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Culture

Real War Stories, Retold in Poetry by James A. Tweedie

The Society
November 11, 2023
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
15 Comments
. War Paths in honor of veterans I have known through the retelling of their stories. . “Any Man’s Death Diminishes Me” Preface “Be killed or killed! Be cursed or cursed!” __A lose-lose battle...

‘Returning Soldiers’: An Armistice Day Poem by Paul A. Freeman

The Society
November 10, 2023
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
13 Comments
. Returning Soldiers With hedgerows, fields and trees the soldiers of a forward trench have rested with unease, reduced beyond a carcase stench. Beneath a one-time, war-torn land they’ve lain---forgotten...

‘Until You Try’: A Poem by Michael Charles Maibach

The Society
November 9, 2023
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
10 Comments
. Until You Try "You’ll never know Until you try…" Make this mindset Your battle cry! Your first few steps, A paper route. Try out for sports. Doors all about! Reach out your hand, And make a friend, And...

‘The Moon Hung Low…’: A Poem by Cynthia Erlandson

The Society
November 8, 2023
Culture, Poetry
30 Comments
. . “The moon hung low in the sky like a yellow skull.” ---Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray . The moon hung low in the sky like a yellow skull, A glowing goblin with a garish grin And pathos in its...

‘Alfie’s Answer’: A Poem by Peter Duff

The Society
November 8, 2023
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
12 Comments
. Alfie’s Answer “What’s it all about, Alfie?” ---Hal David Not selfish pleasure, as I thought, but love For isolated pleasures quickly sour. Love feeds a hunger nothing else avails The power of love...

‘The Miasma Enshrouding Disneyland’ and Other Disney Poetry by Brian Yapko

The Society
November 6, 2023
Beauty, Culture, Human Rights in China, Poetry
35 Comments
. The Miasma Enshrouding Disneyland I came here as a fairytale-struck child; The tickets cost less than a week of pay And we would spend a carefree, joy-filled day. The park was clean; the rides were fun...

‘Icarus Sings’ and Other Poetry by Paris Michael

The Society
November 3, 2023
Culture, Love Poems, Poetry
6 Comments
. Icarus Sings I’ve tempted fate, And sought the sun, I’m Icarus, I’ve come undone. My wings have failed, For what it’s worth, My long descent, Shall end on earth. I tempted fate, I, fate did...
poem/coats/beauty

‘All Saints Day’ and Other Spiritual Sonnets by Coignard, Translated by Margaret Coats

The Society
November 1, 2023
Beauty, Culture, Poetry, Translation
19 Comments
. All Saints' Day by Gabrielle de Coignard (c.1550–1586), translated by Margaret Coats O Saints, you have your heritage in hand Because you battled Satan’s sanctimony! Though burned or tortured, you gave...
poem/hayes/culture

‘The Legend of Ole Stingy Jack’: A Poem by Kevin Matthew Hayes

The Society
October 31, 2023
Culture, Poetry
1 Comment
. The Legend of Ole Stingy Jack Do you recall Ole Stingy Jack?Whose tricks cost him a great set back?They say he tricked the Devil twice,But when he died he paid the price. At first denied the pearly...
poem/bryant/culture

‘Word Witch’ and Other Halloween Poetry by Susan Jarvis Bryant

The Society
October 31, 2023
Culture, Humor, Poetry, Villanelle
19 Comments
. Word Witch She’ll tease and tempt with mystic words, __This foxy sorceress. Her syntax soars like sun-bound birds--- __This wizard poetess Casts slick linguistic spells that sing __Of Cupid’s carnal...

‘Plato’s Pumpkins’ and Other Halloween Poetry by Leland James

The Society
October 29, 2023
Culture, Poetry
11 Comments
. . Plato’s Pumpkins  A patchwork quilt of pumpkins sown with gourds, odd fellows green and yellow ‘twixt-and-‘tween October’s orbs of orange the overlords of cowboy, tramp, and witch come...
poem/arredondo/death

‘Apocalypse Women’: A Poem by Monika Cooper

The Society
October 28, 2023
Culture, Poetry
18 Comments
. Apocalypse Women The Christians gather at the baby’s grave. There are no tall stones in the children’s field. Red scarves veil women’s heads among the crowd And one, eyes streaming with a grief...

‘A Vision of Hell’: A Bus Poem by Paul Martin Freeman

The Society
October 25, 2023
Culture, Poetry
16 Comments
. The Number 192: Inside the Floor in which we encounter a vision of Hell ’Twas on the 192 at Tottenham Hale, It happened not so many years ago, A certain Mr. George Arbuthnot Dale Experienced a bout of...

‘The Reincarnations of Donald J. Trump’: A Poem by Evan Mantyk

The Society
October 24, 2023
Beauty, Culture, Epic, Poetry
26 Comments
. The Reincarnations of Donald J. Trump after Andrew Benson Brown’s Legends of Liberty  . I. 218 B.C. Above the mellow grass, cliff faces soar Like walls to house a huge primeval god. The pass into the...

‘After Brain Death’ and Other Poetry by Joshua C. Frank

The Society
October 24, 2023
Culture, Poetry
15 Comments
. After Brain Death Based on the article “May We Donate Our Organs?” by Drs. Jay Boyd and Paul A. Byrne:  Warm and pink, his heart still beating, Cells dividing, still digesting, Still his blood is...

On Michael R. Burch, Poet and Editor of The HyperTexts: A Poem and Note by Joseph S. Salemi

The Society
October 23, 2023
Culture, Essays, Poetry, Satire
35 Comments
. Mike Burch Still Around? Good Lord, No… with apologies to J.C. Squire’s Ballade de l’Évolution Créatrice Strange beasts have gone to their reward— The snaky Gorgon and the Sphinx, The centaurs and...

‘Excusing Evil’: A Poem on Hamas Attacks on Israel by Warren Bonham

The Society
October 23, 2023
Culture, Poetry, Satire
21 Comments
. Excusing Evil A peaceful protest just took place, and some unlucky people died. Hamas just wanted more air space where at-risk kids could paraglide. As their kids soared, they saw a crowd, and they were...

‘The Word’: A Poem by Jeffrey Essmann

The Society
October 23, 2023
Beauty, Culture, Poetry, Terza Rima
8 Comments
. The Word “Let there be light,” He said and light there was. The seething chaos split to day and night And space and time were brightly set abuzz. From atom unto Adam, highest heights To deepest depths...

A Poem on Cystolitholapaxy, by Jeff Eardley

The Society
October 21, 2023
Culture, Humor, Poetry
36 Comments
. Cystolitholapaxy Cystolitholapaxy (si-stow-luh-THAA-luh-pak-see): a procedure to break up bladder stones into smaller pieces and remove them “It’s Cystolitholapaxy for you, For guys of your age, it’s...
poem/coats/culture

‘Salome’s Soliloquy’: A Poem by Margaret Coats

The Society
October 19, 2023
Culture, Poetry
38 Comments
. Salome's Soliloquy John the Baptist rebuked Herod Antipas, ruler of Galilee, for an incestuous and adulterous union with his brother’s wife, Herodias. Herodias therefore wished to kill John, and found an...

‘Avoidance’ and Other Poetry by Russel Winick

The Society
October 18, 2023
Culture, Poetry, Satire
19 Comments
. Avoidance I don’t sign up for group Zoom calls __With folks I know are boorish. I don’t go visit galleries __Where art is amateurish. I don’t make plans which likely will __Cause me to have to...
poem/benson brown/epic

The Battle of Bunker Hill in Epic Poetry, by Andrew Benson Brown

The Society
October 18, 2023
Culture, Epic, Humor, Poetry
18 Comments
. Bunker Hill an excerpt from the forthcoming Legends of Liberty, Vol. 2 . The Eve of Battle The midnight moon. The month of June. A neck Of land. A hill of sand. A group of shadows With...

‘A Petless State’ and Other Poetry by Mary Jane Myers

The Society
October 17, 2023
Culture, Poetry, Satire
14 Comments
. A Petless State after Katherine Philips' A Married State, 1664 A house with pets affords but little grace. The best of dogs or cats destroy the place. Note when you visit friends you can detect foul odors,...
poem/yapko/culture

‘My Brother in Galilee’: A Poem by Brian Yapko

The Society
October 16, 2023
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
38 Comments
. My Brother in Galilee I had a fearsome dream---I saw my friend -- My teacher-brother---nailed onto a cross. I wept with sorrow at my brother’s feet. He said his mother henceforth would be mine. Unearthly...

‘Two Bugologues’ and Other Poetry by Donald Mace Williams

The Society
October 13, 2023
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
10 Comments
. Two Bugologues . Moth Onto a wall in chilly gloom I fold myself, all silk and dust, and then, from half across the room, the candle flickers: Come. You must. I am well past my crawling days when, wingless,...

A Psalm of Lament for Israel, by James A. Tweedie

The Society
October 10, 2023
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
13 Comments
. A Psalm of Lament So says the Lord: A voice is heard on high, lamentation, bitter weeping, Rachel weeping for her children, she refuses to be comforted for her children for they are not. ---Jeramiah 31 In...
poem/yapko/culture

‘For Israel Under Siege’: A Poem by Brian Yapko

The Society
October 9, 2023
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
84 Comments
. For Israel Under Siege Imagine that you live in fear of violent Acts of terror daily---bombs may kill Your friends and family---all you love grows silent As hatred of the Jews makes more blood...
poem/essmann/culture

‘The Man in 2C’: A True Story in Poetry, by Jeffrey Essmann

The Society
October 9, 2023
Culture, Poetry
15 Comments
. The Man in 2C I’m trying not to make too much of this, But someone in 2C (the floor below) Has walled himself within an edifice Of waste, a rank malodorous abyss In which he sits as insects skitter...
poem/bryant/satire

A Poem on Alexa’s 2020 Election Fraud Analysis, by Susan Jarvis Bryant

The Society
October 8, 2023
Culture, Pantoum, Poetry, Satire
69 Comments
. Not Alexa's President a pantoum on the news story here “The real risk with AI isn't malice but competence.”  —Stephen Hawking Alexa says election fraud took place. She says the 2020 vote was...
poem/bonham/satire

A Poem on Biden Backing the Border Wall, by James A. Tweedie

The Society
October 8, 2023
Culture, Poetry
15 Comments
. It’s All for Show The Big Guy’s going to build a wall. He’s going to build it strong and tall "Because," he says, "we cannot leave Our border leaking like a sieve." He used to say, “It isn’t...

A Poem on Writers’ Block and Other Poetry by C.B. Anderson

The Society
October 7, 2023
Culture, Humor, Poetry
19 Comments
. Blocked Though honeyed breezes warm the marble halls on Mount Parnassus, vainly do I search for writing on my January walls— molasses clogs my veins.  A different church, perhaps a fresh sodality of...
poem/rizley/beauty

‘Village Home’ and Other Poetry by Martin Rizley

The Society
October 6, 2023
Beauty, Culture, Music, Poetry
26 Comments
. Village Home after George Enescu's Orchestral Suite no. 3, “Villageoise” Along the tree-lined lane he walks at dusk; What brought him here, he cannot now remember. The chilling breeze, the scent of pine...
poem/beauty/cook

‘Hybrid and Wild’ and Other Poems by Sally Cook

The Society
October 5, 2023
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
19 Comments
. Hybrid and Wild All of her life had a meaning, Each section in its compartment. Tenants went through a close screening— Somehow, I got the apartment. She was a prickly old lady— I, a rambling young...
poem/coats/translation

‘With a Smile of the Heart’ (Circa 1200), Translated by Margaret Coats

The Society
October 5, 2023
Beauty, Culture, Poetry, Translation
18 Comments
. Introduction This long lyric of short lines has pairs of stanzas linked in rhyme. It is a sequence honoring Gilbert of Sempringham (1083–1189, canonized 1202), founder of the Catholic Church’s only...
poem/rosenbaum/culture

‘The Song of the Woman Who Bled’: A Poem by Philip Rosenbaum

The Society
October 4, 2023
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
19 Comments
. The Song of the Woman Who Bled Mark 5:25-34 When you have no more money you can spend, Then men will tell you, “You cannot be cured.” Though Jesus makes it better in the end, First tribulation has to be...

‘Massacre of the Innocents’: An Ekphrastic Poem by V. Paige Parker

The Society
October 3, 2023
Culture, Ekphrastic, Poetry, Readings
7 Comments
. . Massacre of the Innocents Matt. 2:18, 10:28, 18:10; Psalm 116:15; 2 Mac. 7:29 Why are the fish and fruit stands closed today— Too many soldiers, stationed all around. My God, they’re pulling out...
poem/yapko/satire

‘The Idealist Who Became an Ideologue’ and Other Poetry by Brian Yapko

The Society
October 2, 2023
Culture, Poetry, Rondeau Redoublé
42 Comments
. The Idealist Who Became an Ideologue a rondeau redoublé To heal the world he treasured this ideal: Unite the many into one great whole. He preached the view that truth is what you feel, Convinced he played...
poem/peterson/music

‘Writers of the Purple Sage’: A Poem by Roy E. Peterson

The Society
October 1, 2023
Culture, Music, Poetry
35 Comments
. Writers of the Purple Sage What happened to the music? The writers of the West? The legends of the cowboys? The songs I loved the best? The outlaws and the posse? Please tell me where they went? The ones who...

‘Wood’: A Poem by Mary Kipps

The Society
September 30, 2023
Beauty, Culture, Pantoum, Poetry
21 Comments
. Wood a pantoum It’s only furniture. But that’s both truth and lie. To find Mom’s treasured things a loving new address is near impossible, no matter what I try. Her home’s impending sale exacerbates...
poem/almadhi/humor

‘Labyrinthine Bag’ and Other Poetry by Wael Almahdi

The Society
September 27, 2023
Culture, Humor, Poetry
18 Comments
. Labyrinthine Bag My wife, bless her heart, went and bought me a bag with tons of compartments, and pouches, and pockets. But searching for stuff is a chore and a drag it takes me forever to locate my...
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  1. Maria on ‘Stealthy Slayer’: A Riddle by Asther KaneJune 12, 2025

    Love this poem , riddle. I think the myth of Pandora's box and The Trojan Horse are very cleverly incorporated…

  2. Warren Bonham on ‘Stealthy Slayer’: A Riddle by Asther KaneJune 12, 2025

    I applied some elbow-grease to this one and completely struck out. I went down a video game rabbit hole (Skyrim…

  3. Patricia Rogers Crozier on ‘Samhain Spree’: A Poem by Patricia Rogers CrozierJune 12, 2025

    Thank you! It was fun to write.

  4. Patricia Rogers Crozier on ‘Samhain Spree’: A Poem by Patricia Rogers CrozierJune 12, 2025

    Thank you very much! And thanks to your comment I went back and read "Queen Mab," it had been a…

  5. Patricia Rogers Crozier on ‘Samhain Spree’: A Poem by Patricia Rogers CrozierJune 12, 2025

    That is very interesting that the solstice admission was so strict, what year did you go? I went in 2022…

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