inspire!

But winter was not easy,
nor would the sun relent
from sculpting virgin images
and how could I repent?
I left quaint offerings in the snow,
more maiden than I care to know.

***

These are poems about the supernatural and magical things, like love.