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      A Poem on Online Dating: 'Avalon' by Jeff Eardley

      The Society
      March 22, 2023
      Humor, Love Poems, Poetry
      26 Comments
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      September 6, 2025
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      September 4, 2025
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      The Best Poems of 2023: Winners of SCP International Poetry Competition

      The Society
      February 1, 2024
      Best Poems, From the Society, Poetry, Poetry Contests
      28 Comments
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      September 1, 2025
    • The Best Haiku of 2025: Winners of the 2025 SCP Haiku Competition

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      August 28, 2025
      13
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      June 21, 2025
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Author The Society

The Society

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

‘You Do You’: A Poem by Warren Bonham

The Society
March 25, 2024
Beauty, Poetry
10 Comments
. You Do You God’s willing to let you do you despite the fact it pains Him to since you’ll go where you should not go, and do much worse than stub your toe then, when you do, you’ll curse His...

‘Deep State Anonymity’: A Poem by Peter Venable

The Society
March 24, 2024
Culture, Poetry
5 Comments
. Deep State Anonymity Ah, the devil. His motive? To deceive __And for us to deny, To dismiss him as simply make-believe. He loves attention. Like All Hallows’ Eve: __Witches and goblins fly As all his...

‘Shades of Vesuvius’: A Poem by Stephen M. Dickey

The Society
March 24, 2024
Culture, Poetry
14 Comments
. Shades of Vesuvius Seldom does one see horror in a tranche De vie like that in Herculaneum And Pompeii, when a sudden avalanche Of heat and ash ruptured your cranium (After you met your death in frenzied...

A Limerick on New Hot Cross Buns with Tick (Check Mark), by Paul A. Freeman

The Society
March 23, 2024
Culture, Limerick, Poetry
15 Comments
. Limerick Perhaps it’s a marketing trick, or else Iceland’s taking the mick; __for what kind of fun __is an Easter Day bun when the cross has been swapped for a tick? . taking the mick: making...

A Poem Based on Graham Greene’s The Power and the Glory, by Joshua C. Frank

The Society
March 23, 2024
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
15 Comments
. The Whiskey Priest based on The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene I stand condemned because I am a priest, Condemned to die by law here in Tabasco, The last eight years of memories I’ve pieced Together...

A Poem on Israel: ‘We Are Wrong’ by Michael Vanyukov

The Society
March 23, 2024
Culture, Poetry
70 Comments
. We Are Wrong You shall remember what Amalek did to you on the way, when you went out of Egypt, how he happened upon you on the way and cut off all the stragglers at your rear, when you were faint and...
poem/cooper/culture

Andrew Benson Brown Reads Poems by S.J. Bryant, Erlandson, Binns, Maibach, and Cooper

The Society
March 22, 2024
Classical Poets Live, Poetry, Readings
10 Comments
...

‘Queen Esther’s Lot’: A Poem for Purim, by Margaret Coats

The Society
March 22, 2024
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
20 Comments
. Queen Esther's Lot for the Jewish holiday of Purim (“Lots”) Oh, to be taken from home’s holy ways, Delivered to a king uncircumcized, And after one grand night, spend endless days With harem women and...

A Poem on the George Stephanopoulos and Nancy Mace Interview, by Warren Bonham

The Society
March 21, 2024
Poetry, Satire
12 Comments
. Victim Shaming Nancy Mace, a U.S. Congresswoman for South Carolina, was interviewed by George Stephanopoulos, former Communications Director for President Bill Clinton, on ABC News on March 10,...

A Poem on Climate Change: ‘Change’ by James A. Tweedie

The Society
March 21, 2024
Beauty, Poetry, The Environment
11 Comments
. Change Scrub the rock with glacial ice until the granite’s smooth and bare. Let the river cut through earth until it leaves a canyon there. Let volcanic lava flows raise islands from the trackless sea. Let...

‘March 21st, Saints Cranmer and Bach’: A Poem by Cynthia Erlandson

The Society
March 21, 2024
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
16 Comments
. March 21st, Saints Cranmer and Bach Archbishop Thomas Cranmer,  burned at the stake March 21, 1556 . Johann Sebastian Bach, born March 21, 1685 . “Upon them hath the light shined.”  ---Isaiah 9:...

A Poem for Lent: ‘St. Perpetua’ by Jeffrey Essmann

The Society
March 20, 2024
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
6 Comments
. St. Perpetua Eyewitnesses of the atrocity Report that on that Carthage afternoon, Already scourged and gored repeatedly By savage bulls, she fell into a swoon (Of Spirit, so they said), then rose immune To...

‘Words Matter’: A Poem by Susan Jarvis Bryant

The Society
March 20, 2024
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
65 Comments
. Words Matter . I. Out of Context Cheats cherry-pick the words that suit their ploy To shame the names of those who disagree With all they say. If counter claims destroy Their idiotic ideology They’ll...

‘Sanderling’: A Poem by Kensley Greene

The Society
March 19, 2024
Beauty, Poetry
21 Comments
. Sanderling What saffron stylus could but trace the rusty scallop of the dancing wing, what sculptor’s chisel sharpened to the quick could cleave the charcoal pencil of the beak that stitches grievance in...

‘To the Passenger Pigeon’: A Poem by Paul A. Freeman

The Society
March 18, 2024
Culture, Poetry
22 Comments
. To the Passenger Pigeon As once, upon the Great Plains, thundering herds of buffalo, innumerable, held sway, a genocide befell these dull-plumed birds whose flocks eclipsed the sunlight, day on day, Up from...

‘St. Patrick’s Day 2024’: A Poem by Susan Jarvis Bryant

The Society
March 17, 2024
Culture, Poetry
26 Comments
. St. Patrick's Day 2024  for an Ireland suffering terribly under the weight of forced migration Where is the one who rid the Emerald Isle Of snakes? Nostalgia hears the hell-bent tread Of gallant feet that...

‘Coffee Limericks’ by Roy E. Peterson

The Society
March 17, 2024
Humor, Limerick, Poetry
45 Comments
. Coffee Limericks . I love to have coffee each morning, Including the act of the pouring: __I smell the aroma, __Come out of my coma, And wonder why you still are snoring. . I start with a coffee each...

‘Watching’: A Poem by Jeffrey Essmann

The Society
March 17, 2024
Culture, Poetry
12 Comments
. Watching It hardly matters what I’d read (Another plangent exposé Of something solid in the world That bit by horrid bit unfurled Into a source of pending dread), It brought to mind an image grey With...

‘The Tenpenny Bit’ and ‘Kesh Jig’: Tunes for St. Patrick’s Day Performed by Jeff Eardley

The Society
March 17, 2024
Music, Poetry
21 Comments
. Musician and SCP poet Jeff Eardley performs the traditional Irish tunes "The Tenpenny Bit" and "Kesh Jig" in honor of St. Patrick's Day. Enjoy! . . Jeff Eardley lives in the heart of England near to...

‘Infernos on the Pages of Literary Journals’: A Poem by Phillip Whidden

The Society
March 16, 2024
Culture, Poetry
16 Comments
. Infernos on the Pages of Literary Journals That one barbaric yawp might just have been All right, but then it ricocheted right down The later centuries.  Literature’s new bin Was made for poetry because...

‘Choices’: A Poem by Shamik Banerjee

The Society
March 16, 2024
Beauty, Poetry
12 Comments
. Choices Some lovers only give the rose, __Some only choose to take, Although the florist keeps a bunch __For every partner's sake. The sun has risen for our town __And also for your city. While you say it's...

‘Serenade’ and ‘Serenity’: Poems by Margaret Coats

The Society
March 15, 2024
Beauty, Epigrams and Proverbs, Poetry
30 Comments
. Serenade Down dash the splashlets of rain to the ground; Streams from the eaves full and fluent resound. Guests gaily chatter, and clatter their chairs, Readying notes for melodious airs. Whistling hot...

A Poem on How Native Americans Were Swindled Out of Manhattan, by Mark Stellinga

The Society
March 15, 2024
Culture, Poetry
29 Comments
. Native Americans Were Swindled Out of Manhattan in 1634 Knowing Eyes—an aging elder, born in Black Bear County Famed for being fearless and the wisest of his tribe— Met with “Diamond-Jim” Van Dyne in...

‘For Dorothy’ and Other Poems by Joseph S. Salemi

The Society
March 14, 2024
Beauty, Poetry
28 Comments
. For Dorothy I have at times sat silent in this chair And furtively cast looks about the room Admiring, or to jot a mental note Of someone’s beauty—eyes or shape or hair. But you were silent also, and my...

Portrait of ‘Ivan, The Barber, 1882-1963’: A Poem by Phil S. Rogers

The Society
March 14, 2024
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
17 Comments
. His Stories Were His Legacy Ivan, The Barber, 1882-1963 . Covered in a heavy blanket, __he sat and watched the rain; it had been more than thirty years, __damp weather made him lame. He turned his old pipe...

‘Homophonophobic’: A Poem by Michael Pietrack

The Society
March 13, 2024
Humor, Poetry, Readings
34 Comments
. . Homophonophobic (This poem is so vain and humorous you’ll burst a vein or break your humerus) My editor returned my latest piece, but all my comrades lay in pools of red revisions. Storms of mourning...

‘The Alleged Bulldozer’ and Other Poetry on Married Life by Mark F. Stone

The Society
March 13, 2024
Humor, Poetry
17 Comments
. The Alleged Bulldozer My wife told me, shortly after we got married, that I “bulldozed” her into the marriage. Bulldozed you into marriage? A most preposterous claim. Such silly thoughts disparage the...

DoorWay Canto 5: ‘Waters of the Crab’ from James Sale’s Epic Poem

The Society
March 12, 2024
Epic, Poetry, Terza Rima
19 Comments
. DoorWay Canto 5: Waters of the Crab From Canto 4 in the constellation of Taurus, the Bull, the poet has been led by Michael, the Seraph, to the sign of Cancer, the Crab, a water sign and ruled by the Moon....

A Poem on St. Monica, St. Augustine’s Mother, by Brian Yapko

The Society
March 12, 2024
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
27 Comments
. Monica's Consolation for Margaret Coats, who introduced me to St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430) and his mother, St. Monica (332-387) Caritas, enter! I’m so glad you’re here. It seems that sleep eludes us...

‘For Paavo Nurmi’ and Other Poetry by Daniel Kemper

The Society
March 11, 2024
Beauty, Culture, Love Poems, Poetry
23 Comments
. For Paavo Nurmi who trained against his stop-watch and in medias rez we begin as the runners approach the penultimate turn. Though their torsos are heaving, the sweat isn't beading—the storm of their pace...

‘Good Intentions’: A Poem by Warren Bonham

The Society
March 11, 2024
Poetry, Satire
19 Comments
. Good Intentions “One of the painful things about our time is that those who feel certainty are stupid, and those with any imagination and understanding are filled with doubt and indecision.”...

‘Bowing to Power’ and Other Poems by C.B. Anderson

The Society
March 10, 2024
Beauty, Humor, Poetry
10 Comments
. Bowing to Power Although they might Not do what’s right, The very strong Are never wrong. If you complain, You’ll feel the pain That’s coming to A town near you. . . Domestic Finances Awash in...

‘Samson, Tribe of Dan’: A Poem by Alec Ream

The Society
March 10, 2024
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
14 Comments
. Samson, Tribe of Dan "Dan is a serpent in the path. He bites the horse's heel and causes the rider to fall backward." ---Jacob, Genesis 49 My father, from the tribe of Dan, Taught me, far too well, we...

‘The Stoat and the Old Goat’: a Children’s Tale by Jeff Eardley

The Society
March 9, 2024
Children's, Poetry
17 Comments
. The Stoat and the Old Goat This tale concerns a little stoat, With eyes of black and velvet coat, Who frolicked in the virgin snow, Above the village down below. This little chap, so short and lean, He...

‘Stop All The Clocks’: A Poem by Radhika Soni

The Society
March 9, 2024
Love Poems, Poetry
18 Comments
. Stop All The Clocks after W.H. Auden Stop all the clocks, stop all humdrum, Silence the warblers, their constant hum; Bid the sun to pause, just stand by And the moon to remain in the starless sky. He was...

Legends of Liberty — Prologue Read by Andrew Benson Brown

The Society
March 8, 2024
Classical Poets Live, Epic, Poetry, Readings
21 Comments
. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGLFPOccCAI https://www.youtube.com/shorts/7NwnsyJD044?feature=share . . Andrew Benson Brown has had poems and reviews published in a few journals. His epic-in-progress,...

Two Poems on Story Time, by Joshua C. Frank

The Society
March 8, 2024
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
24 Comments
. Story Time The father, he sits on the couch with a book, A child in each arm, and one more on his knees; The mother, the same.  All the other ones look Content on the floor; he recites like a breeze. He...

‘Home Invasions’: Three Poems by James A. Tweedie

The Society
March 7, 2024
Culture, Humor, Poetry
11 Comments
. Hatching A gelid mass of wings that seethed and surged— A squeamish sight that caught me by surprise— A swarming hatch of termites had emerged A host of queens to mount and fertilize. They sprang from...

‘Sunday Morning Flock of Starlings’: A Poem by Bruce Dale Wise

The Society
March 7, 2024
Beauty, Poetry
19 Comments
. Sunday Morning Flock of Starlings He saw, while driving down the roadway, off 288, a flock of starlings at the electrical substation gate. It was on Sunday morning, and with serious intent, they dropped down...
poem/woodruff/wef/davos 2023

‘Philanthropaths & Puppets’: A Poem by Susan Jarvis Bryant

The Society
March 6, 2024
Culture, Poetry
30 Comments
. Philanthropaths & Puppets Philanthropath: a psychopath masquerading as a philanthropist. ---the Urban Dictionary . I. So Rose the Puppeteer He pulls the strings of those his treasures bless--- They...
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