Poetry

  Five Riddles for Mid-Autumn 2025   I. I’m red and roaring But wet and cooling. I have four doors On my first floor, But also a ladder To take you higher. What am I?   II. A million, billion, trillion, more, I’ll eat them all until there’s nothing. The...

  Garden of Gethsemane Come join me in the garden now, _I need your company. I’ve never been so frightened, friends, _please don’t abandon me. Tomorrow they’ll profess my guilt, _they’ll paint my blasphemy. Leaving Pilate just one choice: _to hang me by decree. They’ll hand me to an angry...

  Earth to Earthlings The dinosaurs were shuffled off My crust with gusto as I grinned, Yet shamelessly you scheme and scoff--- You claim you’ll tame my waves and wind, You’ll temper tempests, freshen air. Your cocky folly makes me curse. Hush pious pieholes! Spare your care! Like dodos you...

. The poem "Tick. Tock. Tick." by Twila Brase read by the poet herself at the Society of Classical Poets online Poetry Symposium on June 28, 2025: . https://youtu.be/YrWUIm-rrbI Video created by Andrew Benson Brown.

  Gul, the Grocer Oh! To be like Gul, the grocer! Disquiet's cuirassier can't toss her __Comfort away. She sits under a fan all day, Waves at the residents who cross her, and dabbles in the lines of Chaucer. No office work. No horrid boss. Her __Ancestors bought This little...

. Mamdani Baloney The swamp is filled with creatures who insist on solving problems that do not exist. They manufacture crises all the time, like claiming cops are causing all the crime, or how pre-teens need urgent gender care, and others of which no one’s yet aware. They also manage...

  Cause of Death _Because I chanced to be around _The day when poor Melissa drowned, They asked me to identify the body. _A trifle over five-foot-four, _With graphic body art galore, There was no doubt that she had been a hottie. _They mentioned in the news reports _That she...

  The Elements Within Beginning with the morphogenesis Of cells—of gel-like tissues, organs, skin— Inside a water bath becalmed with hush; Becoming, taking human form; in bliss Until the fetus reaches growth within; When suddenly, the sac expels a gush Of water, followed by a microburst Of woman’s push and...

  Sedona, Arizona Nestled in a canyon sits Sedona, Beauty complementing deep mystique. Mighty walls of rock and cliff and towers--- The atmosphere responds to those who seek. Natives of that canyon, they discovered Enlightenment and overwhelming peace. Wonderment abounds in those surroundings, A purity which offers life new lease....

  Song of Conquest The craftsman takes from tree and rock To shape in uniform dimension, Hoarding all in one large stock So might he plan for their ascension; This goes here, and fitting there A brick and board do so conspire, In single compliment they dare To raise from...

  Revisiting Antietam How odd imagining war’s artistic tint, where tactics clashing let men’s captive blood. Just look—the paradox of bodies rent, yet jaunty at this portrait streaked with mud! It’s strange to visit battlefields with joy that motions me as sunshine permeates when poised-to-tussle soldiers were just boys awestruck...

  After Putting a Poetry Anthology in a Blender I have been one acquainted with the night. Rage, rage against the dying of the light. No man is an island, entire of itself. I celebrate myself, and sing myself. Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold. I shall wear the...

. Profoundly Original Everyone is born as an original, but may die as a photocopy. –Carlo Acutis (1991–2006), first millennial saint, canonized 7 September 2025 This teen proficient at computer gaming Spent utmost technologic talent framing “Eucharistic Miracles of the World,” Brave signal flags of his own site unfurled, Displaying...

. Sancho Panza’s Choice Well-met, Señor. And blessings on your inn.You are the landlord here, is that not true?Please sit with me and drink. I’ll pay for two.Your least expensive, though. My purse is thin.I serve my master gratis. Yes, that’s right---The white-haired viejo now in sleep’s embrace.Don’t say “Señor...

  The Mead of Poetry In the Norse myth, the god Odin becomes an eagle after stealing and swallowing magic mead, made by cunning dwarves of honey and the blood of the wise Kvasir. The mead grants poetic powers to those deigned to drink it from Odin's lips. Spit upon...

  The One That Got Away Nelson Cedrick Thunderwood, a Colonel in the army, has served his country faithfully for thirty-seven years. I doubt if there's a medal Colonel Nelson hasn’t won... he’s earned the admiration and respect of all his peers. In the mess hall, during lunch, a private...

  Theseus in the Labyrinth ---from "The Slaying of the Minotaur" As Theseus crossed the threshold, Minos told his men to shut the door. The heavy clang caused all to think the brave lad would be seen no more; But there, inside the darkness, clever Theseus’ plans were taking shape,...

. The poem "Mexican Sestina" by Geoffrey Smagacz read by the poet himself at the Society of Classical Poets online Poetry Symposium on June 28, 2025: . https://youtu.be/tk0n16HWvmE Video created by Andrew Benson Brown.

  Three Short Poems by Heinrich Heine translated from German by Josh Olson   1 I laugh at every doltish jackanapes Whose drooling, goat-like visage leers at me; I laugh at every fox who sneeringly Approaches, sniffs me up and down, and gapes; I laugh at all the bloated, learned...

  The Truth Won’t Die ---a villanelle for Charlie Kirk They clung to hate and jealousy and lies, While he spoke words that could have set them free. They tried to kill the truth but truth won’t die. At first they used profanity and cries Of outrage while debating angrily....

  Harry Thurston Peck by Joseph S. Salemi A few weeks ago my wife asked me to find a book for her via the internet bookstores. This is now the only practical way to locate out-of-print texts, and I had done the same thing several times in the past for...

. Treasure Trove There’s treasure in the words we say, The words we read, the words we write; There’s treasure in each dawning day, In sunlit glow and dark of night. There’s treasure in a landscape view, In rivers, trees and mountain peaks; There’s treasure in a sunset’s hue, In...

  Persona Assume a work identity, conform And hide behind an urban harlequin, Conceal the tattoo beneath a uniform, Desert yourself and cloak the genuine. The Greeks devised a rich formality, Dramatic masks of frozen mirth and gloom. A shaman’s rites in anonymity Demand an alien spiritual costume. Conceive of...

    Belief and Righteousness Based on Genesis 15:1-18, this poem can be sung to the tune "The God of Abraham Praise" (a traditional Hebrew melody) Belief and righteousness are hallmarks of a man Who walks with God, choosing to follow God’s command. For Abram, trusting God brought great uncertainty....

. Nice Things Done Most of the nice things some people will do,Are done partly for their own benefit too.But even if their motivation’s the latter,When nice things are done, do the reasons much matter? . . A Sense of Belonging With social motivationOne need forever strongIs fighting isolationTo feel...

  The Papal Prayer for Our Planet ---October 1, 2025 Let solar panels gleam in leas. _Let turbines whir and spin. Subdue the rise of roiling seas. _Make exhaled breath a sin. Bring Gaia slayers to their knees _Each time they taint the air. Lord, bless defrosting blocks of ice...

  La Llorona by Manuel Carpio (1791-1869), translated by M.D. Skeen I turned pale when I first heard the story As a child, a mere lamb, still so innocent Of a man of my town, a delinquent Who had murdered his wife Rosa-Lee. Since that time on damp nights dim...

  The Bachelors' Debate When I am put before my friends, around the dying flame, And we have burnt through all our songs that we consider tame, We all decide to sing a song before we go to bed A song about the secret thoughts that swim within your head....

  Angel I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set free. —Michelangelo (attributed) One wonders what an angel does all day. Just sit there, wings slack, staring into space? But that assumes space-time is where she’ll stay. A comrade of the host that fell from grace?...

. The poem "None for All" by Peter Lillios read by the poet Michael Pietrack at the Society of Classical Poets online Poetry Symposium on June 28, 2025: . https://youtu.be/nHicN7J94Vg Video created by Andrew Benson Brown.

  Autumn Air There’s something in the autumn air, Something beneath the mounting chill Of which we’re vaguely unaware Until it says our name, until It softly taps us on the heart. Something beneath the yellowed oaks Intones a hymn in counterpart Whose voice exults but also chokes; Something that...

  J.K. Rowling’s Response to the Assassination of Charlie Kirk If you believe free speech is just for people with whom you agree, then you’re illiberal, and trust in your infallibility. And, if new facts get vilified before they’re heard, then you have missed the awful truth that deep inside,...

Unjust Trade   I. An endless wet: Earth’s gathered sea-salt tears Wept-swept before a rising, darkening gale, As dim horizon fades and disappears Behind a slave ship’s squared tri-masted sail. Her hold full-filled with human suffering, With chain-torn flesh sustained by lice-laced gruel, To serve the needs of cotton, cane...

. Rare Books ---Magdalen College, Oxford, November 1993 From London, westward ho, and slantwise north, I journey into Oxfordshire and see, through outsize windows on the Stagecoach bus, green meadows framed by thick-set hawthorn hedgerows, the spreading canopies of great-trunked oaks, fat-uddered cows serenely foraging, joy-barking collies chasing squirrels and...

  Parroting the Party Line   i. The Chorus of Consensus ---a triolet The talking heads squawk on and on. From dawn the hawks and parrots pound. They harp and hammer---LOUD and l o n g. The talking heads squawk on and on. They shape the sheep---a spellbound throng Ensorcelled...

. Harmony of Design: Form and Worldview in Classical Chinese Poetry by Adam Sedia China’s uninterrupted literary tradition of three millennia is truly one of the world’s cultural wonders. The introduction of traditional Chinese poetry to the West by Ezra Pound and the Imagists sadly occurred with an agenda behind...

. When Helen Keller Met Mark Twain ---a poem about America Date: November 2, 1934, Place: New York City: Madison Square Garden after Helen Keller delivers a speech honoring the Salvation Army. An old reporter recognizes one of the attendees. You flatter me! It’s rare I’m asked to speak. I’m...

  A Letter I came to babysit your cats _‘Round eight o’clock tonight, But things aren’t going as they ought _And… I’m nervous, so I thought It might be good to write. (In my defense, you could have said That I should be prepared, Then maybe I could plan ahead...

. The End of Fred the Thief ---based on various news reports Twenty-eleven was the year When they put Fred the Thief to death So that the tourists in Cape Town Might in more safety draw a breath. A wily gangster throughout life, With some four hundred of his kind,...

  Emily Dickinson: A Brief Synopsis Emily Dickinson Wished Mr. Higginson Hadn’t been so loath Her poems to critique. Higginson, piqued At her rhyme and her syntax, Wished he could toss them Right into next week. Em then dissembled— She loved to seem small, for It lessened the hurt Of...