Extract from Canto 9 of James Sale’s English Cantos The Society December 8, 2019 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 24 Comments In Canto 8 the poet and Dante, accompanying him, encounter the next-door neighbour, Peter, who brutally murdered his wife for money. Escaping from there, they enter a lower hell where they are about to...
‘Twas the Night Before Christmas’ and Other Poetry by Janice Canerdy The Society December 6, 2019 Beauty, Culture, Holidays, Humor, Poetry 9 Comments ’Twas the Night Before Christmas ’Twas the night before Christmas and all through the malls there was widespread confusion and hot, frenzied brawls. Many shoppers were wanting the same bloomin’...
‘Rosemary, Cypress, Cedar, and Pine’ and Other Poetry by Alexander King Ream The Society December 5, 2019 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 23 Comments Rosemary, Cypress, Cedar, and Pine Rosemary and Cypress, and Cedar and Pine, Green waxen needles and skin of like kind, Deciduous Cypress asleep in the cold, Like Cedar, a hardwood to build a...
‘Morning in England’ and Other Poetry by Ian Williams The Society December 4, 2019 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 3 Comments Morning in England Morning in England: web and dew. The county matters not in name, nor distant city hid from view, for this is Albion in her fame; Who—whether solitary lane, or verge astride the...
‘Rain’ by James Preston Pack The Society December 3, 2019 Beauty, Culture, High School Submissions, Poetry 9 Comments Rain, lapping at the windows fast, falls cold and ceaseless, painting lines of marble on the silvered glass while clouds cast dark and thunder whines; but these walls will not let it pass and...
An Advent Calendar Poem: Twenty-four Windows, by Theresa Zappe The Society December 1, 2019 Beauty, Culture, Holidays, Poetry 2 Comments My Adventskalender in Germany made Of paper and glitter has Heaven displayed Through twenty-four windows. Come open with me Each miniature vision of things heavenly. Behind the first window are...
‘To The Poet Leo Yankevich’ by Sally Cook The Society November 29, 2019 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 5 Comments Perhaps the color of your world was dun, And you sank in your couch when work was done, To calculate injustice, add the sum, Saw all was brown, but rays of silver light Which sent you out to...
‘Autumn Glides Away’ by Sarban Bhattacharya The Society November 28, 2019 Beauty, Poetry 4 Comments There lies a way to heaven by that lake. My sickness gone, I fear no chilly mist; A redwing calls me, dawn is now awake, The fragrant autumn air I can’t resist. There is my home far from this...
A Poem for Thanksgiving Day: ‘Gathered Together’ by C.B. Anderson The Society November 28, 2019 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 6 Comments From cradle to the grave, From womb to musty tomb, The sanity I crave Is in a dining room With family gathered there: Thanksgiving, on a chill November day—no tare Subtracted, if good...
‘There Is a River’ and Other Poetry by Martin Rizley The Society November 27, 2019 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 15 Comments There Is a River There is a river that I know that flows through quiet meadowland Nearby a row of cottages which by a levee quaintly stand. I saw that river long ago, when one day, to amuse...
‘The Plight of Animals’ and Other Poetry by Peter Hartley The Society November 25, 2019 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 94 Comments The Plight of Animals The plight of animals, how must it be Ordained thus, either by a just God or A merciful? By nature meek and poor, They have no hopes, no future can they see And all they own their...
‘Whither Thou Goest…’ by Leo Zoutewelle The Society November 23, 2019 Beauty, Poetry 6 Comments As I was strolling in a glade of green And paid but little thought to anything, I hardly knew what vistas filled the scene Of birds intensely hast’ning on the wing. What forceful aim...
Two Whale Poems, by James A. Tweedie The Society November 22, 2019 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 21 Comments Reflections on a Dead Whale The sound of surf; the scratch of sand on feet; The sight of distant ships; the taste of salt; And on the gentle springtime ocean breeze The putrid, pungent, rotting stench of...
‘On Antonello Da Messina’s The Annunciation’ by Joseph S. Salemi The Society November 21, 2019 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 9 Comments Palermo’s great basilica is still— All prayers are tongueless for a lonely hour. Here high and holy silence can be breathed Like incense from the smoking thuribles Swung by acolytes at solemn...
‘The Sonnet of the Reluctant Mariner’ by Emmanuel Flores The Society November 20, 2019 Beauty, Classical Literature, Culture, Poetry 9 Comments What might, what gold does Ithaca hold to vex us; Enthralled ‘till when, by whom, for what, and where? Do not the mermaids sing the song that wakes us to pleasured, pampered mornings in their...
Five Translations of Aesop’s Fables (from Phaedrus, First Century AD Latin Poet) The Society November 19, 2019 Beauty, Children's, Classical Literature, Culture, Humor, Poetry, Translation 16 Comments Translations by Terry L. Norton. Original Latin by Phaedrus follows each. The Red Kite and the Doves When doves had from a certain kite fled And by the swiftness of their wings escaped, The wily bird of...
‘Theatre,’ ‘Opera,’ ‘Sculpture’ and Other Poems by Michael Coy The Society November 18, 2019 Beauty, Culture, Humor, Poetry 11 Comments 1. THEATRE Strolling Players Dancers, actors, acrobats! Stripey trousers, floppy hats! They weren’t born to swing a scythe, pay a toll or weigh a tithe. Not for them the horny hand, tied to...
‘Winter’s Call’ and Other Poetry by Angel L. Villanueva The Society November 17, 2019 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 14 Comments Winter's Call O, can you hear her? Yonder autumn days? A siren's voice, as silent steps she takes? Her nuanced hymn brings frosty morning haze, And warns the trees to brace for pearly flakes. Her...
Two Odes to Leonidas, Spartan King The Society November 16, 2019 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 10 Comments Ode to Leonidas, King of Sparta by Ian Williams Stern Sire and Father of the ancient West! Sacred, your primogeniture appears before the pride of Xerxes’ bloodied Best, “Immortals” bowed before...
‘Still Going’ and Other Acrostic Poems by Anna J. Arredondo The Society November 14, 2019 Acrostic, Beauty, Culture, Poetry 15 Comments Still Going It may appear that I’ve run out of chances, No more to rise from absolute defeat, Victim of most hostile circumstances— I laugh, and drag myself back to my feet. Never assume you’ve...
‘Moloch’ and Other Poetry by Richard Jordan The Society November 13, 2019 Beauty, Culture, Deconstructing Communism, Poetry 8 Comments Moloch Beneath the sands and salted fields there lies A desert land of men once prosperous And proud. They raised a gilded city With their queen, a grander one than any Left behind, free and full of...
‘Quasimodo’ by Theresa Rodriguez The Society November 12, 2019 Beauty, Classical Literature, Culture, Poetry 12 Comments “Look not on the face, young girl, look at the heart.” —Quasimodo, The Hunchback of Notre Dame A vile, lumbering mass, so hideous, Rejected and despised by every eye That fears and is repulsed by...
Two Poems for Veterans Day 2019 The Society November 11, 2019 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 10 Comments Two original poems for Veterans Day 2019: "Veterans Day" by Roy E. Peterson and "Glory Glimpsed" by T.M. Moore
‘The Journey Home’ and Other Poetry by C.B. Anderson The Society November 10, 2019 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 13 Comments The Journey Home Enwrapped in flesh we come to earth, Created in our Maker's image, Where from the moment of our birth We're parties to a mortal scrimmage. Just where the days ahead will find...
‘The Sound of Sunset’ by James A. Tweedie The Society November 8, 2019 Beauty, Poetry 19 Comments The gold-etched clouds of evensong intone A whisper of rhapsodic melody; Kaleidoscopic shards of psalmody Aflame with facet-fire of precious stone. The heavens declare God’s glory from on...
‘Reparations’ by T.M. Moore The Society November 7, 2019 Beauty, Culture, Poetry Owe no one anything but to love one another. —Romans 13.8 What shallowness, what an impoverished view of human life, that reckons men to be machines that will dispense whatever we desire if only...
‘Black Cat’: Derived from ‘Schwarze Katze’ by Rainer Maria Rilke The Society November 6, 2019 Beauty, Culture, Essays, Poetry, Translation 7 Comments Black Cat a poem derived from "Schwarze Katze" by Rainer Maria Rilke, as translated by Martin Hill Ortiz A crash! I spot a ghost that bumps Eliciting my startled stare. A shadow shifts; a black pelt...
A Villanelle and Video by Joseph Charles MacKenzie The Society November 5, 2019 Beauty, Culture, Poetry, Readings, Video originally published on MacKenzie Lyric Poetry Oh, run with the sun and the wind in your hair! Before the day-star sets in the west: Love flowers best in the wide, open air. Behold! The noon-tide waxes...
‘On the Untimely Demise of My Hair’ and Other Poetry by Rob Crisell The Society November 4, 2019 Beauty, Culture, Humor, Poetry 12 Comments On the Untimely Demise of My Hair In days gone by when life for me looked bright, And I rejoiced in the clear dawn of youth, My hair filled my soul with such sweet delight That soon my locks became my...
‘Sarnia Bound’ and Other Poetry by Martin Rizley The Society November 3, 2019 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 11 Comments Sarnia Bound To the Sarnian shores, I´ll set my course when the sky at dawn turns pale, And the sea waves glow with sun-streaked foam and a chill wind fills the sail. Till the end of day, I'll...
‘Mysterium Tremendum’ by Peter Venable The Society November 2, 2019 Beauty, Poetry 7 Comments Mysterium Tremendum is a central idea in Rudolf Otto's "The Idea of the Holy" I muse upon the sea’s expanse And soar into a troubled trance. A distant storm front drowns the sun— Light fades...
Write a Poem on One of These Photographs The Society November 1, 2019 Beauty, Culture, Ekphrastic, Humor, Poetry, Poetry Contests 39 Comments The above photographs were taken and submitted by New York City poet Joe Tessitore. We invite readers to pick one of the images (or both) and write a poem. Post your poem in the comments section...
‘Mailied’ by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Translated and Read by David B. Gosselin The Society October 31, 2019 Beauty, Culture, Poetry, Readings, Translation 5 Comments Mailied by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) How brightly nature Shines this morning! What radiant sun! How the fields sing! The buds burst forth From each green frond! A thousand...
‘Sonnet For All Who Follow Me’ by Leo Yankevich The Society October 30, 2019 Beauty, Poetry 12 Comments Leo Yankevich passed away in December 2018. This poem was submitted by Sally Cook. Crows and leaves beyond the windowpane, a cup of steaming coffee on the stool, my lines reflected in your eyes,...
‘The Constant Truth’ by Tod Benjamin The Society October 28, 2019 Beauty, Culture, Poetry, Short Stories 10 Comments The Constant Truth A Reflection on the Times of My Life I. The Old Days A sheep filled meadow lay adjacent to our street Where from March throughout spring one could hear the lambs...
A Poem by Michelangelo, ‘The Woman Who Passed Me’ by Charles Baudelaire: Translations by Michael Coy The Society October 27, 2019 Beauty, Poetry, Translation 39 Comments He Wishes to Immortalise His Mistress by Michelangelo Buonarroti How is it, ma mignonne, (as we all know) that figures carved in mountain marble stay exquisite, pristine, everlasting, though the hand...
Sonnets on the Four Seasons and Other Poetry by Peter Hartley The Society October 26, 2019 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 17 Comments Spring In spring the crocuses broke out as bold As brass from refuge in their barren clay. They speared the air in colourful array And blazoned they their petals proudly told Of azure and of purpure and...
‘Destiny in Blue’ by David Watt The Society October 25, 2019 Beauty, Poetry 14 Comments In a town by the sea, where the salt air’s free, Lived a widower and his daughter. She was known as Claire-Kate; or by title First Mate On those days when their boat sailed the water. And it...
‘Campaign of 1940-1952’ and Other Poetry by Christopher Fried The Society October 24, 2019 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 11 Comments Campaign of 1940-1952 True Cincinnati spirit is the love of hearth, the principles of isolation, a life in works of service to the nation. Could he reverse the course and release the doves of peace,...
‘In Memory of the Lake’ by James Christy The Society October 24, 2019 Beauty, Culture, Poetry, The Environment 4 Comments I hear Boeung Kak has now been filled with gritty sand, turned mud, now earth. The lake’s become a dusty field, yet memory preserves a berth for fishermen in long canoes, just toothpicks...