Beauty

  Listen to the voice that speaks within your heart, a whisper set against the roaring tide; softly calls the voice that’s set apart. The world calls loud and clear and smart. But what the...

What chilly breeze creates a shudder and crimson leaves begin to flutter down, down like butterflies 'till barren branches reach the skies and herald lonely autumn cries amidst decaying clutter, then...

A Rondeau The big corn field was gone today: A machine crouched amid the fray Like a locust after a feast Near the side road facing southeast— Likely to be gone by Sunday. The corn had turned from...

. Vermont A white wood house defines the slope.  The trees Have gone to red and flame.  A field beyond Is spread with grass and granite rocks at ease. This stonewall pattern thinks it holds a pond, But it is...

  The First Funeral It is with wonder when I think Of Adam, Eve, no childhood grown, Standing before the living God, Alive with language, all words known. It is with wonder, then, to think They...

  A Christmas Card A distant clang; here comes the heat To chase the chill from hands and feet! A steady hiss and many pings; The song our radiator sings To celebrate this Christmas morn The day...

  Snow’s candid praise bedecks St. Florian’s Gate As Sobieski passes on his horse. It is the Eve of Christmas, when men wait The changing of the world’s malignant course… Back in the...

  https://youtu.be/dVnGlUaitiY   You hear the sound of carols from afar. Bright bulbs and tinsel, cinnamon and cloves. Beyond a hill of snow you see a star. Here you can look at stacks...

by Annabelle Fuller John Keats (born October 31, 1795 - died February 23, 1821) began life as the son of a stable-owner, and ended it as an unmarried, poor and tuberculosis-ridden young man. Somewhere along...

  Sharp lightning stabbed the clouds and pierced a hole that scorched the greening branches down below. Sun, much aggrieved, beamed fingers through, and stole the sparking ashes’ phosphorescent...

In Fall I Set a Stone In fall I set a stone upon a stone, As autumn rain dripped tears upon the grave That marks the spot where lie my lover's bones; And wind tossed fallen leaves like rolling waves. A...

  An Ode to the Indian Soldiers ottava rima Be choking chill or burning heat; be rain or sleet; thou're there O soldier brave to save thy brethren sleeping sound inland, sans pain. Thy eyes...

Paperboys lack actual colleagues, but I was a part-time paper boy, and my mother, a part-time colleague. When I’d oversleep, or in bad weather, she’d rescue me from the steep daily grind. “Leave the...

By Sam Gilliland The Poisoned Chalice Let he who lips me then beware, My potion’s more than honeyed mead, One sip, I shall your soul ensnare, Death conquers all, so take you heed! It is a foolhardy...

I Keep A Different List My neighbor counts his losses and his gains, but I keep track of raindrops when it rains; he makes note of coins and dollar bills while I am watching ants upon their hills; while...

The Great Living Hell On Communism Under the radar I fly Thru' an ever more darkening sky Thru' the smoke from the volumes that burned Thru' the silence of lessons unlearned Thru' the sound of the...

When Santa’s sleigh took to the sky, He saw a wonder by him fly: A Chinese Fairy dance on clouds And point to where there gathered crowds; A theater’s lights shone dazzling bright And beckoned him...

  The Buds of Life On Nightly News I saw a sight obscene: A seahorse in embrace with cotton bud, Soon causing me to ask, ‘What does this mean?’ The answer came most clear, with numbing thud...

  For Bishop Berkeley & for Madman Blake First, the wind; then, the waves; then the shore —but the Mind—yes, the Mind—long before. First, darkness; then, ignition; then the light —but...

Any treatise claiming critical review of verse, whether in the widest sense, or, as in this case, the result of compressed choice, purely down to the author’s own consideration, I hasten to add, is probably...

  Slowly yet steadily the heat starts to soar as the sun’s first rays glimmer in the east sky. With no breeze to cool down the forest floor the temperature reached an all-new high. Nothing...

The Morning Muse This time of day the Muses pass As rolling clouds and dewy grass, To see their handouts properly bestowed. How much I’ve felt and ever feel That writhing impulse in me reel When...

Joseph Pulitzer Junior High September 1959 – June 1961 I think we spoke but fifty words, all told. No more than that, and most were just polite— A brief exchange of greetings or a comment On some...

What Tolkien Said “...together through the ages of the world we have fought the long defeat.” Galadriel, of Celeborn Together we fought the long defeat The loss, the win, but no retreat Embossed and...

The poetry of Fray Angelico Chavez can be read here. By Joseph Charles MacKenzie Fray Angélico Chávez, O.F.M. (1910-1996) remains the most important poet of New Mexico’s modern history. It is precisely...

A Slice of Eden A mango tart broke my heart dark one stormy day because it said I'd be dead if I touched its glaze, & lotus cake made me ache late one luckless night because it cried when I tried...

For Joseph Charles MacKenzie Herein lies silence and serenity, Along with untold tales of many men, Mixing mud and straw, soon to be a home, Where wives gave an hundred births dignity, Often joy, tinged...

  For honor! For valor! The battle stole and won Where up the soul arises down the barrel of a gun The courses set and forces met with destined blood and bones But I, I fear, am fated here to never...

  The swollen hill is pregnant with the Spring, A promise of a resurrection day, A warm renewal, life in everything Is bursting forth like perfumed blooms of May And now it will be constant joy to...

by Dusty Grein The Man The American poet Robert Frost was born on March 26, 1874, in San Francisco, CA. He spent his first 40 years mostly unknown, and it wasn’t until after returning to the United...

  She remembers the first time his hand closed around her fingers, the smooth skin of youth and a slight dampness like when he proposed. He loved her fragrant hand lotion, in truth, and he would...

  Narcissus Saw Himself Only Once “Due to the poor quality, high cost, and small size of these ancient glass mirrors, solid metal-mirrors primarily of steel were usually preferred until the late...

  The birch, the elm, the aging spruce Cannot restrain the restless roots Of saplings drawn to the silent sound Of brother’s heading skyward bound Youthful trees spreading their wings Dropping...

When I speak of history I speak well; I leave behind the past where broken bones Lay scattered on blistering sands to tell Of atrocities that are mostly groans. While you may feel the pain lurking...

The Function of the Poet Tanslation by David Bellemare Gosselin God summons him in times gone awry When each can’t will, but serves his duty. For pity to him who to all his brothers Declares his...

  A Country Song (for my wife's birthday) I'm no longer young and strong and things take me twice as long Might not hear you when you call and I don't stand quite so tall Seasons change and...

Haunted, by a recurring memory, Suffocating, where gladioli grow, Gaunt, with grief, heart stilled, ever passionless, Those dream-filled nights, devoid of charity, Make of slumber a fierce, eternal...

  With sun seductive, blinding, thoughts of open rail reminding Of adventures held in albums, slightly faded, fondly worn; I departed with a vision magnified through time’s revision, Of idyllic...

  To do no harm, no deeds with base intent, To this end we must teach the little ones The way of safe passage.  In lieu, so spent Time on a hateful road,  the train brakeman And teary...

  Kudzu* Yes, I creep to cover, smother, choking greenery like no other. I am Kudzu taking over places once filled deep in clover, trees and bushes, vines entwining; each within my path...