Beauty

. Horace, in your guide to painting poems, Bid a poet paint in synchrony. Carve, in sandy caves where writers roam, Ships ensconced in loam and birds at sea. Horace, sir, you broke me at hello. Genius, wit...

. Is poetry that’s free as free as all That?  Surely it’s the poet who is free Or not.  He makes the choice to make a sprawl Of words (and punctuation?) dribblingly Straight (straight?) along the...

. Though many scores were lost, those that remain May well be thought the richest heritage Ever bequeathed by one blessed human brain: Incomparable gems on every page, Now reverently passed from age to...

    . Dusk Till Dawn  The ocean rainAnd sleep played me—A willing pawn.I dreamt of youFrom nautical duskTill nautical dawn. . . Love Is More We shall be soul mates tillThey etch our names...

. excerpted from the sonnet sequence Philip, Prince of Greece and Great Britain He wore a white gold crown wherever he Was living, Denmark, Greece, and also here In Scotland and in England.  Like a spree Of...

. Night Verses The airy rush of thoughts today The evening breeze has whisked away. The wind that spoke to me in wings Has flown and left old, scattered things. Some small and faint discarded words Remain...

. Like someone else, in unaccustomed dress, I choose that silken smoothness graze my skin __As fragile branches effloresce, Revealing vernal consciousness within Of transient white or pink I can caress With...

. We stick to what we know, what we can touch, Hold in our hands; unable to foretell What lies ahead, denying Time with such Abandonment, pretending we are well Aware of the truth, we close our eyes To...

. Ballade of Prayer to Our Lady (in the voice of the poet’s mother) by François Villon (1431-1463), from French by Joseph S. Salemi Lady of Heaven, who holds earthly sway And reigns as Empress of the...

. Rededication The sullen days of winter Remain a galling splinter Within my thickened skin, So let the games begin! Though I’m inclined to focus Upon the blooming crocus, The loom of April fills My mind...

. If He came now, God’s only Son, To save a world that’s come undone Would we continue to defy His truth, to stoke the ruthless lie That claims His name is not the One? His Word torments the twisted...

. The world is full of suffering and pain; We wait in fear for death to walk our way; We look for anyone that we can blame Projecting fear and hate along the way. Where fear has entered, love can never...

. “The strife is o’er, the battle won”—18th c. Hymn As hapless hope and hopelessness collide The mid-day sun looms black above the cross; A dies irae bearing bitter loss Where life and death each...

. Praise Him for the lightning in the gale,For balmy winds, for crystals in the snow.Wonder at the gaudy peacock’s tail,Observe how huge the elephant can grow! The turtledove, the maculate giraffe,The...

. Sonnet 181 Jesus had suffered more than we can tell, But when released, His soul at once aspired To save the just, whom their long wait had tired. See Him descend to Limbo’s dreary hell In search of those...

. I’ve had a nightmare! Let that just man go! You’re right that he’s done nothing wrong. They’re wrong To want him dead. No, nothing you could write Above his head could possibly undo Your guilt....

. Behold the Queen of Heaven weeping, seeping __Tears that rend her heart and ours. As one __Who mourns she grasps and clasps the seeming-sleeping, __Pierced, and bloodless body of her son. A body void of...

. She burns to bear his burden (take the weight) But he is far beyond her guiding reach. Beyond her soothing arms, he meets his fate. Her heavy heart has nothing left to teach… For these are not his first...

. The Lovely World Behold the frozen, flaxen fields at morn– The tall grass shining on the hills of clay Which sunlit wisps of winter frost adorn In dazzling white, as for a bridal day. An air of holy...

. For the Birds The cardinal in his bold, red cloak; His wife so subtle, so bespoke. In complimentary blues and grays, The raucous jays---they have their ways. And in the trees, the chickadees! Their song is...

. With what perfection are the seasons spun; When we grow tired of the opulent sun, A wind from the north comes fanning our cheek The trees turn riotous; the sky looks bleak. As if to anticipate we may...

. Nature's Magic Some say that there is magic in the night,but it holds no more marvels than the day.The sun emits her own fantastic lightwhile moon and stars are safely tucked away. Though night seems more...

. Ode to Hidden Splendor I heard your rolling croon beyond my vision Blooming in the balm of winter’s breeze--- A...

. The candlelight was dim and spare And Claire was there, lost in prayer And slightly swaying to and fro (She dances for Him, this I know) And I do swear that she did glow--- Whence comes this light? He does...

. The Parting of the Sea Salvation in the parting of the Sea, Its churning waves pierced by a knife of cloud And split in two allowing us to flee Egyptian swords! As one astonished crowd We ran with haste into...

. The Bibliophile’s Birth Certificate Marius Michel (1846-1925) was one of the most prominent and gifted bookbinders in France. He produced work in strikingly beautiful and unique designs, and today his...

. “And when I see the blood, I will pass over you.” ---Exodus 12:13 As you have commanded, the blood to The lintel and the doorposts of my heart Has been applied. Because I’ve done this, through Your...

. The path he takes this early day Is dressed in dew and straws of hay. The morning mist obscures his view; The barn, though near, seems far away. The sleepy sun begins to rise, And light prepares to climb...

. Don’t you love the Oxford Dictionary?  When I first read it, I thought it was a really really long poem about everything. —David Bowie A dictionary is an indispensable Companion on the journey through...

. Grain If the future were a famine And tomorrow were a blight, Would we close our eyes today in Light of Future’s tragic sight? If the future were a famine And eternity, disease, Would we leave our fields...

inspired by the late John Whitworth’s “The Examiners”  Through the burst of youth and giggles in the balm of budding spring, __You are there. Through the seal of something...

. A touch of wit is worth its writ in gold. We miss you, John, for being ever bold. You spoke your mind or, rather, wrote it down with learning lightly worn, and played the clown. Your loyal readers...

. “That must have been some cup of coffee!” ---Charles Ellik The coffee spins and I am not the same. The time in which I move is muddy, turns around my breath, and steams. As sunlight came here perfectly,...

. Memories frozen in pinnacles glow, tattooed in lingering beauty and sorrow now fade by the light of forgotten tomorrows with nowhere to go, yet so much to show, like daffodils in the snow. Delicate...

. The night before, old furniture And scrap wood set afire Smoke out the winter’s wickedness— An equinoctial pyre Of habits, sins, misfortunes dark, Succeeded by quick work To level boards and flaunt a...

. The Second Roman Empire Those were the days, when Julius Caesar Saw a country and would seize her, And the busty Roman matrons Ran the house and bossed the patrons. Christians, at the least suggestion, Gave...

. This Brave American, Ashli Babbitt “It is the dead, not the living, who make the longest demands.” —Sophocles, “Antigone” by Usa W Celebride The Democrats stole the election—Ashli Babbitt...

. Lenin It’s late. He walks the lonely corridor in this part of the Kremlin with his cat hammocked in his arm. He stops before the door of every commissariat that’s still aglow and enters into...

. Borealis Where Ursa Minor spins about its tail The cold-chill, sabled void of arctic nights Bestirs to life as unseen hands unveil The shifting silence of the Northern Lights. Chameleonesque, the colored...

. Lives There the Man after “Breathes There a Man with Soul so Dead” by Sir Walter Scott* by Roy E. Peterson Lives there the man who won’t defendHis hearth and home from whom intendTo quench his fire and...