‘San Francisco’ by James A. Tweedie (Part 1 in a Sonnet Series) The Society May 24, 2020 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 45 Comments ...
‘In Praise of Formal Poetry’ by James A. Tweedie The Society May 5, 2020 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 5 Comments In the midst of free-verse critics’ Smug, inchoate analytics __Seasoned with self-righteous pedantry, There are poets who are...
‘Good Friday’ by James A. Tweedie The Society April 10, 2020 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 7 Comments Sullen, somber skies— Heavy leaden tears are shed in sorrow. Heaven cries. Thunderous sobbing grief— Thrashing, crashing; Flashing,...
What Happened to Narrative Poetry?—An Opinion Piece by James A. Tweedie The Society March 5, 2020 Culture, Epic, Essays, Poetry, Short Stories 24 Comments This isn’t so much an essay as it is an opinion piece where I shoot off a few words in praise of narrative poetry or, in other words, poetry that...
‘Ash Wednesday’ by James A. Tweedie The Society February 25, 2020 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 5 Comments Icy, biting breezes cut like knives; Sea-spray wave crests crash upon the shore; Silent, unseen clam and crab life writhes, Buried neath...
‘The Magic Lamp of Al-Jafar: A Terza Rima’ by James A. Tweedie The Society February 4, 2020 Beauty, Culture, Poetry, Short Stories 12 Comments While walking through the Grand Bazaar In Istanbul, I came upon A man whose name was Al-Jafar. His friendly face was thin and...
‘What Song Shall I Sing?’ by James A. Tweedie The Society January 20, 2020 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 35 Comments What song shall I sing for a nation divided By politics, race, economics, and power? By what sweet refrain shall our nation be...
Five Sonnets on Grimm’s Fairytales, by James A. Tweedie The Society December 7, 2019 Culture, Humor, Poetry 14 Comments Grimm Reckonings Summary Thoughts on Five Fairy Tales: A Sonnet Cycle Rapunzel I wish Rapunzel could have saved the day __By climbing...
Two Whale Poems, by James A. Tweedie The Society November 22, 2019 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 21 Comments Reflections on a Dead Whale The sound of surf; the scratch of sand on feet; The sight of distant ships; the taste of salt; And on the gentle...
‘The Sound of Sunset’ by James A. Tweedie The Society November 8, 2019 Beauty, Poetry 19 Comments The gold-etched clouds of evensong intone A whisper of rhapsodic melody; Kaleidoscopic shards of psalmody Aflame with facet-fire of...
‘Daguerreotype’ and Other Poetry by James A. Tweedie The Society October 18, 2019 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 28 Comments Daguerreotype An old once-treasured memory engraved On glass to keep the dying past alive. A fractal blink of time preserved and saved So...
A Pair of Punny Poems by James A. Tweedie The Society September 18, 2019 Culture, Humor, Poetry 16 Comments Fright and Flight The sleeping farm was bathed in soft moonlight. A quiet evening, peaceful and subdued; When suddenly a single bovine...
A Poem on America’s Trade War with China, by James A. Tweedie The Society September 6, 2019 Culture, Deconstructing Communism, Human Rights in China, Poetry 3 Comments Calling China to Task The PRC has ways to make a foreign capitalist rich With plenty of cheap labor featured in their tempting sales...
‘For Dayton and El Paso’ by James A. Tweedie The Society August 5, 2019 Beauty, Culture, News of Note, Poetry 5 Comments Two mass shootings took the lives of twenty-nine this afternoon. Fifty-one (at least) were injured, every life cut short too...
Poems of Hibernia & Caledonia, by James A. Tweedie (with Audio) The Society August 1, 2019 Beauty, Culture, Music, Poetry, Readings 13 Comments Poet's Note: These five sonnets and song are the product of a four-week journey taken in June to Ireland and through west central Scotland and the...
Three Sonnets in an Antiquated Style by James A. Tweedie (with Audio) The Society July 13, 2019 Beauty, Culture, Love Poems, Poetry, Readings 11 Comments Her Love for Him My true love laughs, and angel choirs sing; The mountains echo back his tuneful mirth While Nature dances, heav’n in step...
‘Foggy Morning Fantasy’ and Other Poetry by James A. Tweedie The Society June 24, 2019 Poetry 10 Comments Foggy Morning Fantasy If heaven, as they say, is in the clouds Then it appears my home and neighborhood Were raptured in the night. If so, I...
‘Ballroom Dancing’: A Sonnet Cycle by James A. Tweedie The Society June 16, 2019 Beauty, Culture, Humor, Poetry 7 Comments Note: Formal Ballroom Dance competition involves five specific dance forms. This sonnet cycle attempts to introduce and describe them. I have also...
“We are super, we are fine, We’re the Class of ’69!” by James A. Tweedie The Society May 24, 2019 Culture, Humor, Poetry 13 Comments Fifty years ago . . . (it seems Like only yesterday) . . . the dreams, The hopes, and the unspoken fear That marked and marred my Senior year . ....
A Poem on Recent Shooting Heroes Lori Kaye and Riley Howell, by James A. Tweedie The Society May 2, 2019 Beauty, Culture, News of Note, Poetry, Terrorism 10 Comments For Lori Kaye and Riley Howell I sing in praise of Lori Gilbert Kaye. When racist hatred paid a deadly call On Congregation Chabad of...
‘An Ode to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern’ by James A. Tweedie The Society April 30, 2019 Culture, Humor, Performing Arts, Poetry 3 Comments An Ode to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern 50 Years Later A Poetic Summary of Tom Stoppard’s Award-Winning Play As Seen Through the Eyes of Its Two...
A Poem for Easter Sunday: ‘Tosspot Tulip’ by James A. Tweedie The Society April 21, 2019 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 7 Comments Tosspot tulip, withered, bowed and bent; __Severed stem embedded in a vase. __Natal bed a now-forsaken place. __Glory passed; its bloom...
An Immigration Poem: ‘Of Geese and Migration’ by James A. Tweedie The Society April 12, 2019 Culture, Humor, Poetry 7 Comments The Canada Geese used to migrate each year. They’d summer up there and spend winter down here. Their nests were in Canada, home of...
‘Early Morning Winter Walk’ and Other Poetry by James A. Tweedie The Society March 10, 2019 Poetry 19 Comments Early Morning Winter Walk Footprints follow like a shadow as I walk Through early morning snow as white as powdered chalk. Dragon-steam appears...
‘The Pointless Voice of James Joyce’: A Sonnet by James A. Tweedie The Society January 14, 2019 Culture, Humor, Poetry 20 Comments Author's Note: This Sonnet, formatted as both prose and poetry, is written as a parody of James Joyce; specifically, his final two novels, Ulysses...
‘Those Who Do Not Remember the Past . . .’ by James A. Tweedie The Society December 14, 2018 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 16 Comments Of Roland and of Kings I sing of Arthur and Excalibur, The Table Round and fealty professed By knights devoted to a noble quest For what...
‘The Cost of Higher Education’ by James A. Tweedie The Society November 14, 2018 Culture, Deconstructing Communism, Human Rights in China, News of Note, Poetry 7 Comments I am a university in the U.S. of A. Becoming more dependent on Red China every day. We seek out Chinese students for the money that they...
‘Desolation’ by James A. Tweedie The Society October 26, 2018 Beauty, Poetry 16 Comments Blasted granite marks the trail Guttered through eternal rock. Windborne smoke and ashes veil Mountain peaks through which we walk. Upward blue...
‘Tweedie of Drumelzier’ by James A. Tweedie The Society October 8, 2018 Culture, Poetry 19 Comments Dark Devil’s Pool, where Spirit of the Tweed __Conceived the first-born of the Tuede clan; __Each maiden fair, and muckle braw each man, __With...
‘Cape Disappointment’ by James A. Tweedie The Society September 14, 2018 Beauty, Poetry 14 Comments a rondeau Cape Disappointment, battered and distressed, Besieged, beset, by brute-force waves hard-pressed As broad and deep Columbia...
‘Musical Comedy or Doggerel for Dilettantes’ by James A. Tweedie The Society August 31, 2018 Beauty, Culture, Humor, Music, Performing Arts, Poetry 15 Comments Musical Comedy or Doggerel for Dilettantes The Sonata Like a Classical sonata, our day opens with a theme, Whether thrown from bed by thunder...
‘The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World And What Became of One of Them’ by James A. Tweedie The Society August 4, 2018 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 9 Comments ...
‘I Journey On’ and Other Poetry by James A Tweedie The Society July 21, 2018 Beauty, Poetry 16 Comments a villanelle The sun descends into the silent sea. As shadows lengthen in the fading light I journey on to seek what yet may be. As death from...
‘America the Beautiful’ by James A. Tweedie The Society July 4, 2018 Beauty, Culture, Poetry, Popular Poetry Archives 22 Comments Poet’s Note: I wrote this poem in the same metrical form as the song “America the Beautiful” (but without the internal rhyme). You can sing it...
Three Whimsical Poems by James A. Tweedie The Society June 13, 2018 Culture, Humor, Poetry 16 Comments Everlasting Chesterton The author, G.K. Chesterton: A playful epigramist, A master of the terse bon mot, And witty dithyrambist. He...
‘The Fairies Danced’ and Other Poetry by James A. Tweedie The Society May 15, 2018 Beauty, Poetry 13 Comments The Fairies Danced The fairies danced and shone like diamonds on __The lake below. My pole across my knees; __My creel on my lap; the sun...
‘A Grief Observed’ by James A. Tweedie The Society April 26, 2018 Beauty, Poetry 12 Comments In dactylic hexameter Turgid the sea as it billows and foams in the face of the tempest. Wind-lifted wave-crests explode into diamonds agleam in...
‘April Fools Easter: April 1, 2018’ and Other Poetry by James A. Tweedie The Society April 1, 2018 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 6 Comments April Fools Easter: April 1, 2018 In dark Gethsemane I was betrayed By Judas’ kiss. I was arrested, tried, Found guilty, beaten, thorn-crowned,...
‘Wordsworth’s Lament’ and Other Poetry by James A. Tweedie The Society March 1, 2018 Beauty, Culture, Humor, Poetry 4 Comments Wordsworth’s Lament I wandered lonely as a cloud—Oh dear! I watched the dance of daffodils—Oh my! When on my couch in vacant mood I lie I...
‘Lord Tennyson’s Scissors’ by James A. Tweedie The Society November 20, 2017 Humor, Poetry 6 Comments Note: Years ago I read an essay by R.P. Blackmur entitled “Lord Tennyson’s Scissors” which cited Tennyson for saying that “he knew the...
