Culture

. A Ballade on Being Commissioned  Twixt Florence and the Holy See Of every artist you could hire You thought it meet to torture me. You gave no weight to my desire But quick to wield the Church’s...

. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHUuaA8DKiQ . On Palestrina's Music Sicut cervus desiderat ad fontes aquarum, Ita desiderat anima mea ad te, Deus. Psalmus 41:2 As the deer desires springs of water, So my...

. Groomers   The words the school kids speak are not their own--- Fiends mold the untrained brain till every thought Is hostage to their noxious sexual drone. Their toxic tongues are rife with hype that’s...

. On Rupert Sheldrake’s Morphic Fields Are we just rats within a maze? Perhaps. But then perhaps there’s more to rats than what We know. Take for example rats completing A water-maze within a lab at...

. Abiding Senescence My energy and physical abilities Will not again be limitless as once they were. To those more qualified to ponder facts like these, Without a single qualm or doubt I will defer. They tell...

. Advice from the Untalented They smugly said I’d never make much money From playing with my words and making art, That it would be a waste to spread such honey So any fool could tear the thing...

. Australia in 2022 written on the eve of a federal election where everything is at stake but nothing is on the agenda. A nation now in name and nothing more, Misruled by milquetoast...

. “In God We Trust” The motto for our nation boldly states, “In God we trust,” Which is, of course, a matter for each person to decide. We can’t assume such faith is held by all, nor is it just To...

. Tongues as of Fire If men desire to find belief, to sing It out through throats works best to make the soul Embrace it.  This will make the sought faith zing Behind their hearts and manliness’s whole. The...

. The Duke D’Alençon Meets Joan of Arc What task from the dauphin comes to me hence? A lowly maid now seeks his audience. This Joan, a girl from province unheard of, They say she can hear voices from...

. An Open Poem to Evil “Gravity is real... it’s hard to keep a bag of shit in the air forever.” ---Alex Wilhelm You goofy spoofin’ kooks are pitchin’ poop. You’re selling poison no one wants to...

. Apollo in Retirement Quite early he approached a humble hut, With saxifrage and canneberge sun-brewed To melt the stone that galled the shepherd’s gut, And brighten him with warmth of health renewed. The...

. A Glass for My Father Marie-Maurille de Virot, Mademoiselle de Sombreuil (February 14, 1768—May 15, 1823) My father was the Marquis de Sombreuil: An old man when it happened, but back then The Revolution...

. On the Extradition of Julian Assange The fiends who wield the power here on earth (The ones who gag our speech to gain control) Are shouting out just what the truth is worth By extraditing this heroic...

. Who Bled When all is said and life be trod, One takeaway the Son of God Made clear, when rising from the dead? The winner here's the Guy who bled. . . Alec Ream is a writer living in the Northern Neck of...

. In Praise of Bollywood To India! To visit from afar... My journey there would be a dream fulfilled. To visit Delhi, Agra, Bangalore, To ride an elephant, pluck a sitar; I’d see a thousand temples loudly...

. Decolonising the Curriculum – Dual Scenario on Salford University's recent treatment of the sonnet. We must decolonise our poetry Because it’s the twenty-first century, So don’t get preachy, telling...

. What Is “Pro-Choice"? If my child were sent to die, Be chopped to pieces like a pig, To spare him death, I’d plead and beg, __His life with mine to buy. Yet pregnant moms demand their “rights” To...

. Classical Poetry and the Martial Ethos by Andrew Benson Brown . The Heroic Age Towards the end of “Egil’s Saga,” one of the masterpieces of Icelandic literature, the eponymous hero composes a verse to...

. "Sound and Fury, Signifying Nothing" ---Lines On Dreadful Instagram Poetry A halitosis belch of steam Spewed out in words. Ream after ream Of cheese puff, air-stuffed offerings Of...

. Judge Not We notice, Signor Alighieri, that You have a rather well developed bent For taking your opponents to the mat And showing them that in the Main Event They will be pinned like insects to a wall To...

. Classical Camouflaged __It begins, like all prose poems today, with a bit of narrated diary, as though it were a tale by Hemmingway, but more self-conscious and less flowery. __It then proceeds to rub the...

. Canzone to the Virgin by Francesco Petrarca (1304-1374) Translated by Margaret Coats Virgin beautiful, vested with the sun And crowned with stars, who pleased the Sun supreme So much that within you He hid...

. Jeffrey Epstein in His Cell On nights like this a lesser man might pray; Instead he dreams of islands in his cell And sends his thoughts a thousand miles away To there await the hour of his farewell. The...

. "Gravitas" On the Sack of Rome by the Gauls in 390 B.C. adapted from Livy’s “Ab Urbe Condita,” Book V, Chapters 38-42 The sunset torched the summer sky, __The spectral moon rose round When a shadow...

. Share your poetry on currently unfolding Russo-Ukrainian war in the comments section below.  We received a large response on our first post of poetry on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February and our...

. The End Begins a rondeau redoublé Now the end begins, do not despair. It’s meant to be. What better battlecry? It’s time for positivity and prayer. The unjust try to justify... then die. The mighty...

. Servant of the Servants of God Servus Servorum Dei —a title of the Pope A small informal gathering of clergy From satin cassocks down to the discalced Queue in line before the Petrine Seat. There are some...

. Habakkuk’s Prayer after Habakkuk 3:2, 16-19; excerpts of the prophet’s prayer as he awaited certain destruction of his nation, Judah, by the Babylonian armies (6th century BC). My Yahweh God, I raise my...

. A Man’s Retreat A man’s retreat is his garage—a place To keep his vehicle, yes; but also space To store his manly, miscellaneous hoards: The glues and putties; automotive oils, Waxes, wipes, and...

. More than My Queen My Queen has always been a noble force--- A force for good on chilly English days. Her friendly face, her air of grace---my source Of joy in more than crown-and-sceptre ways. I saw her...

. Uvalde I’m struck with news and views today __As youth and truth lie dead. Words bruise me in a mad melee __Of mind-marauding dread. I’m stunned by words, too many heard __To mull...

. Memories of Memorial Day Sad son standing all alone Staring at the marker stone. Father died he never knew--- Died for him and died for you. Widow’s tears upon her cheek. Trembling body feeling...

. Liberty If skies were ever-blue each lustrous day, If moons were in bold bloom each raven night, If life was never fouled by disarray And all beneath the Milky Way was right, __Would we require a tempest’s...

. Race Then and Now Race did not matter, The way we were taught. It never should influence Judgments or thought. Just look at the person, We’re mostly the same, With stereotypes Cause for nothing but...

. You are invited to a reading of exquisite poetry and conversations with the poets.  . Date & Time Sunday June 26, 2022 2 p.m. (New York time), 7 p.m. (U.K. time) Duration: 1 hour . Location Join...

. Karl Barth Platz 1999 Perhaps we walked the same worn cobblestones, Between the same sheer walls, shops clean and trim, Down the same pathways, past the same old homes, And were startled alike by graffiti...

. Sibylline Sonnets for Eastertide See an explanation on what Sibyls are here. The Phrygian Sibyl Speaks portrayed with the resurrection banner or the words “Velum templi scindetur” Jesus, again crying...

. Where Your Treasure Is “Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where...

. Nil Carborundum Illegitimi  On dismal days enswathe yourself in rays, Then flash your splash of sunrise with panache. Such zesty citrus, saffron spun displays Will smash malaise with sassy solar dash--- A...