Lyrics of Oliver Goldsmith, Translated into Latin by Joseph S. Salemi The Society July 7, 2025 Poetry, Translation 14 Comments . When Lovely Woman Stoops to Folly… by Oliver Goldsmith (1728-1774) When lovely woman stoops to folly, And finds too late that men betray, What...
‘An Update for Dylan Thomas’s Aunt’: A Poem by Joseph S. Salemi The Society June 9, 2025 Culture, Poetry 30 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...
‘Kissing Cousin’ and Other Poems by Joseph S. Salemi The Society May 24, 2025 Culture, Humor, Poetry 33 Comments . Kissing Cousin I see her every two years, usuallyWhen someone dies or marries. And we kissAs if we were old lovers, passionately,Just as a silly...
Two Lyrics of Philodemus of Gadara, Translated by Joseph S. Salemi The Society April 21, 2025 Blank Verse, Culture, Poetry, Translation 10 Comments . Two Lyrics by Philodemus of Gadara translated from Greek by Joseph S. Salemi . V.124 Summertime has not yet cast off her buds Nor has the grape...
‘Porphyro and Madeline: The Epilogue By Byron’: A Poem by Joseph S. Salemi The Society April 8, 2025 Culture, Poetry 28 Comments . Porphyro and Madeline: The Epilogue By Byron "Let us away, my love, with happy speed; There are no ears to hear, or eyes to see..." —John Keats,...
‘A Token of Espousal’: A Poem on Saint Catherine de’ Ricci, by Joseph S. Salemi The Society March 6, 2025 Beauty, Blank Verse, Culture, Poetry 23 Comments . A Token of Espousal Sister Elisabetta Dardinelli Speaks Concerning the Token of Espousalof Saint Catherine de’ Ricci (1522-1590) Dixit mihi...
‘Zelensky Gets a Hard Lesson’: A Poem by Joseph S. Salemi The Society March 1, 2025 Culture, Poetry 67 Comments . Zelensky Gets a Hard Lesson Zelensky comes strutting, in hope of a payout— Trump and young J.D. are trusting that he’ll Accept their...
‘The Potentate and the Pontiff’: An Essay by Joseph S. Salemi The Society February 13, 2025 Essays, Poetry 18 Comments . The Potentate and the Pontiff by Joseph S. Salemi I have often argued that the formalist techniques of traditional poetry are ideologically...
Two Poems of Judgment by Joseph S. Salemi The Society February 4, 2025 Poetry, Satire 12 Comments . The Judge Addresses the Defendant "Living in America is like serving in the army; ninety percent of conduct is prescribed by law and the remaining...
Two Idylls of Bion of Smyrna, Translated from Greek by Joseph S. Salemi The Society January 9, 2025 Culture, Poetry, Translation 20 Comments . Two Idylls by Bion of Smyrnatranslated by Joseph S. Salemi . Idyll V Great Cypris stood before me in a dreamy hazeHolding by her fair hand the hand...
Meditation on Herbert’s ‘Church Monuments’: A Poem by Joseph S. Salemi The Society December 5, 2024 Culture, Poetry 20 Comments . Meditation on Herbert’s “Church Monuments” "…Mark, here below, How tame these ashes are, how free from lust, That thou mayst fit thyself...
The Trochaic Poems of Dorothy Parker: An Essay by Joseph S. Salemi The Society November 20, 2024 Essays, Poetry 20 Comments . The Trochaic Poems of Dorothy Parker by Joseph S. Salemi A few poets become famous, while most go down into oblivion. But a small scattering of...
‘Homage to Morton of Merrymount’: A Poem by Joseph S. Salemi The Society October 23, 2024 Culture, Poetry 23 Comments . Homage to Morton of Merrymount To you I pay this homage and devotion: Thomas Morton, Host of Merrymount— You, whose learnèd writing put in...
‘Aphrodisiac’: A Poem by Joseph S. Salemi The Society September 27, 2024 Blank Verse, Culture, Poetry 26 Comments . Aphrodisiac I. It was past midnight when we met and spoke One rainswept winter Friday. The wet street Stood empty save for us (that clinched the...
‘Catullus XI’: A Translation by Joseph S. Salemi The Society September 13, 2024 Love Poems, Poetry, Sapphic Verse, Translation 14 Comments . Catullus XI Furius and Aurelius, my two friends, Whether I go to farthest India, The shore by ever-pounding Eastern seas Beaten by tide-waves, To...
‘New Directions, or Deviations?’: An Essay by Joseph S. Salemi The Society August 25, 2024 Essays, Poetry 25 Comments . New Directions, or Deviations? by Joseph S. Salemi Many years ago I read an account of a discussion between Ezra Pound and an interviewer...
‘The Psychopath Addresses the Ladies…’: A Poem by Joseph S. Salemi The Society July 30, 2024 Culture, Poetry 43 Comments . The Psychopath Addresses the Ladies Auxiliary of the Mental Ward "When an inner situation is not made conscious, it appears outside as fate." ...
‘The “La Vache Qui Rit” Candidate’: A Poem by Joseph S. Salemi The Society July 26, 2024 Poetry, Satire 26 Comments . The “La Vache Qui Rit” Candidate Here she comes smiling a big toothy grin at us Laughing and cackling her candidate talk— Does she make...
‘Some Words to Catholics about Bergoglio’: A Poem by Joseph S. Salemi The Society June 19, 2024 Culture, Poetry 29 Comments . Some Words to Catholics about Bergoglio God only knows what’s left to say— Most Catholics drift from day to day, Like refugees in war or...
Two Strange Poems by Joseph S. Salemi (with a Note) The Society June 9, 2024 Beauty, Culture, Essays, Poetry 18 Comments . The Universal Horoscope and Zodiac Twelve figures in the blazoned zodiac Set by the gods in their unchanging track Spin in a regulated, yearly...
Two Poems Inspired by Shakespeare Quotations, by Joseph S. Salemi The Society May 20, 2024 Beauty, Poetry, Shakespeare 25 Comments . Miss Crespo’s Halloween Give me the daggers. The sleeping and the dead Are but as pictures; ‘tis the eye of childhood That fears a painted...
‘A Curse Against a Thief’ from the Carmina Burana, Translated by Joseph S. Salemi The Society May 6, 2024 Humor, Poetry, Translation 27 Comments . A Curse Against a Thief from the Carmina Burana Let the thief who stole my cap be by death collected: Let it happen suddenly, and be...
‘The Snares of Simplicity’: An Essay by Joseph S. Salemi The Society April 10, 2024 Essays, Poetry 37 Comments . The Snares of Simplicity by Joseph S. Salemi Liberals, Communists, and capitalists all share one dangerous and demonically-prompted trait. They...
Classical Poets Live: Readings of Poetry by Salemi, Yapko, Sedia, and Benson Brown The Society April 6, 2024 Classical Poets Live, Poetry, Readings 15 Comments ...
‘The Lilacs on Good Friday’: A Poem by Joseph S. Salemi The Society March 29, 2024 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 24 Comments . The Lilacs on Good Friday Tumult of noontide long ago dismissed— The rent veil unremembered, and the sun Relit, though shrouded in a new...
‘For Dorothy’ and Other Poems by Joseph S. Salemi The Society March 14, 2024 Beauty, Poetry 28 Comments . For Dorothy I have at times sat silent in this chair And furtively cast looks about the room Admiring, or to jot a mental note Of someone’s...
‘Anthony Comstock: An Extended Dactylic’ by Joseph S. Salemi The Society February 25, 2024 Culture, Poetry 38 Comments . Anthony Comstock: An Extended Dactylic Higgledy, piggledy, Anthony Comstock, the Toughest enforcer of morals to date, Couldn’t stand looking at...
‘The Austrian Non Placet Comes in Time’: A Poem by Joseph S. Salemi The Society February 10, 2024 Culture, Poetry 32 Comments . The Austrian Non Placet Comes in Time (Recess at the papal conclave in Rome, August 1903. One cardinal speaks to a small group of his allies) Two...
‘Gawain’s Prayer in the Wilderness’: An Alliterative Poem by Joseph S. Salemi The Society February 2, 2024 Alliterative, Beauty, Education, Poetry 22 Comments . Gawain’s Prayer in the Wilderness …the wildrenesse of Wyrale; wonde ther bot lyte That auther God other gome with gode hert louied. (…the...
‘Saint Sebastianus’ and Other Poems by Joseph S. Salemi The Society January 13, 2024 Beauty, Blank Verse, Culture, Poetry 19 Comments . Saint Sebastianus Sebastianus, soldier, pinioned, bleeding, Stands at his lonely and forgotten post Unperceived—no, even unsuspected— By the...
‘A Valedictorian’s Address at Harvard, about Claudine Gay’: A Poem by Joseph S. Salemi The Society January 5, 2024 Poetry, Satire 39 Comments . A Valedictorian’s Address at Harvard, about Claudine Gay written at the request of Brian Yapko, and in deepest appreciation of Chris Rufo, who...
Mythological Limericks on Defloration by Joseph S. Salemi The Society December 29, 2023 Culture, Humor, Limerick, Poetry 31 Comments . Mythological Limericks on Defloration . Venus and Adonis Adonis was cute as a berry And Venus was sexy and merry— __The boy said “No...
On Poet Michael R. Burch’s Anti-Semitism and Attacks on Poets: An Essay by Joseph S. Salemi The Society December 14, 2023 Culture, Essays, Poetry, Satire 33 Comments . Here We Go Again… by Joseph S. Salemi Oh dear… it looks like the hillbilly software salesman is having another moral fit. Michael R. Burch of...
Art and Belief: An Essay by Joseph S. Salemi The Society December 3, 2023 Essays, Poetry 35 Comments . Art and Belief by Joseph S. Salemi When I consider the question of art and belief, I recall the words of the world-famous Indian dancer, Sujata...
A Poem for the 60th Anniversary of JFK’s Assassination, by Joseph S. Salemi The Society November 22, 2023 Poetry, Satire 18 Comments . Interrogation at the Grassy Knoll: November 22, 1963 Who are you guys? We’re from the CIA. And you? I’m Lucien Sarti from Marseilles. What...
On Michael R. Burch, Poet and Editor of The HyperTexts: A Poem and Note by Joseph S. Salemi The Society October 23, 2023 Culture, Essays, Poetry, Satire 35 Comments . Mike Burch Still Around? Good Lord, No… with apologies to J.C. Squire’s Ballade de l’Évolution Créatrice Strange beasts have gone to their...
Three Epiphanic Poems (and a Short Note) by Joseph S. Salemi The Society October 14, 2023 Beauty, Education, Essays, Poetry 23 Comments . Epiphany It stays in your memory like a pealing bell, A smallish thing, an unimportant fact— The mute suggestion of a random act. What do I speak...
‘Homage to the Cultural Contributions of Native Americans’ by Joseph S. Salemi The Society October 12, 2023 Poetry, Satire 38 Comments . Homage to the Cultural Contributions of Native Americans Columbus bumped into this wondrous land— Out of his ships came a little band To offer...
‘Limericks on Good English Prose’ by Joseph S. Salemi (with Note on Fictive Mimesis) The Society September 17, 2023 Education, Essays, Humor, Limerick, Poetry 23 Comments . Cantankerous Limericks on Good English Prose I love a complexly wrought sentence With phrases and colons that went thence __To make concise...
‘On Professionally Hesitant Poets’ and Other Poetry Exercises by Joseph S. Salemi The Society September 3, 2023 Beauty, Education, Poetry, Satire 17 Comments . On Professionally Hesitant Poets O, for a Muse of fire, that would ascend The brightest heaven of invention! —Shakespeare, Henry V Old Vergil...
