‘Gunfight at the Oatcake Corral’: A Poem by Jeff Eardley The Society July 12, 2024 Culture, Poetry 15 Comments . Gunfight at the Oatcake Corral There’s an old English town known as Fargo, In the dark, rugged hills of the west. Where they say, there was many a gunfight, But this one was one of the best. Old Homity...
‘A Town’ and Other Poems by Sally Cook The Society July 11, 2024 Beauty, Culture, Humor, Poetry 11 Comments . A Town The difficulty of describing how This town was then, may only be because So little happened there, compared to now, Though what occurred (the bustle and the buzz) Filled every room in each small...
“I Worship My Mistress, for I Have Seen Her Beauty”: A Poem by James Sale The Society July 11, 2024 Love Poems, Poetry 26 Comments . “I Worship My Mistress, for I Have Seen Her Beauty” ---Egyptian Coffin Texts, spell 484---a poem for Linda It may be said that I am weak,That what I did was not from strength;Only I persevered because...
A Poem on ‘Red Carpet’ Dresses by Cheryl Corey The Society July 11, 2024 Culture, Poetry 17 Comments . The Red Carpet There's nothing left to tease imagination When so-called starlets, vying for attention, Sashay the carpet practically nude; And you don't have to be a total prude To know when something...
‘The Expert Class’: A Poem by Warren Bonham The Society July 10, 2024 Culture, Poetry 13 Comments . The Expert Class “Believe none of what you hear and half of what you see” ---Benjamin Franklin The experts with professorships are filled with such great certainty. They warn us that the point that...
‘My Patchwork Quilt’: A Poem by Roy E. Peterson The Society July 10, 2024 Beauty, Poetry 23 Comments . My Patchwork Quilt Somewhere within my closet a patchwork quilt rests there; The patches cut by hands and with stitches sewn with care. The colorful creation once placed upon my bed, Provided warmth and...
‘Houses Made of Stone’: A Poem on Great Zimbabwe by Paul A. Freeman The Society July 9, 2024 Culture, Poetry 14 Comments . Houses Made of Stone Masvingo, southern Africa’s the place; a backwater, land tired and over-farmed, where army ants cut underbrush and race trimmed morsels to their hills. The air becalmed and hot as...
‘Promises Made, Promises Kept… Give Me a Break!’ and Other Poetry by Mark Stellinga The Society July 9, 2024 Culture, Poetry 19 Comments . Promises Made, Promises Kept... Give Me a Break! We know, because they promise us their virtuous intent when allocating funds is always currency well spent That supersedes all arguments of basic common...
‘Becalmed’: A Poem by Peter Venable The Society July 8, 2024 Beauty, Poetry 7 Comments . Becalmed When life is smooth—a gentle breeze On a porch swing—the garden lush. Retirement! Do as I please. Watch leaflets stir—two bluebirds fuss. Gardinia scent—I swing and swoon. My mind is still...
‘Street 3/4’: A Poem by Shamik Banerjee The Society July 8, 2024 Beauty, Poetry 10 Comments . Street 3/4 On both sides of this street, there are small stores Of groceries, canned food, medicine, and toys. Beside a Hindu shrine whose iron doors Are always fanned, an art school for teen boys Displays...
‘The Lord of His Castle’: A Poem by Brian Yapko The Society July 7, 2024 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 38 Comments . The Lord of His Castle Setting: King Stephen’s siege of Newbury Castle, England during the English civil war known as “The Anarchy.” The year is 1152 A.D. Strategic though this castle is to me I would...
‘I Need My Coffee’: A Villanelle by Gigi Ryan The Society July 6, 2024 Humor, Poetry, Villanelle 24 Comments . I Need My Coffee I need my coffee; don’t get in the way Of that which wakes me up and makes me tick. Addicted? Yes. I’ll quit another day. I’ve work to do; on task I need to stay. My morning cup...
‘A Console Table’: A Villanelle by Julia Griffin The Society July 6, 2024 Beauty, Poetry, Villanelle 12 Comments . A Console Table after a Google entry A console table in the entryway __Provides a focus for a guest Inside your home: a welcome, you might say. A strong impression’s vital to convey, __And for this...
‘A Hurricane by Any Other Name…’: A Poem on Hurricane Beryl, by Susan Jarvis Bryant The Society July 5, 2024 Culture, Poetry 34 Comments . A Hurricane by Any Other Name... The lights went out in Mexico today. A fury hit Cancun with no remorse. With death upon her breath, she makes her way To Lone Star shores. She's on a fiendish course. The...
‘Dandelion Dreams’: A Poem by Martin Rizley The Society July 5, 2024 Beauty, Poetry 21 Comments . Dandelion Dreams ---to Melody, on the occasion of her fifth birthday I see her, through the window, picking flowers. Adrift upon a sea of green, she towers Above the honeybees that hover over The rippling...
‘The Convert’: A Poem by Benjamin Cannicott Shavitz The Society July 5, 2024 Beauty, Poetry 8 Comments . The Convert “Uh, Professor, I don’t get it, Why do people choose to read that? Does it just not fit my taste?” She said, “If you really let it, This will sway you. You’ll concede that This has...
‘It Goes Without Saying’: A July 4th Poem by Warren Bonham The Society July 4, 2024 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 11 Comments . It Goes Without Saying "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and...
‘Battle Hymn of the Republic’: A Poem by Brian Yapko The Society July 4, 2024 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 38 Comments . . Battle Hymn of the Republic The Lord doth come; the grapes of wrath are crushed! Behold His fiery sword of Victory. He heartens those whose voices have been hushed To loudly shout our rage: “We shall be...
‘American Dream Where Did You Go?’: A July 4th Poem by Roy E. Peterson The Society July 4, 2024 Culture, Poetry 23 Comments . American Dream Where Did You Go? American dream, where did you go? Visions grand that I loved so? Land of opportunity Heading toward disunity. Politics that once were regal Neuter the American eagle. Merit...
‘Miss Jewell’s Suicide’ and Other Poems by Joseph S. Salemi The Society July 3, 2024 Beauty, Culture, Humor, Poetry 16 Comments . Miss Jewell’s Suicide ---from a story by George Gissing The chipped and mismatched crockery,Two boiled eggs and tepid tea,A single slice of buttered toastWith marmalade—a dab at most—And oatmeal...
‘Endless Dreaming’ and Other Poetry by Joshua C. Frank The Society July 3, 2024 Ekphrastic, Poetry, Villanelle 20 Comments . Endless Dreaming a villanelle I lunge ahead in bed and start to scream. The nightmare’s end is far; I’m still inside A dream within a dream within a dream. I fall out my front door at heights...
‘Fed Up’ and Other Poetry by C.B. Anderson The Society July 2, 2024 Poetry, Satire 20 Comments . Fed Up It’s not just fogies and the aging nanniesThat look askance at all the mixed-up trannies.The everyday American has had itWith flagrant bald hypocrisy so bad itReminds them of the old Obama years,But...
‘Militant Books’ and Other Poetry by Skye Campbell The Society July 2, 2024 Beauty, Poetry, Villanelle 6 Comments . . Militant Books Marshaled ranks of silent books Formed on shelves as in brigade, Fill the wooden dusty nooks Waiting for their next parade. Untamed spirits hide inside, Lurking out of watcher’s...
‘The Rise of Washington’: Excerpt from the Mock Epic Poem by Andrew Benson Brown The Society July 1, 2024 Epic, Humor, Poetry 18 Comments . The Rise of Washington from Legends of Liberty, Volume 3 IT’S TIME! Let’s give our story’s star some space. He’s famous through the land, you know his role: “A fire in his eyes, a light in his...
‘Becoming a Poet Laureate’: A Formalist Poet at the Open Mic Part IV, by Daniel Kemper The Society July 1, 2024 Essays, Poetry, Readings 17 Comments . A Formalist Poet at the Open Mic Part IV: Becoming a Poet Laureate by Daniel Kemper Inflationary times. The invisible hands of markets or of governments have synchronized in some secular mysterium to...
‘Ba’al’: A Poem on Abortion by Michael Vanyukov The Society June 30, 2024 Culture, Poetry 6 Comments . Ba’al "And they built the high places of Ba'al to burn their children with fire as burnt offerings to Ba'al, which I did not command, neither did I speak nor did it enter My mind." — Yirmiyahu (Jeremiah)...
‘Three Views of Venus’: A Poem from Houghton Hall, by Margaret Coats The Society June 30, 2024 Beauty, Ekphrastic, Poetry 20 Comments . Three Views of Venus "When you’ve got a goddess, make good use of her. —local guide, Green Velvet Bedchamber at Houghton Hall, Norfolk “Ah, Mars, my dear, lay down that spear, and wage Love in the...
‘Elder Abuse’: A Poem Written Upon Watching the Presidential Debate, by Brian Yapko The Society June 29, 2024 Culture, Poetry 44 Comments . Elder Abuse What’s left to us to say? There’ll be no more debates. We know the truth now. Biden is not there--- The president of the United States: A man lost in a blank and vacant stare. They hid this...
‘Soulmate’ and Other Poems by Russel Winick The Society June 29, 2024 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 11 Comments . Soulmate Your spouse ideally is your best friend,Providing love and laughter end to end,Supporting and enhancing all day through,But still at times your soulmate must be you. . . Ultimate Question Some...
‘To the Full Moon’: A Poem by Adam Sedia The Society June 29, 2024 Beauty, Poetry 18 Comments . To the Full Moon Heavenly voyager, you course Across the skies’ infinity--- The calm, serene celestial sea, Which yields before your silent force--- Traversing the shoreless expanse Of unplumbed...
Three Epigrams by Stephen M. Dickey The Society June 28, 2024 Epigrams and Proverbs, Poetry, Satire 5 Comments .. 1. Generative artificial intelligence As for-profit tech makes some obverse sense: It markets to itself, its own monopoly Secured on genuine stupidity. . 2. The chattering class, of which society is...
‘The Pink of Gentle Hermione and White of John Paul II’: A Poem by Phillip Whidden The Society June 28, 2024 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 13 Comments . The Pink of Gentle Hermione and White of John Paul II The lodger pauses, as he leaves, to gaze At blossoms in the border at the front— The blooms of roses, saintlike pink—appraise Them as a Monday man...
A Poem on a Performance of Beethoven’s ‘Appassionata’ Sonata, by Julian Woodruff The Society June 27, 2024 Culture, Music, Poetry 13 Comments . Again Sir Charles Hallé plays Beethoven’s “Appassionata” Sonata for Henri–Montan Berton and Luigi Cherubini, Paris, ca. 1835 The two composers sat at rapt attention,listening to Beethoven’s...
‘Savannah Blossoms’: A Poem by Margaret Brinton The Society June 27, 2024 Beauty, Poetry 7 Comments . Savannah Blossoms Blossoms dress the trees __On Southern parkways Where petals glow like silk __If skies are fair, And a busy stir of bees __Within the nectar Allows the hummingbirds __A rightful share. The...
‘The Lazarus Effect’: A Poem by Jeffrey Essmann The Society June 26, 2024 Beauty, Poetry 10 Comments . The Lazarus Effect Until you’re raised, you’ve no idea how dead You were, how long you’d been beyond the scope Of human give and take; how poorly read You were in all the texts of simple hope. And yet...
‘Rending the Night’: A Vietnam War Poem by Roy E. Peterson The Society June 26, 2024 Culture, Poetry 33 Comments . Rending the Night Remembering My Army Service in Vietnam . Flying bullets rend the night, Sleeping birds in instant flight. See the darkness glowing bright. Sleeping soldiers wake in fright. Targets outlined...
‘Were She to Ask, and I Affirm’: A Poem by Sohaib Aboona The Society June 25, 2024 Humor, Love Poems, Poetry 10 Comments . Were She to Ask, and I Affirm Were she to ask, and I affirm That I'd still love her as a worm, I'd make it clear (because my dear Has Northern Cardinals to fear) The Robins and the Starlings Would die before...
‘Spanish Moss’ and Other Florida Poetry by Brian Yapko The Society June 25, 2024 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 32 Comments . Spanish Moss A thicket hides the remnants of a grange, An antebellum place of ghosts and rue--- A gothic ruin---tropical and strange Which even egrets shun. The faintest clue Of why is whispered when the...
‘Memento Belli’: A Poem by Alison Jennings The Society June 24, 2024 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 6 Comments . Memento Belli My father had mementoes of the war; he kept them in a box above his clothes, where also hung a uniform he wore when he was someone in that time ago ‘til trauma came, caused by the weight he...
‘The Plagiarising Poet’: A Poem by Drilon Bajrami The Society June 24, 2024 Culture, Education, Poetry 11 Comments . The Plagiarising Poet A young lad sat in class—geography— Bored and in a peaceful reverie. The school bell blared, the teach showed indignation, “The bell does not free you!” she yelled in...