Poems on the Hunchback of Notre Dame and Captain Ahab, by Brian Yapko The Society January 2, 2024 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 33 Comments . The Hunchback The belfry beckons. Once again it’s time. This is my cross, the task I’m forced to bear. “To the Cathedral! Hear the noon bells chime!” I summon all of Paris here for...
‘In The Beginning’: A Poem by Warren Bonham The Society January 1, 2024 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 22 Comments . In The Beginning We’re stuck in the middle, unsure of the ending but guessing the outcome by how things are trending should make it apparent it’s foolish to frolic and cause us to worry and be...
‘Nero Redivivus’: A Poem by Shaun C. Duncan The Society January 1, 2024 Culture, Epic, Poetry 20 Comments . Nero Redivivus Others suppose that he was not killed, but withdrawn instead so that he might be supposed killed and that he is still alive and in concealment in the vigour of age he had reached at the time...
‘On Turning the Page of a New Year—2023-2024’: A Poem by Paul A. Freeman The Society December 31, 2023 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 20 Comments . On Turning the Page of a New Year---2023-2024 The hour-glass is almost void of sand,a rounding of the sun described in grainsthat drain away. Now little time remainsas New Year stalks the browns and greens...
‘Woke Christmas’ and Other Poetry by Joshua C. Frank The Society December 30, 2023 Culture, Poetry, Satire, Triolet 6 Comments . Woke Christmas We dream of Christmas like we used to know, With Santa Claus and sleigh rides in the snow, Big families all together, super-sized, But leftist thinking has metastasized And each says,...
‘After the Stroke’: A Poem on Aphasia, by Mary Gardner The Society December 30, 2023 Culture, Poetry 14 Comments . After the Stroke Aphasia: an impairment of a previously held ability to produce or understand spoken, written, or signed language, due to disease or injury of the brain. With pencil at the...
‘Anniversary Pastoral for Benedict XVI’ by Margaret Coats The Society December 30, 2023 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 21 Comments . Anniversary Pastoral for Benedict XVI Trustworthy Shepherd of all shepherds, hear Today’s renewed appeal in concord made For Benedict, departed now one year. That he to restful comfort be conveyed, His...
Mythological Limericks on Defloration by Joseph S. Salemi The Society December 29, 2023 Culture, Humor, Limerick, Poetry 31 Comments . Mythological Limericks on Defloration . Venus and Adonis Adonis was cute as a berry And Venus was sexy and merry— __The boy said “No dice” __But without thinking twice She jumped him and popped the...
A Poem on Frozen Embryos and Other Poetry by Joshua C. Frank The Society December 29, 2023 Culture, Poetry, Triolet 12 Comments . They Have Our Genes They have our genes; they’re human beings, Our fifteen frozen embryos. Regardless of your disagreeings, They have our genes; they’re human beings. They must be born, by God’s...
An End of the Year Poem and Christmas Musical Medley by Jeff Eardley The Society December 28, 2023 Beauty, Culture, Music, Poetry 22 Comments . Christmas Medley performed by Jeff Eardley . . Absent Friends The Christmas lights are twinkling on the houses all around. All we need’s a frosting and some snow upon the ground. But as this old year...
‘The Evening The Times Newspaper Turned Into Jane Eyre’: A Poem by Lucius Falkland The Society December 28, 2023 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 8 Comments . The Evening The Times Newspaper Turned Into Jane Eyre My life had become like a broadsheet,__The Telegraph, maybe The Times:The financial section---prose sober and neat;__Inflation---the yen falls and...
‘I Know Them Well’: A Villanelle by Mike Ruskovich The Society December 27, 2023 Culture, Poetry, Villanelle 8 Comments . I Know Them Well Don't preach to me of heaven and of hell expecting me to tremble and to cower. They're here on Earth, and yes, I know them well. I do not need to hear your church bell knell from high atop...
‘Christmas Hallelujah’: A Poem by Roy E. Peterson The Society December 25, 2023 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 10 Comments . Christmas Hallelujah sung to the melody of “Hallelujah” by Leonard Cohen When I hear a song of destiny, Of peace and love and harmony, From deep within I feel an Hallelujah. When I can feel a tingling...
‘The Ancient Christmas Tree’: A Poem by Brian Yapko The Society December 25, 2023 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 28 Comments . The Ancient Christmas Tree A Dream Memory . The ridge out the window was blanketed white With snow that had fallen that long winter’s night. A lad of eleven, I woke to the noise Of far-away shouts from...
‘The Ultimate Christmas Gift’: A Poem by Susan Jarvis Bryant The Society December 25, 2023 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 34 Comments . The Ultimate Christmas Gift “Maybe Christmas, the Grinch thought, doesn’t come from a store.” ---Dr. Seuss This gift winks in the sparkle of the star That tops the twinkling tree with spangled joy __In...
New Lyrics and a New Musical Arrangement for a Familiar French Carol, by James A. Tweedie The Society December 24, 2023 Beauty, Culture, Music, Poetry 6 Comments . Author/Composer’s Note: The noël, Il est Né le Divin Enfant (“He is Born, the Divine Christ Child”) is one of the most beloved and beautiful French carols to have crossed into the English-speaking...
‘The Eternal Design May Appear’ and Other Christmas Poetry by Cynthia Erlandson The Society December 24, 2023 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 22 Comments . . “Even now, in sordid particulars, the eternal design may appear.” ---T.S. Eliot, Murder in the Cathedral . Among the moan of kine and smell of sheep, The plaintive whine of fowls half-asleep, A woman...
‘Sleigh Rides Do Not a Christmas Make’: A Poem by C.B. Anderson The Society December 24, 2023 Culture, Humor, Poetry 13 Comments . Sleigh Rides Do Not a Christmas Make While folks down under get to ride their bicycles __And dine alfresco at a Christmas picnic, We blokes up over are avoiding icicles __And making every effort not to...
‘The Wisemen and the Shepherds’: A Christmas Poem by Jeremiah Johnson The Society December 24, 2023 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 4 Comments . The Wisemen and the Shepherds after Eileen Duggan The camels’ footfalls over and around Baked dunes, through pebbled streams, on forest floors; The sages straddling humps without a sound Who’ve long...
‘Christmas by Force’: A Poem by Gigi Ryan The Society December 23, 2023 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 6 Comments . Christmas by Force The jostling beast increases the distress Of Mary whose first labor has progressed. Joseph of the donkey’s reins keeps hold; The night is clear and calm, the desert cold. In town each...
‘Christmas’: A Spenserian Sonnet by Jeffrey Essmann The Society December 23, 2023 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 9 Comments . Christmas I don’t recall the tree or what we ate With sentiment Dickensian and sweet. The tree was in a Midwest way ornate; The food: potatoes certainly; some meat. The past for me gives off more light...
‘Midwinter’: A Christmas Poem by Martin Rizley The Society December 23, 2023 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 8 Comments . Midwinter “O blesséd day we now enjoy, from heaven it is granted. He brings us bliss, He shows Himself for all our joy and worship! O may our Lord each one today defend us from all evil!” ---from W....
Dickens’ ‘A Christmas Carol’: Adapted by Talbot Hook, Read by Andrew Benson Brown The Society December 22, 2023 Classical Poets Live, Culture, Poetry, Readings 4 Comments . A Christmas Carol Complete text here: https://classicalpoets.org/2021/12/24/a-christmas-carol-after-charles-dickens-by-talbot-hook/ . . . Andrew Benson Brown has had poems and reviews published in a few...
On Maine Storm Delaying Electric Vehicle Mandate: A Poem by James A. Tweedie The Society December 21, 2023 Culture, Poetry, The Environment 25 Comments . Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin in reference to the recent storm in Maine In Maine the Governor had to delay A hearing where the government had planned To air, promote, consider and to weigh A law where...
‘Curse of the Desert’: A Poem by Stuti Sinha The Society December 21, 2023 Culture, Poetry 18 Comments . Curse of the Desert Ill-tempered droughts strip lands of foliage sheath. Its barren womb still yields a wilted crust that liberates, from layers underneath, a swell of ruffled soil and choking...
Translation and Musical Arrangement of Old French Carol, by James A. Tweedie The Society December 20, 2023 Culture, Music, Poetry, Translation 8 Comments . Whence Come You, Shepherdess? . Translator's Note: “D’où Viens-tu, Bergère” was one of a number of old songs and carols from the French region of Périgord collected by Emmanuel Casse and Eugène...
‘December Oak Leaves’: An Advent Poem by Louis Groarke The Society December 19, 2023 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 20 Comments . December Oak Leaves Puis çà, puis là, comme le vent varie, A son plaisir sans cesser nous charrie, (The wind, gleefully, pushing us, changing its mind, Forwards and backwards, all of the...
‘Miles Fidelis (The Faithful Soldier)’ and Other Poetry by Brian Yapko The Society December 18, 2023 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 34 Comments . Miles Fidelis (The Faithful Soldier) for Joseph Salemi, whose essay introduced me to the soldier of this poem. The city shakes! Vesuvius spouts fire As Vulcan grins through Jupiter’s hot breath. Brute...
10 Funny and Nostalgic Christmas Poems The Society December 17, 2023 Beauty, Best Poems, Culture, Humor, Poetry 2 Comments . Are you looking for a good poem to read at your Christmas party or gathering? Is it a more serious or light-hearted event? Christmas poems come in a great variety of shapes and sizes. They can be short or...
‘A Travelogue of Wonders’: A Poem by Cheryl Corey The Society December 16, 2023 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 15 Comments . A Travelogue of Wonders My friends, I’m here to speak of wondrous sights. The first, at Alexandria’s port, was built By Sostratus. Of all the harbor lights, This brilliant beam, when lit, outshines the...
On Poet Michael R. Burch’s Anti-Semitism and Attacks on Poets: An Essay by Joseph S. Salemi The Society December 14, 2023 Culture, Essays, Poetry, Satire 33 Comments . Here We Go Again… by Joseph S. Salemi Oh dear… it looks like the hillbilly software salesman is having another moral fit. Michael R. Burch of Nashville Tennessee has posted more venomous comments about...
‘Evening, Washington Metro’: A Poem by Stephen Binns The Society December 14, 2023 Culture, Poetry 16 Comments . Evening, Washington Metro Entrained, en masse, an ebb as from a beach: the tide drawn by the Capitol (the dome our moon) subsides. We move as one, yet each toward some divisibility called home. The trope...
‘What’s Left to Say?’ and Other Poetry by Joshua C. Frank The Society December 13, 2023 Culture, Poetry, Rhupunt, Rondeau 16 Comments . What’s Left to Say? a rhupunt When women’s plans Are like a man’s, So they act trans, What’s left to say? When folks believe That to conceive Is cause to grieve, What’s left to say? When...
‘Moon Before Yule’: A Poem by Margaret Coats The Society December 12, 2023 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 37 Comments . Moon Before Yule The ashen lantern leavening the skyBegins in languor to proclaim sublimeFestivity to winter’s weather eye. The dome of heaven echoes back the chimeOf peals ethereal arising heardIn...
‘To My Daughter’: A Poem by Adam Sedia The Society December 10, 2023 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 16 Comments . To My Daughter A woman’s life is hard, they say---and true, Though now not as our mothers understood: They battled nature’s facts and custom’s due; Your battle will be for true womanhood. Though all...
‘It Was Only a Winter’s Tale’: A Christmastime Poem by Paul A. Freeman The Society December 9, 2023 Culture, Love Poems, Music, Poetry 20 Comments . It Was Only a Winter’s Tale based on David Essex's classic 1982 Christmas song The nights are ever short and growing cold; the front door lies ajar from when you left one evening, though your reasons were...
‘Unsocial Addictions’ and Other Poetry by Russel Winick The Society December 8, 2023 Culture, Poetry, Satire 7 Comments . Unsocial Addictions Why do some people lie, brag, or act mean?It must pump them up, like a jolt of caffeine.But soon they come down, right to where they have been,And can’t get back up, till they do it...
Two Poems on Creative Writing by James A. Tweedie The Society December 7, 2023 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 15 Comments . There Is a Way? Is there a way for beauty to be painted with a word? Is there a way to write in ways so music can be heard? Is there a way to make a point that others can’t ignore? Is there a way to say...
‘Abraham and the Binding of Isaac’ and Other Poetry by Brian Yapko The Society December 4, 2023 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 57 Comments . Abraham and the Binding of Isaac after Genesis 22 I cannot sleep although the moon is high. I’m numb. Before me looms the sacred hill. My son snores softly. I look to the sky Submissive to God’s wish but...
‘Lee in the Furnace’: A Poem on Robert E. Lee by Monika Cooper The Society December 3, 2023 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 28 Comments . Lee in the Furnace "He who thinks of Lee Must think of Washington. . ." ---Herman Melville So Oleh, Chief, my other grandfather, Mine on the distaff, on the losing side. The furnace burnishes your graven...