‘Reflections on Still Waters’: A Collection of Poems by James A. Tweedie The Society February 7, 2025 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 3 Comments . Reflections on Still Waters . Isaiah 55:12 You shall go out with joy and be led forth with peace, And a song will break forth from the lands. While the echoes of praise in the hills never cease, And the...
‘Lament to the Passing of Paper’: A Poem by Paul A. Freeman The Society February 6, 2025 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 26 Comments . Lament to the Passing of Paper I learned to write my A-B-Cs and form my shapely 1-2-3s on paper, when I was a lad; but now, since I’ve become a dad, the era of the written word is passing like the dodo...
‘A Summer Hour’ and Other Poems by Sally Cook The Society February 6, 2025 Beauty, Poetry 7 Comments . A Summer Hour A burgeoning bush, some butterflies, Low wooden steps, warped, faded, rise Amid the calm of idle talk— The blur of shadows on the walk. Sometimes a passing, random thought Within winged...
‘Concerning Snow’: A Conversation in Verse by T.M. Moore The Society February 5, 2025 Beauty, Humor, Poetry 14 Comments . Concerning Snow ---a conversation between Beauty and Necessity “Well, there you go again.” “What's that?” “Come now, don't act so innocent. You see that plow out there, defacing what it took all...
‘Classic Case History’ and Other Poetry by C.B. Anderson The Society February 5, 2025 Beauty, Humor, Poetry, Terza Rima 11 Comments . Classic Case History Though I was blind, it wasn’t hard to see That blindness was a gift at least as good As any other. People seeing me As someone less insightful than he should Have been were blurry...
‘The Grindstone’: A Poem by Michael Pietrack The Society February 2, 2025 Beauty, Poetry 18 Comments . The Grindstone The grindstone spun as fiery sparks were sprayed,for even iron broke against his force,and by his edge the blunt became the bladea king would hold upon his charging horse. The stone was proud...
‘Forecast One to Two Inches’ and Other Poetry by Jeffrey Essmann The Society January 31, 2025 Beauty, Poetry 12 Comments . Forecast One to Two Inches Within the snow’s approach I sense a hope Connected more to memory than truth. It fails to fall within the narrow scope Of solid message; seems instead a trope For something...
‘The Untimely Demise of My Dear Uncle Sam’ and Other Poetry by Susan Steele Rives The Society January 31, 2025 Beauty, Culture, Poetry, Satire 6 Comments . The Untimely Demise of My Dear Uncle Sam I received the somber news __as sun set low today. My beloved Uncle Sam __by death was swept away. It wasn’t on the battlefield that __he met his demise. ‘Twas...
‘Accidents Happen’: A Poem by Shaun C. Duncan The Society January 30, 2025 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 7 Comments . Accidents Happen We’re told time tends toward catastrophe, And that a butterfly’s ephemeral wings Might quake the sky somewhere across the sea By strange cascades of simple happenings, Arousing thus a...
‘The Settlers’: A Poem by Martin Rizley The Society January 29, 2025 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 17 Comments . The Settlers —to my forefathers, and all the intrepid men and womenwho settled the Oklahoma panhandle. Across these barren hills, the cold winds blow,As bitter now as in those days long past,When first...
‘Snow Sonnet’: A Poem by Susan Norvill The Society January 27, 2025 Beauty, Poetry 18 Comments . Snow Sonnet Where silent flakes of whiteness fill the air And cutting winds of winter come to rule The bitter storm of new year strips all bare With iciness at once perfect and cruel. We drift into an...
‘Tick. Tock. Tick.’: A Poem by Twila Brase The Society January 25, 2025 Beauty, Poetry 8 Comments . Tick. Tock. Tick. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Silently beats an invisible clock. Night turns to day, day turns to night. Following a metronome nowhere in sight. Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock. Sixty seconds make a...
‘Autumn Twilight’: A Poem by Cynthia Erlandson The Society January 25, 2025 Beauty, Poetry 21 Comments . Autumn Twilight Full moon. Crickets singing. Scarlet sky.Long past summer solstice; now the sunDescends before the short day’s work is done.Last light and fast-invading violet vieTo shape inconstant...
‘The Introvert’: A Poem by James Bontrager The Society January 24, 2025 Beauty, Poetry 13 Comments . The Introvert Sequestered in an abstract mood,Replete in blissful solitude;Behind the veil of scenes overtYou’ll find the pensive introvert. You may not find him center stage,The Hercules of any age;But...
‘Libra’ and Other Poetry by Patricia Rogers Crozier The Society January 23, 2025 Beauty, Culture, Love Poems, Poetry 14 Comments . Libra There in my hand I held a crystal vial Of distillation potent, red, and sweet, By which my broken heart was put on trial, And golden apples scattered at my feet. Ask not the name of him who gave to...
‘On Bill Mahrt’s Retirement as Choirmaster of the St. Ann Choir’: A Poem by Julian Woodruff The Society January 23, 2025 Acrostic, Beauty, Music, Poetry 18 Comments . On Bill Mahrt’s Retirement as Choirmaster of the St. Ann Choir (June, 2024) W e all should thank our God for William Mahrt, I nto whose hands He placed a sacred trust, L eaving to him to keep the aural...
‘I Will Awaken the Dawn’: A Poem by Rachel Meyer The Society January 22, 2025 Beauty, Poetry 15 Comments . I Will Awaken the Dawn The birds have yet to echo Their songs across the trees, The sun has yet to whistle Its foggy rays in streams, The dark still holds the world, Creation slumbers on; But now the time...
‘True Love’: A Poem by Roger Crane The Society January 22, 2025 Beauty, Love Poems, Poetry 12 Comments . True Love On a hill far away, a true love waits, In a place of weathered, broken gates. And though the gates are falling down, One place on the hill is hallowed ground. Nothing moves on that faraway...
‘Another Crossroads’: A Poem by Peter Venable The Society January 21, 2025 Beauty, Poetry 4 Comments . Another Crossroads I have a rendezvous with destiny.It’s at the crossroads of Straight Street and Main.With cardboard sign, that man rules his domain.(Cops do not bother with such vagrancy.)Some iced tea...
‘The Magic Trick’ and Other Poetry by Shamik Banerjee The Society January 20, 2025 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 8 Comments . The Magic Trick Another dove spawns from the wizard's hat. A youngster, goggle-eyed, forgets to clap, enchanted by the spell. With every flap this spongy creature makes, he wonders at the skill required to...
‘Cloth of Destiny’: An MLK Day Poem by Kevin Farnham The Society January 20, 2025 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 4 Comments . Cloth of Destiny From his jail cell, he preached civility— despite the agony centuries had brought. Proud Rosa occupied a seat; though fraught with risk, that act preserved her dignity. We dreamed of equal...
An Inaugural Poem: ‘Anticipating President Trump’s Golden Age’ by Mark F. Stone The Society January 19, 2025 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 21 Comments . Anticipating President Trump’s Golden Age Unburdened from that which has recently been. An era of progress about to begin. Mending the messes afflicting our nation. Ending the slow...
A Poem for the 2025 U.S. Presidential Inauguration: ‘Free People’ by Daniel Rancio The Society January 19, 2025 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 6 Comments Free People In some sense, free people have no needOf poets to give their speech a better voice.But freedom wanes without great art and heedOf powers that will enslave us with rejoiceIf only given a chance....
‘Stones for My Parents’ and Other Poetry on Grieving by Brian Yapko The Society January 19, 2025 Beauty, Poetry 25 Comments . Stones for My Parents I didn’t want to come. How sad it sounded To kneel beneath a hazy sun surrounded By strangers’ graves---grim watchmen for the bones Of those who’ve crossed the Bridge. The ghosts...
‘Whoever Am I?’: Poetry by Prudentius, Translated from Latin by Margaret Coats The Society January 19, 2025 Beauty, Poetry, Translation 26 Comments . Whoever Am I? Preface to His Poetry .by Prudentius (c. 4th century AD)translated by Margaret Coats If I see clear, through fifty yearsI’ve lived. The seventh after them appears to wheelAround as we enjoy...
‘The Hectic Life’ and Other Poetry by Thor Kangas The Society January 18, 2025 Beauty, Poetry 7 Comments . The Hectic Life _Sometimes we get discouraged _With life and all its fuss, Its raucous moments speeding by _Like children on a bus. _It’s all the hectic worries, _The troubles and the stress, That pull us...
‘Death Is But a Passing’: A Poem by Roy E. Peterson The Society January 18, 2025 Beauty, Love Poems, Poetry 13 Comments . Death Is But a Passing A death is but a passing from one world into another, A change of state, a change of place, a starting to discover, A test of fortitude perhaps for those I leave behind, A change of...
‘Pearls or Swine?’: A Rondeau Redoublé and a Villanelle by Susan Jarvis Bryant The Society January 17, 2025 Beauty, Poetry, Rondeau Redoublé, Satire, Villanelle 22 Comments . Pearls or Swine? Pray show me how to tell a pearl from swine. I have a thirst for sanity to slake. I seek a clue---a firm not fluid sign To steer me from the sway of all that’s fake. While Einsteins whine...
‘Best of the Windy City’: A Poem on Chicago and Other Poems by Russel Winick The Society January 17, 2025 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 12 Comments . Best of the Windy City Nation’s hub and culture center, O’Hare Airport, millions enter. Stunning architecture sites, The awesomeness of Frank Lloyd Wright; Union Stockyards fed the nation; Second City...
‘Elusive Illusive Art’ and Other Poetry by Mike Ruskovich The Society January 16, 2025 Art, Beauty, Poetry, Villanelle 1 Comment . Elusive Illusive Art Where are the pure, illusive works of artthat bubble upward from the deep unknown?Where in this world are worlds Art sets apart? Duct tape? A banana fresh from the cart?Renoir would...
‘A Pleased Jaques’: A Poem by Bruce Dale Wise The Society January 15, 2025 Beauty, Poetry 10 Comments . A Pleased Jaques ---after a soliloquy in Shakespeare's As You Like It At first there is the infant, grinning widebecause he has escaped his nurse's armsand her chagrin, in short shirt takes his stridearound...
‘My Soul Is at Home in the Depths of the Ocean’ and Other Poetry by Corey Elizabeth Jackson The Society January 15, 2025 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 7 Comments . My Soul Is at Home in the Depths of the Ocean My soul is at home in the depths of the ocean; My soul is at home in the cosmos above, Always adventuring, seeking to grow and Wreathing my body in infinite...
‘The Lemon Tree’: A Poem by Satyananda Sarangi The Society January 14, 2025 Beauty, Poetry 18 Comments . The Lemon Tree We leave the house, the nurtured lawn is gone; The garden still resembles lifeless works Of abstract art; at times banana leaves Seem painted by a brush. I look upon The fruiting lemon tree, a...
‘Out in the Open’: A Poem by Steven Frattali The Society January 14, 2025 Beauty, Poetry 5 Comments . Out in the Open The slanting rain comes on and on! The cold drops blear and blur the sun When they hang in my eyelashes. My heavy stomp in the mud mashes The leaves and twigs and mud together. I plough on...
‘Magna Lex’: A Poem by Jeff Kemper The Society January 13, 2025 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 10 Comments . Magna Lex ---to the choirmaster, a Psalm (19) of David. . I The heavens herald God’s resplendency; The skies above display his artistry. By day the discourse spills like falling rain; Deep verities the...
‘Let There Be Light’ and Other Poetry by Cheryl Corey The Society January 12, 2025 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 11 Comments . Let There Be Light From beyond, there came the Word—a cosmic “Om”That pierced the void with one colossal bang of sound,Releasing undulating waves of hallowed humThat thundered through the geodesic grid...
‘Emergent Occasions’: A Poem by Maura H. Harrison The Society January 11, 2025 Beauty, Poetry 6 Comments . Emergent Occasions “And even angels, whose home is heaven, and who are winged too, yet had a ladder to go to heaven by steps.” —John Donne, Meditation II, Emergent Occasions __Affliction is a sea, a...
‘Three Cascading Endings on Fallen Civilizations’ and Other Poetry by Cynthia Erlandson The Society January 11, 2025 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 17 Comments . Three Cascading Endings on Fallen Civilizations I. Everywhere, the sands are endless. Look: A joke is made of all my glory. On Stone once sculpted in my image, my High authority, my grandest works’ Marks,...
‘Winter Night’: A Poem by Martin Rizley The Society January 10, 2025 Beauty, Poetry 15 Comments . Winter Night A full moon fills the sky with lustrous light And gives the vault of heaven in the night A golden sheen that gilds the cloudy wisps That drift across the sky like phantom ships. The moon's glow...
‘None for All’ and Other Poetry by Peter Lillios The Society January 9, 2025 Beauty, Culture, Poetry, Readings 15 Comments . . None for All Backbones wilt and waistlines grow; Brightness dims as diodes glow. It’s history’s course, a simple fact, Declared with pride—or else with tact. Vigor falters, wits regress; The...