‘China’s Twisted Gymnastics’ by Bethany Mootsey The Society August 3, 2021 Culture, Human Rights in China, Poetry 6 Comments . inspired by this video from communist China: https://youtu.be/b4DmTPtAEbg . All their flipping has flopped, So their stance has flip-flopped __To a more relaxed focus on fun. “It’s a balanced...
‘Three by Heraclitus’ and Other Poetry by E.M. Schorb The Society August 3, 2021 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 6 Comments . Three by Heraclitus I Offend yourself with mirrored knowledge (where’s that face you wore at college?) and your sense of life’s no-stasis, thinking of various times and places, recalling the endless...
‘Incense’ by Adam Sedia The Society August 2, 2021 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 13 Comments . A hundred tongues of smoke--- Translucent wisps, lithe specters--- __Rise, snaking languidly, Curling, grasping like tendrils At the light they invoke; Then billow into clouds That hang, a haze, an...
‘The Bivocational Burden’ by Guy Warner The Society August 1, 2021 Beauty, Poetry 10 Comments . an excerpt When battle rages hot, the charge will sound. An army must not let itself break ranks, Although they see the cannon all around. To my Commander humbly I give thanks, For I see not the field as He,...
‘Silence Is Not Golden’ by Roy E. Peterson The Society July 31, 2021 Culture, Poetry 15 Comments . Silence is not golden. I’ll differ with you here. __Silence is an awful trap Lined with sharpest fear. Silence plays a part Only after we __Use our words of wisdom on Things that should not be. Silence...
‘On the Traditional Latin Mass’ by Sasha A. Palmer The Society July 30, 2021 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 20 Comments . in response to Traditionis custodes (“Guardians of the tradition”)---the new motu proprio issued by Pope Francis on July 16, 2021. She has been scarred before. She knows the sting Of scorn and ostracism....
Petrarch’s Canzone on a Dream of Laura, Translated by Margaret Coats The Society July 30, 2021 Beauty, Love Poems, Poetry, Translation 21 Comments . When softly my sustaining comfort stirs Herself to offer solace coveted, Advancing toward the left side of my bed With that sweet courtly reasoning of hers, In fearful homage all my being murmurs, “O...
‘Rondeau’ and Other Poetry by Rita Moe The Society July 29, 2021 Beauty, Humor, Poetry, Rondeau 4 Comments . Rondeau The rondeau echoes its refrain in a subtle way, just as rain at times will fall, not in torrents, but in a fine mist, the wood fence, weathered gray, resisting the stain of water. So, the reader’s...
Haiku Competition 2021 The Society July 28, 2021 Beauty, Culture, Haiku and Senryu, Poetry, Poetry Contests 807 Comments . Winners announced here. Write a haiku and post it in the comments section below. The haiku must adhere to the traditional parameters of a haiku to qualify and may be deleted if it does not. See...
‘Big Shots’ by Mike Bryant The Society July 28, 2021 Covid-19, Culture, Humor, Poetry 31 Comments . You’re glad you’ve nabbed The Covid jab That’s newly fabbed In some large lab Created by The jaundiced eye, The sneaky, sly, Big corporate guy. The slimy thug, Our taxes sent To make the bug More...
A Garrison Keillor Satire and Other Poetry by Julian Woodruff The Society July 28, 2021 Culture, Humor, Poetry 6 Comments . Guilty, Guilty, Guilty! That most sagacious Mr. K*Told listeners: “Back in the day—‘The Enlightenment,’ they call it; haw,No way! ‘Twas filled with moral flawBeside which our few failings pale.Yes,...
When Poetry Matters, and When It Doesn’t: An Essay by Joseph S. Salemi The Society July 27, 2021 Culture, Essays, Poetry 59 Comments . A widespread distemper in modern life is the insistent need that many people feel to justify themselves and their activities. Countless persons are defensive about all sorts of things that in the past you...
‘Intelligence from Cuba’ by Margaret Coats The Society July 27, 2021 Culture, Deconstructing Communism, Poetry 17 Comments . 23 July 2021 Don't send money. No food to buy. One scanty meal at work or nothing. Outside the factory today There was a freedom demonstration. The managers brought clubs for us: "Go out and beat a...
Poetry by Groth and Heine, translated by Julian Woodruff The Society July 27, 2021 Beauty, Poetry, Translation 18 Comments . Rain Song by Klaus Groth (1819-1899) Pour, O rain, pour down to earth, Give my childhood dreams rebirth, When in reverie I roamed Shores where sand with moisture foamed. When the summer sun’s hot...
‘Salvator Mundi’ by Sandi Christie The Society July 26, 2021 Beauty, Culture, Ekphrastic, Poetry 14 Comments . Da Vinci’s lauded “Savior of the World”— Commissioned by the King- Louis of France, * Entombed for years by paint but now unfurled While few respected experts look askance. The work of Leonardo...
Winners of the First-Liners Poetry Contest The Society July 25, 2021 Beauty, Culture, Humor, Poetry, Poetry Contests 30 Comments . ⬙ Judged by Cynthia Erlandson See all entrants here. ⬙ . FIRST PLACE WINNER ($100) . A Slight Deviation from the Canterbury Tales after Chaucer’s Prologue and other poems by Brian Yapko, Sante Fe, New...
‘While Waiting Through the Night’ and Other Poetry by Peter Hartley The Society July 25, 2021 Beauty, Love Poems, Poetry 33 Comments . While Waiting Through the Night This morning, searching on the laptop, I Found notes I made upon the night she died. All through the darkest hours at her bedside That night I knew she knew her end was...
‘Lucky’ and Other Poetry by Russel Winick The Society July 24, 2021 Beauty, Humor, Poetry 15 Comments . Lucky It stormed around our house last night, The lightning turned the black sky bright. Tornadoes came to join the fray, The morning news led me to pray. Six houses leveled, not too far--- How vulnerable we...
An Appeal to Activist Athletes at the Olympic Games, by Jeff Kemper The Society July 23, 2021 Culture, Poetry 19 Comments . A Little Respect an appeal to activist athletes at the Olympic games You have the right to speak of truth or trash __In houses, restaurants, and streets; To turn the flag of freedom-land to ash, __The flag...
Two Poems on Drinking and Other Poetry by Talbot Hook The Society July 23, 2021 Beauty, Culture, Humor, Poetry 14 Comments . O Happy Glass Another soul inside a glass deep red— I think on Provenance, effect and cause: Do you begin in wind? In sun, or rain? Inside a seed in bed, or in the grower’s head? In winter when your...
A Transgender Fable and Other Poetry by Brian Yapko The Society July 22, 2021 Culture, Poetry, Rondeau 10 Comments . The Lion Who Thought She Was a Zebra a fable East Africa is where this lion’s tale Takes place---a land of rugged plains of grass, Acacia trees with thorns as sharp as nail, And wild beasts of every shape...
‘Turbines’: A Non-Environmental Poem by Jeff Eardley The Society July 22, 2021 Culture, Poetry, The Environment 28 Comments . They lie in serried ranks above the strand. These mighty, whirling monsters made of steel. Where once, a couple wandered, hand in hand, Not knowing what the future might reveal. The murky sea rolls in from...
‘They’re Here!’ and Other Poetry by Susan Jarvis Bryant The Society July 21, 2021 Culture, Poetry 26 Comments . . They're Here They are the Saintly Source of Good; __The Keepers of The Truth. They’re seeking you. You knew they would. Stand up. Speak out. You know you should. They want your eye. They want your...
‘Kilkenny Castle’ and Other Poetry by Lucia Haase The Society July 21, 2021 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 8 Comments . Kilkenny Castle A moat runs dry revealing secrets buried those conquerors and conquered knights had known. The past, a relic—bits and pieces carried, some seen in present life, some overgrown by...
‘Making All Things Orderly’ and Other Poetry by Sally Cook The Society July 20, 2021 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 25 Comments . Making All Things Orderly Stare at grey clapboards in unbroken rows That seem to follow the unceasing sound Of thrumming traffic, with no vibrant red Or swaying leaves to soften sunlight’s blows. Poems of...
‘CCP Members in World Organizations’ by Damian Robin The Society July 20, 2021 Culture, Deconstructing Communism, Human Rights in China, Poetry 5 Comments . in reference to an Epoch Times' exposé We’re in the loop, we’re up the sleeve, we’re near the Party’s armpit. As high rank cadres we can’t leave, we know too much, God damn it ! Hard working,...
Two Mythological Poems by Joseph S. Salemi The Society July 19, 2021 Beauty, Blank Verse, Culture, Humor, Poetry 13 Comments . Heliotrope Phaeton, son of the god Helios, attempted to drive his father’s celestial chariot. His inexperience caused him to burn up part of the earth and the heavens, so he was killed by a thunderbolt...
‘With How Sad Steps’ and Other Petrarchan Sonnets by Peter Austin The Society July 19, 2021 Beauty, Humor, Poetry 9 Comments . With How Sad Steps from a Philip Sidney sonnet With how sad steps, O Moon, you climb the skies! How silently, and with how wan a face! What see you? Humankind’s excessive pace Getting from here to there?...
‘Nest Egg’ and Other Poetry by C.B. Anderson The Society July 18, 2021 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 23 Comments . Nest Egg The things for which I hoped have come and gone: The power to express a cogent thought; Ability to wake at break of dawn; Approval from a nearly perfect wife; And will to execute what I’ve been...
‘Saddle Tramp’ by Leland James The Society July 18, 2021 Beauty, Ekphrastic, Poetry 5 Comments . —like his saddle, hat, and spurs No silver on this cowboy’s working saddle; borne bedrolls, stray calves, and dry canteens, carried beside lame mounts home to the stable, baptized in thunderstorms and...
Whitman’s Curse: Contemporary Poetry as Solipsism The Society July 17, 2021 Essays, Poetry 28 Comments by Adam Sedia Contemporary poetry is plagued by several characteristic vices: obscurity, banality, nihilism---each a topic for examination in its own right. But its most glaring and even characteristic vice...
‘At the Heart of Division’ by Paul A. Freeman The Society July 17, 2021 Culture, Poetry 30 Comments . Each view deemed inconvenient is a fake, no matter if deep down you know it’s true. When one lot says a colour’s red, I’ll make a bet with you the other says it’s blue. This double-think duplicity...
‘A Girl in Her Own Words’ by Eustache Deschamps (1346-1406), translated by Margaret Coats The Society July 16, 2021 Beauty, Humor, Poetry, Translation 23 Comments . Am I, am I beautiful? Surely my face qualifies: Forehead pearly bright to rise Over sweetest lips cerise. Tell me if I’m beautiful! Cupid’s brows I have, green eyes, Rounded chin, nose small in...
‘The Western Star’ by Jack DesBois The Society July 15, 2021 Beauty, Culture, Poetry, Readings 12 Comments . https://youtu.be/9VRUjxFxQ2A?list=PLfUp4UiBMcEZC4Hgnr33FpijP5W5mRNo6&t=102 “A star!” the wise man shouted, “Look, a star!” forgetting the hour and his solitude, or else too overjoyed to heed...
‘O Say Can It Be?’ and Other Poetry by Joe Tessitore The Society July 14, 2021 Beauty, Deconstructing Communism, Haiku and Senryu, Poetry 7 Comments . O Say Can It Be? "How long you been suckin’ up oxygen, friend? For seventy years? Well now that’s gonna end! And moochin’ off Social Security too? The Great People’s Zoo is the next stop for...
‘Brimstone’ and Other Poetry by Susan Jarvis Bryant The Society July 14, 2021 Beauty, Culture, Humor, Poetry, Rondeau Redoublé 35 Comments . Brimstone I sniff a whiff of brimstone in the tone Of smooth effusions oozing from his tongue. A lick of sulfur clings like stale cologne To slickest syntax eloquently strung Like lustrous pearls...
Three Poems on Oölogists, by Peter Hartley The Society July 13, 2021 Culture, Humor, Poetry 33 Comments . A Black-Listed Species The avian community is glad He’s dying out, the mad oölogist. With every species on the British list He always wanted more eggs than he had, And on his checklist those he had to...
‘Birds in Flight’: A Pair of Poems by David Whippman and Evan Mantyk The Society July 12, 2021 Beauty, Poetry 34 Comments . Birds in Flight by David Whippman “Free as a bird,” that's what we always say, "It's time to spread my wings and fly away, I have to find myself, fly high and free!" Birds are the metaphors of...
Turn a Famous Poem into a Limerick: Poetry Challenge The Society July 11, 2021 Humor, Limerick, Poetry, Poetry Challenge, Poetry Contests 153 Comments . Choose a famous poem and write it in limerick form, putting the title of the original poem at the top. Please fit your chosen poem into one limerick (five lines) only. See "How to Write a Limerick." Post...
‘Riots Everywhere’ by Jeff Kemper, After Hank Snow’s ‘I’ve Been Everywhere’ The Society July 11, 2021 Culture, Music, Poetry 28 Comments . The below poem is a memoir of the summer of 2020, to be sung to the tune of “I’ve Been Everywhere,” with apologies to Geoff Mack and Hank Snow. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6JSfp6Az3k . I was...
