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Monthly Archives August 31, 2020

‘My Sickness Is a Mistress’ by Kevin Blankinship

The Society
August 31, 2020
Covid-19, Culture, Poetry
5 Comments
  I made her a bed with cushions and throws but she refused and slept in my bones. My skin, too tight for both my sighs and hers so she filled it with rot, making it home. ---Al-Mutanabbi, d. 965...

Three Poems on Drinking, by C.B. Anderson

The Society
August 30, 2020
Beauty, Culture, Humor, Poetry
13 Comments
  The Angels’ Share Oh many a peer of England brews Livelier liquor than the Muse, And malt does more than Milton can To justify God’s ways to man. — A.E. Housman When whisky’s aged in...

‘Barnes’ Owl in the Snow’ by William Glyn-Jones

The Society
August 29, 2020
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
5 Comments
rhymes written after reading Simon Barnes’ blog post "Barn Owl in the Snow" Across the marsh, white passing over white, The silent hunter flies then loses height Descending to a favoured perch to...

‘The Wolves and the Sheep’ by Terry L. Norton

The Society
August 28, 2020
Children's, Culture, Poetry
32 Comments
adapted from Babrius, first century A.D., and Jean de La Fontaine, 1621-1695 __At least twelve thousand years (though likely more) Between the wolves and sheep had raged a war, Until the lupine clan...

A Poem on the Oxford English Dictionary, by Maurice J. O’Sullivan

The Society
August 27, 2020
Culture, Humor, Poetry
9 Comments
  Editing with the OED for Rita Bornstein __Like a mental abattoir, the OED, With brumous exactitude, looms over me As my blue pen prunes my cachaemic prose, Decorticating glut in orderly...
poem/freeman/limericks

Rhyme and Reason: Four Poems by James A. Tweedie

The Society
August 26, 2020
Culture, Humor, Poetry
36 Comments
  Abracadabra The written word is magical And not just something clerical. You scratch some marks into the sand; I see the marks and understand What you are thinking in your head Without a single...
song/eardley/St. Patrick's Day

‘Corofin Dreaming’ by David Watt

The Society
August 25, 2020
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
11 Comments
  The potato blight and resultant Great Famine struck Ireland from 1845 to 1851. Potato crops didn’t recover until 1852, by which time at least one million people had emigrated to escape poverty and...

‘In Memory of My Grandmother’ by Susan Jarvis Bryant

The Society
August 24, 2020
Beauty, Poetry
35 Comments
  Doris Evelyn Alice Falconer, born April 9, 1922, died August 24, 2004 You taught me the importance of good humour, the gravity of truth and courtesy; to never take for fact a rampant rumour, but...

‘The Falcon’: A Poem After Blake’s ‘Tyger,’ by Cynthia Erlandson

The Society
August 24, 2020
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
9 Comments
  The Falcon “In what distant deeps or skies Burnt the fire of thine eyes? On what wings dare he aspire? What the hand dare sieze the fire?” ---William Blake, The Tyger Falcon, falcon, flying...

‘Angel Ship’ by C. David Hay

The Society
August 23, 2020
Beauty, Poetry
14 Comments
  Oh, to helm an angel ship __Adrift in a billowy sea With a specter crew in a sky of blue, __Just the vast beyond and me. Flying the mist like gulls on the wind, __With never a falter or...

The Rebirth of Epic: A Review of James Sale’s HellWard

The Society
August 22, 2020
Beauty, Culture, Epic, Essays, Poetry, Reviews
31 Comments
by Andrew Benson Brown James Sale’s HellWard is the first volume of a planned trilogy entitled The English Cantos. If the quality of the current volume is any indication of the two forthcoming ones, then...

‘Those Unknown’ by Camille Cechini

The Society
August 21, 2020
Beauty, Culture, Poetry, Villanelle
15 Comments
  a villanelle My heart goes out to those unknown, Whose life by Time’s cruel hand erased, Their ravaged, riven, nameless stone. Shattered, lost, grass o’ergrown, No date to tell when coffin...

A Poem on Judgment Day and Other Poetry by Leo Zoutewelle

The Society
August 20, 2020
Beauty, Culture, Deconstructing Communism, Poetry
16 Comments
  Ab Initio Mundi* *ever since the beginning of the world At first the darkness reigned o’er all that was, Until a little point of light emerged. That grew and grew regardless, as it surged Ahead...

‘The Bell Now Tolls’ by Martin Rizley

The Society
August 19, 2020
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
24 Comments
  in memory of my father-in-law, Pietro Lorefice (1938-2020) The bell now tolls, dear Pietro, for this hour When we must bid your faithful soul adieu, And lay to rest that mortal frame we knew, Now...
Poem Rhet Butler

‘Hollywood Interview’ by David Whippman

The Society
August 18, 2020
Beauty, Culture, Humor, Poetry
20 Comments
  My marriage failed (they always do.) Emotionally unequipped To work things out without a script, We didn’t try to talk it through. What do I pay that therapist for? You can’t see what...

‘Uncle Joe and the Virtual Convention’ by Jeff Kemper

The Society
August 17, 2020
Culture, Deconstructing Communism, Humor, Poetry
13 Comments
  When the wokest of folk virtually convoke In a year of elections and riots and fear, Uncle Joe from the basement the Nanny will stoke. He’ll invoke Ms. Kamala as newscasts evoke, “She’s a...
Fishing in boat on ocean

‘Upon a Boat, by Ocean Bound’ by Alexander King Ream

The Society
August 17, 2020
Beauty, Culture, Ekphrastic, Poetry
4 Comments
  Upon a boat, by ocean bound, Below the sun, upon the sound, The bait, a line, a reel, a fish: Bound for butter, herbs and dish.     Alec Ream is a writer living in the Northern...

A Satire on Joe Biden Picking Kamala Harris, by Susan Jarvis Bryant

The Society
August 16, 2020
Culture, Humor, Poetry
24 Comments
  Madcapfesto We’ll unlock prison gates and let the inmates saunter out. We’ll tear down wall and rule; we’ll sponsor every lug and lout. We’ll overlook drug smuggling and the trafficking of...

Understanding Bad Poetry: The Verse of William Topaz McGonagall

The Society
August 16, 2020
Culture, Essays, Humor, Poetry
27 Comments
by Joseph S. Salemi The poetic effusions of some people are so incompetent that they cross the line into unexpected humor, and thereby become valuable. Such is the case with the work of William Topaz...

‘We Came Together With An Open Mind’ by James Allan Kennedy

The Society
August 15, 2020
Poetry, Villanelle
17 Comments
a villanelle We came together with an open mind No crass intolerance or blinkered view Is it too much to ask us to be kind? The streets in which we children played were lined With generosity, and we all...

The 17 Best Haiku of 2020

The Society
August 15, 2020
Beauty, Best Poems, Culture, From the Society, Haiku and Senryu, Poetry, Poetry Contests
8 Comments
Winner and Runners-up of The Society of Classical Poets 2020 Haiku Competition Judged by Mike Bryant and Susan Jarvis Bryant See all entrants here.   Thunder-bellied clouds Move slow over heathered...

‘A Ditty’ and Other Poetry by Joe Tessitore

The Society
August 14, 2020
Culture, Deconstructing Communism, Poetry
18 Comments
  A Ditty What happened to the human race? It vanished, friend, without a trace. And what, pray tell, of humankind? You may well seek, but will not find. And finally, humanity? It slipped into...

‘Hong Kong’s Freedom Fighters’ by Douglas J. Lanzo

The Society
August 13, 2020
Beauty, Culture, Deconstructing Communism, Human Rights in China, Poetry
5 Comments
  dedicated to all those braving injustice in Hong Kong with nobility of spirit Muffled voices, anguished cries, Trampled freedom, published lies, Flouted treaties, threatened fates, Outlawed...
Sgt James J Regan

On a Photo of Sgt. James J. Regan’s Grieving Fiancee, and Other Poetry by Rod Walford

The Society
August 12, 2020
Beauty, Culture, Humor, Poetry
16 Comments
  Hero of Her Heart On February 9, 2007 Sgt. James J. Regan of the 3rd Battalion 75th U.S. Ranger Regiment was killed on active service in Iraq. Some time after the funeral, Sgt. Regan's fiancee Mary...

‘Defy the Mask’ by David Watt

The Society
August 11, 2020
Culture, Deconstructing Communism, Poetry
9 Comments
  Due to a recent government edict, approximately 5 million Australians must wear masks whenever they leave the house. We wear a mask because we’re told That COVID has us in its hold, And if outside...

‘Blake’s Prairie Fair’ by Bob Schildgen

The Society
August 10, 2020
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
4 Comments
  Cotton candy is, yes, is angel hair spun out while merry-go-rounds whirl full-speed with satisfaction fully guaranteed in the local splendor of Blake’s Prairie Fair. Surely the most...

‘The Prisoners in Manacles’ and Other Poetry by Bruce Dale Wise

The Society
August 9, 2020
Beauty, Culture, Deconstructing Communism, Human Rights in China, Humor, Poetry
8 Comments
All poems by Bruce Dale Wise The Prisoners in Manacles by Lu “Reed ABCs” Wei The prisoners in manacles in western China were just on a day out, stated the Chinese ambassador. The picture shows the people...

‘Oh, When I Think Back’ and Other Poetry by Theresa Rodriguez

The Society
August 8, 2020
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
14 Comments
  Oh, When I Think Back Oh, when I think back to those halcyon days, When I believed the possibility That truest love would manifest to me And highest hopes would set the heart ablaze, I looked...

‘The Taj Mahal’ and Other Poetry by Peter Hartley

The Society
August 7, 2020
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
44 Comments
  Taj Mahal Built to commemorate a love that died Four hundred years ago, how sad to say She never saw what we can see today. Serenely does its massive bulk preside Above a seeming swamp on every...

‘Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, by Joseph Lange’ and Other Poetry Julian Woodruff

The Society
August 6, 2020
Beauty, Culture, Humor, Music, Poetry
3 Comments
  Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, by Joseph Lange (1783? / 1789?); as viewed by a Philistine Consider Lange’s well-known portrait Of his in-law, a composer: It’s good, we see, but it requires A scrutiny...

Ecclesiastes 6, Recast in Classical Poetry, by T.M. Moore

The Society
August 5, 2020
Beauty, Culture, Poetry, Terza Rima
6 Comments
  Full Lives, Empty Souls after Ecclesiastes 6 There is an evil I have seen in those who live beneath the sun: A man to whom God gives both wealth and riches, and who knows respect among his...

English Tomb Poetry, With an Introduction by James A. Tweedie

The Society
August 4, 2020
Beauty, Culture, Found Poem, Poetry
12 Comments
by James A. Tweedie On my most recent visit to England in 2017, I paused to record a number of prominent grave monuments that included poetic tributes to the deceased. Here are the four I found most...

‘Laocoön’ and Other Poetry by Adam Sedia

The Society
August 3, 2020
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
6 Comments
  Laocoön To prophesy is not a gift to those So gifted, who can see in subtle signs What is to pass; they bear the double woes Of speaking truth to unbelieving minds And knowing none can thwart the...
poetry/death/eternity

‘Verses on the Death of His Father’ (‘Coplas por la muerte de su padre’) by Jorge Manrique

The Society
August 2, 2020
Beauty, Culture, Poetry, Translation
9 Comments
translated by Alan Steinle. Introduction and translation copyright ©2020 by Alan Steinle. Skip Introduction and go to poem.   Introduction Poetry is that which is worth translating. The poem dies...

‘Rueing Tattoos’ and Other Poetry by Susan Jarvis Bryant

The Society
August 1, 2020
Culture, Humor, Poetry
53 Comments
  Rueing Tattoos When young she was drawn to that skin-art taboo of embellishing flesh with a tattoo or two. Now time’s marching on and gravity’s struck, her sweet chickadee is akin to a...
  1. Joseph S. Salemi on ‘Apollo, Mnemosyne, and Poetry’: A Chapter from James Sale’s Gods, Heroes and UsMay 24, 2025

    Brian -- more than one professor out there was enamored of Reinhard Dohl's idiotic "Apfel" poem. I suppose that most…

  2. Margaret Coats on ‘What the Caterpillar Calls the End’: A Poem by Scharlie MeeuwsMay 23, 2025

    An old theme, transformed by lightly leisurely telling into the expected transcendence. The poem draws the reader through caterpillar evolution…

  3. Margaret Coats on ‘The Dyer’s Second Tale—A Medieval Heist’: A Poem by Paul A. FreemanMay 23, 2025

    Your quick-reading narrative presents a superb model of how long poems can still work, Paul. More anon, when duties leave…

  4. Margaret Coats on ‘Sonnet XIII’: A Poem by Jenna TedescoMay 23, 2025

    "I wonder what you mind then does with me?" completes the first part of this multi-level sonnet. After it, personal…

  5. Yael on ‘Sound and Fury’: A Poem by Susan Jarvis BryantMay 23, 2025

    Wow Susan, these are some sparkly verbal pyrotechnics you've dished out here. Looks like fireworks season is starting early this…

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