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    • 'Hope': A Poem by Jeffrey Essmann

      The Society
      August 19, 2024
      Beauty, Poetry
      11 Comments
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      The Society
      June 17, 2025
      1
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      June 16, 2025
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      June 16, 2025
      6
    • A Poem for Father’s Day: ‘The Weight of a Father’ by Susan Jarvis Bryant

      The Society
      June 15, 2025
      25
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      June 15, 2025
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      June 14, 2025
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    • The Society of Classical Poets 2022 Poetry Competition

      The Society
      September 1, 2021
      From the Society, Poetry, Poetry Contests
      17 Comments
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      The Society
      May 13, 2025
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      February 1, 2025
      28
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      September 29, 2024
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The Society

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

‘Two Times Two Is Four’: A Poem by T.M.A. Day

The Society
May 23, 2024
Culture, Poetry
14 Comments
. Two Times Two Is Four Now Kierkegaard once wrote a book, __Entitled Either/Or, But for myself, I only know, __That two times two is four. For though the oceans brim with blood, __Foretold in ancient...

Three Love-Crossed Sonnets by James A. Tweedie

The Society
May 22, 2024
Culture, Love Poems, Poetry
21 Comments
. Unopened Letters Unopened letters strewn across the floor Addressed to me with your name on the back. Left where they fell inside my slotted door. A postal service-aided sneak attack. I step on them with...

‘The Cleft’ and Other Poetry by Gigi Ryan

The Society
May 22, 2024
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
10 Comments
. The Cleft There’s danger for the harmless dove; she swoops Into the cleft of the great mountainside. Her heartbeat calms as she keeps still and mute Surrounded by the rock where she abides. If from her...

‘Dandelions’: A Poem by Cynthia Erlandson

The Society
May 21, 2024
Beauty, Poetry
34 Comments
. Dandelions “...all the days of his vain life, which he passes like a shadow....” ---Ecclesiastes 6: 12 . ____As I stepped out one morning, ____I saw across the lawn ____A yellow audience...

A Poem Based on Joshua Harris’s I Kissed Dating Goodbye, by Joshua C. Frank

The Society
May 21, 2024
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
23 Comments
. Chelsea a true story from I Kissed Dating Goodbye by Joshua Harris “Behold not everybody's beauty: and tarry not among women.” ---Ecclesiasticus (Sirach) 42:12 That long-skirt, apple-pie brunette from...

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 devil. —Shakespeare, Macbeth, Act II, Scene 2 Silhouettes in...

‘AI’s Promise’ and Other Poetry by Daniel Kemper

The Society
May 20, 2024
Culture, Poetry
24 Comments
. AI's Promise What is the latest ingenious ability makers have made out as mental agility? Smoothly unveiling the newest utility, __though it effusively services whims, it reveals our fragility __more than...

‘King George III Declares War’ from Vol. 2 of Andrew Benson Brown’s Mock Epic Poem

The Society
May 19, 2024
Epic, Humor, Poetry
17 Comments
. King George III Declares War from Legends of Liberty, Volume 2 Note: The British have won a pyrrhic victory at Bunker Hill. King George, who has been showing some erratic personality quirks since being...

Poems About Doing the Dishes, by Julian Woodruff

The Society
May 18, 2024
Humor, Poetry, Song Lyrics
18 Comments
. Dishing Out Advice Why are there always dishes in the sink? So lazy and undisciplined. You’d think they might show just a little more respect and know that household members will object. But there they...

‘He Lied About His Age’: A Poem by Joyce E. Rogers

The Society
May 18, 2024
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
9 Comments
. He Lied About His Age 'Twas May of nineteen seventeen, our country now at war. Will had decided to enlist, this great world to explore. His lifetime numbered sixteen years, he'd lie about his age, His build...

‘Saturn’: A Poem by Alan Orsborn

The Society
May 17, 2024
Culture, Poetry, Villanelle
14 Comments
. Saturn "When we have shuffled off this mortal coil" —Shakespeare "According to medieval thought, the worst planet was Saturn,  sponsor of death, destruction, darkness, and disaster." —Michael Ward When...

A Poem for the 30th Anniversary of the Rwandan Genocide, by Paul A. Freeman

The Society
May 17, 2024
Culture, Poetry
27 Comments
. Rwanda, April 1994 Inside Nyamata Church the pews are piledwith clothes, the blood that drenched them dull and dry.What demon turned sane men and women wildwith bloodlust that ten thousand here would die? A...

‘An Incomplete Account of How Things Are’ and Other Poetry by C.B. Anderson

The Society
May 16, 2024
Beauty, Poetry
28 Comments
. An Incomplete Account of How Things Are __From where I drift, One hundred meters from the shore, The elemental thunderous roar __That’s falling swift __Is but a sigh That whispers thoughts into my...

‘Herman the Cripple’: A Poem by Margaret Coats

The Society
May 16, 2024
Culture, Music, Poetry
44 Comments
. Herman the Cripple A body helpless in deformity Was mine, though loving parents carried me Full seven years in sick infirmity, Then placed me in the monks’ academy. Their island abbey Reichenau became My...

‘Go Woke, Go Broke’ and Other Poems by Russel Winick

The Society
May 15, 2024
Poetry, Satire
22 Comments
. Go Woke, Go Broke Sports Illustrated’s prize was doing great. Big bucks each year from the swimsuit edition. But then it seemed keen to alienate Its loyal customers with a new mission--- Put old, or fat,...

‘The Dead’: A Poem by Jeffrey Essmann

The Society
May 15, 2024
Culture, Poetry
12 Comments
. The Dead They’re pretty but the dopamine Has hollowed out their pale blue eyes. They sit there, staring, silent, numb, (They only need to move their thumb…) Intent upon the tiny screen. There’s no...

‘And Yet We Wash Our Hands’: A Poem by Roy E. Peterson

The Society
May 14, 2024
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
25 Comments
. And Yet We Wash Our Hands When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, butthat instead an uproar was starting, he took waterand washed his hands in front of the crowd. “I aminnocent of this man’s...

‘Look Homeward, Sweet Afton’: Poem by Brian Yapko, Set to Music by Jeff Eardley

The Society
May 14, 2024
Beauty, Culture, Music, Poetry, Song Lyrics
32 Comments
. Music by Jeff Eardley . Look Homeward, Sweet Afton after Robert Burns Look homeward, Sweet Afton, back to thy green braes, Recalling with pride Britain’s glorious days. Then forward flow strongly, I pray...

Book Review: What Was and Is—Formal Poetry and Free Verse by Theresa Werba

The Society
May 13, 2024
Poetry, Reviews
5 Comments
. Book Reviewed: What Was and Is---Formal Poetry and Free Verse, by Theresa Werba, Bardsinger Books, April 2024 by James A. Tweedie With What Was and Is—Formal Poetry and Free Verse, Theresa Werba (formerly...

Winners of Friends of Falun Gong 2024 Poetry Competition Announced

The Society
May 13, 2024
Human Rights in China, Poetry, Poetry Contests
9 Comments
. FIRST PLACE . Free to Be the PRC by James A. Tweedie According to the PRC’s unwritten protocol,To be Chinese these days it seems you can’t be Falun Gong.Your race or where you’re born no longer matter...

‘Rosella’: A Mother’s Day Poem by Susan Jarvis Bryant

The Society
May 12, 2024
Poetry
16 Comments
. Rosella My Lone Star mother beams a summer smile As golden as the sun-hugged coastal plains. In snake-proof boots she trekked that extra mile To settle my assimilation pains. She steered my English foibles...

‘A Mother’s Day Sonnet’ by Evan Mantyk

The Society
May 12, 2024
Beauty, Poetry
22 Comments
. A Mother’s Day Sonnet I hope you have a happy Mother’s Day And take a moment out to feel the love I’m sending to you there, though faraway, Like kisses raining down from high above, Each one a memory...

A Poem on D.C.’s S.W.A.M.P., by Warren Bonham

The Society
May 11, 2024
Culture, Poetry
13 Comments
. S.W.A.M.P. Soulless, Warped, And Monstrous People look at us as smelly “sheeple.” Easily manipulated. Otherwise, we’re mocked and hated. Those revolting, loathsome creatures, all have normal-looking...

‘Hookerville School’: A Poem on the One-Room Schoolhouse by Phil S. Rogers

The Society
May 11, 2024
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
13 Comments
. Hookerville School Built just before the Civil War, employed till twenty-nine, This one-room school that stands today withstood the test of time. Turn back the clocks to times long passed, so many years...

‘Orpheus’: A Poem by James Sale

The Society
May 10, 2024
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
29 Comments
. Orpheus We want the heroes back so we can learn: Herakles smashed his way to hell and stormed By violence the ferryman and three-faced dog; Even yanked Theseus from his deep-rooted seat Without a...

’10/7/2023′: A Poem on the Attack on Israel, by Michael Vanyukov

The Society
May 10, 2024
Culture, Poetry
24 Comments
. 10/7/2023 More than one has risen up against us to destroy us. Rather, in every generation they rise against us to annihilate us. —The Passover Haggadah The world is killing Jews, again. There are too...

Election Year 2024 Satire: Poems by Susan Jarvis Bryant

The Society
May 9, 2024
Pantoum, Poetry, Satire
31 Comments
. All Aboard!   a pantoum He’s pumped and ripe to ride the gravy train. He’s armed with cheese and charm to save the day. He’ll pulverize all poverty and pain. He’ll magic melancholia away. He’s...

‘Epicure’s Delight’ and Other Poetry by E.C. Traganas

The Society
May 9, 2024
Humor, Poetry
15 Comments
. Epicure's Delight A wondrous day, my love, is this— An afternoon of utter bliss! The two of us alone at last Embracing tightly, holding fast! The setting sun could scarcely vie To match the fire in your...

A Poem on Scotland’s New Hate Crime Law, by Cheryl Corey

The Society
May 8, 2024
Culture, Poetry
47 Comments
. On Scotland Police were inundated with over 7,000 calls in the first week following the passage of Scotland’s Hate Crime and Public Order Act last month. Where tartan, tweed, and Highland Games began: The...

‘To a Beet’: A Poem by Kensley Greene

The Society
May 8, 2024
Beauty, Humor, Poetry
13 Comments
. To a Beet I sing the bristled hedgehog grainno horticulture can explain,with six sly seedlings in its brain:__the unborn beet.  That hook-and-hollow hydra seed, a spiny knell to nascent weeds;nor leaf nor...

When Less Is More: A Poetry Challenge

The Society
May 7, 2024
Beauty, Poetry, Poetry Challenge, Poetry Contests
64 Comments
. When Less Is More An SCP Poetry Challenge by James A. Tweedie In a recent email exchange with a poet friend, I found myself typing the following sentence: “Poetic forms, such as sonnet, etc. force poets...

‘The Cropland’: A Poem by Shamik Banerjee

The Society
May 7, 2024
Beauty, Poetry
16 Comments
. The Cropland Though coins, good health, and victualsAre mortal man's essentials,I pray for great fertilityOf that arable land in me,Where crops of different names take birth:Love, Beauty, Humour, Grief, and...

‘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 unexpected; After death, to endless pain let him be subjected; Once he’s...

A Formalist Poet at the Open Mic, Part II of An Essay Series by Daniel Kemper

The Society
May 6, 2024
Essays, Poetry
22 Comments
. A Formalist Poet at the Open Mic Part II: The First Reader by Daniel Kemper Keith stands up semi-gracefully in the dead center of the metal folding chairs, gives his patented sugary-surly smile, swings his...

‘Truth Is Not Beauty’ and Other Poetry by Joshua C. Frank

The Society
May 5, 2024
Beauty, Culture, Poetry, Villanelle
31 Comments
. Truth Is Not Beauty “What is the worst mistake you ever made in bed?” Reply: “My son.”  (Actual dialogue on social media) I learn the truth; I’m more and more aggrieved. There’s nothing left, no...
poetry/benson brown/readings

An Interview with Poet Brian Yapko: Classical Poets Live with Andrew Benson Brown

The Society
May 5, 2024
Classical Poets Live, Essays, Interviews, Poetry
18 Comments
. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QR0MktU78bA . . Andrew Benson Brown has had poems and reviews published in a few journals. His epic-in-progress, Legends of Liberty, will chronicle the major events of...

‘A Divine Mistake?’: A Poem by Norma Pain

The Society
May 4, 2024
Humor, Poetry
25 Comments
. A Divine Mistake? Dear Father up in Heaven, Why create thou rats. Six times out of seven They even scare the cats. Why create thy creature’s eye So beady and so small, With no redeeming features, Why...

A Poem on Rubens’ ‘The Hippopotamus Hunt,’ by Casey Robb

The Society
May 4, 2024
Beauty, Ekphrastic, Poetry
8 Comments
. The Sultan’s Aging Son Recalls the Hippo Hunt “The Hippopotamus Hunt” by Peter Paul Rubens, c. 1615-1616 “The sultan sent three sons…” His voice is frail; the boys lean in. “On horseback,...
poem/anderson/love/valentines day

‘Overkill’ and Other Light Verse by James A. Tweedie

The Society
May 3, 2024
Humor, Poetry
16 Comments
. Overkill K.I.S.S. ("Keep it simple, stupid.") My heart enflamed with rapture, burned With passionate desire; yearned For her and only her, consumed By fire. And like a flower, bloomed Poetic as I told her...

‘Bridgerton’s DEI vs. Historicity’: A Poem by Drilon Bajrami

The Society
May 3, 2024
Culture, Poetry, Reviews
20 Comments
. Bridgerton’s DEI vs. Historicity They sacrifice true historicity, So DEI trumps authenticity. But Bridgerton and Netflix, they don’t care, Because those ethopaths with neon hair Give fat cats in their...
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