Society Holds First Rhyming Poetry Open Mic

The first Society of Classical Poets sponsored “Rhyming Poetry Reading” was held at The Tea Garden in Middletown, New York, on December 18, 2016. The open mic featured readings of rhyming poetry by renowned poets such as Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Robert Frost, Maya Angelou, and John McCrae. Original poetry by Reid McGrath, Ed Fisher, Evan Mantyk, and Karen Wells was also read by the poets themselves. After a performance of the traditional Chinese guqin (similar to a zither), the evening concluded with on-the-spot poetry writing and reading which resulted in the below poems.

Poem by Ed Fisher
Ancient music I have heard
Coming at the end of words
After silence comes the sound
Ancient earth, up from the ground

Poem by Frank Yu
Downtown Middletown, boarded up houses, decades of defiance
A tea house, strings of holiday lights, are signs of a new Renaissance

Big Brother, Haiku by Penelope (age 7)
Big brother is tall
Big brother is very strong
Big brother is fun

Poem by Ivan Pentchoukov
Who knew that sleepy Middletown would be
The place that gods would plant the future’s seed
The songs we in this garden sing
Forebode tradition’s revival, a Renaissance, a spring

Poem by Karen Wells
The poetry was singing
It came flying through the door
Words warmed my soul like tea leaves
I sat breathless wanting more

Poem by Oliver (age 10)
A haiku made from a Gnu
is not something new

Poem by Evan Mantyk
I did not know what to expect
But the universe did connect

Poem by Akyira
Mr. Hughes you asked what happens to a dream deferred
My dream I can tell you has not dried up like a raisin in the sun
But is plentiful like the men who go out to sea

And those 4 dead in Ohio still sleep although I may not be a senator’s son
but I signed up for the war that’s in my head
And Mr. Frost I’ll take the road most taken

Poem by Unknown
Sheet rocks, sheet rocks!
I am late for Lowe’s
Please stay open, because I am late for Lowe’s
Seriously!

Poem by Reid McGrath
That coffee was the best I ever had
I’m going to need more once I’m a dad.

Poem by Marley
A story can live in every person’s mind
A process of self-discovery that cannot be easily defined
A letter a word a phrase that when not spoken, on your tongue it dies
But with poetry these words come alive

Poem by Asiya
The world is being sucked into this colorful abyss
Amidst the sun closing her golden eyes
As the earth prepares to endure
The dark heart of the sky
In which time spontaneously flies
Through your mind
And thoughts don’t cease to exist until the first break of light.

Poem by Loren McCune
Wood plants and people, the sky above
Not the original, but a true reproduction