Monthly Archives January 31, 2013

Death Be Not Proud Death, be not proud, though some have called thee Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so; For those whom thou think’st thou dost overthrow Die not, poor death, nor yet canst thou...

Instead of Sominex Write a sonnet tonight before you go to bed. Just fourteen lines before you fall asleep. Something to clear your far-too-cluttered head. More fun than counting endless flocks of...

Quids Pro Quo Does beauty matter?  You, of all, know why: it skirts the edge of my and your decay. It brings at once both smile and knowing sigh. Yes, beauty—ever—has its own cachet. In beauty’s...

On Cancer, Guns, and Hit 'n Runs The chemo sessions wore him down, He so despised the sterile smells, The chatter, beeps, and flimsy gown, And then those plain disgusting gels. But no more thoughts of...

  "every where the trace of men"                         —William Cullen Bryant In Thomas Cole's The Catskills and Lake George, that set on scenic Catskill Creek, New York, in...

Dogfight Sonnet Demon snarl curdles into a roar doubled with the counter-howl of defense. Darkened winter street was quiet before that tired walker’s leash-beast lost its sense. The guard dog growls,...

All Such Poets Emit Great Delight. All such poets emit great delight. In such darkness they radiate light. Though despite the demise, They continue to rise. All such poets continue to...

Alabaster (The Statue) I see the fineness And sense divineness From smoothest feet to marble brow A curve of lip A tilt of hip As gentle as a tempest would allow A stolen glance A lover’s...

A meeting round a social platter Seduced me in a human game. I sensed the moral tone go flatter But did not put this in the frame. We are here and witness change. If firm, we help to rearrange The...

Apprenticeship The poem will prove a stern and daunting master to those who pussyfoot around the truth and, weaving daisy chains from each disaster, still fixate on their gold and glittering youth. If...

NEW YORK—Studio Incamminati, a school for contemporary realist painters, celebrated their 10th anniversary at The National Arts Club in Manhattan on Jan. 11 with a painting demonstration and exhibition. Six...

I hear you in the silence of the trees The Wilderness, they called it once, found in many places. Walking now, my heart sees the past, time before this darkened ground rang with battle, ran with blood....

I. It's not an easy thing to die, it's not An easy thing to make believe I cling To hope when every day my doctors bring Me proof how sick my body is.  Yet what Can doctors do, but sigh?  There's not...

English poetry has been in existence for at least 1,400 years. This tradition continues alive and well at The Society of Classical Poets like nowhere else. Today, poetry is everywhere. It is in the songs on...

The Dream I dreamed a dream of two parades so different, yet the same, And I could not place the meaning of the first parade that came. Along a road lined with many leafless and grey, dying trees A...

Feathers of Disenchantment Pastors preached of birds as models of love, so sweet, so proper. Then parbleu, we heard sad news about the cheating of the dove, promiscuity of the humming-bird, scandalous...

Review By Christopher Nield / Image by Liza Voronin/The Epoch Times The Riddles of Merlin As I was walking Alone by the sea, “What is that whisper?” Said Merlin to me. “Only,” I...

In Praise of Formal Poetry Whether it’s ridiculous or sublime, we need the reassurance of meter, the familiar recurrence of rhyme. We yearn for verse that’s fixed in place and time, lines that...

The roses clamored wildly. I confessed it, smiled mildly. Profusely rambling everywhere, The crimson blooms were sweetness rare. Entwined with random opulence Around the old white picket fence, 'Twas...

Bless with Children Sent, Amen! to fill the world with wonder they come in trust, brim-full of possibility, a soul (or spark from God, once split asunder) harbored in each.  Our responsibility: to do...

To the Skeptic Who Denies God You want me to prove to you my God exists. “The burden of proof is on you,” you insist; But when my lips open, you only resist. You try to use logic to tear me...

Featured Image: “Rest on the Flight into Egypt,” circa 1570, by Paolo Veronese, oil on canvas, bequest of John Ringling to his museum in 1936. (Courtesy of The John and Mable Ringling Museum of...

There is no battle like the break of light And yet the world still sleeps, still unaware, And day has yet to break the silent air While lamplight dimly wrestles with the night. The cold still lurks and...

Birth Yes, I recall that January night when, ushered from your room into the hall, and restless for the nurse’s slightest call, I reread dated news by night-dimmed light, and listened for your voice...

Sunset Daylight shines with the glow of the first morn Glittering rays of laughter soft and warm There's no end to this heaven you've known Until the day you find shadows have grown You're forced to...

Ars Poetica for Shaky Times       (Apologies to Auden and Horace) This little poem is in sonnet form; a poet will need support from the past: the best way to find it will be at last to compose...

Structured Verse Is structured verse so surely dead? Has it nothing left to say? Have the rhyme and rhythm petered out Somewhere along the way? Have feet marched off to glory's end? Have the...

Up in the inky, velvet sky on this cold winter night the sky is lit with diamond chips that glow with spirit light. Not far away from twinkling stars a full moon brightly shines sending down its...

Happy New Year! Thank you everyone for your submissions! We have received approximately 600 submissions to the First Annual Society of Classical Poets Poetry Competition. Any new submissions will be counted...