‘Holding Dad’s Hands’: Poems by Gigi Ryan The Society August 16, 2024 Beauty, Poetry 28 Comments . Holding Dad's Hands . Friday May 3, 2019 I’m driving fast (at least it’s fast to me,) The nurse’s call gives reason for my haste. She says that dad has fever and it seems His time remaining is in hours...
‘The Wise Farmer’: A Poem from the Zen Parable, by Joshua C. Frank The Society August 16, 2024 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 20 Comments . The Wise Farmer ---based on a Zen parable attributed to Alan Watts A farmer in China was left by his horse. He took up his plow and continued his course, And right after sunset, he finished his labors. When...
‘Moon Glow’: A Poem by Pamela Ruggiero The Society August 15, 2024 Beauty, Poetry 19 Comments . Moon Glow The calm of the twilight should bring him some peace. He sees yellow remnants of sun get deceased. A tropical fragrance now floats through the air. This beauty is breathless; no words can...
‘Paperbark Maples’: A Poem by Daniel Kemper The Society August 14, 2024 Beauty, Poetry 17 Comments . Paperbark Maples The leaves grow bright with dew; the trunks grow dark. A contrapuntal autumn morning stirs. The smoothest trees are wrapped with crumpled bark and up above, the play of breezes spurs a...
‘Winter’s Bed’: A Poem by D.C.C. Randell The Society August 14, 2024 Beauty, Poetry 3 Comments . Winter’s Bed Ere the sun should spread its beams We sleep and pray for candied dreams. An angel to the bedpost flits As hours pass beneath our lids. Should baby cry, then mother’s kindness Gracefully...
‘Dublin Swans’: A Poem by Louis Groarke The Society August 13, 2024 Beauty, Poetry 14 Comments . Dublin Swans “Wholly serene and sure, with regal composure, allows himself to glide.” ---Rainer Maria Rilke, “The Swan” I stop to watch the swans swim by, __Through lily pads they pass. Mounds of...
‘Prodigious Dreams’ and Other Poetry by Kevin Farnham The Society August 12, 2024 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 6 Comments . Prodigious Dreams Let not these Autumn notes lead you amiss. Autumn, indeed, is come (the signs are all around). This aging empire wanes, its fall accelerates: decay effects abyss. Our Winter now approaches,...
Poems from Foundations of the Cross by Cynthia Erlandson The Society August 10, 2024 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 18 Comments . But Who Am I? “But Moses said to God, ‘Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?’” ---Exodus 3: 11 God, did I hear you right? Did you tell...
‘Sicilian Samurai’: A Poem on Giovanni Battista Sidotti, by Margaret Coats The Society August 10, 2024 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 36 Comments . Sicilian Samurai circa 1700 He made a startling, militant request To journey to Japan—strange land long closed To foreign influence. The Pope’s behest Asked that authorities be unopposed— But how to...
‘The Outdoor Concert’: A Poem by Tod Benjamin The Society August 9, 2024 Beauty, Music, Poetry 4 Comments . The Outdoor Concert ---Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra at Wilton House, 2004 The long thick winding snake must stretch two hundred paces, Of early birds in haste to grab the nicest places, Buy programmes,...
‘Beltane Dream’: A May-time Poem by Patricia Rogers Crozier The Society August 8, 2024 Beauty, Poetry 7 Comments . Beltane Dream Did I pass that way in dreams or waking? For truthfully, it seems to me a dream: Fields of yellow through the green hills breaking, The Hawthorn blowing incandescent steam Through the...
‘Chasing Time’ and Other Poetry by Warren Bonham The Society August 8, 2024 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 7 Comments . Chasing Time "But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some...
‘The Loons of Colby Lake’: A Poem by Michael Pietrack The Society August 6, 2024 Beauty, Love Poems, Poetry 22 Comments . The Loons of Colby Lake a true story As thawing white gave way to budding green, two loons upon the lake would mark the Spring, and they would build their nest, then teach their young how life was lived and...
‘The Faltering’: A Poem by Ed Ahern The Society August 6, 2024 Beauty, Poetry 9 Comments . The Faltering In time the sharpest mind begrimes with rust and memories are flaked from softened steel. Beliefs once clutched and voiced in utter trust now falter and befog in weakened zeal. The brilliance...
‘Like Him’: A Poem by James Sale The Society August 5, 2024 Beauty, Poetry 29 Comments . Like Him "But we all, with unveiled faces, looking as in a mirror at the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit." ---2 Corinthians...
‘The Lighthouse’: A Poem by Martin Rizley The Society August 5, 2024 Beauty, Poetry 19 Comments . The Lighthouse In honor of the Thridrangar Lighthouse and the intrepid men who built it. Alone it stands, perched high atop a rock That rises from a tossing, troubled sea. It crowns that lofty tower which,...
‘Ephemeral’: A Poem by Rohini Sunderam The Society August 3, 2024 Beauty, Poetry 24 Comments . Ephemeral Our lives are like a summer’s day So swift, so swift, it flies away. A butterfly that’s newly born The brief blush of an early dawn. That’s all it is and all ‘twill be A mere blink in...
‘Beauty’ and Other Poems by Shindy Cai The Society August 3, 2024 Beauty, Children's, Poetry 8 Comments . Beauty Flowers are the faded stars that fall from silver skies, Raindrops are the sacred tears that leak from angel eyes. The wind is but a melody the gods bestow to earth, The sunrise is an ember that has...
A Poem on Jewelweed, by Gigi Ryan The Society August 2, 2024 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 12 Comments . In the Shade There Meekly Grows a Plant urushiol (yoo-roo-shee-awl) is the name of the compound in poison ivy that causes allergic reactions. In the shade there meekly grows a plant With roots that hold on...
‘When I Have Penned My Final Thoughts’: A Poem by Shamik Banerjee The Society August 2, 2024 Beauty, Poetry 18 Comments . When I Have Penned My Final Thoughts _When Ihave penned my final thoughts and left to meet_the sky,don't organize my table; let the sheet,the thumbtacks, and the cartridge pen lie there;let them assume I've...
‘Cracks in the Ground’ and Other Poetry by Skye Campbell The Society August 1, 2024 Beauty, Poetry, Villanelle 7 Comments . Cracks in the Ground Today the mourning parish bells have pealed. Men broke the dirt with family gathered round, And sang the songs of Heaven while we kneeled. __Now we make these cracks in the ground. I...
‘Centaury’ and Other Poetry by T.M. Moore The Society July 31, 2024 Beauty, Poetry 13 Comments . Centaury The clear night sky spreads wide a tapestry of beauty in the stars that shimmer all throughout the cosmic exhibition hall. In every age mankind has looked to see and wonder at the might and...
‘Cat Contentment’: A Poem by Phillip Whidden The Society July 30, 2024 Beauty, Poetry 16 Comments . Cat Contentment The cat begins his yawn by curling out His pinkest tongue tip as his lips begin To part. His faith in comfort is devout. Disturbing his furred sleepiness is sin. At least that seems to be...
‘Evensong’: A Poem by Jeffrey Essmann The Society July 29, 2024 Beauty, Poetry 10 Comments . Evensong “It’s your Church, Lord, I’m going to bed.” ---Evening Prayer of Pope St. John XXIII I know you’re there, so don’t pretend You’re off somewhere, removed, remote, Preoccupied with...
‘If You Want to Get Someone’s Attention’ and Other Poems by Daniel Kemper The Society July 29, 2024 Beauty, Poetry 13 Comments . . If You Want to Get Someone’s Attention If you want to get someone's attention, then whisperor commit a mistake that continues the momentfor a little bit longer---a smudge on the glisteris the proof that...
‘Questions of Legacy’: A Poem by Carey Jobe The Society July 28, 2024 Beauty, Poetry 21 Comments . Questions of Legacy First the things we remember—Grandma’s laugh shaking a tablecloth, fixing blue eyes __on children next to steaming pies, or Grandpa’s smothering hug, his rumbling cough before a...
A Heroic Crown of Sonnets in Honor of the Ever Virgin, by Karen Darantière The Society July 27, 2024 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 14 Comments . A Heroic Crown of Sonnets in Honor of the Ever Virgin . ---1st Mystery: The Prophecy of Isaiah . The Timeless Song The timeless song of her virginity, Intoned by holy angels, signifies The consecration to...
‘Festal Flourish’: Translation of a Poem by Tibullus, by Margaret Coats The Society July 27, 2024 Beauty, Poetry, Translation 24 Comments . Festal Flourish ---on a country festival, by Roman poet Tibullus (55-19 BC), translated by Margaret Coats All here may help to cleanse these fruits and fields! The rite transmits our wise grandparents’...
‘Men Sail Out’: A Poem by Michael Charles Maibach The Society July 26, 2024 Beauty, Poetry 3 Comments . Men Sail Out The waves they come--- A timeless thing, The earth their home--- Adventures bring. Men sail out On wooden ships, Embolden hearts, Prayers on their lips. They do it for Their daily bread. They...
‘Summertime’: A Poem and Photo by James A. Tweedie The Society July 26, 2024 Beauty, Poetry 20 Comments . Summertime The summer solstice, when it finally comes, Begins the ebbing of the sunlit hours, Which daily add up to decreasing sums As passing days dim fair Apollo’s powers Yet even so, the season’s...
‘It’s All Her Fault’ and Other Poems by Susan Jarvis Bryant The Society July 24, 2024 Beauty, Humor, Poetry 31 Comments . It’s All Her Fault ---with a nod to Eleanor Brown's "Bitcherel" Why write in meter when penning a poem, __You ask me, so here’s my reply: When I drop the rapturous roll of a rhythm __My muse fades away...
‘July’: A Poem by Mary Gardner The Society July 23, 2024 Beauty, Poetry 18 Comments . July The sounds of Nature presage__And brilliantly exudeAn all-compelling message__Of carefree attitude. The raven in the garden__That's cawing aw-aw-awAnd throaty-chirping martin__We’re in July! they...
‘Endurance’: A Poem on Shackleton’s Rediscovered Ship, by Paul A. Freeman The Society July 23, 2024 Beauty, Poetry 27 Comments . Endurance Endurance! A three-masted barquentine has lain a century beneath the ice. In frigid-climed Antarctica she’s been athwart the ocean floor. She paid the price for Man’s relentless struggle to...
‘The Northern Classical Garden’: A Poem by James H. Smith The Society July 22, 2024 Beauty, Poetry 5 Comments . The Northern Classical Garden ---on the transformation of a vacant lot by students and faculty at Northern Academy of the Arts in Middletown, New York ---after Keats Our youth whose lives lie in the...
‘The Vision of George Washington’: A Poem by Monika Cooper The Society July 21, 2024 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 17 Comments . The Vision of George Washington based on the story by Wesley Bradshaw, published in 1880 . I. Message Disclosed What you have heard of Washington is true. At Valley Forge, in those dark winter days, Our...
Poems on Artistic Collaboration and Gilbert and Sullivan, by Brian Yapko The Society July 21, 2024 Beauty, Music, Poetry 27 Comments . . An Epistle of Sullivan Dear Gilbert---your libretto is delightful! A charming English-Japanese confection. I now concede my words last week were spiteful And truly earned your heated...
‘Cyprus’: A Poem for the 50th Anniversary of Turkey’s Invasion, by Maria Panayi The Society July 20, 2024 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 19 Comments . Cyprus July 2024 marks the 50th anniversary of the invasion of part of Cyprus by Turkey Land of my birth you’re blessed with gifts divine Of loveliness and beauty hard to find, Where Aphrodite from...
For the 25th Anniversary of the Persecution of Falun Gong: ‘Candlelight Vigil’ by Shindy Cai The Society July 20, 2024 Beauty, Human Rights in China, Poetry 7 Comments . Candlelight Vigil the persecution of the peaceful meditation practice Falun Gong by the CCP began on July 20, 1999 A single candle burns tonight, a sacred memory, An ember for the price of truth, a noble...
‘My Vacation Trip in Verse’ by James A. Tweedie The Society July 19, 2024 Beauty, Culture, Humor, Poetry 13 Comments . My Vacation Trip in Verse by James A. Tweedie One of the comments in response to the recent “On the Meeting of Poets” post read: “A diary in verse. It’s original and interesting. I’d like to see...
‘Desire’: A Golden Shovel Poem after Langston Hughes’ ‘Dream,’ by Lucia Haase The Society July 19, 2024 Beauty, Poetry 17 Comments . Desire "Hold fast to dreams for if dreams die life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly." ---Langston Hughes, 'Dreams' To have, to HOLD what’s going FAST in longing TO capture my DREAMS, I’m looking...