‘Celestial Potatoes’: A Thanksgiving Poem by Mary Jane Myers The Society November 28, 2024 Humor, Poetry 18 Comments . Celestial Potatoes Thanksgiving morning, poised I stand: near cutting board, honed knife in hand. My self-taught method must suffice: ten pounds of tubers, peel and dice, pot-boil, purée with whipping...
Book Review: Uttering the Unutterable by Louis Groarke The Society November 27, 2024 Essays, Poetry, Reviews 30 Comments . Book Reviewed: Uttering the Unutterable: Aristotle, Religion, and Literature by Louis Groarke, McGill-Queen's University Press, 2023 by Margaret Coats Literature is shortchanged in the modernist and...
How to Write Iambic Pentameter in 13 Minutes: A Video by Andrew Benson Brown The Society November 27, 2024 Classical Poets Live, Education, Poetry 27 Comments . https://youtu.be/ayfBdVJxeKk . . Andrew Benson Brown's epic-in-progress, Legends of Liberty, chronicles the major events of the American Revolution. He writes history articles for American Essence...
‘Election Correction’: A Poem by Richard Lackman The Society November 26, 2024 Culture, Poetry 2 Comments . Election Correction Newsome, Whitmer, Pritzker, Hockel, Murphy Have a strange idea of how things should be. Then, of course, there’s Minnesota’s Walz Simply watching folks destroy their malls. This is...
‘Ode to the Dogs’ by Shari Jo Lekane The Society November 26, 2024 Beauty, Poetry 6 Comments . Ode to the Dogs Puppy to playmate they bring us much joy whether sleeping or hunting for favorite toys. Mischief abounds while they teethe and make noise as we patiently groom their behavioral ploys. Rapid...
‘Samhain’: A Poem by Isabella Simmonds The Society November 25, 2024 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 12 Comments . Samhain Behind the turning leaves a red-breast peeks,In light dim-lit by mists on Samhain dawn;The earth is churned by drumming, grubbing beaks,Before the frosts are hard and food is worn.In orange...
‘The Ballad of Mark and P’Nut’ by Geoffrey Smagacz The Society November 25, 2024 Poetry, Satire 13 Comments . The Ballad of Mark and P’Nut The lamp is lit, computer’s on, __My coffee has been brewed. I scroll to find the harrowing tale, __The story millions viewed. At twelve o’clock, October’s end, __A rap...
‘Madrigal à la Tasso’: A Poem by Daniel Howard The Society November 24, 2024 Love Poems, Poetry 14 Comments . Madrigal à la Tasso The surface of the lake reflects the flight _Of one and then another swan; _How it would add to my delight __To know where each has gone, _As when, my love, I look upon Those rapid...
‘The Lop-Sided House’ and Other Poetry by Brian Yapko The Society November 24, 2024 Culture, Poetry 27 Comments . The Lop-Sided House A lop-sided house on the edge of a cliff; A family trying so hard to be nice As their eavesdropping neighbors spy, wondering if They can catch every word said on every device. The...
‘Lady Agnew of Lochnaw, Loved by the Viewer and the Baronet’: A Poem by Phillip Whidden The Society November 23, 2024 Ekphrastic, Poetry 11 Comments . Lady Agnew of Lochnaw, Loved by the Viewer and the Baronet The lady wanted prettiness and style. (The artist wanted pounds.) The chintz Gave both her wants. A “quizzical half-smile” Invites a...
‘Underfoot’ and Other Japanese-style Poems by Benjamin Daniel Lukey The Society November 22, 2024 Beauty, Haiku and Senryu, Poetry 3 Comments . Underfoot Fescue and clover: A luxuriant carpet Fit for a king’s feet. . . Murder They take noisy flight, Leaving the harvest’s stubble To hungry field mice. The crows will not make a sound When they...
High School Reunion Poems by Russel Winick The Society November 22, 2024 Humor, Limerick, Poetry 20 Comments . Montana High School Reunion The big fella who grew up in Butte, Claimed his high school sweetheart was so cute, __Going back would be grand __A reunion was planned So he went out and bought costly boots. He...
‘Contemplative Days’: A Poem by Margaret Brinton The Society November 21, 2024 Beauty, Poetry 4 Comments . Contemplative Days A sky of dim and pale display __Brings forth late autumn calm. "A restful peace," it seems to say; __My soul receives the balm. The faded leaves of golden tint __Which cover thick the...
‘Smile’: A Poem by Susan Jarvis Bryant The Society November 21, 2024 Beauty, Poetry 15 Comments . Smile “Nothing you wear is more important than your smile.” ---Connie Stevens I didn’t weigh your sway and worth__Until you left my faceDevoid of joy and minus mirth.__You left without a traceOf...
The Trochaic Poems of Dorothy Parker: An Essay by Joseph S. Salemi The Society November 20, 2024 Essays, Poetry 20 Comments . The Trochaic Poems of Dorothy Parker by Joseph S. Salemi A few poets become famous, while most go down into oblivion. But a small scattering of them are eventually categorized as “minor poets,” whose...
‘Talk Around the Urn’: A Poem by Frank Rable The Society November 20, 2024 Culture, Poetry 7 Comments . Talk Around the Urn In our Sunday best, on folding chairs, We solemnly talk around the urn; A tear, a sniffle, show who cares For the loved one who will not return. No box is there with dressed up...
‘A Colossal Event of Avoidance’: A Poem by Warren Bonham The Society November 19, 2024 Poetry, Satire 18 Comments . A Colossal Event of Avoidance “This is a colossal event of avoidance not just in the state of Florida, but you will find avoidance in the Carolinas.” ---Marn’i Washington, FEMA Supervisor, November...
‘Melancholy Hues (of Autumn)’: an Ode by Paul A. Freeman The Society November 19, 2024 Beauty, Poetry 12 Comments . Melancholy Hues (of Autumn) ---an ode The third of four trimesters of the yearsees summer flag. The mercury recedesand chilly grey replaces skies once clear,while on Earth’s tilted axis, Autumn feeds. From...
‘A Vacillating Villanelle On Perception’ by Peter Venable The Society November 19, 2024 Culture, Poetry, Villanelle 4 Comments . A Vacillating Villanelle On Perception "Understanding the world for a man is reducing it to the human, stamping it with his seal. The cat’s universe is not the universe of the anthill." ---Albert...
‘Truth Streaked Across the Sky’: A Poem by Roy E. Peterson The Society November 18, 2024 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 10 Comments . Truth Streaked Across the Sky Truth streaked across the skyAlighting on a foreign strand,Where politicians buried itBeneath the lying sand. The truth was stranger than the lies,Too dazzling for the mind.The...
‘Saint Andrew’: A Poem by Robert Nachtegall The Society November 18, 2024 Poetry, Satire 5 Comments . Saint Andrew My Uncle Andrew lived his lifeInflicting others pain and strife.‘Twas always said by mother dear“No good shall come of it, you hear!”He’d swill the hooch and whop his wifeOr kids within...
‘Just Doin’ Our Job’: A Sonnet in Terza Rima by T.M. Moore The Society November 17, 2024 Children's, Poetry, Science, Terza Rima 3 Comments . Just Doin' Our Job As if they didn’t have enough to do already---harvesting the light to make food for the tree and seeing to it you and I have clean air every day---leaves slake their host tree’s...
‘Sailing to Illusium’ and Other Poems by James A. Tweedie The Society November 17, 2024 Culture, Poetry 21 Comments . Sailing to Illusium Unheralded, the ancient oracle Appears and disappears, pronounce announcing Creaturely mortality while singing Dirges under breath; rhetorical Devices wringing images of death From...
‘Diners’: A Sonnet by Adam Wasem The Society November 16, 2024 Beauty, Poetry 20 Comments . Diners For single men alone, what impulse spurs us To find them everywhere? –the burned-out lights, the squat brick block, so many times repurposed, the worn, clichéd inside, lit over-bright: Plump rows...
Great Expectations Summary and PDF The Society November 16, 2024 Education, Essays, Poetry 6 Comments The summary and introduction below is from a newly adapted (UK spellings Americanized and punctuation updated), illustrated, and annotated version of Great Expectations in PDF made free for download for...
‘Raking Leaves’: A Poem by Cheryl Corey The Society November 15, 2024 Beauty, Poetry 22 Comments . Raking Leaves The blaze of autumn's orange-gold is gone, And now it's time to rake the fallen leaves, __To clear the cluttered eaves, __And face a colder dawn. Those piles and piles of crispy, mottled...
‘Solid Rock’: A Poem by Warren Bonham The Society November 15, 2024 Beauty, Poetry 8 Comments . Solid Rock With open heart, but eyes shut tight, led by our feelings, not by sight, they are the rock upon which we once built the fantasy that the foundation that we engineered inside our mind as thoughts...
‘First Pick Flamingo’: A Poem by Drilon Bajrami The Society November 14, 2024 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 6 Comments . First Pick Flamingo They used to call this player the flamingo; They chaffed and mocked; they were full of bravado. ‘Cause he’s the new kid, they didn’t know his skills He missed three practice shots,...
‘A Brief Respite’: A Poem by Martin Rizley The Society November 14, 2024 Beauty, Poetry 17 Comments . A Brief Respite From murky depths, I rise, by duty fetched,And breaking surface in the waking world,I find my horizontal self outstretched,Exposed to view, like some old map unfurled. Upon this couch, I sink...
‘Jehu Destroys the Temple and Statue of Baäl’: A Poem by Bruce Dale Wise The Society November 13, 2024 Culture, Ekphrastic, Poetry 7 Comments . Jehu Destroys the Temple and Statue of Baäl "—What did that madman want?" ---2 Kings 9:11 He saw Jehu Destroys the Temple and Statue of Baäl, the print by Maarten van Heemskerck of darkness to appall. He...
‘Beryl Spring’: A Poem by Margaret Coats The Society November 13, 2024 Beauty, Poetry 28 Comments . Beryl Spring ---Yellowstone National Park Towering torrents of steam and mist Rise next to the side of the road, Beckoning drivers to park and trudge toward a cloud. Roars like the noise of jet engines...
‘The Garden’: A Poem by Shamik Banerjee The Society November 12, 2024 Beauty, Poetry 10 Comments . The Garden Dense boughs and variegated blooms __That once festooned a garden Are dying as November births __Pellucid forms that harden On them, my attic's roof, and grass. Now every morning when I...
800 Years of the Sonnet in 12 Minutes: A Video by Andrew Benson Brown The Society November 12, 2024 Classical Poets Live, Essays, Poetry 11 Comments . https://youtu.be/B9aMXFVpFEk . . Andrew Benson Brown's epic-in-progress, Legends of Liberty, chronicles the major events of the American Revolution. He writes history articles for American Essence...
Armistice Day Poem: ‘A Recruiter Tells It as It Isn’t’ by Paul A. Freeman The Society November 11, 2024 Beauty, Humor, Poetry, Rondeau 15 Comments . A Recruiter Tells It as It Isn’t Your World War One recruitment agent prays he finds you well. Your King and Country says we need you for a dalliance in France. In gay Paris, you’ll get to chat and...
A Poem on Trump Making Susan Wiles Chief of Staff, by Susan Jarvis Bryant The Society November 10, 2024 Poetry, Satire 26 Comments . Feeding the Alligators The orange king of lava tongue has won. He sings a spangled song that rings throughout A plundered land where dreams and gold once sprung. He's here to nourish hope and conquer...
‘Homeostasis’: A Poem by C.B. Anderson The Society November 10, 2024 Beauty, Poetry 13 Comments . Homeostasis "When it is not necessary to change, it is necessary not to change." —Lucius Cary, Viscount Falkland In general, everybody wishes things Would stay the same. An endless barbecue Of ribs and...
‘The Ghosts of Altamira’ and Other Poetry by Brian Yapko The Society November 10, 2024 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 27 Comments . The Ghosts of Altamira ---a meditation A herd of prehistoric bison; blood beliefs Depicted in concentric whorls with prints of hands. Stick petroglyphs which hint at ice age births and griefs, And spells to...
‘For the Sake of Ten Thousand: A Supplication from New Sodom’: A Poem by Cynthia Erlandson The Society November 9, 2024 Culture, Poetry 9 Comments . For the Sake of Ten Thousand: A Supplication from New Sodom And Abraham came near and said, ‘Would You also destroy the righteous with the wicked? Suppose there were fifty righteous…?’” ---Genesis...
‘O Lord, Let Me Not Fall’: A Sonnet by Jeffrey Essmann The Society November 9, 2024 Culture, Poetry 14 Comments . O Lord, Let Me Not Fall O Lord, let me not fall today, I pray, Not in some vague or metaphoric way, As into sin or moral turpitude Or somewhat less than pious interludes. I’m talking, Lord, my face against...
‘Sometimey People’ and Other Poems by Russel Winick The Society November 8, 2024 Culture, Poetry 20 Comments . "Sometimey” People Sometimes he’s quite responsive, Sometimes he disappears. Sometimes he’s downright friendly, Sometimes he switches gears. Sometimes he’s so straightforward, Sometimes he seems to...