Poems on Dogs and Humans, by Joshua C. Frank The Society February 16, 2024 Beauty, Culture, Poetry, Sestina 16 Comments . Last Visit to the Beach a sestina The beach, untouched by Time throughout the years As millions of waves washed from the sea, As Time transformed me, now no more a boy, Where I would walk each season on that...
‘Quilting the News’ and Other Poetry by Mark F. Stone The Society February 15, 2024 Culture, Poetry 47 Comments . Quilting the News Lots of people still don’t know __that what’s portrayed as “news” is often pieced together to __promote the crafters’ views. Like sculptors with a block of clay, __the crafters...
‘February 14, 2024’: An Ash Wednesday-Valentine’s Day Poem by Cynthia Erlandson The Society February 13, 2024 Culture, Love Poems, Poetry 19 Comments . . February 14, 2024 A heart of burning love, an ashen cross Converge today: the marriage of two kinds Of love. The feast day is St. Valentine’s--- Which, this year, intersects Ash Wednesday: Eros United...
‘Ash Wednesday Valentines’: Poems by Charles d’Orléans, Translated by Margaret Coats The Society February 13, 2024 Culture, Love Poems, Poetry, Translation 27 Comments . Ash Wednesday Valentines by Charles d’Orléans (1394-1465), translated by Margaret Coats . I. Who’s there? Who comes so early, who? “It’s I myself.” Saint Valentine, you! Why turn up now at...
‘I Am the Stone’ and Other Poetry on Israel by Brian Yapko The Society February 13, 2024 Beauty, Blank Verse, Culture, Poetry 32 Comments . I Am the Stone I am the stone The humble stone the barefoot shepherd boy Selected from the muddy river bed; The stone which fit inside the sling he made As soon as he was given leave by Saul To fight for...
‘The Southern Cross’: A Poem by Adam Sedia The Society February 12, 2024 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 14 Comments . The Southern Cross The caravels escaped at last The roiling tides of Bojador And entered tropic seas far past What any chart described before--- __An unknown world to cross. Strange southern seas! Unending...
Nocturnal Litanies I & II: Poems by Cynthia Erlandson The Society February 11, 2024 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 22 Comments . . Nocturnal Litany I “From all malevolence the night employs….” ---James Agee, “Epithalamium” . From all malevolence the night employs To haunt our ragged hearts and weary brains With bitterness...
A Love Sonnet and Other Poetry by Andrew Yeager The Society February 11, 2024 Culture, Love Poems, Poetry, Villanelle 5 Comments . Love Sonnet The glint of summer’s evening leaves a glow upon her cheek, so soft and plain and fair— the glister of the twilight hours show the rosebuds, luminescent in her hair. And all the earth now...
‘The Austrian Non Placet Comes in Time’: A Poem by Joseph S. Salemi The Society February 10, 2024 Culture, Poetry 32 Comments . The Austrian Non Placet Comes in Time (Recess at the papal conclave in Rome, August 1903. One cardinal speaks to a small group of his allies) Two ballots done already. I perceive Things are not going our...
A Poem on Sister Cindy and Brother Jed and Other Poetry by Alec Ream The Society February 10, 2024 Culture, Poetry 5 Comments . The Screaming Screed and Stench Sister Cindy, Brother Jed, Before the cellphone, rumor spread, "They're speaking on the Common, dude, Their testimony's waxing crude!" Pioneer, the sawdust trail, Jed and...
‘Babel’: A Poem by Jeffrey Essmann The Society February 9, 2024 Culture, Poetry 3 Comments . Babel There was a time when all the world one tongue Among its peoples shared, and language preened Itself with fluffed-up thoughts that oversprung The bounds of things as yet quite unforeseen. Man set about...
‘Paradise Island’: A Poem by Paul A. Freeman The Society February 7, 2024 Culture, Poetry 33 Comments . Paradise Island Some years ago, from cliff top and from shore,a flock of birds that never touched the skylooked out upon an ocean ship that borea biped crew from whom they could not fly.These creatures,...
‘My Beatrice III’: A Poem by Stephen Binns The Society February 6, 2024 Culture, Love Poems, Poetry 9 Comments . My Beatrice III Affording still these glimpses like the first, those moments you were yet without a name; between us was the distance untraversed: the bringing into being what you became. Four times I...
Poems on Bach’s Ricercar Fugue and Sonata F–A–E of Schumann et al., by Julian Woodruff The Society February 5, 2024 Culture, Humor, Music, Poetry 10 Comments . A Musical Offering When Bach arrived at Sanssouci, King Frederick said, “Sir, you must be tired. My fortepianos may help to revive you. Please, come play.” While Bach was busy at the keys, the king...
Poems on the U.S. Southern Border by Texan Susan Jarvis Bryant The Society February 4, 2024 Culture, Poetry, Rondeau, Triolet 42 Comments . Off Guard Coyotes drag their quarry past the line Drawn in the sand to stop the ghastly game Of selling wide-eyed tots to vile swine--- No money-grubbing cur is barred by shame. Wild mules haul...
‘Left Outside’ and Other Poetry by Daniel Kemper The Society February 3, 2024 Beauty, Culture, Humor, Poetry 10 Comments . Left Outside The shopping cart, precisely ordered now while searching for those perfect little lines of lights for decorations---anyhow, I'm sure there must be something that combines with lights around the...
‘Sunshine’ and Other Poetry by Martin Rizley The Society February 3, 2024 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 19 Comments . Sunshine Sun, shine on me—come and stay! Dry my tears, send gloom away. Warm my soul, chilled to the bone By the freezing wind that’s blown. With your reassuring light Put my griefs and fears to...
From Michael Bunker’s Surviving Off Off-Grid, and Other Poetry by Joshua C. Frank The Society February 2, 2024 Beauty, Culture, Poetry, Villanelle 28 Comments . In a Home based on Michael Bunker’s grandmother (b. 1909) as described in his book Surviving Off Off-Grid . I Old, blind, and helpless, Grandma’s all alone— Bed, radio, phone, and nothing...
‘A Pro Who Can Con’: A Poem by Mark F. Stone The Society January 31, 2024 Culture, Poetry, Satire 18 Comments . A Pro Who Can Con “Truth” is whatever will further the movement. You’re “credible” if you are telling the “truth.” “School” is my method to inculcate values into the minds of our pliable...
A Poem on the Winter of 1949 Blizzard, by Roy E. Peterson The Society January 30, 2024 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 25 Comments . A Blanket of Snow from childhood memories of the blizzard of 1949 on a farm near Bonesteel, South Dakota. The world is all bound in a blanket of snow, The kerosene lamps keep the windows aglow. The fire...
‘Unshackling the Spirit’: A Poem by Brian Yapko The Society January 30, 2024 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 53 Comments . Unshackling the Spirit I toss and turn at night. I wonder why I’m here. But then with dawn the skeptic’s free, Dismissing faith and scoffing at the sky. I’m certain---Oh so certain---all I see Is...
A Poem on Brutalist Architecture, by Adam Sedia The Society January 29, 2024 Art, Culture, Poetry 22 Comments . Once the Future You were the future once, not long ago. Your sterile walls of concrete, brick, and glass Outlined in steel, and jutting angles show Scorn for the forms you thought you could surpass. That...
‘Learning to Laugh’ and Other Poetry by William Harder The Society January 29, 2024 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 9 Comments . Learning to Laugh The pathos of a circus clown, with empty pockets inside out, now challenges a small boy’s frown. Bewildered by the mimicked pouts, the racoon eyes and painted tears, he wonders what this...
A Poem Inspired by Kari Lake: ‘I Can’t Be Bought’ by Mark F. Stone The Society January 28, 2024 Culture, Poetry, Rondeau 12 Comments . I Can’t Be Bought I can’t be bought. They always pan my poems and they have a plan to pay me if I will agree to stop composing poetry. They say I am an also-ran. Who cares if they are not a fan! My trek...
A Poem on Paisley, and Other Poetry by Margaret Coats The Society January 26, 2024 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 39 Comments . Windjam Dry leaves abruptly fell that day— Whirled weathervane communiqué Proposing a quick stroll away Along a narrow inlaid path To venture past the aftermath Of an alfresco yellow bath. Emerging from...
On Living with Someone with Alzheimer’s, and Other Poems by Vicki Roberts The Society January 26, 2024 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 15 Comments . What Time Is It? “What time is it?” he asks of me, __“It’s now eleven o’clock;” “What time is it?” he asks of me, __As I hear the tick and tock. “What time is it?” he asks of...
‘A Star’: A Poem by John Freeborn The Society January 24, 2024 Beauty, Culture, High School Submissions, Poetry 12 Comments . A Star O silent sphere of silver-soft-spun light,Thou crystal pearl strung on an airy veilSuffusing bright celestial delightIn snowy glory o'er thy starry trail:The bridal necklace of the night inflameWith...
Poetry Paraphrased from Suicide Notes, by Jeff Kemper The Society January 23, 2024 Culture, Poetry 15 Comments . The Plight of a Troubled Young Soul Parts I and II are paraphrases of actual notes. . I. Not Today I know I’m ill; I am not well. In truth, I want to end it all. I want to toll my own death knell. I wish...
Sonnets on Famous Ladies of the Early 20th Century, by Peter Austin The Society January 22, 2024 Culture, Poetry 12 Comments . Zelda She and Scott were the face of the Jazz Age, Drunk and riotous in post-war Paris, He scribbling out page on potboiling page To fund the wastage of two beaux esprits. When the stock market crashed, in...
‘To Find a Waterfall’: A Poem by Monika Cooper The Society January 21, 2024 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 16 Comments . To Find a Waterfall The wild forest is a spiritual place. Disbelief does not last there. Halfway through My span of life, my sunrise-to-set race, I found my trail among the trees anew. Goal for the Spring:...
A Poem with a Glossary: ‘The Kakistocracy’ by Phil S. Rogers The Society January 21, 2024 Culture, Humor, Poetry 18 Comments . The Kakistocracy Does the news give you malneirophrenia, __but you've not been to sleep? Do you galumph all day around the house, __your mind in sorrows deep? Do politicians bring on crapulence, __but...
A Poem on Iranian Woman Roya Heshmati, by Cheryl Corey The Society January 20, 2024 Culture, Poetry 22 Comments . Because She Walked In Beauty They sentenced her to over seventy lashes, Because she walked in beauty, hair revealed, Which beauty they demanded be concealed. Courageously, she faced the mullahs’...
‘Summer of ’73’: A Poem by Gigi Ryan The Society January 20, 2024 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 13 Comments . Summer of ‘73 It’s sunset and the sidewalk still feels hot. My legs and feet are bare, they do not mind Mosquitos nearly eating me alive. The neighbor kids are starting to come out. We play a game of...
‘Father’ and Other Poetry by Alan Steinle The Society January 20, 2024 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 10 Comments . Father after "So Far, So Near," by Christopher Pearse Cranch (1813-1892). Father, maker of all spirit, infinite, You can ensphere it. Still, You enter all that's living: raising, guiding, and forgiving. Of...
‘Smash, Careening Thrash’: A Poem by Maura H. Harrison The Society January 19, 2024 Culture, Poetry 23 Comments . . . Maura H. Harrison is a writer, photographer, and fiber artist from Fredericksburg, VA. She is currently an MFA candidate in Creative Writing at the University of St. Thomas, Houston. Her works...
‘I’ll Keep My Truck’: A Poem by Mark F. Stone The Society January 18, 2024 Culture, Poetry, Rondeau 28 Comments . I’ll Keep My Truck I’ll keep my truck. I won’t revise my thinking as gas prices rise. My son-in-law berates and blames my truck. It drinks too much, he claims. He loves to spout and moralize. He...
‘The Pitcher Plant’ and Other Poetry by Andrew Yeager The Society January 18, 2024 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 8 Comments . The Pitcher Plant The insect dances on a pitcher plant drinking deep the fabled honey nectar. The rim affords a place to lean and slant— heedless treads the doomed fructose collector. Advancing where the...
‘To My Brother, After John Keats’ and Other Poetry by Mary Jane Myers The Society January 16, 2024 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 10 Comments . To My Brother after John Keats When I have fears that I may lose my sight before I've savored books I long to read, before famed writers oust my glooms with light and my starved mind their genius stories...
‘A Mighty Fortress’: A Poem by Brian Yapko The Society January 16, 2024 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 38 Comments . A Mighty Fortress for Diane My eyes ache from the tears still left unshed As I remember all she meant to me. I still can’t quite accept that she is dead And find scant solace in the eulogy. A vibrant life...
‘The Five Ages’: A Poem by Morrison Handley-Schachler The Society January 15, 2024 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 10 Comments . The Five Ages Beneath rose bower and sweet cherry shade Long since have Saturn’s golden people slept And for their sins the silver race were swept Hence and in lightning-blasted clefts were laid; Next were...