StairWell Canto 8: ‘Covid-Priest’ by James Sale The Society January 28, 2023 Covid-19, Culture, Dante, Epic, Poetry 30 Comments . Canto 8: Covid-Priest from The English Cantos Volume 2: StairWell StairWell is the Poet’s Purgatory, and as in HellWard where we met with contemporary challenges such as Brexit, so here in StairWell the...
‘Life on the Farm’ and Other Poetry by Aleta Kiefer The Society January 27, 2023 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 10 Comments . Life on the Farm Daddy’s gone. Is he sleeping? For only the shell remains. I hear the cries of cicadas. I listen to their pain. Momma, why are you weeping? Did Daddy push you away? Her tears rob the...
A Poem for India’s Republic Day: ‘The Land of Dreams’ by Satyananda Sarangi The Society January 26, 2023 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 16 Comments . The Land of Dreams written on the eve of India's Republic Day of India which is celebrated on Jan. 26 every year Some distance far away, the drumbeats sound __And echo victories now past; __Where clouds of...
‘The Poetaster’s Plight’ by Kenneth L. Horne The Society January 26, 2023 Culture, Humor, Poetry 17 Comments . The Poetaster’s Plight Some think the poet’s work is ease: "Sit back and write it’s such a breeze;" But those that know will surely say They labor hard from day to day. They wrestle with each turn of...
‘The Stonechat Listens At The Asylum Window’ by Charles Southerland The Society January 25, 2023 Beauty, Culture, Humor, Poetry 31 Comments . The Stonechat Listens at the Asylum Window I fear I might mistranslate what you said And lose the very essence of your words. May I record you as I do the birds: The warbler, shrike and wren, red’s...
A Classical Guitar Rendition of ‘Auld Lang Syne’ for Burns Night, by Jeff Eardley The Society January 25, 2023 Culture, Music, Poetry 17 Comments . Burns Night is when Scotland's most important bard, Robert Burns (1759-1796), is celebrated, usually with the recitation of Burns' poems, the eating of haggis, and the drinking of whiskey. It occurs on...
A Sonnet for Burns Night, by Susan Jarvis Bryant The Society January 24, 2023 Beauty, Culture, Humor, Poetry 43 Comments . Note: Burns Night is when Scotland’s most important bard, Robert Burns (1759-1796), is celebrated, usually with the recitation of Burns’ poems, the eating of haggis, and the drinking of whisky. It...
A Poem on the Existence of God: ‘The Problem of Good’ by Jeffrey Essmann The Society January 24, 2023 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 11 Comments . The Problem of Good a Petrarchan sonnet If there’s (the armchair philosopher maintains) A God (most likely writing in his blog), Then why’s the world in such a dismal fog Of evil will and endless human...
A Poem on the World Economic Forum’s Davos 2023, by Julian D. Woodruff The Society January 23, 2023 Culture, Music, Poetry 20 Comments . WEF, Davos, ‘23—A Modern Reply after “Endless Pleasure, Endless Love”* Endless hooey, endless snow, We’re exposed to here below. Ever on their riches leaning, Our tormentors strew their lies; While...
“John Adams in Heaven,” from Legends of Liberty by Andrew Benson Brown The Society January 22, 2023 Beauty, Culture, Epic, Poetry 18 Comments . John Adams in Heaven John and Abigail Adams are being guided through heaven by John Milton. He takes them to a villa in the Elysian Fields, where they meet a famous Roman who shows them a vision of their...
‘Iambic Barktameter’ by Mark F. Stone The Society January 21, 2023 Culture, Humor, Poetry 31 Comments . A Note on Iambic Barktameter I have an Australian Shepard named Sunny who loves poetry. I didn’t believe it at first, but she proved it to me. She showed me her copy of Poetry magazine and said, “Look...
‘Bats at Sunset’ and Other Poetry by Maxim D. Shrayer The Society January 21, 2023 Beauty, Culture, Deconstructing Communism, Poetry 22 Comments . Bats at Sunset The monster is rotund, vile, enormous, three-muzzled, and barking ---Vasily Trediakovsky, after Virgil The woods are lovely, dark, and deep ---Robert Frost Last night the bats were flying so...
‘The Calendar’ and Other Poetry by Jez Punter The Society January 20, 2023 Beauty, Blank Verse, Culture, Poetry 8 Comments . The Calendar You are the festive dregs of January,you liven February with Valentine’s.You are the March that gives spring sanctuary,you are the splashing rain April confines.You entertain the shaken buds...
‘Moments from Dante’s Inferno’ by Paul Buchheit The Society January 20, 2023 Beauty, Culture, Dante, Epic, Poetry 15 Comments . Moments from Dante’s Inferno Prepared to travel, if the gods allowed, I saw the woods were dreary, dark as death. I chose to heed a blessing there endowed, before emerging spirits took a breath. And that...
‘Swimming with Dreams and Memory’ and Other Poetry by Pippa Kay The Society January 19, 2023 Beauty, Culture, Poetry, Rondeau 21 Comments . Swimming with Dreams and Memory My childhood dreams and memories remain through adulthood and old age. My doll speaks. My toy car surfs that tidal wave, again. I’m still afraid of darkness, and the...
Poem on the Failed British Space Launch, by Jeff Eardley The Society January 18, 2023 Culture, Poetry, Science 16 Comments . “Newquay, we have a problem” January 9, 2023 We’ve gathered in thousands to witness the blast-off, We’re sipping Champagne with our eyes full of stars. In five or ten years now, our guys will be...
‘Greta’s Smorgasbord of Hate’ and Other Poetry by Brian Yapko The Society January 18, 2023 Culture, Poetry, Satire 61 Comments . Greta's Smorgasbord of Hate I love the pretty trees, the trees love me! They make me dance and sing, they make me shout And sulk and give loud speeches: blah, blah, blah How dare you feed on cow meat and...
‘Gloucester in July’ by Patricia Rogers Crozier The Society January 18, 2023 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 9 Comments . Gloucester in July A thousand silent saints and angels Hewn from vertex, plane, and angle Raised by blow of mason’s hammer Raised from stone to watch the faithful Underneath the sinners stammer Pray and...
‘Beatitude’ by Gregory Ross The Society January 17, 2023 Beauty, Culture, Poetry, Rondeau 6 Comments . Beatitude Be glad and smile, for they revile, The Truth they mock and put on trial, The Beauty they do not possess, The Good, they curse, and will not bless, For Christ foretold this world’s own bile. Sit...
‘El Pescado’ and Other Poetry by Monika Cooper The Society January 17, 2023 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 6 Comments . El Pescado They gloat: the age of Pisces, it is over. They chant to call Aquarius’ forces in. In the deep labyrinths we sought the sign, The two-stroke fish, walls clammy, glittering. The old Mass book...
‘The Christmas Story’ and Other Poetry by Lauren V. Leon The Society January 16, 2023 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 7 Comments . The Christmas Story An angel of the Lord, Came forth with joyful news, Of Him Who is adored, Messiah of the Jews. The angel hailed the one, A Virgin pure and bright, Who chosen for the Son, Would crush the...
‘Civilisations Forget the Taste of Their Own Tails’ by James Lucas The Society January 14, 2023 Culture, Poetry 13 Comments . Civilisations Forget the Taste of Their Own Tails To see a friend possessed By the time’s ideological incantations, To see a world soon blessed By mob rule and its dark infatuations; To glimpse a...
‘Bingo Ladies’ by Mary Gardner The Society January 14, 2023 Beauty, Culture, Humor, Poetry 35 Comments . Bingo Ladies Gray-haired gals meet twice a week, Have their luncheon with the clique At the Wendy’s in Coppell. After they have talked a spell Off to northwest part of Dallas To the Giant Bingo...
Poems on Medical Assistance in Dying (MAID), by Susan Jarvis Bryant The Society January 13, 2023 Culture, Poetry, Satire 29 Comments . Out, out, brief candle! ---Macbeth I am black-dog blue and blinded by the glitzy gaze of stars. Lucent moons will never light __my skyless eye. I am frequently reminded of my fear __of future scars--- when...
‘For Sophie Pakaluk Barrows’ and Other Poetry by Joshua C. Frank The Society January 13, 2023 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 18 Comments . For Sophie Pakaluk Barrows based on The Appalling Strangeness of the Mercy of God by Michael Pakaluk in pie quebrado meter Before God made her soul and mind, Before her parents’ genes entwined __To start...
A Poem On the Banning of the Word ‘Field’ by the University of Southern California, by Paul A. Freeman The Society January 12, 2023 Culture, Poetry, Satire 22 Comments . On the Banning of the Word 'Field' by the University of Southern California’s School of Social Work See the related news story here. In Southern California they’ve declared that field’s a word to...
‘For the French Revolution’ by Claire He The Society January 12, 2023 Culture, High School Submissions, Poetry 5 Comments . For the French Revolution Oh, this shall tell the tale of France’s past: the revolution brought in ‘eighty nine, when Frenchmen took a stand and rose, amassed, against the king from ocean to the...
Poems on the Agony of Teenage Girls, by Jeff Kemper The Society January 12, 2023 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 18 Comments . Be Gone an angry teenage daughter to her absconded mother What irritant incited you to leave And not come back while I was left to grieve? Was it the man you wed, the girl you bore, Your dispositions? Tell...
A Poem for January 6 Prisoners: ‘Letter from a DC Prison’ by Adam Wasem The Society January 10, 2023 Culture, Poetry 62 Comments . Letter from a DC Prison We’d seen the evidence, the ballots dropped In loads of boxes trundled in late-night With ballot counting claimed to have been stopped; The windows blocked to hide observers’...
‘Antietam’ and Other Poetry by Vicki Roberts The Society January 10, 2023 Culture, Love Poems, Poetry 6 Comments . Antietam It was the bloodbath battle of the Civil War; Scores of men died, by musket, the gore; Was this brave dead soldier from north or from south, Left on the field, blood gushed from his mouth; He had a...
‘Queen of Jubilees’ by Paul A. Freeman The Society January 10, 2023 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 15 Comments . Queen of Jubilees A Queen there was, revered, of global fame--- Elizabeth the Second was her name. For three-score-years-and-ten she ruled the roost and gave us Brits a self-assuring boost through walkabouts...
‘Mourning Louis XVI’ by Brian Yapko The Society January 8, 2023 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 25 Comments . Mourning Louis XVI We must not say in public that we mourn--- Sit still, Brigitte, and listen to your père! If we disclose our grief we court the hate Of France’s revolutionary swarm. These days are bleak...
‘The Departing Year’ by Satyananda Sarangi The Society January 7, 2023 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 24 Comments . The Departing Year This night shall stand and stare with wintry rage Through half-closed windows stained in loss and gain; To measure all astounding feats and fame Against those bitter tears in blinding...
‘I Will Mock When Your Calamity Cometh’ by Alec Ream The Society January 7, 2023 Culture, Poetry 5 Comments . "I Will Mock When Your Calamity Cometh" "...but ye have set at nought my counsel, and would hear none of my reproof: I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh..." ---Proverbs...
‘Xi’ and Other Poetry by Morrison Handley-Schachler The Society January 7, 2023 Culture, Love Poems, Poetry 8 Comments . Xi When Xerxes saw his bridge of boats which spanned The Hellespont destroyed, forthwith he laid Fetters of iron on the waves and flayed With whips the surf which had him dared withstand. So Gaius, too,...
‘Cambridge Dictionary Women, 2040’ and Other Poetry by Russel Winick The Society January 6, 2023 Culture, Poetry, Satire 10 Comments . Cambridge Dictionary Women, 2040 In 2040 leftist sports fans Realized their greatest joys, With legendary women’s records Smashed by athletes born as boys. Serena Williams’, Brittney Griner’s Records...
A Poem Commemorating January 6th and Ashli Babbitt, by Monika Cooper The Society January 6, 2023 Blank Verse, Culture, Poetry 18 Comments . La Bandera “ never begins an attack, nor, when once engaged, ever surrenders” —Benjamin Franklin It was the feast of the Epiphany. The mall was full, the air alive with flags And musical with...
‘The Babylonian Exile’ and Other Poetry by Jeffrey Essmann The Society January 5, 2023 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 5 Comments . The Babylonian Exile At first it cut much quicker to the bone: The loss of all, our world brought to the brink. But by and by you slowly start to think That maybe your concerns were overblown. Their gods are...
A Poem for Defrocked Priest Frank Pavone: ‘Unholy Orders’ by Joshua C. Frank The Society January 4, 2023 Culture, Poetry 70 Comments . Unholy Orders for defrocked priest Frank Pavone I heard disturbing news: Pope Francis fired a priest For preaching pro-life views To save some of the least, Against unholy orders From bishops from on...
‘Shams’ and Other Poetry by C.B. Anderson The Society January 3, 2023 Culture, Humor, Poetry, Satire 18 Comments . Shams Shams-i Tabrizi was Rumi’s intimate friend and spiritual mentor. I stayed awake those short midsummer nights When naked druids danced beneath the moon’s Hypnotic glow performing pagan rites And...