‘To Serve and Protect’ by Julian Woodruff The Society July 18, 2022 Culture, Poetry 12 Comments . To Serve and Protect Of all the events that fill the history of quiet, little–known Uvalde town, there cannot be a greater tragedy than that which gave it sudden world–renown. The dreadful act, so...
‘Apology’ by Myrlin A. Hermes The Society July 18, 2022 Culture, Poetry 6 Comments . Apology I’m sorry if you feel like you were hurt. Not everyone in life is going to be As nice to you as you think you deserved. And he sometimes got physical with me, Too---I'm no victim. So he was...
On the UK Heatwave: ‘Keep Calm and Carry On!’ by Susan Jarvis Bryant The Society July 17, 2022 Culture, Humor, Poetry 105 Comments . Keep Calm and Carry On! “UK heatwave: Temperatures to rise to 41C amid extreme heat warning” ---BBC News “The first Red Extreme heat warning issued” ---British Met Office The BBC is roaring like...
‘Mistress’ by Michael Pietrack The Society July 17, 2022 Beauty, Humor, Poetry 39 Comments . Mistress Within those sheets, my mistress lay, her flawless form with perfect feet. One last embrace; I cannot stay! I hear her heart in metered beat. Her voice, a ballad siren song with lyrics begging my...
‘The Pale Rider Comes’ and Other Poetry by Martin Rizley The Society July 16, 2022 Culture, Human Rights in China, Poetry 10 Comments . The Pale Rider Comes “So then give to Caesar what is his,” our Lord and Master said, __“And to God give what is his---your sacred soul!” Yet despite these limits placed on him, with drawn sword...
‘Sumo’s Winning Ways’ by Margaret Coats The Society July 15, 2022 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 26 Comments . Sumo's Winning Ways Fierce frontal impact clenches victory In less time than an untrained eye can blink, But connoisseurs of sumo’s treasury Prefer discriminating knack. They wink When force through fine...
‘In the First Degree’ and Other Poetry by Brian Yapko The Society July 14, 2022 Culture, Poetry, Rondeau 13 Comments . In the First Degree Had the bullet’s trajectory veered half a foot to the right, It might not have extinguished the life of this innocent youth Who had just turned eighteen. The Grand Jury moved fast to...
A Poem on Millet’s The Angelus and Other Poetry by Jeffrey Essmann The Society July 14, 2022 Art, Beauty, Ekphrastic, Poetry 7 Comments . The Angelus, Jean-François Millet (Musée d’Orsay) How soft across the field the muted peal Has caromed off the setting sun, the air September-ripe, the earth upturned, a pair Preoccupied with what it...
On the Recent Overturning of Roe vs. Wade, by Alena Casey The Society July 13, 2022 Culture, Poetry 10 Comments . “Hosanna,” All The Children Cried “Hosanna,” all the children cried, And Christ was pleased to open wide For them his hands and feet and side, The devil’s will to override. “Hosanna,” all the...
‘The Automated Phone System’ and Other Poetry by Russel Winick The Society July 13, 2022 Blank Verse, Culture, Humor, Poetry 11 Comments . The Automated Phone System I called up a business But no person answered, I got a phone system With multiple options Some rather confusing; I kept getting transferred, Spent most time just holding; Then...
‘For Then’ by Manuel Gutiérrez Nájera, Translated by Cheryl Corey The Society July 12, 2022 Beauty, Poetry, Translation 14 Comments . For Then by Manuel Gutiérrez Nájera (Mexico, 1859-1895) translated by Cheryl Corey O, to die upon the open sea At sunset, facing heaven, where agony Is but a dream; and soul, the essence of me, Is like a...
A Translation of Horace’s Barine Ode, by Joseph S. Salemi The Society July 11, 2022 Culture, Love Poems, Poetry, Sapphic Verse, Translation 20 Comments . Quintus Horatius Flaccus, Odes, II.8 “The first thing we learn about Barine is that she is in the habit of making and breaking promises (of love and fidelity, presumably) and that she is never punished...
‘ While Pondering Pope’s Ode’ by Lucia Haase The Society July 11, 2022 Beauty, Poetry 15 Comments . While Pondering Alexander Pope’s "Ode to Solitude" Grateful am I in solitude while reading Pope’s inspiring ode, a time for pause---an interlude ____________in my abode. I’m whisked into the distant...
‘A Hopeless Rondelet’ and Other French Form Poetry by Susan Jarvis Bryant The Society July 10, 2022 Culture, Poetry, Rondeau, Rondel, Villanelle 27 Comments . A Hopeless Rondelet All trust is dead, Killed by lies in love’s disguise. All trust is dead--- It’s buried in a sigh of dread. Its memory spills from mourning eyes. Can Truth rekindle sunless...
‘In the City’ and Other Poetry by Adam Wasem The Society July 10, 2022 Culture, Poetry 16 Comments . In the City The city, where the liars are in charge And all the criminals are still at large: The just have been imprisoned, brought to heel: Grateful as dogs, oh, how we rush to kneel For the littlest...
‘The Drive to Reconcile’ and Other Poetry by C.B. Anderson The Society July 9, 2022 Beauty, Humor, Poetry 15 Comments . The Drive to Reconcile __We never wish to eat a bug __Or force an unexpected hug, But intimacy doesn’t come without A cost, and those who disagree, no doubt, Are lost. But nonetheless we cannot see Why...
‘Back in My Day’ and Other Poetry by David Whippman The Society July 9, 2022 Culture, Humor, Poetry 18 Comments . Back in My Day I tested my courage---well, no, not really. The heroic stuff had been done before. My generation was all touchy-feely. It was our parents who’d fought the war. The post-war population...
‘Free Verse’ by Clive Boddy The Society July 8, 2022 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 14 Comments . Free Verse Let us free verse from "free verse" while we can;A pile of branches does not make a tree,And fruit squashed on a plate does not make jam.While words strung down a page can never be,As eloquent...
A Definition of Formal (or “Classical”) Poetry: A Short Essay by James A. Tweedie The Society July 7, 2022 Essays, Poetry 22 Comments . A Definition of Formal (or “Classical”) Poetry by James A. Tweedie One of the frequent comment threads on SCP involves the subject of the nature of poetry, including what it is and how it exists as an...
Percy Bysshe Shelley Poem Put to Music for Death Commemoration, by Guntbert Markefka The Society July 7, 2022 Beauty, Love Poems, Music, Poetry 5 Comments . . Introduction Percy Bysshe Shelley was born August 4, 1792 and died in a boating accident on July 8, 1822. To mark the 200th anniversary of his death, Guntbert “Gunny” Markefka and the Powerpoets...
On the Recent Destruction of the Georgia Guidestones, by Susan Jarvis Bryant The Society July 6, 2022 Culture, Poetry 51 Comments . America’s Most Mysterious Monument The first of the anonymously funded Georgia Guidestone’s guidelines: “Maintain humanity under 500,000,000” “The world population is over 8,000 million. According...
‘The Pigeon’ and Other Poetry by Norma Pain The Society July 6, 2022 Beauty, Culture, Humor, Poetry, The Raven 22 Comments . The Pigeon Once upon a workday morning, sleepy-eyed and loudly yawning, I was splattered without warning by a pigeon from the shore. At my half unconscious stupor, this unpardonable pooper, Took his aim just...
‘Pets and People’ and Other Poetry by Julian Woodruff The Society July 5, 2022 Children's, Humor, Poetry 20 Comments . Pets and People Do cats and kittens ever wonder Why their owners have no fur? Do dogs think it was blind fate’s blunder That the likes of humans were Afflicted with this vile condition, Curse of their...
‘O Say, Can You See?’ by Susan Jarvis Bryant The Society July 4, 2022 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 24 Comments . O Say, Can You See? Let’s think as we sink into star-spangled wonder, Intolerable acts were the reason to fight Each pillaging bully who’d brazenly plunder The treasures of those who were drawn to...
‘Anew’ and Other Poetry by Talbot Hook The Society July 3, 2022 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 10 Comments . Anew Whisk me away to the mountainside. __Spirit me far to the glen. For I long to find that secret place __Where I can begin again. All of us long at least once in our lives __To flee from all that is...
Two Riddles by Jack DesBois The Society July 2, 2022 Poetry, Riddles 11 Comments . Riddle This tiny thief Has ground to grief Many a mighty poem, No wiser for The learned lore He nibbles, tome by tome— But though he'll munch My words for lunch, He never eats his own. . . Name the...
‘A Ballade on Being Commissioned’ and Other Poetry by Brian Yapko The Society July 1, 2022 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 32 Comments . A Ballade on Being Commissioned Twixt Florence and the Holy See Of every artist you could hire You thought it meet to torture me. You gave no weight to my desire But quick to wield the Church’s...
‘On Palestrina’s Music’ by Margaret Coats The Society June 30, 2022 Beauty, Culture, Music, Poetry 28 Comments . https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHUuaA8DKiQ . On Palestrina's Music Sicut cervus desiderat ad fontes aquarum, Ita desiderat anima mea ad te, Deus. Psalmus 41:2 As the deer desires springs of water, So my...
Haiku Competition 2022 The Society June 29, 2022 Haiku and Senryu, Poetry, Poetry Contests 612 Comments . Our 2023 Haiku Competition is on now HERE. 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...
How to Write Haiku: What Makes a Good Haiku? The Society June 29, 2022 Education, Essays, Haiku and Senryu, Poetry 47 Comments . How to Write Haiku What Makes a Good Haiku? by Margaret Coats The required 5-7-5 syllable form alone does not make a haiku. A good haiku ⦁ presents an observation of nature, or of human activities in...
Freedom in China Open Poetry Reading The Society June 29, 2022 Human Rights in China, Poetry, Readings 2 Comments . You are invited to a reading of poetry that shines a light on the plight of ordinary, innocent people in China today who are unjustly persecuted by the communist government---a government indirectly funded...
‘Gleam by Any Means’ by David Watt The Society June 29, 2022 Beauty, Poetry 17 Comments . Gleam by Any Means The poem that I seek to write, the piece with flair and form, Which raises spirits high as clouds on zephyr breezes warm, Or states a truth in such a way that brings a tear to the...
Poems on Sexualizing School Children, by Susan Jarvis Bryant The Society June 28, 2022 Culture, Poetry 32 Comments . Groomers The words the school kids speak are not their own--- Fiends mold the untrained brain till every thought Is hostage to their noxious sexual drone. Their toxic tongues are rife with hype that’s...
‘Life Is a Dream’ by Pedro Calderón de la Barca, Translated by Elwin Wirkala The Society June 28, 2022 Beauty, Poetry, Translation 6 Comments . Life Is a Dream by Pedro Calderón de la Barca (1600-1681) Translated by Elwin Wirkala The king dreams he is king, and lives with this deception ordering, disposing of and governing, and all the applauses...
‘On Rupert Sheldrake’s Morphic Fields’ by Evan Mantyk The Society June 27, 2022 Culture, Poetry, Science 21 Comments . On Rupert Sheldrake’s Morphic Fields Are we just rats within a maze? Perhaps. But then perhaps there’s more to rats than what We know. Take for example rats completing A water-maze within a lab at...
The Classical Figures Poetry Reading – Video The Society June 26, 2022 Poetry, Readings, Video 5 Comments . https://youtu.be/DIhS6QTHh90 . Hosted by British poet James Sale and held by the Society of Classical Poets, the theme of this reading is classical figures in the broad sense. The 100 Days of Dante Poetry...
‘The Requisite’ by Jeffrey Essmann The Society June 26, 2022 Beauty, Poetry 2 Comments . The Requisite I may have made a great mistake In my pursuit of solitude and grace; Perhaps have stumbled unaware Into an all-too-human ache I don’t know I’ve the fortitude to face Or honesty its source...
‘Abiding Senescence’ and Other Poetry by C.B. Anderson The Society June 25, 2022 Culture, Humor, Poetry 19 Comments . Abiding Senescence My energy and physical abilities Will not again be limitless as once they were. To those more qualified to ponder facts like these, Without a single qualm or doubt I will defer. They tell...
‘Upon These Boughs that Shake Against the Cold’ by Cynthia Erlandson The Society June 25, 2022 Beauty, Poetry 19 Comments . “Upon These Boughs that Shake Against the Cold” ---Shakespeare, Sonnet 73 Her script was always lovely and unique, And still unique when it began to wobble, Along with spoken words. Increasing...
‘There Is a Quiet Place’ by Roy E. Peterson The Society June 24, 2022 Beauty, Poetry 19 Comments . There Is a Quiet Place There is a quiet place Where we can go to hide. A place where no one sees us, That cannot be denied. There is a quiet place Where we can go to think. A place to solve our problems And...
