Beauty

By Jane Blanchard On December 5, 1830, Christina Rossetti was born in London to an Italian-English mother married to an Italian poet in exile.  The youngest of four children, all of whom grew up to be...

  Beauty in a Butcher’s Shop By Damian Robin There can be beauty in a butcher’s shop Even when that butcher’s shop’s unclean; And we can make that dirty butchery stop By listening to the...

  Obi-Wan Bin Laden RIP Let’s remember what God wants: Killing people’s never right, So Obi-Wan Bin Laden then Cannot be a Jedi knight. To make folks free you face them straight...

A rondeau on Shen Yun Performing Arts By Evan Mantyk I love the dance that can exalt The human form without a fault, Demeanor grand, inspiring pose; They’re swift yet seem in sweet repose And all my...

  In an Unfinished Honeycomb:  An Old Story As lichen on a rock expands, so you grow in love on the lap of your mother until --- smothering her presence you burst aglow into green adolescence....

Unforeseen Good Fortune’s Heirs Are We There’s little of the Plague that we can find to celebrate except for this small gem – when those who died left property behind it often changed their...

  Wood Nymph A wood nymph knocked on my door last night           her hair was flaxen gold the ivy trailing through my...

  Exhale swift, what crimson breeze; Amber crisp and fuchsia Colors adorn leaves on the trees Their coats of misty rouge. And clap, applaud with festive show Aware not of the scent; The musky...

December—not April cruelest, nor June In moon—must be the most romantic month, Why else make men of snow, or gods of men, Or turn the world virgin-white, life in death? At dusk, a chickadee,...

  Christmastime Lush green tree, wet pine scent fills the air. Strings of tiny gems, that plump tree, strangle, Children’s handmade trimmings everywhere, Red and green and bells that...

Kindness and Stars The gentle touch and splendid gift Intended to restore and heal Is rich enough to move and lift Our souls beyond the grief we feel. Though stars a twinkle only show, Their powerful...

  So Far, So Good One friend fears his father’s Alzheimer fate, another prepares herself for the end while her husband tries not to cry or state she can’t leave, but for her sake he...

  Pygmalion at Twilight Like a fiery dawn came we forth unto Our place on pedestals above the dunes Of disappointment – longing dared to paint A fairer portrait, distorted by the wait; A gilded...

  Culloden Moor At last they met. No sound. Arrays deployed. It was the perfect day—no haze, no shine. Long minutes lapsed before the bagpipes trilled. By noon it all ran smooth. Forlorn and...

  Said the Painter Upon the mossy stones I dwelt, I did, and was, and painting felt An arch and angel bend to speak, Their sainted tones my brush to seek. And why such was, I could not say, But...

  Persistent Danger Where is this going when state and foe mow down civilians and non-combatants in market stalls? They shock and flame like an erratic clown whose grisly creativity...

  Aleppo By Cid Wa'eeb El Sur We will drain it dry as hay. Peace shall neither night nor day hang upon its pent-house lid; it shall be a place forbid. Weary seven months times nine, shall it...

  Intimations of a Dream When the wind rustles through the open pine, And the leaves murmur and shudder off dew; When the sun, like an undeciphered sign, Through the imperial vault of swimming...

  For Elizabeth If charm were a country, then you would be Its capital of many domes and spires Gilded and gleaming off a crystal sea, And graced with every art that love inspires. If beauty a...

  A Bear in My Living Room While playing some computer games One day, I heard a noise out in The living room. I frowned, but paused And went to see. To my chagrin A bear was squatting on the...

In the grey-streaked dawn I can barely glean A deck of petals expertly dealt out in a ring A clingy little flower, prest into the railing Of the dew-drugged garden already the queen O rose with your...

  The Price (a pantoum in iambic pentameter) The sea and sky, once beautiful and clean, They’ve paid the price for man’s hubris and greed. The jungle canopies were brilliant green as nature...

  Paean to “ODE TO JOY”* I heard the “Ode to Joy” today, ten thousand times at least. I could not hold my heart at bay, engorging on a feast of melody, of majesty, of rhythmic...

My Mirror Grinned (Rondeau) My mirror grinned at my first grey. With rearing youth, it’s my first fray. Disturbed, with care I plucked that bane, next day to find one more, again! I cried and sighed...

  There is a tale of seven sisters whose father help up the sky pursued by Orion, carried to the heavens by Zeus. Farming season began when their star cluster appeared high— their position in the...

  Today I may dream of stubbled fields shriveled     foretelling of future prospects grim. If tomorrow’s dreams are green, is it a given     I’ll have...

By Carol Smallwood The pantoum is a poetry form that originated in 15th century Malaysia and drifted West in the 19th century with French writer Victor Hugo, among others. While it never quite took off like...

Unexpiring Ekphrastic on the above photo Unexpiring constant Sun, Earth untired responding spun, Surging fire, maternal birth, Urgent sire of vernal mirth. Père Sol, of ruth and blaze, Mère Earth...

  The eyes emerge from slumber’s lake of lead, Awakened by the zephyr flying past, In wonderment to witness, overhead, An otherworldly sky expanding fast. Revolving stars in efflorescence...

On the shores of Lake Erie, most weak & most weary, a soldier sat sunning, returned from the wars,     And though it were bleary, he still could see clearly when a bonny lass...

By Anonymous Sometimes I sit alone for a while, Watching life go by, Sitting high on a mountain top, Wondering just why Those ant-sized lives don’t pause and wonder “What’s this busyness...

Will Power When God asked Solomon one day     What his heart did most desire, The man said if he had his way     Unmatched wisdom he’d acquire. Now some might...

  And then we remembered that cruelest spring, when we awoke to find ourselves hollow. Where once we mocked, “O Death where is thy sting?” now we lie in the mire and wallow. In the sting of...

  The Poet’s Purpose A poet praises all of nature’s treasures, He seeks to find the pathway to her core, To laud the rarest beauty in spring’s pleasures And marvel at the waves that kiss the...

Such Was My Prayer Such was my prayer. And she, so far away, Or so it seemed, looked down at me and smiled; Then to Eternal Light she turned once more. -Paradiso 31.91-93, Dante Such was my prayer – she...

  Phantom skaters in the park turn, and glide, and never fall, faces clouded, figures dark. They are phantoms, after all. Turn and glide with awful grace, leave no measure, make no sound, out...

The Garden Guest Gaia has entered my garden today, She moves with a rustling of leaves. I can see her pass where the branches sway, I can feel her breath on the breeze. She laughs in the splashing of...

  Capturing all that isn’t blue, The sky, extending out of view, Pitches over the gathered green, Its grassy sheen Draped, reflected, along the hills, While quietly its wideness spills Wider,...

Blaschka Glass By Beau Ecs Wilder So beautiful they are, the lovely Blaschka glass displays, exquisite floral blossoms and marine invertibrates; such fragile, magical designs, and educational, as if...

  If I were to have been conceived Beneath a greater star, My sorrows would have been reprieved By powers great and far. Were I to have been born as strong As storm and fire and sea, Your royal...