Author The Society

. Batten the Sovereign Soul I think we used to be stronger, home-made With simple stuff.  We’d read a headline, see An ad and know that we were being played. We’d roll our eyes and let the bias...

. The Blame Game a kyrielle They rile. They gall. They know it all. These irksome jerks in folly’s thrall Are perilously cretinous. __It’s always Them. It’s never...

. On Water & Evil “Evil, like water, seeks the lowest point.” ---Earnest McDaniel The thunder clapped again, applauding light Displays, and weighted condensation fell From Heaven’s darkened brow—a...

. Conversion The great advantage of the years I stacked up often carelessly And often as a mutineer Against all simple things and dear, Is how I purely now by grace Within the smallest moments trace A curious...

. Some Post-Animated Protestations of Goliath of Gath Firstly, I protest That this protestation Is useless nonetheless. Secondly, I object To prejudice pronounced In so-called holy text. Thirdly, I...

. The Forgotten Earl He thought about the sonnets that he wrote; The time he spent composing metered lines Of rhyme, divided into quatrains. He Alone devised the scheme;—but Virgil’s books! If only there...

. The End’s Hard Edge The End Is Near, it always was, Its point is clearer now because Collapsed disturbance occupies With moaning cries and droning skies; So penetrate to higher things Remembering what...

. WHO Anyone in the world, of any age or background, may participate. Among members of the Society of Classical Poets, everyone including Advisory Board members may participate, if not involved in judging...

. August. The rose-of-sharon blossoms float like stars Within my reach: I’m lying on the grass Observing sunset fade and twilight pass Between their leaves.  Cicadas sing their airs, A gentle dirge: the...

. Medieval Scam Letter Felicitations from the Holy Land, Where I, as sole survivor of a band Of mercenary soldiers stashed away Much booty; and concealèd it shall stay Until a boat’s procured to sail me...

. The Sky Within The rolling sea becomes a frothy lather When argent Sister Moon calls forth a tide And sooty billows on the skyline gather. A flash of lightning urges us inside Where we observe the phases of...

. Death Musings . 1 On New Year's Day my body fell as dead Before a frightened child who hid her face From terror's flaunt. Death-taunts delivered dread To this dear child with cold and reddened face Till I...

. The Tortoise and the Hare in limericks A tortoise and hare were a-talkin’. Said Hare: “Why, your slowness is shockin’! __If we ran a race, __You’d be a disgrace. I’d win, even if I were...

. One Law Away Everyone can agree that we all disagree. __We don’t see what we see quite the same. We all think that we’re right so we can’t help but fight __and incite against those who we blame. It...

. The Heavy Launch of the Siegfried Idyll The landing offered just the space required for Wagner and the band that he had hired to play the idyl Cosima inspired, the mother of young Siegfried, whom he’d...

. . Learn Now, Learn Now, Young Master ‘Learn now, learn now, young master; You soon will take your test. The books to learn are plenty; You need to do your best; No time to take a rest. Your marriage is...

. Key West Rum, reeling, raunchiness, and revelry, Palms, poincianas, palaces of old--- All lie behind; the Morro Castle’s hold Guards old Havana past the sparkling sea A half-day’s sail south from this...

. The Number 53: To His Coy Transport Had we but world enough and time, My coy and tardy 53, This hesitancy were no crime And I’d be waiting patiently. When other buses came along I’d not obstruct or...

. Henry at Morning Time I’m lost in Greek or Latin, when You break into my life again. “Daddy, look! It’s morning time,” You say, as rays of sun sublime Bring color to the room. The leaves of...

. Seaside Retreat Footsteps move slow through shifting sand; A weather-beaten picket fence Encloses beach verbena fanned By sea oats where the influence Of busybody breezes fades. The cottage yard commingles...

. Crackpot Clown a villanelle     “Clowns are the pegs on which the circus is hung”  ---P. T. Barnum The blue moons wax and steely spirits wane As brown-nosed asses bloviate and bray. The crackpot...

. Formulas for Failure I’ve seen too much of devastating failure, In almost every avenue of life. One might guess lack of skill the main derailer, But that’s not even close to what’s most rife. A bigger...

. To Michael Burch: The Hillbilly Voice of Liberalism Mike Burch hates the stuff we write, Abuses us at his website, Spouting venom, bile, and spite Like some manic troglodyte. Here’s my answer to the...

. The Emperor's New Chromosomes The Emperor would be remade; He felt if he could be a maid He’d be more loved and find relief. His maleness brought him nought but grief. Two doctors showed up sharp as...

. Back to Sleep In very early years, now far behind, When I returned to earth at midnight deep From nightmare scares within my frightened mind, My mother rocked and sang me back to sleep. I hid in bed from...

. The Sea The sea rolls on, unchanged. Unmarred By earthly wars it stays unscarred. Always as long as man exists, The sea will froth in perfect bliss. When our life is borne away, And sunlit fingers point the...

. The Jeweler’s Deposition at the Coroner’s Inquest I certainly will tell you what I can. I knew the family—watched her growing up. Take it for what it’s worth: I was her friend. She started with the...

. On Lies and Liars A Double (Petrarchan) Sonnet . “You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with...

. King Dom’s Dream Kingdom “In death’s dream kingdom…” —T. S. Eliot, “The Hollow Me" Ukrainian Victoria Amelina has died from injuries along with others; it was dinnertime. It happened in the...

. Poorer by the Day a villanelle They pay in promises they will betray; A scam as cold and ancient as the sea. While those who work grow poorer by the day, Their masters mint fool’s gold to give away To...

. Sonnet I Our arms are leaves stretched out; our thoughts can bloom The grandest only when we crowd out those Who have been planted in a place of doom— Perhaps for something only Heaven knows. While...

. Melodious Curlew Melodious curlew mottled brown and bister, No longer raise your crescent-shapen beak Towards the waning moon, to which you shriek That harmony which haunts the twilight’s glister; Your...

. Via Appia Beneath the pines of Rome, the wrinkled sibyl will croak your future for eleven cents, and with her finger in the dust will scribble predictions of uncertain consequence. But go near, fix your eyes...

. July 20, 1999 a villanelle for Falun Gong Practitioners after 24 years of persecution Your path is narrow, yet look at where it goes As you seek truth and truth defines your ways; The land of bliss waits...

. Meditation on the Moon O! think about that strange celestial clump, That ball of dust God found beneath His bed And set it spinning round the Earth instead Of tossing it in outer space’s dump. Its...

. ***** The Red Hotel has blood on ev’ry floor Where ev’ry room is numbered 666 And blood-greased door knobs bolting every door Suspend a blood red sign of ZZZ So slaving cleaners need not knock to...

. Good Friday, Revisiting Glamis "Not in the legions Of horrid Hell can come a devil more damn'd In evils, to top Macbeth" ---Shakespeare The Dunblane massacre took place at Dunblane Primary School in...

. On Silicon Avenue The lawns on Silicon Avenue were mowed on Wednesdays. All the hedges, too, were cut. On Thursdays cars were polished till they glowed, or else you got a bullet in the gut. The Sheriff-Bots...

. The Park The Park he’d built, which hovered overhead, Went far beyond the scope of any to That time constructed.  Architects were bred For several generations: some were wed To siblings just to purify the...

. It's Dangerously Close to Too Late Virtually stormed by countless disciples, __trolled by their merchants of Hate, We, who obligingly counter their tactics, __impassioned to join the debate, Must, with our...