‘Durus Frater, Alma Mater’ and Other Poems by C.B. Anderson The Society June 11, 2025 Beauty, Culture, Humor, Poetry 6 Comments . Durus Frater, Alma Mater Spring forward to where former arch-rivals Fall back on tall stories of the travels They enjoyed after two years of college, Before graduation sealed the knowledge Of how little...
‘Time and Place’: A Poem by Margaret Brinton The Society June 8, 2025 Beauty, Poetry 11 Comments . Time and Place He gave me his coat once in Dublin At dusk in a damp, chilly draft. We spoke of those old Irish writers--- Just where had they mastered their craft? Did Wilde wield his pen in Dun...
‘Soldier of the Rising Sun’: A Poem by Brian Yapko The Society June 8, 2025 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 25 Comments . Soldier of the Rising Sun Date/Location: February 19, 1974---Uninhabited jungle, Lubang Island in the northern Philippines. The matter: Believing that Japan is still fighting World War II almost 30 years...
‘Double Rondel for Pentecost’ by Margaret Coats The Society June 7, 2025 Beauty, Culture, Poetry, Poetry Forms, Rondel 23 Comments . Double Rondel for Pentecost Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire! O fire that warms my soul, You burn within to turn my love heart-whole, And burst beyond as fervor unsuppressed. Celestial flame, my most delightful...
On the Art Institute of Chicago’s South Garden and Other Poetry by Adam Sedia The Society June 3, 2025 Art, Beauty, Poetry 17 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...
‘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...
‘To a Virginia Bluebell’ and Other Poetry by Lee Evans The Society June 1, 2025 Beauty, Poetry 7 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...
‘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...
‘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...
‘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...
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...
‘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...
‘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...
‘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...
‘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...
‘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...
‘The Spring Has Come’ and Other Poems by Alan Steinle The Society May 14, 2025 Beauty, Poetry, Rondeau 18 Comments . The Spring Has Come The mating call of the black-capped chickadee (a North American songbird) sounds like "Hey, Sweetie!" "Hey, Sweetie!"—this is what you say.Small chickadee, it is your wayto signal...
‘Ghost Town’ and Other Poetry by Martin Rizley The Society May 9, 2025 Beauty, Poetry 10 Comments . Ghost Town With phantoms, I have lived for far too long. Both day and night, I’ve sighed, without a song. In vacant shells, I’ve tried to make my home In this ghost town of memories where I roam. They...
‘The Sky’: A Poem by Margaret Brinton The Society May 8, 2025 Beauty, Poetry 8 Comments . The Sky _I'm watching the storm_From the sea coming in,Windy and rowdy and gray._The raindrops begin_And the gale makes a spin.Pelicans swoop o'er the bay. _A downpour at last_With some lightning and...
‘Riverside Breeze’: A Poem by Daniel Howard The Society May 7, 2025 Beauty, Love Poems, Poetry 15 Comments . Riverside Breeze ___How beautiful you look __Browsing the flowers one by one _While lying down along the babbling brook; ___And there, beneath the sun, __Whose melting kisses mark your skin, _The faintest of...
‘Pollinator’: A Poem by T.M. Moore The Society May 3, 2025 Beauty, Poetry 19 Comments . Pollinator When swift spring breezes suddenly excitethe conifers out back, they really comealive in dips and bows and surges rightbefore my eyes. I watch to see if froma few of them, or even one, a cloudwill...
‘Back to the Greenwood’: A Poem by Patricia Rogers Crozier The Society May 1, 2025 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 10 Comments . Back to the Greenwood The spring has come to England once again But I am far away and cannot see The blackthorn blossoms blowing in the wind, And blackbirds in the heavens, flying free. The sun, grown...
‘Zips and Zooms’: A Hummingbird Poem by Gigi Ryan The Society April 29, 2025 Beauty, Poetry 11 Comments . Zips and Zooms The hummingbird both zips and zooms To search for nectar in the blooms Of flowers that unfold in spring. The hummingbird has peewee wings And yet she moves with lightning speed. Her eggs...
‘How I Spent My Spring Vacation’: Poetry and Photography by James A. Tweedie The Society April 29, 2025 Beauty, Culture, Humor, Poetry 19 Comments . How I Spent My Spring Vacation: Poetry and Photography by James A. Tweedie . It Begins 45 Days Surrounded by the circle of the sea I cruise Atlantic waters, eastward bound, As knot by knot each longitude...
‘Heritage’ and Other Poetry by C.B. Anderson The Society April 28, 2025 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 14 Comments . Heritage I’ve never asked for anything The living soil does not provide. I don’t want cash; I don’t want bling; I only want to stand beside The footprints of departed fathers, Now looking down through...
‘An Ode to Silay’: A Poem by Yoshikaze Kawakami The Society April 28, 2025 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 5 Comments . An Ode to Silay Cathedral bells now toll, And horses march the streets, The crowd has filled the hall, We hear the priest now preach. A lady makes a curtsy To the Lord respectfully. The marble pillars...
‘High Society’ and Other Poetry by Brian Yapko The Society April 27, 2025 Beauty, Culture, Love Poems, Poetry 15 Comments . High Society The Cornelius mansion on Park Avenue, New York City, Sunday, August 22, 1886 A derby hat; a fresh, white boutonniereOn my lapel. You just can’t have a newBeau Brummel jacket without something...
‘Linden’: A Poem by Thor Kangas The Society April 25, 2025 Beauty, Poetry 20 Comments . Linden She stands against the sunlit sky, _Her beauty plain to see. The birds sing sweet and pleasant songs _High in the linden tree. The weary travelers stop below _To rest their weary bones, And listen to...
‘Anachronistic Chaucer’ and Other Springtime Poetry by Paul A. Freeman The Society April 25, 2025 Beauty, Chaucer, Humor, Poetry, Triolet 12 Comments . Anachronistic Chaucer When April showers, forecast on TV,delayed our pilgrimage to Canterbury,an eating house, clept Hooters, we espiedbeside a leafy glade where we could bideour time in revelry and...
Four Sonnets on Shen Yun Performing Arts, by Evan Mantyk The Society April 22, 2025 Beauty, Culture, Performing Arts, Poetry 12 Comments . On Shen Yun . I. The land of China. Deep in history That like a river flows with people and culture, Extending into misty mystery. But now this fascinating, gleaming treasure Is buried in the mud beneath the...
‘Voyage Among the Ancients’: A Poem by Mary Jane Myers The Society April 22, 2025 Beauty, Culture, Poetry, Villanelle 17 Comments . Voyage Among the Ancients "Tread softly, for here you stand On miracle ground…" ---Lawrence Durrell, "On Ithaca Standing" ( 1937) The Juno anchors, docks. We disembark. Each landfall’s an Odyssean...
‘Who Are You and Who Am I’: An Easter Poem by Maria Panayi The Society April 20, 2025 Beauty, Culture, Poetry, Villanelle 14 Comments . Who Are You and Who Am I ---a villanelle Who are you and who am I That you fill my life with light And for me you chose to die. I have fallen from on high, I am foolish, you are wise, Who are you and who am...
‘Emmaus’: An Easter Poem by Jeffrey Essmann The Society April 20, 2025 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 11 Comments . Emmaus We barely saw he’d joined us as we made Our way along the road, so sad, afraid, So utterly confused by what had come To pass, so unsure as to what was rumor And what was true. And we were near...
An Easter Poem: ‘In the Garden of the King’ by Roy E. Peterson The Society April 19, 2025 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 14 Comments . In the Garden of the King In the garden of the King I sit beside a crystal spring. The Tree of Life shines up above Fed by God’s eternal love. The Rose of Sharon is in bloom Freely giving sweet...
‘Holy Saturday’: A Poem by Margaret Coats The Society April 19, 2025 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 35 Comments . Holy Saturday "Call the Sabbath a delight." —Isaiah 58:13 His weary, soulless body needed rest, Not only pierced and physically exhausted, But racked with mental pain, the scourging test Of misbelieving...
Two Poems for Good Friday, by Susan Jarvis Bryant The Society April 18, 2025 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 25 Comments . Crucified She pondered horrors of the modern age. He thumbed through piles of dusty history tomes. She craved the timeless wisdom of a sage. He chewed on clues and mused like Sherlock Holmes. He...
‘Good Friday Rain’: A Poem by Martin Rizley The Society April 18, 2025 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 9 Comments . Good Friday Rain I wake and hear the rain cascade. Its cleansing drops roll down my pane; They soak the garden, bathe the glade, Refresh the grass, and swell the grain. Stretched out in bed, from stress...