‘On Twenty Years of YouTube’: A Poem by Paul A. Freeman The Society June 6, 2025 Culture, Poetry . On Twenty Years of YouTube Dull dinner party video clips unshared shaped YouTube’s genesis, or so it’s claimed. Yet others say, when Janet Jackson bared a nipple, that a co-creator aimed to see if it...
‘Family Values’: Four Poems by Susan Jarvis Bryant The Society June 5, 2025 Humor, Pantoum, Poetry, Triolet 3 Comments . Auntie Barb ---a pantoum She cuts the cheats and charmers to the quick—Her tongue will skin a scoundrel in a wink.She’ll scupper every swindler’s slickest trickBefore the scoffers have a chance to...
‘The Legend of Zhong Kui’: A Poem by M.D. Skeen The Society June 5, 2025 Culture, Poetry 3 Comments . The Legend of Zhong Kui Zhong Kui is pronounced like “Jong Quay” One dark and dour winter day His mother sent her son Zhong Kui Along with his good friend, Du Ping To take exams held by the King. Zhong...
‘Roads of Potter County’: A Poem by Frank Rable The Society June 4, 2025 Culture, Humor, Poetry 11 Comments . Roads of Potter County Finally Spring has come north here---Always my favorite time of year.Potter will tease you in some way---Tomorrow might be a snowy day. Instead there came the green of grass,The white...
On the Art Institute of Chicago’s South Garden and Other Poetry by Adam Sedia The Society June 3, 2025 Art, Beauty, Poetry 15 Comments . In Urbe Hortus ---June afternoon in the South Garden of the Art Institute of Chicago Hard stone and brick, cold glass and steel Shrink behind the canopy Of intertwining leafy boughs Sprawling from each...
‘My Fairytale’: A Poem by Roy E. Peterson The Society June 3, 2025 Love Poems, Poetry 12 Comments . My Fairytale You could be my Cinderella _I danced with at the ball. You’re the one I’m looking for _Since you first fled the hall. You could be in sleep awaiting _Like the poisoned Snow White. You may...
‘In Her Fair Foundry, Nature Forges Art’ by Claude Gaspar Bachet, Translated by Josh Middeldorf The Society June 2, 2025 Beauty, Poetry, Translation 5 Comments . In Her Fair Foundry, Nature Forges Art by Claude Gaspar Bachet de Meziriac (1581-1638) translated from French by Josh Mitteldorf In her fair foundry, Nature forges art, Divinity of beauty knows no peer. The...
‘Lost Ark’: A Poem by Christopher Fried The Society June 2, 2025 Culture, Poetry 5 Comments . Lost Ark ---upon reading of the hunt for the Ark of the Covenant It used to be, a life ago, that fear caused me to lift my hands to hide my sight when Raiders’ climax was on screen—to peer at wonders...
‘Two Love Poems’ by James A. Tweedie The Society June 1, 2025 Love Poems, Poetry, Villanelle 11 Comments . Since You’ve Been at My Side ---a villanelle Embraced by love, since you’ve been at my sideI’ve found the strength to hope for better days,As if uplifted by a rising tide. When feeling lost, with you...
‘To a Virginia Bluebell’ and Other Poetry by Lee Evans The Society June 1, 2025 Beauty, Poetry 6 Comments . To a Virginia Bluebell You nod to me across the trail That runs before my garden seat. With clustered bells of blue you greet My visit with a subtle peal. You wave your frolic fans of green So gaily, as if...
‘Still Life of a Bouquet’: A Poem by Joanna Raja Sekar The Society May 31, 2025 Culture, Poetry 12 Comments . Still Life of a Bouquet Seems wrong to me that flowers die, A live display of borrowed time, To see them bloom from beaming buds To threadbare bones cut off from blood. Those sharp-set stems, sturdy,...
‘Folk Heroes’: A Poem by Warren Bonham The Society May 31, 2025 Culture, Poetry 4 Comments . Folk Heroes We’re told to laud our new folk heroes, but they’re made up by woke zeroes. always stirring up commotion led, not by facts, but by emotion. MS13 will dismember, all except for one lone...
‘Frivolity from Quality’ and Other Poems by Russel Winick The Society May 30, 2025 Poetry 11 Comments . Frivolity from Quality Her works of elegance and style create frivolity, When book producers cluelessly reject such quality. But witless word her work is “not the right fit” holds no slight, Their...
‘The Institute of Peace: Constitution Avenue, N.E.’: A Poem by Michael Curtis The Society May 29, 2025 Culture, Poetry 6 Comments . The Institute of Peace: Constitution Avenue, N.E. The Institute of Peace looks down on LincolnFrom high atop her perch on Constitution.She has the hollow belly of a beast.She yearns to eat the people piece...
‘A Walk in Solitude’: A Poem by Angel L. Villanueva The Society May 29, 2025 Beauty, Poetry 10 Comments . A Walk in Solitude I strolled a path in solitude As snow and frosty winds renewed. The night was giving way to light When I beheld a startling sight: There was a figure up ahead Whose twisted shape invited...
SCP Poetry Competition Winners’ Symposium—You’re Invited! The Society May 28, 2025 From the Society, Poetry, Readings . The SCP Poetry Competition Winners’ Symposium You're Invited! Who: Everyone is invited to attend, Members and non-members alike Date: Saturday, June 28 Time: 1:00 p.m. (Eastern Time) Location: Live on...
‘Song of the Heron’ by Ueda Bin, Translated by Yoshikaze Kawakami The Society May 28, 2025 Beauty, Poetry, Translation 6 Comments . Song of the Heron by Ueda Bin (after the French of Emile Verhaeren) translated from Japanese by Yoshikaze Kawakami By the bleak golden waters, Where the water lilies bloom, The heron slowly hovers, And sends...
‘A Taste of Northern New England’ and Other Poems by C.B. Anderson The Society May 27, 2025 Culture, Poetry 11 Comments . A Taste of Northern New England I’ll never feel at home in Robert Frost’s Vermont—too many deconstructed walls, And far too many melancholy falls That adumbrate a host of tragic costs Come winter....
‘Forsythia Fading’: A Poem by Cynthia Erlandson The Society May 27, 2025 Beauty, Poetry 16 Comments . Forsythia Fading ---after Robert Frost and A.E. Housman Green leaves push yellow blooms away. Bold colors leave, their lives an hour Compared with green things’ lengthened day. It’s true that nothing...
‘On a Raging Storm’ and Other Poetry by Jeff Kemper The Society May 26, 2025 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 10 Comments . On a Raging Storm Storms raged in the eastern U.S. in Spring of 2019. Is it a freak of summer or the norm? A gale, a blast, a squall is roaring past. In wrath that cuts and claws, the raging storm Leaves in...
‘Ten Pennies Per Paper Poppy’: A Memorial Day Poem by Roy E. Peterson The Society May 26, 2025 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 25 Comments . Ten Pennies Per Paper Poppy ---a childhood memory of Memorial Day Ten pennies per paper poppy I helped my mother sell We sold some fifty poppies ---She thought we did quite well. Pretty paper poppies For...
‘A Waltz of Longing’: A Poem by Jacob Schultz The Society May 25, 2025 Love Poems, Poetry 8 Comments . A Waltz of Longing In the heat of the day, we begin With a glance and a breath, cheek to chin. Though our steps misalign, still we glide With a tremble of flame in our stride. It’s a perilous waltz that...
Hurricane Poems: ‘The Genesis Wind’ and Other Poetry by Brian Yapko The Society May 25, 2025 Beauty, Culture, Poetry, Rondeau Redoublé 24 Comments . The Genesis Wind ---written in the wake of Hurricane Milton I close my eyes to better gauge the gusting wind. It howls and tantrums hard against the metal shutters And bends the flailing palms and scrub...
‘Kissing Cousin’ and Other Poems by Joseph S. Salemi The Society May 24, 2025 Culture, Humor, Poetry 33 Comments . Kissing Cousin I see her every two years, usuallyWhen someone dies or marries. And we kissAs if we were old lovers, passionately,Just as a silly spoof. She says I missThese hot encounters! Prudish maiden...
‘Wedding Night’ by Christine de Pisan, Translated by Margaret Coats The Society May 24, 2025 Love Poems, Poetry, Translation 20 Comments . Wedding Night by Christine de Pisan (1364--c. 1430)translated by Margaret Coats A sweet supremacy marks marriage;I prove it from experience.I have a husband good and sage,Bestowed through God’s great...
‘What the Caterpillar Calls the End’: A Poem by Scharlie Meeuws The Society May 23, 2025 Beauty, Poetry 11 Comments . What the Caterpillar Calls the End ---for those who are becoming The light grew dim, the air grew still, The green world closed, the leaf went chill. “I am undone,” the small voice cried, Wrapped in a...
‘The Dyer’s Second Tale—A Medieval Heist’: A Poem by Paul A. Freeman The Society May 23, 2025 Chaucer, Poetry 12 Comments . The Dyer’s Second Tale---A Medieval Heist Here beginneth the Dyer’s Second Tale . Part I The Third Crusade had reached its bloody height,And all throughout the Holy Land the mightOf European soldiery...
‘Sonnet XIII’: A Poem by Jenna Tedesco The Society May 22, 2025 Beauty, Poetry 8 Comments . Sonnet XIII On days you do not need my sound embrace, When tenderness and warmth envelop you And Fortune shines upon your amber face And suffering and sorrow are but few, I wonder what your mind then does...
‘Sound and Fury’: A Poem by Susan Jarvis Bryant The Society May 22, 2025 Culture, Poetry 32 Comments . Sound and Fury . I. Of Farcical Requital He craved the slavish praise his patter wooed. His slick, linguistic syrup charmed the ear Of she who shunned the candor of the crude--- A fellow fox who held his...
‘The Noble Train of Artillery’ from an Epic Poem by Andrew Benson Brown The Society May 21, 2025 Epic, Poetry 15 Comments . The Noble Train of Artillery ---from Legends of Liberty Volume 3 The cold, gray dawn illuminated flakes Of snow dusting an elevated hill Where a falling star had crashed, between two lakes: Fort Carillon,...
‘Know Your Place’: A Poem by Peter Venable The Society May 21, 2025 Culture, Humor, Poetry 7 Comments . Know Your Place __“Know your place!” In grammar school, that stung like mace.“To the corner!”—my timeout place. __“Know your place.” On my first date, with pimpled face,I never even reached...
‘Apollo, Mnemosyne, and Poetry’: A Chapter from James Sale’s Gods, Heroes and Us The Society May 20, 2025 Essays, Poetry 25 Comments . Apollo, Mnemosyne, and Poetry Chapter 9 from Gods, Heroes and Us (Bruges Group, May, 2025) by James Sale Our last chapter discussed the imperative for distinguishing between Truth (Veritas) and Falsehood...
‘Spring Has Sprung’: A Poem by Roy E. Peterson The Society May 20, 2025 Humor, Poetry 26 Comments . Spring Has Sprung Spring has sprung. It has begun--- _Birds nesting in the tree. It’s warm again. The cackling hen _Can go outside to pee. Spring has sprung. It’s time for fun. _New flowers bloom each...
‘The Poppy’: A Poem by Akiane Kramarik The Society May 19, 2025 Art, Culture, Poetry 11 Comments . The Poppy I walk a poppy universe, I rattle the hourglass’s isles, Where time slows down and turns to hope And I’m a brush that paints for miles. I balance on a single finger; At first all’s white and...
‘Young Catherine’s Vision’ and Other Poetry by Mary Jane Myers The Society May 19, 2025 Beauty, Ekphrastic, Poetry 13 Comments . Young Catherine’s Vision ---on St. Catherine of Siena Invested with the Dominican Habit by Giovanni di Paola A maiden kneels on gray da Torre stone. Save for a crucifix, the room is bare. Her thighs seem...
Cat Poems by Gigi Ryan The Society May 18, 2025 Beauty, Culture, Humor, Poetry 17 Comments . Sally November rains brought to our basement door From the woods some pleading, needy eyes Staring from a fur mass, soaking wet. Our catless home (about to be no more) Welcomed her and tended to her...
‘Today Like Yesterday’: A Poem by Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer, Translated by Paul Burgess The Society May 18, 2025 Culture, Poetry, Translation 13 Comments . Today Like Yesterday by Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer (1836-1870) translated by Paul Burgess Today like yesterday, tomorrow like today: ___A sky of only grays, An endless horizon that goes on, changeless,...
‘Bonanza’: A Poem by Jonathan Kinsman The Society May 17, 2025 Beauty, Poetry 13 Comments . Bonanza The March of rains has staked its claim, its boast _To brag upon these thousand hills, and opened the sluice of the motherlode to mantle the slopes in yellow and gold. _From Tehachapi to the poppied...
‘Jargon’: A Poem by Warren Bonham The Society May 17, 2025 Culture, Poetry 18 Comments . Jargon The devil will manipulate, through jargoneers who fabricate non sequitur profundity tuned with the proper frequency that will, before you realize, infect your mind and hypnotize with phrases such as...
‘Going Home to Campania’: A Poem by Patricia Rogers Crozier The Society May 16, 2025 Beauty, Poetry 10 Comments . Going Home to Campania I come back to my cool and quiet road, Testudo-shielded by umbrella pines, Where pavement cracked and garbage overflowed To fade beyond in bright converging lines. I come back as a...