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      ‘Ode to the Strings of My Guitar’: A Poem by Daniel Howard

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      The 23 Best Haiku of 2023

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      September 29, 2023
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      A Poem on Two Dragon Statues in Vietnam, by G.M.H. Thompson

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      September 28, 2023
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      September 28, 2023
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      ‘Labyrinthine Bag’ and Other Poetry by Wael Almahdi

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      ‘Abortion Notes’: A Poem by Phil Flott

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      May 13, 2022
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      The 23 Best Haiku of 2023

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      September 29, 2023
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      A Poem on ‘Nothing’ Poetry Challenge

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      The 2023 Society of Classical Poets International Poetry Competition

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      September 1, 2023
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      ‘Limericks on Good English Prose’ by Joseph S. Salemi (with Note on Fictive Mimesis)

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      Can Long Poems Still Work? A Discussion Topic from Julian Woodruff

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poetry/coats/haiku and senryu

The 23 Best Haiku of 2023

The Society
September 29, 2023
Best Poems, Haiku and Senryu, Poetry, Poetry Contests
12 Comments
. The 23 Best Haiku of 2023 Winner and Runners-up of the Society of Classical Poets 2023 Haiku Competition Judged by J. Thomas Rimer and Margaret Coats (see their remarks below) See all...
poem/anderson/love/valentines day

The 10 Best Love Poems of 2022

The Society
June 9, 2023
Best Poems, Love Poems, Poetry
11 Comments
. The 10 Best Love Poems of 2022 If you are more of an academic poetry lover who stills enjoy Shakespeare’s love sonnets now and again, then the list for you of the 10 Greatest Love Poems Ever Written is...
poetry/contest/inspiration

The Best Poems of 2022: Winners of SCP International Poetry Competition

The Society
February 1, 2023
Best Poems, Dante, From the Society, Poetry, Poetry Contests
14 Comments
The Best Poems of 2022: Winners of the 11th Annual SCP International Poetry Competition Judges Joseph S. Salemi, James Sale, Evan Mantyk Past First Place Winners James A. Tweedie (2021) Susan Jarvis Bryant...

The Best Poems of 2021

The Society
February 1, 2022
Best Poems, From the Society, Poetry, Poetry Contests
16 Comments
The Best Poems of 2021: Winners of the 10th Annual International SCP Poetry Competition JudgesJoseph S. SalemiJames SaleEvan Mantyk Past First Place Winners Susan Jarvis Bryant (2020)Joseph Charles MacKenzie...

The 10 Best Love Poems of 2021

The Society
January 30, 2022
Beauty, Best Poems, Love Poems, Poetry
5 Comments
. The 10 Best Love Poems of 2021 What makes a great love poem? Love is such an emotionally charged topic that the answers to that question are going to vary tremendously depending on who you ask. But all the...

The 21 Best Haiku of 2021

The Society
September 5, 2021
Beauty, Best Poems, From the Society, Haiku and Senryu, Poetry, Poetry Contests
43 Comments
Winner and Runners-up of the Society of Classical Poets 2021 Haiku Competition Judged by Margaret Coats (see her remarks below) See all entrants here. . WINNER . Fog enshrouds the nightWoven in the heavy...

The Best Poems of 2020

The Society
February 1, 2021
Best Poems, From the Society, Poetry, Poetry Contests
28 Comments
The Best Poems of 2020: Winners of the 9th Annual International SCP Poetry Competition JudgesJoseph S. SalemiJames SaleEvan Mantyk Past First Place Winners Joseph Charles MacKenzie (2019) Adam Sedia (2018)...

The 17 Best Haiku of 2020

The Society
August 15, 2020
Beauty, Best Poems, Culture, From the Society, Haiku and Senryu, Poetry, Poetry Contests
8 Comments
Winner and Runners-up of The Society of Classical Poets 2020 Haiku Competition Judged by Mike Bryant and Susan Jarvis Bryant See all entrants here.   Thunder-bellied clouds Move slow over heathered...

The Best Poems of 2019

The Society
February 1, 2020
Best Poems, From the Society, Poetry, Poetry Contests
11 Comments
The Best Poems of 2019: Winners of 8th Annual International SCP Poetry Competition Thank you to everyone who participated! It was an epic year with an incredible number of exceptional poets contributing their...

Lord Byron’s Darkest Secrets and Greatest Poetry

The Society
October 19, 2019
Beauty, Best Poems, Culture, Essays, Humor, Poetry
12 Comments
This piece is sponsored by KidSecured by Evan Mantyk and Kathy Brellan Lord Byron was born George Gordon Byron in London on January 22, 1788 and died just 36 years later in 1824. Yet, despite his short...

The Eight Greatest Poems of William Wordsworth

The Society
October 6, 2018
Beauty, Best Poems, Culture, Essays, Poetry, The Environment
13 Comments
by Charles Eager William Wordsworth was born in Cockermouth, Cumberland, in 1770—the same year as gave us Beethoven, Hegel, and Hölderlin—and died at the age of eighty, rich in the knowledge of his...

10 Greatest Shakespeare Sonnets: An Immortal Series

The Society
April 8, 2018
Beauty, Best Poems, Culture, Education, Essays, Poetry, Shakespeare
9 Comments
By David B. Gosselin William Shakespeare (baptized April 26, 1564 - died April 23, 1616) is arguably the greatest writer in any language. His poetry is not only one of the most exalted examples of what an...

Essay: On Edgar Allan Poe’s Search for Supernal Beauty and His Five Greatest Poems

The Society
February 12, 2018
Best Poems, Essays, Poetry, The Raven
4 Comments
. by David Bellemare Gosselin Today, seldom is Edgar Allan Poe's voice heard as it's drowned out by the popular notions of Poe as some sort of deranged man whose stories and poetry are simply the product of...

Rediscovering Percy Shelley’s Greatest Work: ‘Prometheus Unbound, with Other Poems’

The Society
January 25, 2018
Beauty, Best Poems, Culture, Essays, Poetry, Reviews
8 Comments
By Brett Forester Writing but one fine, enduring poem is a remarkable achievement. Writing a book of great poems is an even rarer triumph. Yet in 1820, British Romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley (born...

10 Greatest Poems by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

The Society
January 2, 2018
Beauty, Best Poems, Culture, Essays, Poetry
50 Comments
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (born February 27, 1807 - died March 24, 1882) was an American poet of the Romantic period. He served as a professor at Harvard University and was an adept linguist, traveling...

10 Greatest Poems by John Keats

The Society
December 22, 2017
Beauty, Best Poems, Culture, Essays, Poetry
17 Comments
by Annabelle Fuller John Keats (born October 31, 1795 - died February 23, 1821) began life as the son of a stable-owner, and ended it as an unmarried, poor and tuberculosis-ridden young man. Somewhere along...

Ten of the Best Poems by Robert Frost (that you’ve probably never read)

The Society
November 24, 2017
Beauty, Best Poems, Culture, Education, Essays, Poetry
24 Comments
by Dusty Grein The Man The American poet Robert Frost was born on March 26, 1874, in San Francisco, CA. He spent his first 40 years mostly unknown, and it wasn’t until after returning to the United...

10 Greatest Poems Written by John Milton

The Society
November 7, 2017
Best Poems, Culture, Epic, Essays, Poetry
9 Comments
John Milton (Born December 9, 1608 – died November 8, 1674) was an English poet of the late Renaissance period. He is most noted for his epic poem on the fall of Satan and Adam and Eve’s ejection from the...

10 Greatest Novels Ever Written

The Society
January 1, 2017
Best Poems, Culture, Education, Essays, Poetry
39 Comments
By Evan Mantyk From The Iliad, Beowulf, and Shakespearean literature in the West to the Chinese Classic of Poetry, the Indian Ramayana, and the Middle Eastern Epic of Gilgamesh, classical poetry is the...

10 Greatest Love Poems Ever Written

The Society
October 27, 2016
Best Poems, Education, Essays, Poetry
46 Comments
by Conrad Geller People are always asking "What are the best love poems?" or "Where can I find something beautiful to say to the woman I love?" or "...to the man I love?" If you are looking for love poems in...

10 Greatest Poems about Death: A Grim Reader

The Society
September 29, 2016
Best Poems, Culture, Education, Essays, Poetry
16 Comments
By Conrad Geller Poets demonstrably know nothing about death since it is, in Hamlet’s phrase, “the undiscovered country from whose bourne no traveler returns.” Yet from the Egyptian Book of the Dead...

10 Greatest English Sonnets Concerning Other Poets

The Society
February 7, 2016
Best Poems, Education, Essays, Poetry
1 Comment
by Reid McGrath I forewarn you that these are the 10 greatest English Sonnets addressed to or concerning other poets and are not even the 10 greatest short poems concerning other poets. There are innumerable...

10 Greatest Poems Ever Written

The Society
January 7, 2016
Best Poems, Culture, Education, Essays, Poetry, Popular Poetry Archives
242 Comments
Updated: July 1, 2023 by Evan Mantyk What is poetry? What is great poetry? The poems below answer these questions. From least greatest (10) to greatest greatest (1), the poems in this list are limited to ones...

Five Greatest Poems by Robert Frost

The Society
August 20, 2012
Beauty, Best Poems, Culture, Education, Poetry
22 Comments
The American poet Robert Frost was born on March 26, 1874, in San Francisco, CA. He spent his first 40 years mostly unknown, and it wasn’t until after returning to the United States from England—where he...




  1. Maura H. Harrison on The 23 Best Haiku of 2023September 29, 2023

    To the judges, I'm grateful to have my haiku mentioned as a runner up. Thank you for your time. It…

  2. Joshua C. Frank on A Poem Inspired by Kimberly Hartke and Other Poetry by Joshua C. FrankSeptember 29, 2023

    Thank you, Gigi. It makes me happy that you were touched by it.

  3. Gigi Ryan on A Poem Inspired by Kimberly Hartke and Other Poetry by Joshua C. FrankSeptember 29, 2023

    Joshua, This is a beautiful poem of redemption. Thank you. Gigi

  4. Mia on ‘The Battle of Athelstaneford’: A Poem by Margaret CoatsSeptember 29, 2023

    Dear Margaret, thank you It is a very rare occurrence but I will not have a computer for a couple…

  5. Jeff Eardley on ‘Ode to the Strings of My Guitar’: A Poem by Daniel HowardSeptember 29, 2023

    Daniel, like Roy, I was reminded of the George Harrison song. I have been a guitarist for over 5 decades…

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