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    • Sonnets on the Arts Today, by Peter Hartley

      The Society
      January 5, 2019
      Art, Beauty, Culture, Ekphrastic, Poetry
      38 Comments
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    • ‘Eyes on the Prize’ and Other Poetry by C.B. Anderson

      The Society
      February 27, 2021
    • ‘A Song of Saint Francis’ and Other Poetry by Brian Yapko

      The Society
      February 26, 2021
      11
    • ‘Three Experiments in Poetic Form’ by James A. Tweedie

      The Society
      February 25, 2021
      25
    • A Poem for Gina Carano: ‘Forced Out’ by Bethany Mootsey

      The Society
      February 25, 2021
      11
    • ‘A Lenten Prayer’ by Joe Tessitore

      The Society
      February 24, 2021
      21
    • ‘Chasing Dryads’ by Julie Desmond

      The Society
      February 24, 2021
      12
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    • A Line of Shakespeare Poetry Contest

      The Society
      May 8, 2019
      Culture, For Educators, From the Society, Humor, Poetry, Poetry Contests
      148 Comments
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    • The Best Poems of 2020

      The Society
      February 1, 2021
      26
    • Winners of 2021 High School Poetry Competition Announced

      The Society
      February 1, 2021
      5
    • Winners of 2021 Poetry Translation Competition Announced

      The Society
      February 1, 2021
      4
    • Turn a Joke into a Poem—Poetry Challenge

      The Society
      December 8, 2020
      70
    • Winners of the ‘Napa Valley Winery’ Ekphrastic Poetry Contest

      The Society
      November 15, 2020
      13
    • Ekphrastic Contest: Write a Poem on This Photograph

      The Society
      October 8, 2020
      148
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    • Essay: My Predecessor, Fray Angelico Chavez Part I by Joseph Charles MacKenzie

      The Society
      December 1, 2017
      Beauty, Culture, Essays, Poetry
      4 Comments
    Recent
    • The Power of One: Monosyllables in Classical Poetry

      The Society
      February 18, 2021
      15
    • The Singing Lines of Theresa Rodriguez: A Review of Sonnets

      The Society
      January 12, 2021
      13
    • Two Poems Making Use of ‘Conceits,’ by Joseph S. Salemi

      The Society
      January 9, 2021
      26
    • The Struggle for the Formalist Tradition: An Essay by Joseph S. Salemi

      The Society
      December 13, 2020
      58
    • Essay: ‘Portrait of a Millennial Art Student’ by Sally Cook

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      October 24, 2020
      22
    • A Review of Juvenalia by Reid McGrath

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      October 12, 2020
      12
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Author The Society

The Society

The Society of Classical Poets was founded in New York in July, 2012.

‘Eyes on the Prize’ and Other Poetry by C.B. Anderson

The Society
February 27, 2021
Beauty, Poetry
. Eyes on the Prize __What time it is Can be determined only by the Sun. __The choice is his, By whom all duties have been duly done, __To set the pace Whereby all useful progress shall be measured. __In such...

‘A Song of Saint Francis’ and Other Poetry by Brian Yapko

The Society
February 26, 2021
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
11 Comments
. A Song of Saint Francis Good friends, I wander vale and hill The Master’s words upon my lip; My only thought: to do His will And sing such Love as makes hearts skip! Rejecting wealth, prestige and sword...

‘Three Experiments in Poetic Form’ by James A. Tweedie

The Society
February 25, 2021
Beauty, Poetry, Poetry Forms
25 Comments
. Midday Dreaming The raindrops fall like teardrops from a sad and sodden cloud; Their spattering the sound of some a- doring, cheerful crowd. I touch the cloud with outstretched fingers Lifted to the...

A Poem for Gina Carano: ‘Forced Out’ by Bethany Mootsey

The Society
February 25, 2021
Culture, Poetry
11 Comments
. It feels like a galaxy far, far away,__But it’s just the US of AWhere a woman is canned, her prospective gigs banned,__For refusing to mutely obey. Speech marshals have spoken, patrollers of space;__Even...

‘A Lenten Prayer’ by Joe Tessitore

The Society
February 24, 2021
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
21 Comments
. Of all Creation, who am I Who sins against Thee, Lord Most High? Of all that crawl, of those who creep, No one has ever sunk so deep. Of those who swim and those who fly, Least of them all, this sinner,...

‘Chasing Dryads’ by Julie Desmond

The Society
February 24, 2021
Beauty, Poetry
12 Comments
. As a child, they could not keep me from trees And craggy, tangled limbs and aching arms. I loved the camouflage, the filtered breeze, Nose-smacked tang of moss and far-off farms. Grandma's had a crook just...

‘Owl Ensconced on Oaken Branch’ by Corey Elizabeth Jackson

The Society
February 23, 2021
Beauty, Poetry
20 Comments
. Owl ensconced on oaken branch, A wingèd spirit rare, His gaze is wisdom: calm, intent, Bewitching and aware. Soulful and implacable, His feathered stillness bright Is outlined by cerulean sky, A beacon...

‘Grauballe Man’ and Other Poetry by Peter Hartley

The Society
February 21, 2021
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
46 Comments
.. Grauballe Man He lies exposed to view in this glass case Exactly as he lay three hundred years Before our Christ was born, between his ears Torn open with a savage force: his face, All blackened by the peat...

‘Remembering Sandy Hook, Ct 12/14/12’ by Ed Gutt

The Society
February 20, 2021
Culture, Poetry
9 Comments
. Remembering Sandy Hook, Ct 12/14/12 Over 8 Years Later That day God's Angels' tears were shed,When first grade books and blackboards bledPure blood that stained a beige room red.Sad parents tuck ghosts into...

‘Obit: English Pronouns’ by Jan Darling

The Society
February 19, 2021
Culture, Humor, Poetry
28 Comments
. Dear friends we gather here to say goodbye To words once used to speak both truth and lie. The HE and SHE and HIS and HERS and MINE By ZIE interred forever at ZIR shrine. No more can we know ZIM or VER by...

A Poem on the Death of Rush Limbaugh (1951-2021), by Joe Tessitore

The Society
February 18, 2021
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
12 Comments
. Rush He was larger than life And it cut like a knife When his wife let us know That he died. From this kind of grief There can be no relief. Such a powerful blow Meant I cried. 12:06 comes around, I’m...

A Monosyllabic Poem: ‘To West’ by Adam Sedia

The Society
February 18, 2021
Beauty, Love Poems, Poetry, Poetry Forms
8 Comments
. Too long, too long, my love, Have we lain out here. Too long, too long, my love, Have our ease, our cheer Fixed us fast, sprawled in cool shade, With our arms and breasts clasped near, Too pleased to note...

The Power of One: Monosyllables in Classical Poetry

The Society
February 18, 2021
Essays, Poetry, Poetry Forms
15 Comments
by Adam Sedia The origin of poetry is inextricably tied to music. The earliest poems---the Homeric epics, the Chinese Book of Songs---were all lyrics to be sung. Because vowels allow the open voice to sing...

‘Ashless Wednesday’ by Joe Tessitore

The Society
February 17, 2021
Culture, Poetry
11 Comments
. The Great Reset has rocked the world--- What untold evil has unfurled! Unshakable foundations crumble. Through the rubble, nations stumble. Who is not shaken to the core By all that was and is no...

‘An Apple a day’ by Jeff Eardley

The Society
February 17, 2021
Humor, Poetry
16 Comments
. The Internet’s a work of art, Now everybody’s phone is smart. They’re very compact, very small, And so, begins a tale so tall. For once upon a time, a gent, A load of cash one day he spent. Delighted...

‘Texas Freeze (surely an oxymoron)’ by Susan Jarvis Bryant

The Society
February 16, 2021
Humor, Poetry
34 Comments
. For others it may be a breeze. Those hardy Arctic folk would wheeze With laughter as we Texans sneeze __And shiver. This slick of ice and lick of snow; This frightful bite as ill winds blow Nips our...

‘Stones’ by Daniel R. Leach

The Society
February 16, 2021
Beauty, Poetry
7 Comments
. These stones that like huge sculpted figures lie __Amid the trunks of moss and fern-clad trees, Eons of creatures have seen born and die __And the land’s face carved by the shifting seas. ____All of...

‘God Save Poetry’ by Don Shook

The Society
February 15, 2021
Beauty, Culture, Humor, Poetry
6 Comments
  There is a scourge that permeates our midstWhich we cannot so easily dismiss.Elitists strive to elevate this curse;A type of art most poets call free verse. True poetry once rhymed and had some form,A...

‘Though Worlds May Die and Silent Be’ by Roy E. Peterson

The Society
February 14, 2021
Beauty, Love Poems, Poetry
11 Comments
. . Till rolling seas cease heaving high, The starry nights stop passing by, The universe is wrapped in flame, And there is no one left to blame. __Until then? ... You’re my loved one. Till sun no longer...

‘The Wife’s Lament’ by Joseph S. Salemi

The Society
February 14, 2021
Humor, Love Poems, Poetry
11 Comments
. For my friend Rose R., with sincere condolences. Good Lord, imagine my bad luck: I’m married to a hockey puck. I don’t know how it came about— A lover morphed into a lout! You’re a widow, not a...

‘L O V E…’: and Other St. Valentine’s Day Poems by Susan Jarvis Bryant

The Society
February 14, 2021
Beauty, Culture, Humor, Love Poems, Poetry
20 Comments
. L O V E... It’s not a dozen scentless hothouse roses. __It’s not a chocolate-box of sweet cliché. It’s not the scorching kiss that lust imposes __To lead the fired and fevered flesh astray. It’s not...

‘Blossom Brief’ by Michael Curtis

The Society
February 14, 2021
Beauty, Love Poems, Poetry
2 Comments
. Among the many flowers in the vase, ‘Tis I—the flower with the pretty face, Full humor, sound stamen, and skill in fun— Who is to say to you, Michele, “Well done.” As so the master charged.  Yet...

‘A Damsel in Distress’ and Other Valentine’s Day Poetry by Damian Robin

The Society
February 13, 2021
Poetry
8 Comments
. A Damsel in Distress A hot, courting Knightin blithering armourVowed on his horse he would never-ever harm herThen he revved up his stallion and bamboozled off hard,Heavy metaled to the damsel across the...

‘Waiting for “I Do”’ by C.B. Anderson

The Society
February 13, 2021
Humor, Love Poems, Poetry
17 Comments
C.B. Anderson was the longtime gardener for the PBS television series, The Victory Garden.  Hundreds of his poems have appeared in scores of print and electronic journals out of North America, Great Britain, Ireland, Austria, Australia and India. 

For Valentine’s Day: ‘The Tale of the Rose’ by Christine de Pisan (1364–1431), translated by Margaret Coats

The Society
February 13, 2021
Beauty, Culture, Love Poems, Poetry, Translation
22 Comments
. . The Tale of the Rose (Excerpt) by Christine de Pisan (1364-1431), translated by Margaret Coats . This Tale comes from the Paris home of the Duke of Orleans, brother of the King of France, where on Saint...

‘Fool’s Wisdom’ and Other Sonnets by Theresa Rodriguez

The Society
February 12, 2021
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
27 Comments
. Fool’s Wisdom “I am fearfully and wonderfully made” ---Psalm 139:14 I am amazed at what some fools believe Who say I am a fool to have belief In a creative force. To preconceive Against this...

‘Cyclothymia’ by Rachel Thomas

The Society
February 11, 2021
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
8 Comments
. All fruit is sweet as marzipan, and seraphs carol just for me, Each brook sings like a silver lyre, and finches trill in every tree. Life is a cloth embossed with gold, and even through the blackest...

‘If Robinhood (Investment Trader) Ran Major League Baseball’ by James A. Tweedie

The Society
February 10, 2021
Culture, Humor, Poetry
13 Comments
. All Major League Baseball teams share revenues, We treat them as if they were brothers. But sometimes self-interest means we refuse To treat each the same as the others. Some teams like the Yankees are...

‘Reality Check’ and Other Poetry by David D. Nolta

The Society
February 10, 2021
Humor, Poetry
10 Comments
. Reality Check A ladybug landed on my arm On Saturday. I felt the charm The chosen feel. It brought with it Good luck—or so I thought—then bit Deep into me, paused for air, Spread its spots beside a...

On Trump’s Second Impeachment Trial: ‘Kangaroo Déjà Vu’ by Susan Jarvis Bryant

The Society
February 9, 2021
Culture, Humor, Poetry
21 Comments
. They’re impeaching Number 45 today--- Like toddlers born to moan, Like bulldogs with a bone, Like warlords with a drone, Like tyrants on a throne, Although they know The Don left yesterday--- They’re...

Two Poems on Old Age, Adapted by Terry L. Norton

The Society
February 9, 2021
Children's, Culture, Poetry, Translation
13 Comments
. Half a Blanket adapted from “Das Vierte Gebot,” or “The Fourth Commandment,” a folktale from medieval Germany There was an old king once in France Who grew in time too weak to reign. So, he...

‘ Reality Check’ by Susan Jarvis Bryant

The Society
February 8, 2021
Culture, Deconstructing Communism, Poetry
43 Comments
. The New York Times has just published a piece detailing a range of recommendations for the Biden administration to solve the “reality crisis”...

Five Sonnets from ‘The Gift of Life’ by Amanda Hall

The Society
February 8, 2021
Art, Beauty, Culture, Epic, Poetry
7 Comments
. “The Gift of Life” is a formal epic poem of 600 original Shakespearean sonnets, a tale about a love that existed in life and art with equal force. The heroine of the tale goes to the great war of words...

A Poem on the ‘Borderless Regime,’ by Christopher Flint

The Society
February 7, 2021
Culture, Poetry
13 Comments
. I, Satan, Now Will Have Your Dream You'll be no longer citizens, by my decrees declared. Get used to being residents (assuming you are spared by forces of invasion massed already here and more in numbers...

‘Slow Verse’ and Other Poetry by Lionel Willis

The Society
February 7, 2021
Beauty, Poetry
9 Comments
.. . Slow Verse No need to rush: These lines have lots of time. They never face a hanging at first light. They can take pains to whittle a neat rhyme And years to get each subtle cadence right, But they can...

‘Chairman Xho’ (Pronounced ‘Joe’) by Joe Tessitore

The Society
February 6, 2021
Culture, Deconstructing Communism, Humor, Poetry
13 Comments
. They’ll be coming for you soon, Chairman Xho. It’s an old, familiar tune that we all know. You’ve been howlin’ at the moon And they’ll say that you’re a loon And you’ll bring us all to...

‘Eight and a Half (Going on Twenty)’ by Frank De Canio

The Society
February 6, 2021
Culture, Humor, Poetry
7 Comments
. “Ha ha,” is all she gives her Dad when he makes fun of what she said. No more parental Galahad who nightly carried her to bed. He’s just a jaded humorist who doesn’t even merit laughs from her which...

‘Reality Check’ by James A. Tweedie

The Society
February 5, 2021
Culture, Humor, Poetry
15 Comments
. We can “Build Back Better” if we choose “Truth Over Lies.” What these slogans promise lead us to a big surprise. When the new administration’s promises come true, This is what we’ll get when...

‘Curiosity’ by David Jilk

The Society
February 5, 2021
Beauty, Poetry
7 Comments
. You ask me “why?”---the question seems to burn like you were made to seek out novelty, to stimulate your mind, explore, and learn: exactly why your curiosity is not so curious at all, to me! Your brain...

‘Twitter’ and Other Poetry by Bruce Dale Wise

The Society
February 4, 2021
Culture, Deconstructing Communism, Poetry
22 Comments
. Twitter by Esca Webuilder The bluebird of unhappiness, that twits all day and night, does not like to be seen that much, especi’lly in pure light. It tries to hide among the bushes of the golden mean, but...
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