Beauty

  The taxi driver took us down From great Mohonk, New Paltz and such; And every mile we got to touch We felt the pull of New York town. And chatting in our easy way— He black, me white, what...

Good Captains From daring to despair runs common man. A vane to changing winds is his own mind. One hour he may so boldly think, “I can!” The next, poor fool to nagging doubt’s inclined, His...

Her Love for Him My true love laughs, and angel choirs sing; The mountains echo back his tuneful mirth While Nature dances, heav’n in step with earth. ‘Tis music to mine ear; mine heart takes...

These Twins These twins came forth in one amniotic sac. They sensed the danger they had come upon And both held hands to keep that danger back: It truly was the best they could have done. Their need...

A reading of the below poems by the poet:   The Loan a villanelle This life we hold so dear is but a loan. For good or ill, its balance must be spent, For life is not a thing that we can...

One Love In all the world there’s but one Love, just one. A single substance—like the billow lit From overhead by flashes from the sun And tears that rain upon a pillow—it Is all the same, no matter...

    The man who never cries is like the ship That never sailed, or left the sleepy shores, Who’s never felt the waves of peril whip Against his keel far off from peaceful...

  I lift my eyes and pray to God above, deliver me, dear Lord, from Satan's Hell. I come to You with heart brimful of Love, content to drink life's water from Your well. And if, by chance, I do...

May Old Glory Always Wave by Roy E. Peterson May Old Glory always wave Above the tumult and the fray. Honor heroes who were brave Until the final Judgment Day. Drape the caskets of the dead, For...

Translator's Note: "Adiutor Laborantium" is an Irish poem attributed to Colum Cille (521-597), founder of the monastic community on Iona. It is an ABC poem, with the exception of two C-beginning lines in the...

  Side by side, like toy soldiers under the sky, these seedlings all stand in a row. And on this day of independence, the Fourth of July, I stand here and I whisper, “Please grow!” Down the...

Judges: Michael Curtis, Amy Foreman, Reid McGrath, Adam Sedia A few words from Judge Michael Curtis: In apology: If you, fair writer, did not win, take heart, This juror read for craft more than for...

Dead Poet Of what I was, not much remains, but that which does, indeed still strains to craft and pen a poem sweet, as I did when my heart did beat. I’m cold and stiff, yet still I yearn! (It seems as...

Kingfishers and Kites Each mortal thing does one thing and the same: Deals out that being indoors each one dwells; Selves—goes itself; myself it speaks and spells Crying Whát I dó is me: for that I...

Disappointment The waiting's not the hardest part: Much worse is when you finally know That what you craved with all your heart ____Will not arrive. Infatuations come and go, Bad luck upsets your...

  The ambit is the noblest cause, A last vestige of Apollo's love, A pursuit freed from any flaws, As peace aloft borne by a dove. In all we have is finitude, So best that we attempt To bask in...

  Leaf in Fall I feel hard without my love at my side; she is the part of me that lacks the soft buoyancy that rounds and bears me aloft into the spring sky mirrored in the tide… without her I...

It’s easy to look without seeing The beauty of life all around; When moments arisen to being Deserve to stir feelings profound. To all of God’s work lies a reason, And all we ought do is agree That...

  Message in a Bottle A ballad written on Easter Sunday, April 21, 2019 While birds above the beachhead soared __and winds began to blow, I took a bottle from the froth, __condemned to ocean's...

  I Spent My Youth with Byron and the Bard I spent my youth with Byron and the Bard, With Tennyson, the Brownings, and dear Keats— And full of passions, eager, trying hard To imitate their lofty,...

Note: Formal Ballroom Dance competition involves five specific dance forms. This sonnet cycle attempts to introduce and describe them. I have also composed and attached audio recordings of a Waltz and Tango as...

Cicadas There is, I know, some benefit in this, this cycle of emerging, breeding, dying- so brief a time for knowing any bliss, or making friends, or new endeavors trying - only to bring forth offspring...

  A song’s composer’s music might reveal A question or idea in such a way That black notes penned on paper weigh what’s real; But if unheard his work subsides to gray. That gray divides...

  Birthday Greeting to a Doomed Child a song of lament decrying New York´s “birthday abortion” law, approved January 22, 2019 So, welcome to this world, little one, little one! Your first and...

  Its coarse name belies this silken treasure, with iridescent dome and spiral apse. Imagination slips in with pleasure, to contemplate an opus like blown glass. Perhaps a queen lived here (no...

These poems are part of Daniel Galef’s series Imaginary Sonnets. Each sonnet is a verse soliloquy from the perspective of a different historical figure.      Gillette to Frenhofer (spoken by...

  May 2018 How pleasant to recall the light of spring, Which with effulgence breaks the woodland morn, As we through beech-clad glade walk marveling At overlay of Bluebells gayly born. We then trace...

I Am One, Then "In the midst of my days I shall go to the gates of Hell" - Isaiah 38.10 I am one, then, who's been to hell: __Cut down in my old prime; One day solid, sound as a bell, __The next day quite...

  We are a young ocean. We, __with merry veins once meek and coy, shall fill the belly of this sea. And at our bounds of God’s decree __pleasant lines will drink in joy. As our waters swim and...

  Half man, half monster—I am in a maze. They banished me because of others’ sins. Among these walls, I’m doomed to spend my days. No happy ending. No one ever wins. It was the king,...

Song of the Yew, at the University of Georgia, Athens a sprig of General Oglethorpe's ancestral yew was transported and planted aside the University of Georgia Arch on College Square, in Athens Evergreen,...

  A New Life an English ode With the blending of two souls, in a dance as old as time a spark ignites, and a cell divides; a baby—hers and mine. Conceived in a moment of utter joy, a new and...

  John Company was the familiar name of the Honourable East India Company which administered India until the Indian Mutiny in 1858 But, Oh, if only you would raise your eyes, take time to look, not...

  Solemn Legion of the brave Marching by there grave to grave, Defending faith and family, Fighting wars for our country. Solemn Legion boots in time, Drummers drumming, bagpipes whine, Marking...

The Forlorn Hope—Vicksburg 1863 Back in Vicksburg, the town was surrounded With a battle line twelve miles long. U.S. Grant sought to conquer the city, But the rebel defenses were strong. An advance...

Delimitation To rhyme with proper meter in the cause Of classic forms is nothing anyone Should derogate, but old poetic laws Were fashioned to enshrine a style, not stun The poet into incoherencies By...

  While driving on an April day along a winding road Through rolling hills, beside the way, I spied a small abode A little cottage in a glen below a bridge I crossed, The sight of which, had I not...

  I Want To Believe I want to believe a scarlet sky Promises sunshine. Don’t know why They say red skies mean turbulence— To me it doesn’t make much sense. I want to believe in love...

New Day Welcome to a new day. I must go Ahead with life as it presents to me I have to forge ahead steadfast and show What moving on and steering forth can be For past is only dreams and memories And...

    Ethereal Frontiers beyond my view: Allow thy bards to sing their songs divine And thus remind my soul of what it knew, When I still drank the Spirit in the Wine. Oh Faith, confess...