A Poem on Shakespeare’s Possibly Missing Skull, by Susan Jarvis Bryant The Society April 23, 2025 Poetry, Shakespeare 20 Comments . Bardic Bones Who dug the dust? Who didn’t spare the stones? Who churned the earth that festered with a curse? Who had the gall to judder bardic bones, To steal the skull from him who gilded verse? These...
‘Sonnet 18’: A Song Inspired by Shakespeare’s Sonnet by Gunny Markefka The Society April 23, 2025 Music, Poetry, Shakespeare 8 Comments . Sonnet 18 by William Shakespeare (1564-1616) Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate: Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, And summer’s lease hath all...
Sonnets for Shakespeare’s Birthday, by Margaret Coats The Society April 23, 2025 Poetry, Shakespeare 15 Comments . The Comedy of Rosalind ---As You Like It I show more mirth than I am mistress of. This forest and my folly prompted change Of sex, and my disguise dissembles love. I’m altered by men’s hose and doublet...
Four Sonnets on Shen Yun Performing Arts, by Evan Mantyk The Society April 22, 2025 Beauty, Culture, Performing Arts, Poetry 12 Comments . On Shen Yun . I. The land of China. Deep in history That like a river flows with people and culture, Extending into misty mystery. But now this fascinating, gleaming treasure Is buried in the mud beneath the...
‘Voyage Among the Ancients’: A Poem by Mary Jane Myers The Society April 22, 2025 Beauty, Culture, Poetry, Villanelle 17 Comments . Voyage Among the Ancients "Tread softly, for here you stand On miracle ground…" ---Lawrence Durrell, "On Ithaca Standing" ( 1937) The Juno anchors, docks. We disembark. Each landfall’s an Odyssean...
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 bunch turned to purple for you, The one near bursting with its...
‘Innovative Thinking’: A Poem by Janice Canerdy The Society April 21, 2025 Humor, Poetry 11 Comments . Innovative Thinking My long-time love gave me a special gift, a photo of himself when he was young. He even autographed it: “Love you! Dave.” From then, upon my wall this treasure hung where I could...
‘Stone’s Point of View’: An Easter Poem by Gigi Ryan The Society April 20, 2025 Culture, Poetry 18 Comments . Stone’s Point of View They brought Him to the tomb and rolled me into The right position to seal in the dead, And there was nothing I could do to undo The suffocating sense of loss and dread. The bloody...
‘Easter Couplets’: A Poem by James A. Tweedie The Society April 20, 2025 Children's, Culture, Poetry 9 Comments . Easter Couplets Easter’s more than just about eggs and bunnies;More than what you may have read in the funnies. Short and sweet, (although I can’t guarantee it),This is what it’s all about, as I see...
‘Who Are You and Who Am I’: An Easter Poem by Maria Panayi The Society April 20, 2025 Beauty, Culture, Poetry, Villanelle 14 Comments . Who Are You and Who Am I ---a villanelle Who are you and who am I That you fill my life with light And for me you chose to die. I have fallen from on high, I am foolish, you are wise, Who are you and who am...
‘Emmaus’: An Easter Poem by Jeffrey Essmann The Society April 20, 2025 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 10 Comments . Emmaus We barely saw he’d joined us as we made Our way along the road, so sad, afraid, So utterly confused by what had come To pass, so unsure as to what was rumor And what was true. And we were near...
An Easter Poem: ‘In the Garden of the King’ by Roy E. Peterson The Society April 19, 2025 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 14 Comments . In the Garden of the King In the garden of the King I sit beside a crystal spring. The Tree of Life shines up above Fed by God’s eternal love. The Rose of Sharon is in bloom Freely giving sweet...
‘Holy Saturday’: A Poem by Margaret Coats The Society April 19, 2025 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 35 Comments . Holy Saturday "Call the Sabbath a delight." —Isaiah 58:13 His weary, soulless body needed rest, Not only pierced and physically exhausted, But racked with mental pain, the scourging test Of misbelieving...
Two Poems for Good Friday, by Susan Jarvis Bryant The Society April 18, 2025 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 25 Comments . Crucified She pondered horrors of the modern age. He thumbed through piles of dusty history tomes. She craved the timeless wisdom of a sage. He chewed on clues and mused like Sherlock Holmes. He...
‘Unless . . .’: A Poem for Good Friday by James A. Tweedie The Society April 18, 2025 Culture, Poetry 9 Comments . Unless . . . As un-sun darkness swallows up the day, And quake shake rends an empty Holy Place, God’s grief-strewn Via Dolorosa way Leads to a cross and Jesus’ death-stained face. For here at Calvary...
‘Good Friday Rain’: A Poem by Martin Rizley The Society April 18, 2025 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 9 Comments . Good Friday Rain I wake and hear the rain cascade. Its cleansing drops roll down my pane; They soak the garden, bathe the glade, Refresh the grass, and swell the grain. Stretched out in bed, from stress...
‘Lament for Clairac’ by Théophile de Viau, Translated by A.Z. Foreman The Society April 17, 2025 Culture, Poetry, Readings, Translation 5 Comments . . Lament for Clairac by Théophile de Viau (1590-1626) translated from French by A.Z. Foreman Sun-hallowed walls where I once loved Phillis, Sweet places where my soul knew charm and wonder, Today,...
‘Poetry Legacy’ and Other Poems by Russel Winick The Society April 17, 2025 Culture, Humor, Poetry 9 Comments . Poetry Legacy Superb is her poetic contribution, Unique in its design and execution. She hopes the work is widely loved and lasting— With love beginning prior to her passing. . . Restricted Lane He sees...
Discussion: Is Poetry Good for Your Health? The Society April 16, 2025 Poetry, Science 16 Comments . Australian poet Clive Boddy sent in the article "How Poetry Changes You and Your Brain" published in Greater Good Magazine, which includes the following: A 2022 study found creative expression therapy using...
‘Magnolia’ and Other Poetry by Adam Sedia The Society April 16, 2025 Beauty, Poetry 20 Comments . Magnolia The south wind’s newfound breath, The spring sun’s waxing ray, Draw from your outward death An opulent array. Before one fleck of green Has clothed your naked frame, The life that coursed...
‘But Fruits Are Not Concealed in Them’: A Poem by Peter Venable The Society April 15, 2025 Culture, Poetry 5 Comments . "But Fruits Are Not Concealed in Them" ---Friedrich Schiller, "Breath and Depth" We hear the ancient rule: The fools think they are wise; The wise know they are fools… But who knows their own lies? The...
‘The Hermit Curses’: A Poem by Joshua S. Fullman The Society April 15, 2025 Culture, Poetry 9 Comments . The Hermit Curses Sharp sunrises cut white streaks on the plain, whet edges on black soil, where all at once the spirit clefts from matter, and my gains recoil when I recall your face. Not front or profiled,...
‘Curb Appeal’: A Poem by Cheryl Corey The Society April 14, 2025 Culture, Poetry 17 Comments . Curb Appeal . I. You really couldn't find a better plotOn which to build a house. The yard is rimmedIn masonry. The hedge is neatly trimmed;Without a doubt, a perfect corner lot. There's something...
‘Druthers’ and Other Poetry by C.B. Anderson The Society April 14, 2025 Culture, Poetry, Villanelle 15 Comments . Druthers I’ve never warmed to the absurd idea That I should lean toward being what I ain’t. I’m more inclined to move to North Korea Than hanker to become a martyred saint. I want to live an...
‘Ovechkin Beats Gretzky’: A Poem of Hockey Slang by Warren Bonham The Society April 13, 2025 Culture, Poetry 15 Comments . Ovechkin Beats Gretzky He’s the greatest at one task, it’s putting biscuits into baskets. He scores goals from awkward angles after making dekes, and dangles. He’s a hockey fan amazer, wearing blades...
‘Cantarella Wine’: A Poem by Brian Yapko The Society April 13, 2025 Culture, Poetry 32 Comments . Cantarella Wine Rome. 1501. Lucrezia Borgia hosts Bishop Giovanni Cavalieri of the Republic of Siena. He is visiting Rome as the leader of a faction of priests intent on pressing the Church to address...
‘Strange Blindness: A Play in Two Acts’ by Cynthia Erlandson The Society April 12, 2025 Culture, Poetry 12 Comments . Strange Blindness: A Play in Two Acts . Prologue Joseph and Jesus knew that perfect timing---and not plain, unforeshadowed proclamation---would show the deepest truth about life’s drama.Its plot twists...
‘A Ballad of Life’: A Poem by Margaret Brinton The Society April 12, 2025 Ekphrastic, Poetry 10 Comments . A Ballad of Life ---after Winslow Homer's "Through the Fields" They spoke of life unfolding, A future far from home. No more of country living--- No fields, no farms, no loam. And so, they left for...
‘Hannah Duston’: A Poem by A.R. Pereira The Society April 11, 2025 Culture, Poetry 13 Comments . Hannah Duston She looms there, immortalized, in bronze gone blue, a puritan woman with crude hatchet cocked. Her stare is as cold as the New England dew, the blood of her captors still slick on her...
‘The Wife of Bath and Winston Smith Go on a Date’: A Poem by Paul A. Freeman The Society April 11, 2025 Poetry, Satire 16 Comments . The Wife of Bath and Winston Smith Go on a Date ---after Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales and George Orwell's 1984 The Wife of Bath was fashionably late,while propagandist, Winston Smith---her date---sat...
‘Spring Bloomers’ and Other Spring Poetry by Susan Jarvis Bryant The Society April 10, 2025 Culture, Humor, Poetry, Triolet 28 Comments . Spring Bloomers ---a triolet A lick of spring has kissed the air Whispering of skimpy knickers--- It’s time to toss thick underwear. A lick of spring has kissed the air. I’ll hurl my hat, let down my...
John Neihardt’s Epic Western Poetry (Part 2): A Video by Andrew Benson Brown The Society April 9, 2025 Classical Poets Live, Epic, Poetry 8 Comments . https://youtu.be/bC_JL8Ap8ow . . 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...
‘The Tale of the Moon’s Reign’: An Elegy by Yoshikaze Kawakami The Society April 9, 2025 Beauty, Culture, Poetry, Song Lyrics 6 Comments . The Tale of the Moon’s Reign ---an elegy Above the skies where reigns the moon _So bright in hours of gloom Lived those whose hearts no longer feel _Nor suffer and yearn to heal. We mortals hailed this...
‘Dirty Dishes’ and other Poetry by Gigi Ryan The Society April 8, 2025 Beauty, Humor, Poetry 16 Comments . Dirty Dishes The dust is often out of handAnd should I write my name uponThe coffee table and night standIt will be seen when morning dawns. But dishes, oh the dishes mustBe kept up or the sink will beFoul...
‘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, “The Eve of St. Agnes” _A long, hard gallop brought them...
‘The Four Seasons’: A Poem by Daniel Howard The Society April 7, 2025 Beauty, Love Poems, Poetry 13 Comments . The Four Seasons . Spring I Amidst the cloudless sky and crimson dawn Comes bursting forth the bluebird’s orange breast, Whose shadow dances o’er the dewy lawn On having found last February’s...
‘My Meltdown Over the Meltdown’: A Poem by Mark F. Stone The Society April 6, 2025 Poetry, Satire 16 Comments . My Meltdown Over the Meltdown I’ve worked since the summer when I was thirteen. Selling pink lemonade gave me plenty of green. I want to retire, but it won’t be today. I call my investments “my...
‘Apologia’: An Essay in Verse, by T.M. Moore The Society April 6, 2025 Education, Essays, Poetry 6 Comments . Apologia "Bring…the books…" ---2 Timothy 4.13 John Calvin, writing on this verse, extolled the benefits that come from reading old and trusted writers. He agreed with Paul that there is wisdom to be...
‘Sit in Silence’: A Poem by Bennett Chatigny The Society April 5, 2025 Culture, Pantoum, Poetry 2 Comments . Sit in Silence ---a pantoum It's pure stupidity to sit in silence. It's only idiotic to be idle. Unconscientious deeds should be derided. Decisive daily action's very vital. It's only idiotic to be...
‘Divine Complaint’: A Poem by Eustache Deschamps, Translated by Margaret Coats The Society April 5, 2025 Poetry, Translation 32 Comments . Divine Complaint Chant royal by Eustache Deschamps (1346-1406), translated and adapted by Margaret Coats In all the world there is one creature lone Who serves me not, nor fears me, nor obeys. Fire, water,...