• Submit Poetry
  • Support SCP
  • About Us
  • Members
  • Join
Friday, November 13, 2026
Society of Classical Poets
  • Poems
    • Beauty
    • Culture
    • Satire
    • Humor
    • Children’s
    • Art
    • Ekphrastic
    • Epic
    • Epigrams and Proverbs
    • Human Rights in China
    • Music
    • Performing Arts
    • Riddles
    • Science
    • Song Lyrics
    • The Environment
    • The Raven
    • Found Poems
    • High School Poets
    • Terrorism
    • Covid-19
  • Poetry Forms
    • Sonnet
    • Haiku
    • Limerick
    • Villanelle
    • Rondeau
    • Pantoum
    • Sestina
    • Triolet
    • Acrostic
    • Alexandroid
    • Alliterative
    • Blank Verse
    • Chant Royal
    • Clerihew
    • Rhupunt
    • Rondeau Redoublé
    • Rondel
    • Rubaiyat
    • Sapphic Verse
    • Shape Poems
    • Terza Rima
  • Great Poets
    • Geoffrey Chaucer
    • Emily Dickinson
    • Homer
    • Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
    • Dante Alighieri
    • John Keats
    • John Milton
    • Edgar Allan Poe
    • William Shakespeare
    • William Wordsworth
    • William Blake
    • Robert Frost
  • Love Poems
  • Contests
  • SCP Academy
    • Educational
    • Teaching Classical Poetry—A Guide for Educators
    • Poetry Forms
    • The SCP Journal
    • Books
No Result
View All Result
Society of Classical Poets
  • Poems
    • Beauty
    • Culture
    • Satire
    • Humor
    • Children’s
    • Art
    • Ekphrastic
    • Epic
    • Epigrams and Proverbs
    • Human Rights in China
    • Music
    • Performing Arts
    • Riddles
    • Science
    • Song Lyrics
    • The Environment
    • The Raven
    • Found Poems
    • High School Poets
    • Terrorism
    • Covid-19
  • Poetry Forms
    • Sonnet
    • Haiku
    • Limerick
    • Villanelle
    • Rondeau
    • Pantoum
    • Sestina
    • Triolet
    • Acrostic
    • Alexandroid
    • Alliterative
    • Blank Verse
    • Chant Royal
    • Clerihew
    • Rhupunt
    • Rondeau Redoublé
    • Rondel
    • Rubaiyat
    • Sapphic Verse
    • Shape Poems
    • Terza Rima
  • Great Poets
    • Geoffrey Chaucer
    • Emily Dickinson
    • Homer
    • Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
    • Dante Alighieri
    • John Keats
    • John Milton
    • Edgar Allan Poe
    • William Shakespeare
    • William Wordsworth
    • William Blake
    • Robert Frost
  • Love Poems
  • Contests
  • SCP Academy
    • Educational
    • Teaching Classical Poetry—A Guide for Educators
    • Poetry Forms
    • The SCP Journal
    • Books
No Result
View All Result
Society of Classical Poets
No Result
View All Result
Home Poetry Culture

‘Isaiah 5:20—Uncancellable’ and Other Poetry by Russel Winick

April 11, 2021
in Culture, Poetry
A A
10
poems 'Isaiah 5:20---Uncancellable' and Other Poetry by Russel Winick

.

Isaiah 5:20—Uncancellable

They often call good evil,
And call the evil good.
Misclassifying basics?
One wonders how they could.

With light for darkness put,
And darkness put for light,
Seems schooling, friends, and news,
Reversed what’s wrong and right.

Then put sweet for the bitter,
And bitter for the sweet,
Such tales proliferate
As cancelling’s complete.

Totalitarian effects
They readily ignore,
With dubious assertions,
Of ends they’re striving for.

And thus they will continue
To transform society,
Inevitably opposite
Of how it’s claimed to be.

Deception unabated,
Can’t question what they say,
But reckoning will come,
As woe on Judgment Day.
.

.

Changed Priorities

Though equal rights for women,
Was once cause celebre,
It’s being cancelled now,
Unchampioned today.

Requiring females race
Against a kid born male,
Due to biology,
Ensures that most will fail.

No sketchy science claims,
Can controvert this fact,
So only changed priorities
Explain the new law backed.

.

.

Russel Winick recently started writing poetry at nearly age 65, after ending a long legal career. He resides in Naperville, Illinois.

ShareTweetPin
The Society of Classical Poets does not endorse any views expressed in individual poems or commentary.
Read Our Comments Policy Here

RandomPoems

‘Good Captains’ and Other Poetry by Philip Keefe
Beauty

‘Good Captains’ and Other Poetry by Philip Keefe

July 14, 2019

Good Captains From daring to despair runs common man. A vane to changing winds is his own mind. One hour...

poem/kemper/culture
Beauty

‘Speak with Kind Gentleness’ by Mark F. Stone

January 15, 2021

. Stress can envelop, encircle, entangle. Strictures can pressure from every angle. Tripping and slipping to ways that are errant...

Next Post
A Poem on Biden’s Infrastructure Plan, by James A. Tweedie

A Poem on Biden's Infrastructure Plan, by James A. Tweedie

‘An Elegy for Bach’s Lost Cantatas’ by Lionel Willis

'An Elegy for Bach's Lost Cantatas' by Lionel Willis

‘And What Of Art’ and Other Poetry by Sally Cook

'Messed Up Doesn’t Rhyme with Best' by Phillip Whidden

Comments 10

  1. Cynthia Erlandson says:
    6 years ago

    Excellent, and prophetic! I’m sure Isaiah would approve.

    Reply
    • Gail says:
      6 years ago

      Indeed.

      Reply
    • Russel Winick says:
      6 years ago

      Thank you Cynthia and Gail. I tried to stay faithful to that marvelous passage.

      Reply
  2. Mo says:
    6 years ago

    The negative- All you say is correct.
    The positive – There is comfort in knowing others can see the reality.

    Reply
    • Russel Winick says:
      6 years ago

      That’s true. Thank you!

      Reply
  3. mark whitters says:
    6 years ago

    Believer or non-believer, in private we all deeply hope for a comeuppance in the face of such injustices. Unfortunately we can’t say so publicly!

    Reply
    • C.B. Anderson says:
      6 years ago

      You just did. Welcome to The Society of Classical Poets.

      Reply
  4. Yael says:
    6 years ago

    That’s a great rendering of Isaiah 5:20 plus commentary, all in one neat and contemporary sounding poem. I agree with Cynthia that Isaiah would approve.

    Reply
    • Russel Winick says:
      6 years ago

      Thank you Yael. I much appreciate your feedback.

      Reply
  5. Cheryl Corey says:
    6 years ago

    Welcome to the “Po biz” Mr. Winick. If you’re interested in books on writing poetry, here are a few of my staples: the very readable “Making Your Own Days” (Kenneth Koch, 1998); “Writing Metrical Poetry” (William Baer, 2006); “A Poet’s Guide to Poetry” (Mary Kinzie, 1999) – a little more technical and challenging, it includes exercises. Also, if you can get your hands on them, Perrine’s “Sound and Sense”, and “Rhyme’s Reason” (John Hollander, 1981) – a slim 50 page booklet/primer on versification and meter.

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *


  1. Jim Manahan on ‘Woodstock’ and Other Poems by Gerard MaritatoNovember 13, 2026

    Gerry, as usual, you always have a way with words. Although I am not well versed in poetry, I appreciate…

  2. Joseph S. Salemi on ‘Autumn Haunts’: A Poem by Cynthia ErlandsonNovember 13, 2026

    Wow -- what a swirl of multisyllabic vocabulary! The description is very intense, especially in the first two stanzas, while…

  3. Russel Winick on ‘Autumn Haunts’: A Poem by Cynthia ErlandsonNovember 13, 2026

    I like this poem’s intensity, Cynthia. And you do have quite a way with rhymes! Thanks for the read, and…

  4. Jan Mennite on ‘Praying for Patience’: A Poem by Briana ReavisNovember 13, 2026

    What a helpful thought, in order to have patience, it must be used and exercised. Like strength in an unused…

  5. Golan Shahar on ‘Fractal’: A Poem on Suicidal Depression, by Golan ShaharNovember 13, 2026

    Thank you, Jan, for such a thoughtful and sensitive reading. I'm particularly struck by your observation that escape from the…

Subscribe to Daily Poems

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 1,660 other subscribers
No Result
View All Result

Recent Poems

  • ‘Autumn Haunts’: A Poem by Cynthia Erlandson
  • ‘Praying for Patience’: A Poem by Briana Reavis
  • ‘Fractal’: A Poem on Suicidal Depression, by Golan Shahar
  • ‘Laughing’: A Poem by Jeffrey Essmann
  • ‘Childproof Caps’ and Other Poems by Russel Winick
  • ‘Daylight Savings Crime’ and Other Poetry by Jan Mennite
  • ‘Ambient Political Precarity’ and Other Poetry by Alec Ream
  • ‘To Actias Luna (The Luna Moth)’: A Poem by Jeff Kemper
  • ‘Portals’ and Other Poetry by Janice Thompson
  • ‘Purple Reign’: A Poem by Susan Jarvis Bryant
  • ‘Grand-Guignol de Paris’: A Poem by Brian Yapko
  • ‘Intrepid Travelers’: A Poem by Paulette Calasibetta
  • ‘The Future of Society’: A Poem by Roy E. Peterson
  • ‘On Earth As It Is in Heaven’ and Other Poems by C.B. Anderson
  • ‘Michelangelo’: A Poem by Margaret Brinton
  • ‘Election Issue’: A Poem by Stephen DiLauro
  • ‘Saturday’s Child’: A Poem by Mary Cecelia Bowman
  • ‘San Juan Capistrano’: A Poem by Margaret Coats
  • ‘The Siege of Manor Castle’: A Poem by Paul A. Freeman
  • ‘Woodstock’ and Other Poems by Gerard Maritato
  • ‘Herodias on John the Baptist’: A Poem by Joseph S. Salemi
  • ‘If You’ve Ever Drowned’: A Poem by Katie Devine
  • ‘Picture This’ and Other Poetry by James A. Tweedie
  • ‘Heavenly Father’: A Poem by Jeffrey Essmann
  • ‘Tactical Molting’: An Election Poem by Mark F. Stone
  • ‘Dialogue Discernment’ and Other Poetry by Russel Winick
  • ‘Let the Music Play’: A Poem by Kathryn Jacobs
  • ‘Living Psalm’ and Other Poetry by Anna J. Arredondo
  • ‘Summer’s End’: A Poem by Lauren V. Leon
  • ‘What No Tyrant May Command’: A Poem by Dusty Grein

Categories

  • Acrostic
  • Alexandroid
  • Alliterative
  • Art
  • Best Poems
  • Blank Verse
  • Chant Royal
  • Classical Poets Live
  • Clerihew
  • Covid-19
  • Deconstructing Communism
  • Educational
  • Epic
  • Epigrams and Proverbs
  • Essays
    • Interviews with Poets
    • Poetry Reviews
  • Featured
  • From the Society
  • Great Poets
    • Dante Alighieri
    • Edgar Allan Poe
    • Emily Dickinson
    • Geoffrey Chaucer
    • Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
    • Homer
    • John Keats
    • John Milton
    • Robert Frost
    • William Blake
    • William Shakespeare
    • William Wordsworth
  • Human Rights in China
  • Limerick
  • Love Poems
  • Music
  • Pantoum
  • Performing Arts
  • Poetry
    • Beauty
    • Children's Poems
    • Culture
    • Ekphrastic
    • Found Poems
    • High School Poets
    • Humor
    • Riddles
  • Poetry Challenge
  • Poetry Contests
  • Poetry Forms
    • Curtal Sonnet
    • Haiku
  • Poetry Readings
  • Rhupunt
  • Rondeau
  • Rondeau Redoublé
  • Rondel
  • Rubaiyat
  • Sapphic Verse
  • Satire
  • Science
  • Sestina
  • Shape Poems
  • Short Stories
  • Song Lyrics
  • Sonnet
  • Symposium
  • Terrorism
  • Terza Rima
  • The Environment
  • Translation
  • Triolet
  • Video
  • Villanelle

Quick Links

  • About Us
  • Submit Poetry
  • Become a Member
  • Members List
  • Support the Society
  • Advertisement Placement
  • Comments Policy
  • Terms of Use

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Poems
    • Beauty
    • Culture
    • Satire
    • Humor
    • Children’s
    • Art
    • Ekphrastic
    • Epic
    • Epigrams and Proverbs
    • Human Rights in China
    • Music
    • Performing Arts
    • Riddles
    • Science
    • Song Lyrics
    • The Environment
    • The Raven
    • Found Poems
    • High School Poets
    • Terrorism
    • Covid-19
  • Poetry Forms
    • Sonnet
    • Haiku
    • Limerick
    • Villanelle
    • Rondeau
    • Pantoum
    • Sestina
    • Triolet
    • Acrostic
    • Alexandroid
    • Alliterative
    • Blank Verse
    • Chant Royal
    • Clerihew
    • Rhupunt
    • Rondeau Redoublé
    • Rondel
    • Rubaiyat
    • Sapphic Verse
    • Shape Poems
    • Terza Rima
  • Great Poets
    • Geoffrey Chaucer
    • Emily Dickinson
    • Homer
    • Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
    • Dante Alighieri
    • John Keats
    • John Milton
    • Edgar Allan Poe
    • William Shakespeare
    • William Wordsworth
    • William Blake
    • Robert Frost
  • Love Poems
  • Contests
  • SCP Academy
    • Educational
    • Teaching Classical Poetry—A Guide for Educators
    • Poetry Forms
    • The SCP Journal
    • Books

© 2025 SCP. WebDesign by CODEC Prime.