Beauty

. Euryalus Describes His Mother In Vergil’s Aeneid, the youthful Euryalus volunteers for a dangerous nighttime raid, asking that his mother not be told of it before he leaves, but that she be cared for, should he not return. He is killed when he attracts enemy attention by making a...

. A Mother’s Worth A mother’s worth, it glows and gleams in eyes. It beams in grins and giggles sent her way. It echoes at the core of coos and cries. It greets a burst of cheers and fears each day. __It battles through the bawl of sleepless zones __Worn weary...

. The Canterbury Tales---General Prologue, Lines 1-18 by Geoffrey Chaucer (1343-1400) Translated by Evan Mantyk When April’s sweetest showers downward shoot, The drought of March is pierced right to the root Through every vein with liquid of such power And virtue that it generates the flower; When Zephyrus too exhales...

. Mind Games---Three Cerebral Triolets  Propaganda  It wants your mind. It wants you blind. It warps and washes wayward brains. It gains control of humankind. It wants you blind. It wants your mind To cave, to close, no cogs to grind Till not one stain of you remains. It wants...

. The First Spring Rain a rhupunt The first spring rain ends winter's pain; new growth again, the earth revived. Soft melting snow will quickly go, small brooks will flow; life has survived. Frost leaves the ground, joy does abound, feelings profound from hope derived. Grass turning green so fresh...

. This, Too, Will Pass This, too, will pass--- They like to say. This pain now here Will fly away. This, too, will pass--- This broken heart, This dear, sweet loss--- Tears me apart. This, too, will pass--- A mindset, sure, To meet life’s trials And thus endure. This, too,...

. Incense I cast my words aloft this way and that, Imagining they’re incense offered sweet And fragrant, curling in their brief conceit, Their wisps as agile as an acrobat; And think of priests the Covenant begat, Who when they did their solemn God entreat, The incense was a carrier...

. Guardians of the Sunset III. The years go down like liquor.  Drink and pour and drink again, and laugh or sigh, and look behind you at the dark streets of the past, the rows of street lamp dandelions.  You take so long to cross a portion of the vast...

. A Sonnet for My Nephew Your mother held you first, and then your dad, And after that, the nurse. But then: your aunt. You curled inside my arms—such a small lad— My heart was yours right then. You did enchant Me so, and I knew then that you and...

. May Day Note: Maypoles were a feature of ancient Roman festivals to mark the renewal of Spring. The feast days of Saints Philip and James were celebrated by the Church of England in May.   Having hewed a length of pine, __They drove it in the ground; Then word was...

. Apollo’s Lament He pounds his naked chest and looks for bones Suspecting that the bay tree is a sham. At last he falls upon his knees and moans “My little doe, my tender dove, my lamb!” He scans the forest but he knows the truth: His longed-for Daphne has...

. Apocrypha Two orbs in hand—one large, one small— He climbed the tower to the top. He let them go and watched them fall, And those below who saw them drop Were dumbstruck when they hit the ground With a loud thud at the same time. The clerics in the...

. Seasons of Change Our fervour was apricity’s embrace. As neon streaks awash a Nordic night, it flared unfettered through the carapace of clotted clouds to cast its fluid light. Accrescent cravings bloomed in brumal air. We whispered vows in springtime’s silver moon. As fireflies, we sparked a summer flare,...

. Photo of Uluru / Ayers Rock by the Poet Uluru / Ayers Rock The winter outback chill of mid-Julys Cuts to the bone as waning suns conspire To send their sparks through darkening cobalt skies That set the Dreamtime Uluru on fire. The silent, preternatural display Is backlit by...

. With Boots On Soon after break of day an old man comes Trudging along the thawing roads of Cottage Country (the common land of day and hope) Considering the analects of Spring. At every unploughed drive where frozen slush Prevents all ingress of the motored sort He pauses, then,...

. All Out of Hope I am right here, Lord All out of hope. What of me now, Lord? End of my rope! What shall I do, Lord, What shall I know? Tie now a knot, Lord, Or just let me go? So much of life, Lord, I’m on my...

. Easter Monday Luke 24: 13 – 35 With hearts eclipsed by Friday’s three-day night And eyes still blinded to their master’s face, They hear his sermon, senseless that his light Has thrown the flames of hell to dark disgrace. The evening sun begins to set its fire, Their hearts...

. The Prince of Peace     He braved each gouging lash and bruising blow Till scourged and bludgeoned flesh was raw and torn--- Paraded in a crown of thorns to show This phony King of Jews was ripe for scorn... How could this meek, defeated wimp be born Of Him who...

. Easter 2022 In silence, night retires with a yawn— Its starlit labor blessed by God’s, “Well done.” And as the weary world awakes to dawn, The auric radiance of the risen sun Illumes a garden where an empty tomb Bears witness to the One no longer there— The Son...

. Sunrise at the Hollywood Bowl A sleepy son, a father who mourned still. Their first time greeting Easter since she died. When illness came, Anne said her fondest will Was that their boy know God. John set aside His doubts. He searched for two seats near the side. John...

. Hymn to Aurora  1 Aurora, rise and cast your curls Of daybreak through the vapor swirls To drape my face in scarlet beams— Since you left me I’ve had bad dreams. Like waves, my sheets have tossed and turned, I’ve waxed and waned, I’ve dripped and burned, My patience...

. Via Dolorosa for those who have suffered abuse. Where does one go to forget? Where does one go to erase Memories filled with regret? Nightmares of shame and disgrace? What does one do with the pain Abusers and users inflict? The scabs that again and again Peel off where...

. Sepulcher Jerusalem is built of prayer and quarried stone, From yearning, heartache, sacred scrolls and ancient bone--- The shuls, the mosques, the churches, every ancient room. And as a bride prepares with longing for her groom Believers come with downcast eyes, with hopes unknown, To ponder and to pray---or...

. Annunciation It’s not really an angel but a voice, Less heard than sensed, an urgent undertone That murmurs in the place where I’m alone And all my fears with longing there alloys. It whispers that I have to make a choice: To let the world go scrambling on its...

. Rendering Ruins A barn abandoned, left to drift alone, wind torn and breached upon the reef of time; fields, now dust, where summer wheat was sown, the wagons heaped with grain stood long in line to fill the grange of this once mighty ship, now but a shadow, listing,...

. Tomorrow’s Poets by Enrique González Martínez (1871-1952) translated by Cheryl Corey Tomorrow’s poets will sing beyond all praise In verse that’s out of tune with present day; New stars will bring new destinies that raise A shiver of delight in restless souls. Tomorrow’s poets will tread a path unworn,...

    . https://youtu.be/PguXX2PRzvI . CREDITS Poetry: Emma Lazarus (1849-1887) Voice-Over: Katy Mantyk Photos/Footage: “Unveiling the Statue of Liberty Enlightening the World” by Edward Moran, 1886 (Public Domain) Music: “Slow Walk Into The Sunset” by Alexander Nakarada (www.serpentsoundstudios.com) Licensed under Creative Commons BY Attribution 4.0 License . .  

. The Flowers' Easter Debate Palm Sunday is the Flowers’ Easter, the day when they honored Jesus Christ entering Jerusalem. As they did not need Good Friday’s bloody atonement for sin, the flowers were ready to crown Him. . The Rose Our good Master Comes as Pastor; Our good Master...

. https://youtu.be/LllN9NflfR8 . Lost Song A compass that won’t point the way, And a map of the faraway skies… I once was a child of grace; No matter the country I trod My feet found the path in its place, And they followed the way of the Lord. Lord, I’m...

. A Clamshell in Concrete  I was a child in kindergarten class. My mother held my hand as we trod on The sidewalk leading to the boulevard. This was 1951. The path Was paved in smooth cement, and at the edge The numbers 1 - 9 - 4 - 0...

. Parallel Man As I was going to the fair, I met a man with silver hair. The more I looked how could it be? He looked an awful lot like me, ‘Cept furrowed brow and walking cane. Perhaps my thoughts were just insane. Perhaps it was a twist of...

. Slivered Moon Slivered moon on slippers slides Across the skies on silver tides, Draping cobwebs over trees And coaxing shadows to their knees. No more this day will swallows sweep, Above the ground where creatures creep. Where frog and toad with bulging eye, Sing to the world their lullaby....

. Love’s Seasons In the heat of the night, when conditions are right, __Gentle lovers will cuddle and spoon. It’s a wonderful plan, much more marvelous than __Any other found under the moon. When the weather grows crisper and winter’s a whisper __On the sensitive nerves in your skin, Just...

. Birdbrains a villanelle   “When you control a man’s thinking you do not have to worry  about his actions.” ---Carter G. Woodson If we just parrot newspeak without blinking And push prize poppycock as logic fails, We’re cuckoo and we’ve given up on thinking. Our minds will end up shriveling and shrinking, Our...

. (See an explanation on what Sibyls are here.) . The Tyburtine Sibyl The Tyburtine sibyl has the iconographic attribute of a hand, indicating her foreknowledge of insults suffered by Jesus. Not from my heart's imaginings do I (A Sabine woman of the waterfall Crashing at Tivoli as a crazed...

. Uncle Sam's Tomb after Samuel Coleridge's "The Knight's Tomb" (see below) Where will the grave of that great figurehead be, That leader of free men and symbol of might, That vision of justice in our country so free, Great defender of all that is wholesome and right? Can he...

. Woman For years I’ve known exactly what it means To own the weight and wonder of my sex--- The crimson flow of knowledge in my teens, The curve and swell---my spell---the heady hex That lures love to the precipice of bliss. I know the grit and guts it took to claw Through...

. He Catches When We Fall! Of all life’s mysteries, The deepest of them all--- Not how high we've risen But on what day we fall. Pride’s an untrue friend, And hubris does us in. A loss of faith in God Would lead us now to sin. Pride’s an empty...

. Sleep Now the hour has come to lay me down Upon the waters of the river Lethe, To float into the maelstrom and to drown In swirling waves above me and beneath me. Who can recount those dark, forgotten hours When, having drunk the cup of Morpheus dry, We...

. The Hypodermic For a poet, the pen is merely part Of the apparatus of addiction. He emulates the frozen fly in amber Watching eons come, roll by, and pass. As motionless as veined quartz in a stone, He seeks a waxen perpetuity Bound and shackled in his dreamless cell,...