A Poem for Father’s Day: ‘The Weight of a Father’ by Susan Jarvis Bryant The Society June 15, 2025 Beauty, Poetry 6 Comments . The Weight of a Father . I. The Smell of Sawdust On bawling-brother, busy-mother days, The saint who slew the dragons in her dream Whisked her through the fuss-and-fluster maze To realms where fathers shine...
‘Shakespeare’ and Other Poetry by Lee Evans The Society June 15, 2025 Culture, Poetry, Shakespeare 4 Comments . Shakespeare The Master strolled upon the beach, __And stooped to find Among the shells washed up in heaps, __Mere husks of Mind— Selecting them to suit his sense __Of what would score To entertain an...
‘Florida Beach Vacation 2025’: A Poem by Evan Mantyk The Society June 14, 2025 Culture, Poetry 9 Comments . Florida Beach Vacation 2025 They buried me in pale white sand. _They took away my phone. The mouse was wrested from my hand _And now I’m all alone. Swift salty tears of Oceanus _Comingle with my...
‘Term Limits’: A Poem by Warren Bonham The Society June 14, 2025 Culture, Poetry 13 Comments . Term Limits Without term limits, nothing prevents the eruption of bribery, graft, and unbridled corruption. Too few of our founders felt our preservation depended on forced periodic rotation. Our lives are...
‘When the Child Appears’: A Poem by Victor Hugo, Translated by Bruce Phenix The Society June 13, 2025 Beauty, Poetry, Translation 4 Comments . When the Child Appears by Victor Hugo (1802-1885)translated from French by Bruce Phenix When the child appears, the family’s loud praiseBursts out in claps and shouting. His sweet, bright gaze__Makes...
‘Boomerang’ and Other Poems by Russel Winick The Society June 13, 2025 Culture, Poetry, Satire 24 Comments . Boomerang He was a very handsome guy, Cute girls would stick to him like glue, And his interest in them was high, But only for a night or two. Eventually he settled down, A pretty young wife came one...
‘Ode to Chronic Pain’ and Other Poetry by Dan Davis The Society June 12, 2025 Culture, Poetry 4 Comments . Ode to Chronic Pain I curse your name and spit as you supply these diverse proofs that I am not divine— and yet I should embrace you for the same, so keep me still and resting, Faithful Pain. . . The...
‘Reading in Bed’ and Other Poems by Martin Briggs The Society June 12, 2025 Culture, Poetry 7 Comments . Reading in Bed Crowded years from now, and late one wintry night, a certain turn of phrase or trick of poetry will summon me. Pillowed in the warm lamplight perhaps you’ll look up from your book, and,...
‘Stealthy Slayer’: A Riddle by Asther Kane The Society June 11, 2025 Poetry, Riddles 12 Comments . Stealthy Slayer Stealthy slayer, murderous sneak, A crafty trick, or lifeless freak--- I slip behind your walls unseen Despite the guards whose eyes are keen To spot, to seize the crafty foe, Whose guise...
‘Durus Frater, Alma Mater’ and Other Poems by C.B. Anderson The Society June 11, 2025 Beauty, Culture, Humor, Poetry 7 Comments . Durus Frater, Alma Mater Spring forward to where former arch-rivals Fall back on tall stories of the travels They enjoyed after two years of college, Before graduation sealed the knowledge Of how little...
Formal Aspects of Free Verse: A Video by Andrew Benson Brown The Society June 10, 2025 Classical Poets Live, Essays, Poetry, Video 22 Comments . https://youtu.be/vAjMoMKye0c . . Andrew Benson Brown‘s epic-in-progress, Legends of Liberty, chronicles the major events of the American Revolution. He writes history articles for American Essence...
‘Alotta Lip About my Hip’ and Other Hip Replacement Poetry by Jeff Kemper The Society June 10, 2025 Culture, Humor, Poetry 5 Comments . Alotta Lip About my Hip Alotta lip about my hip On paper, phone, computer-drive. The new one at my femur’s tip Has generated verbal jive Beyond my wits. I can’t contrive The need for queries they should...
‘Samhain Spree’: A Poem by Patricia Rogers Crozier The Society June 9, 2025 Culture, Poetry 11 Comments . Samhain Spree Come, gather underneath the horns _That rise out of the east! Come, join the host in revelry _To frolic, sing, and feast! The winter is upon us now, _And summer gone away, And we have gathered...
‘An Update for Dylan Thomas’s Aunt’: A Poem by Joseph S. Salemi The Society June 9, 2025 Culture, Poetry 28 Comments . An Update for Dylan Thomas’s Aunt "Fie on you, aunt! I’ll show you how To elevate your middle brow, And how to scale and see the sights From Modernist Parnassian heights." —Dylan Thomas, “A Letter to...
‘Time and Place’: A Poem by Margaret Brinton The Society June 8, 2025 Beauty, Poetry 11 Comments . Time and Place He gave me his coat once in Dublin At dusk in a damp, chilly draft. We spoke of those old Irish writers--- Just where had they mastered their craft? Did Wilde wield his pen in Dun...
‘Soldier of the Rising Sun’: A Poem by Brian Yapko The Society June 8, 2025 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 44 Comments . Soldier of the Rising Sun Date/Location: February 19, 1974---Uninhabited jungle, Lubang Island in the northern Philippines. The matter: Believing that Japan is still fighting World War II almost 30 years...
‘Double Rondel for Pentecost’ by Margaret Coats The Society June 7, 2025 Beauty, Culture, Poetry, Poetry Forms, Rondel 36 Comments . Double Rondel for Pentecost Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! O fire that warms my soul, You burn within to turn my love heart-whole, And burst beyond as fervor unsuppressed. Celestial flame, my most delightful...
‘On Twenty Years of YouTube’: A Poem by Paul A. Freeman The Society June 6, 2025 Culture, Poetry 10 Comments . On Twenty Years of YouTube Dull dinner party video clips unshared shaped YouTube’s genesis, or so it’s claimed. Yet others say, when Janet Jackson bared a nipple, that a co-creator aimed to see if it...
‘Family Values’: Four Poems by Susan Jarvis Bryant The Society June 5, 2025 Humor, Pantoum, Poetry, Triolet 34 Comments . Auntie Barb ---a pantoum She cuts the cheats and charmers to the quick—Her tongue will skin a scoundrel in a wink.She’ll scupper every swindler’s slickest trickBefore the scoffers have a chance to...
‘The Legend of Zhong Kui’: A Poem by M.D. Skeen The Society June 5, 2025 Culture, Poetry 6 Comments . The Legend of Zhong Kui Zhong Kui is pronounced like “Jong Quay” One dark and dour winter day His mother sent her son Zhong Kui Along with his good friend, Du Ping To take exams held by the King. Zhong...
‘Roads of Potter County’: A Poem by Frank Rable The Society June 4, 2025 Culture, Humor, Poetry 19 Comments . Roads of Potter County Finally Spring has come north here---Always my favorite time of year.Potter will tease you in some way---Tomorrow might be a snowy day. Instead there came the green of grass,The white...
On the Art Institute of Chicago’s South Garden and Other Poetry by Adam Sedia The Society June 3, 2025 Art, Beauty, Poetry 17 Comments . In Urbe Hortus ---June afternoon in the South Garden of the Art Institute of Chicago Hard stone and brick, cold glass and steel Shrink behind the canopy Of intertwining leafy boughs Sprawling from each...
‘My Fairytale’: A Poem by Roy E. Peterson The Society June 3, 2025 Love Poems, Poetry 16 Comments . My Fairytale You could be my Cinderella _I danced with at the ball. You’re the one I’m looking for _Since you first fled the hall. You could be in sleep awaiting _Like the poisoned Snow White. You may...
‘In Her Fair Foundry, Nature Forges Art’ by Claude Gaspar Bachet, Translated by Josh Middeldorf The Society June 2, 2025 Beauty, Poetry, Translation 5 Comments . In Her Fair Foundry, Nature Forges Art by Claude Gaspar Bachet de Meziriac (1581-1638) translated from French by Josh Mitteldorf In her fair foundry, Nature forges art, Divinity of beauty knows no peer. The...
‘Lost Ark’: A Poem by Christopher Fried The Society June 2, 2025 Culture, Poetry 5 Comments . Lost Ark ---upon reading of the hunt for the Ark of the Covenant It used to be, a life ago, that fear caused me to lift my hands to hide my sight when Raiders’ climax was on screen—to peer at wonders...
‘Two Love Poems’ by James A. Tweedie The Society June 1, 2025 Love Poems, Poetry, Villanelle 14 Comments . Since You’ve Been at My Side ---a villanelle Embraced by love, since you’ve been at my sideI’ve found the strength to hope for better days,As if uplifted by a rising tide. When feeling lost, with you...
‘To a Virginia Bluebell’ and Other Poetry by Lee Evans The Society June 1, 2025 Beauty, Poetry 7 Comments . To a Virginia Bluebell You nod to me across the trail That runs before my garden seat. With clustered bells of blue you greet My visit with a subtle peal. You wave your frolic fans of green So gaily, as if...