The Mahjong Flowers   Orchid Lone in the cold of working solitude, The scholar and the orchid strain to...

  The Martyrdom of Saint Cassian St. Cassian of Imola (Forum Cornelii) was a schoolteacher killed by his own pupils...

  Mind versus Beauty by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) translated from Germany by Eric v.d. Luft Now Mister Mind,...

  Summer Sails Floating through an azure sky, Rhinos, rabbits and dragons fly. Lofty sails puff out like pillows, Catching...

  Aquarius A black cross in my memory, Upon a tangled silver chain, Against his skin of ivory, Glows fire-branded...

  No Body Here on Earth Her cancer broke through chemo’s flame at last. Her lungs held on for months,...

  A Reading of Homer's Odyssey Book 1 (Translated by Michael Solot) https://youtu.be/1knI2sT_g28     Starring: Andrew Benson Brown as...

  Now? How can I keep this now as Now? Past and Future take a bow, Then crunch each Now...

  From California to Louisiana No more the mountains rising blue and gray, nor oceans crashing near to shore on...

  A Pot of Tea __A pot of tea Stirs the mind this winter morning. __A pot of tea Shared...

  I. My cousin has a fuzzy head _But I am bald instead. I cannot give your hand a shake...

  Swallowtails Every year we till and sow our kitchen garden, parsnips in a six-foot line, to catch the glow...

  All Flesh Is Grass “When the ungodly are green as the grass, and when all the workers of wickedness...

  May a Smile Be Your Umbrella May a smile be your umbrella And the wind blow you away. May...

  Flexibility This morning when I was pursuing Just one of my many routines, My son asked why I wasn’t...

  Sabin Howard ---who created A Soldier's Journey at the National World War I Memorial in Washington, D.C. He steps...

  Ode to a Dragonfly High in the torrid, torpid dog-day air A shape, elusive, skeletal, darts by--- Yet elongated,...

  Hobby Horse Not like the winged stallion of Greek fame with Olympic wings aloft from sky to sky. Here,...

  Big Cat Dance In my home state of Michigan _They rip up all the roads To vex the heart...

  Freedom’s Wring _When God seems to fail _The world starts to wail, And saints go marching home Like Sprites...

  Island of Poets Settlers came from Thessaly, eastward sailing Far as Lesbos, loveliest isle regaling Grateful hearts with poetry...

  Military Quatrains, or the Modern Archilochus εἰμὶ δ’ἐγὼ θεράπων μὲν Ἐνυαλίοιο ἄνακτος, καὶ Μουσέων ἐρατὸν δῶρον ἐπιστάμενος. "I am...

  The Secret Rose Somewhere unknown there grows A multifoliate rose Whose petals are arranged In symmetries unchanged By vagaries...

  The Family Archive With moldy hand through tender shards I graze In boxes, old and dusty, some collapsed, And...

  Pedagogy Some claim the moon is made of cheese —No farting, please, it’s unrefined— Whose surface is a softened...

  Who are the Villains? I hate to be a Hollywood belittler, And yet, you ever notice how The stock...

  Isle of Romance O Isle of Romance, what a fanciful thought, _Most surely a sensual place--- Capri, Catalina, Tahiti...

  Professional Mourner Good morning, friend. I didn’t catch your name. Ah. Tod. So you’re the new kid on the...

  A Midsummer Night's Dream Whose dream are they, these four Athenian lovers whose mad misunderstandings mock each other? Moonstruck...

How the Mighty Fell! ---King David’s dirge for the previous King of Israel and his son: King Saul and Jonathan...

  The One Lone Juror ---for the very brave man who refused to acquit Lindsay Clancy of the crime of...

  Soul of a Prophet: A Trialog “But the house of Israel will not listen to you…” ---Ezekiel 3.7. “Well,...

  Nelson and George ’Twas Providence granting old Nelson to George, Like how he survived at the Valley of Forge....

  When She Arrives A house is born of bricks and stone, Of measured walls and polished floor; It keeps...

  On to Better Days In this 250th year of the USA, this nation of 340 million goes its way....

  Serenade __Late summer’s twilight skies Hum with the song of a thousand faint voices--- _A choir of myriad sprites...

  Self-Exploration The furthest shores within my mind are lands whose sands I must explore— becoming a conquistador; to do...

  Victory With darkness cast on fertile lands, The men took muskets in their hands And wives took charge of...

  The Cristero Centennial In Mexico a hundred years ago, The government forced secularization. Its liberal politicos roared “No!” To...

  A Potpourri of Aphoristic Verses   Confronted with the truth, some will embrace it, While others, sadly, will refuse...