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

‘The Blackbird’ and Other Poetry by Peter Hartley

The Society
June 23, 2021
Beauty, Poetry
18 Comments
. . The Blackbird So what can make this joyous songbird sing That cannot but proclaim its blackbirdhood? In fairest weather and in foul it could Convey nought but the utmost joys of spring. So fling right...

Fairytales in the Age of Transgenderism: Two Poems by Susan Jarvis Bryant

The Society
June 22, 2021
Culture, Humor, Poetry, Villanelle
22 Comments
. Grimm   The days of steering princesses from danger With sweet salvation’s life-sustaining kiss From shining-armored knight or regal stranger Are now considered horribly remiss. Young damsels in...

‘Contemplating Aristotle Contemplating a Bust of Homer’ by James A. Tweedie

The Society
June 22, 2021
Art, Beauty, Culture, Ekphrastic, Homer, Poetry
9 Comments
. Contemplating Aristotle Contemplating a Bust of Homer He stands enwrapped in luminous shadowed light, A woven cord of gold across his chest, Voluminous silk sleeves of purest white Contrast the deep-black...

‘When the Statues Were Felled,’ a Rondeau Redoublé by Brian Yapko

The Society
June 21, 2021
Culture, Poetry, Rondeau Redoublé
32 Comments
. When the statues were felled the crass multitude cheered. Historians wept while the rioters yelled. Society crumbled. Debate disappeared. Where fraud gorged on Truth only anarchy dwelled. The protests...

‘McStalgia’ by Tonia Kalouria

The Society
June 20, 2021
Beauty, Culture, Humor, Poetry
4 Comments
. “Daddy! There’s the big yellow ‘M’!” “May I take your order ple---?” “One Big Mac, Coke and fries!” Dad  yells, “and---” “Happy Meal for me!” “Coach” Dad would bus our...

A Father’s Day Poem: ‘Our Father’ by Susan Jarvis Bryant

The Society
June 19, 2021
Beauty, Culture, Poetry, Rondeau
34 Comments
. Our Father loves us, one and all. He lifts us when our spirits fall. He knows the song of heart and mind; He hears the fears of humankind In every earnest, earthly call. He guides us through the grind and...

‘Raison Du Jour‘ and Other Poetry by Gerald George

The Society
June 19, 2021
Beauty, Culture, Humor, Poetry
2 Comments
  Raison Du Jour Reason is like tea.It’s best at four o’clock,Which is an hour before cocktailsAnd two hours before dark. . . Finding at the Door a Disheveled Man Late on a Sunday Afternoon You don’t...
poem/cook/cats

‘Ode to George Lionel, the Cat’ by Jeff Eardley

The Society
June 18, 2021
Humor, Limerick, Poetry
23 Comments
. It was only a two stone cat, Now what do you think about that? If it sat on your lap, Both your femurs would snap. It was twenty-eight pounds of pure fat. Its owners would feed it on fish, Which they...

First-Liners Poetry Contest

The Society
June 17, 2021
Poetry, Poetry Contests
92 Comments
. . Winners Announced Here. . CONTEST: Begin with a favorite line from another poem, (or other literature) and "take off" on it in a different way.   . PRIZE: $100. (You must have Paypal if you live...

‘Edinburgh, Scotland, 1978’ by James A. Tweedie

The Society
June 17, 2021
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
15 Comments
  Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, cameTo bless new student housing on The Mound.Despite his title and his royal name,Despite the Lord Mayor following around, The Scottish students studying nearby,Did not...

‘No Letters’ and Other Poetry by James Sale

The Society
June 16, 2021
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
29 Comments
. No Letters "An odd thought strikes me: we shall receive no letters in the grave." ---Dr. Johnson, from Boswell’s Life Of all the things which I enjoy and have To lose them, then, in death, which soon I...

‘The CCP Position on the Origin of Covid’ and Other Poetry by Russel Winick

The Society
June 15, 2021
Covid-19, Culture, Deconstructing Communism, Humor, Poetry
8 Comments
. The CCP Position on the Origin of Covid Point to their part Of the globe, And you’re a racist Xenophobe. . . Conmander in Chief Things are quickly getting better, Many times Joe Biden’s said it. Though...

‘Meeting Petrarch’ by Margaret Coats

The Society
June 15, 2021
Beauty, Culture, Poetry, Translation
10 Comments
. Francesco, is it you? Be confident. Sorgue vineyard pathways never were too dusty __For you—plump face and figure lusty. Come nearer; focus my astonishment. The monks and nuns sleep early after...

‘Logic Class’ and Other Poetry by Paul Buchheit

The Society
June 14, 2021
Culture, Humor, Love Poems, Poetry
14 Comments
. Logic Class As class convenes I quickly indicate in clear logician's diction of my eagerness to share my disposition to determine if we're here or there, or if instead we're neither here nor there. A student...

‘A Can of Worms’ by Susan Jarvis Bryant

The Society
June 13, 2021
Culture, Humor, Poetry
38 Comments
. A Can of Worms I saw it in the writing on the wall. I couldn’t help but read between the lines. I knew that pride would come before a fall; A bold and blatant sign of troubled times. Caught within the...

‘Anti-Racist Cant’ by Julian Woodruff

The Society
June 13, 2021
Culture, Deconstructing Communism, Humor, Poetry
18 Comments
. False statements spurn. Let’s shut them out completely. Quash so–called free speech. Cancel all you can. Do people think deplorables sing sweetly Or weren’t all guilty since the world began? If...

The Perils of “Perfection”: An Essay by Joseph S. Salemi

The Society
June 12, 2021
Essays, Poetry
40 Comments
. Persons devoted to formal, metrical poetry are susceptible to a specific disease, much in the same way as light-skinned persons are apt to get bad sunburns, and sedentary persons are prone to hemorrhoids and...

A Review of Amanda Hall’s The Gift of Life: An Epic in Verse

The Society
June 12, 2021
Essays, Poetry, Reviews
31 Comments
Reviewed Book: The Gift of Life: An Epic in Verse by Amanda Hall, 2021. by Margaret Coats So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see, So long lives this, and this gives life to thee. ---Shakespeare, "Sonnet...

‘Two Lives’ by Michael Charles Maibach

The Society
June 11, 2021
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
9 Comments
. When soldiers die,They give two lives.The one they had, And one denied: The spouse not met,The child unknown,The life unsaved,The welcome home, The hill unclimbed,The beach unseen,The books unread,The...

‘Providence’ by Stephen Ramsek

The Society
June 11, 2021
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
2 Comments
. The mystic steed gave chase to red-eyed day, His forelock flying in the morn’s raw gust. Providence, my constant mount with whom I, On hills and shores, through lofty steeps and crags Had foolhardily...

‘Storage and Retrieval’ and Other Poetry by C.B. Anderson

The Society
June 10, 2021
Beauty, Poetry
8 Comments
. Storage and Retrieval In the dank cellar of the human mind Are stored a lifetime’s worth of rusted tools And strands of uttered words, both cruel and kind, That molder in the moil of golden rules. There,...

‘Back to The Beginning’ by Mike Bryant

The Society
June 10, 2021
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
45 Comments
. “I want answers. I want all the words the poem whispers to be made flesh, to sit opposite me, and to shout out the reason for our existence…” ---Susan Jarvis Bryant on Daniel Kemper’s poem He who is,...

A Poem on Foster Care: ‘Fostering Faith’ by Bethany Mootsey

The Society
June 9, 2021
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
7 Comments
. Fostering Faith Will you slip through the system’s wide cracks Like a ball down a driveway’s storm drain? Will you bounce between homes, leaving tracks That they’ll only retrace if you’re slain? See,...

To the Class of 2021: A Graduation Poem by Benjamin Daniel Lukey

The Society
June 8, 2021
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
6 Comments
. Hardship and Destiny to the Class of 2021 The time is now at hand; the bow is bent To shoot you forth across the open sky. And as you think on what these years have meant, You may know where you wish to...

‘Golden Anniversary’ by Johanna Donovan

The Society
June 8, 2021
Beauty, Culture, Love Poems, Poetry
12 Comments
. Will this reclaim the long-lost Muse perched on the tree of I.O.U.’s? Can I now join Miss E. B. Browning as she proclaimed her love---its counting? Her art’s not mine; I know that much. The years sped...

‘The Change of Seasons’ by Lucia Haase

The Society
June 7, 2021
Beauty, Poetry
16 Comments
. The Summer's ushered in to close Spring's tale;New chapters are revealed in nature's story. The seasons' story arc will without failExpress great beauty, speaking of God's glory.There's differences of...

A Poem on Critical Race Theory, by James A. Tweedie

The Society
June 6, 2021
Culture, Deconstructing Communism, Poetry
21 Comments
. Signs of the Times “Post-modern” is the “ism” of the land; Reality is hanging by a thread. Objective truth? Rejected out of hand. And God and moral absolutes are dead. Ignore what ancient wisdom had...

A Poem on Affirmative Action: ‘Unintended Consequence,’ and Other Poetry by Russel Winick

The Society
June 6, 2021
Culture, Humor, Poetry
8 Comments
. Unintended Consequence The African-American High schooler had poor grades. Folks worried for his future, Seeing little effort made. Some caring people spoke to him, And urged it would be best, If he worked...

‘A Slice’ and Other Petrarchan Sonnets by Peter Austin

The Society
June 5, 2021
Culture, Humor, Poetry
9 Comments
. A Slice from a sonnet by Eleanor Alexander For me, my friends, no graveside vigil keep, With gnashing teeth and sodden handkerchief And grievous howls of outraged disbelief That I, so virile once, am six...

What’s Writing Classical Poetry All About?

The Society
June 4, 2021
Beauty, Culture, Education, Essays, Poetry, Readings
11 Comments
Originally published in The Epoch Times by James Sale Very recently, I hosted a live online poetry event for New York’s Society of Classical Poets (SCP). I introduced six American poets, of whom two were...

‘Tank Man—Remembering The Unknown Rebel’ by Susan Jarvis Bryant

The Society
June 4, 2021
Culture, Human Rights in China, Poetry
23 Comments
. During the Tiananmen Square Massacre, Tank Man (his name has been reported as Wang Weilin, a 19-year-old student) was arrested for “political hooliganism.” Varying reports suggested he was either...

A Poem on the Australian Mice Plague, by Norma Pain

The Society
June 3, 2021
Culture, Humor, Poetry
18 Comments
. To the Residents Down Below I am a bookish kind of rat And like each rat before me, I’ve come to the conclusion that There’s few folks that adore me. Although I feel that this is wrong, I try to be...

‘The Birthday Rose’ by Cheryl Corey

The Society
June 3, 2021
Culture, Humor, Poetry
13 Comments
. Her birthday cake was verily a sight--- A work of art, a sugary-sweet confection, That much to all the revelers’ delight, The baker decorated to perfection. It brought a special twinkle to her eye, To...

‘Épuration’ by Joseph S. Salemi

The Society
June 2, 2021
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
14 Comments
. On the Greek isle of Tilos are the ruins of the sanctuary of Pythian Apollo. Over them has been built the Church of the Archangel Michael. "Now rot here on the earth that nourishes men. No longer will you...

Comments on the Decline of American Universities

The Society
June 2, 2021
Culture, Education, Essays, Poetry
4 Comments
American historian Victor Davis Hanson and Canadian professor Jordan Peterson recently commented on the decline of American universities. Though they did not specifically mention poetry, the mainstream poetry...

‘Resist!’ by Joe Tessitore

The Society
June 1, 2021
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
15 Comments
. The enemy has canceled me And yet, as far as I can see, I still exist, I am still here And so resist and have no fear. Theirs is a vile, historic curse, But this time, friends, it will be worse. There’s...

Two Poems on Old Age, by C.B. Anderson

The Society
June 1, 2021
Beauty, Culture, Humor, Poetry
26 Comments
. Default, to a Fault There are as many deeds I ought to do As there are jobs in urgent need of doing. My task is knowing whether to pursue Them, or, too overwhelmed, to stop pursuing. As numerous as shores...

A Memorial Day Poem: ‘Friends on the Wall’ by Roy E. Peterson

The Society
May 31, 2021
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
8 Comments
. To my friends on the wall who fought valiantly,We thank all the dead for ensuring we’re free.Remembrance, though fleeting, is etched on this wall.Above waves Old Glory. You answered his call. With honor...

Two Poems for Memorial Day 2021, by Susan Jarvis Bryant

The Society
May 30, 2021
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
25 Comments
. R e w i n d... If time could suck the bullet from torn flesh, And pry its steely bite from splintered bone, Stitch tattered life and limb to start afresh, Unbloody muddy trench, uncast the stone; If time...

‘#shun #shame #shazam! Land of the Canceled’ by Tonia Kalouria

The Society
May 30, 2021
Culture, Poetry
6 Comments
. “We’re running things now; we are great, you are small.” “You will talk as we think, or you’ll not talk at all.” No longer permitted to utter their Truth, they are banished and...
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