‘When the Child Appears’: A Poem by Victor Hugo, Translated by Bruce Phenix The Society June 13, 2025 Beauty, Poetry, Translation 2 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 15 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 5 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 21 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 4 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 10 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 24 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 34 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 31 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...
‘Still Life of a Bouquet’: A Poem by Joanna Raja Sekar The Society May 31, 2025 Culture, Poetry 12 Comments . Still Life of a Bouquet Seems wrong to me that flowers die, A live display of borrowed time, To see them bloom from beaming buds To threadbare bones cut off from blood. Those sharp-set stems, sturdy,...
‘Folk Heroes’: A Poem by Warren Bonham The Society May 31, 2025 Culture, Poetry 5 Comments . Folk Heroes We’re told to laud our new folk heroes, but they’re made up by woke zeroes. always stirring up commotion led, not by facts, but by emotion. MS13 will dismember, all except for one lone...
‘Frivolity from Quality’ and Other Poems by Russel Winick The Society May 30, 2025 Poetry 13 Comments . Frivolity from Quality Her works of elegance and style create frivolity, When book producers cluelessly reject such quality. But witless word her work is “not the right fit” holds no slight, Their...
‘The Institute of Peace: Constitution Avenue, N.E.’: A Poem by Michael Curtis The Society May 29, 2025 Culture, Poetry 6 Comments . The Institute of Peace: Constitution Avenue, N.E. The Institute of Peace looks down on LincolnFrom high atop her perch on Constitution.She has the hollow belly of a beast.She yearns to eat the people piece...
‘A Walk in Solitude’: A Poem by Angel L. Villanueva The Society May 29, 2025 Beauty, Poetry 10 Comments . A Walk in Solitude I strolled a path in solitude As snow and frosty winds renewed. The night was giving way to light When I beheld a startling sight: There was a figure up ahead Whose twisted shape invited...
SCP Poetry Competition Winners’ Symposium—You’re Invited! The Society May 28, 2025 From the Society, Poetry, Readings . The SCP Poetry Competition Winners’ Symposium You're Invited! Who: Everyone is invited to attend, Members and non-members alike Date: Saturday, June 28 Time: 1:00 p.m. (Eastern Time) Location: Live on...
‘Song of the Heron’ by Ueda Bin, Translated by Yoshikaze Kawakami The Society May 28, 2025 Beauty, Poetry, Translation 6 Comments . Song of the Heron by Ueda Bin (after the French of Emile Verhaeren) translated from Japanese by Yoshikaze Kawakami By the bleak golden waters, Where the water lilies bloom, The heron slowly hovers, And sends...
‘A Taste of Northern New England’ and Other Poems by C.B. Anderson The Society May 27, 2025 Culture, Poetry 11 Comments . A Taste of Northern New England I’ll never feel at home in Robert Frost’s Vermont—too many deconstructed walls, And far too many melancholy falls That adumbrate a host of tragic costs Come winter....
‘Forsythia Fading’: A Poem by Cynthia Erlandson The Society May 27, 2025 Beauty, Poetry 16 Comments . Forsythia Fading ---after Robert Frost and A.E. Housman Green leaves push yellow blooms away. Bold colors leave, their lives an hour Compared with green things’ lengthened day. It’s true that nothing...
‘On a Raging Storm’ and Other Poetry by Jeff Kemper The Society May 26, 2025 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 10 Comments . On a Raging Storm Storms raged in the eastern U.S. in Spring of 2019. Is it a freak of summer or the norm? A gale, a blast, a squall is roaring past. In wrath that cuts and claws, the raging storm Leaves in...
‘Ten Pennies Per Paper Poppy’: A Memorial Day Poem by Roy E. Peterson The Society May 26, 2025 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 25 Comments . Ten Pennies Per Paper Poppy ---a childhood memory of Memorial Day Ten pennies per paper poppy I helped my mother sell We sold some fifty poppies ---She thought we did quite well. Pretty paper poppies For...
‘A Waltz of Longing’: A Poem by Jacob Schultz The Society May 25, 2025 Love Poems, Poetry 8 Comments . A Waltz of Longing In the heat of the day, we begin With a glance and a breath, cheek to chin. Though our steps misalign, still we glide With a tremble of flame in our stride. It’s a perilous waltz that...
Hurricane Poems: ‘The Genesis Wind’ and Other Poetry by Brian Yapko The Society May 25, 2025 Beauty, Culture, Poetry, Rondeau Redoublé 24 Comments . The Genesis Wind ---written in the wake of Hurricane Milton I close my eyes to better gauge the gusting wind. It howls and tantrums hard against the metal shutters And bends the flailing palms and scrub...
‘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 spoof. She says I missThese hot encounters! Prudish maiden...
‘Wedding Night’ by Christine de Pisan, Translated by Margaret Coats The Society May 24, 2025 Love Poems, Poetry, Translation 20 Comments . Wedding Night by Christine de Pisan (1364--c. 1430)translated by Margaret Coats A sweet supremacy marks marriage;I prove it from experience.I have a husband good and sage,Bestowed through God’s great...
‘What the Caterpillar Calls the End’: A Poem by Scharlie Meeuws The Society May 23, 2025 Beauty, Poetry 11 Comments . What the Caterpillar Calls the End ---for those who are becoming The light grew dim, the air grew still, The green world closed, the leaf went chill. “I am undone,” the small voice cried, Wrapped in a...
‘The Dyer’s Second Tale—A Medieval Heist’: A Poem by Paul A. Freeman The Society May 23, 2025 Chaucer, Poetry 12 Comments . The Dyer’s Second Tale---A Medieval Heist Here beginneth the Dyer’s Second Tale . Part I The Third Crusade had reached its bloody height,And all throughout the Holy Land the mightOf European soldiery...