‘Summer Family Cookout’: A Poem by Doug Stoiber The Society July 2, 2025 Beauty, Poetry 6 Comments . Summer Family Cookout Criss-cross, hamburger toss, _Flip that sizzlin’ patty! Pretty please, and top with cheese! _You’re the Great Grill Master, Daddy! Three-two-one, slide it on a bun! _With ketchup,...
‘Bayesian Hubris v. Mercy Seat 11A’: A Poem by James Sale The Society July 1, 2025 Beauty, Poetry 14 Comments . Bayesian Hubris v. Mercy Seat 11A “Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, 40, who miraculously walked away from the Ahmedabad disaster, in which more than 240 people were killed” ---The Daily Telegraph on Air India...
‘Every Square Inch’: A Poem by Frank Rable The Society June 29, 2025 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 6 Comments . Every Square Inch Her every square inch, her breath, and her voice, In all this and more my soul can rejoice. The beat from her heart, the wink from her eye, The times she is bold, and then she is shy. The...
Two Poems on Cardinals, by T.M. Moore The Society June 29, 2025 Beauty, Love Poems, Poetry 12 Comments . Cardinals The cardinal is my favorite bird.They mate for life, or so I’ve heard.You hear them sing antiphonally—it’s like a game they play, you see,because they like to keep in touch.But be apart?...
A Poem on John Duns Scotus, by Mary Jane Myers The Society June 24, 2025 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 6 Comments . Doctor Subtilis ---Blessed John Duns Scotus (1265--1308) A proud and canny Scot from Duns am I, an infant when Franciscans reached our coast. These friars gave me tools to weigh the why of doctrines puzzling...
‘Another Species’ and Other Poems by Sally Cook The Society June 23, 2025 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 5 Comments . Another Species Each time you felt some shame you could confess The sins you had committed, but instead You whispered a revision, something less In someone’s ear in yet another bed. That is to say, you...
‘The Prayer Blanket’: A Poem Based on the Real Experience of Tim Cassar The Society June 22, 2025 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 12 Comments . The Prayer Blanket ---as related to me by my friend Tim Cassar, who recently survived a brain cancer operation by Brian Yapko The paramedics came. They took my friend To where there was no earthly pain or...
‘Together’: A Poem by Margaret Coats The Society June 21, 2025 Beauty, Poetry 25 Comments . Together The windows of our dawning day_Let light in through the dew,But outdoors ambling in cool air,_I knew that I’d find you. Close comfort, venturing apart,_We played our separate games,Dreaming the...
‘The Comings and Goings of Heaven and Earth’: A Poem by David L. Williams The Society June 20, 2025 Beauty, Poetry 9 Comments . The Comings and Goings of Heaven and Earth Clouds’ movement in the sky, the sight of birds, phenomena that draw an upward glance, may sometimes leave us at a loss for words, uncertain if we’ll get...
‘Periwinkle’: A Poem by Jeffrey Essmann The Society June 18, 2025 Beauty, Poetry 11 Comments . Periwinkle Don't know that I was on the spectrum, no, But I was weird. I read too much and played Pretend too much. My mind too often strayed To places so interior they’d glow With something strange and...
‘Salmon Skin’ and Other Poetry by Adam Sedia The Society June 17, 2025 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 19 Comments . Salmon Skin _Laid temptingly Upon a china dish, _Poached perfectly, A long, pink flank of fish. _Its scents amaze. Fork poised to dig right in, _I stop and gaze, Fixated on its skin: _Smooth gradient From...
A Poem for Father’s Day: ‘The Weight of a Father’ by Susan Jarvis Bryant The Society June 15, 2025 Beauty, Poetry 30 Comments . The Weight of a Father . I. The Smell of Sawdust On bawling-brother, busy-mother days, The saint who slew the dragons in her dream Whisked her through the fuss-and-fluster maze To realms where fathers shine...
‘When the Child Appears’: A Poem by Victor Hugo, Translated by Bruce Phenix The Society June 13, 2025 Beauty, Poetry, Translation 8 Comments . When the Child Appears by Victor Hugo (1802-1885)translated from French by Bruce Phenix When the child appears, the family’s loud praiseBursts out in claps and shouting. His sweet, bright gaze__Makes...
‘Durus Frater, Alma Mater’ and Other Poems by C.B. Anderson The Society June 11, 2025 Beauty, Culture, Humor, Poetry 8 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 46 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 41 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 6 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...