Culture

. The Red Sea From quite far off we smelled its salt And now stand stunned upon its shore. We stare into the writhing vault Where Moses sees a corridor. It seems there were not graves enough In Egypt so that...

. Asinine to atheist evolutionists When your science cannot put to rights The special wrongs of our divinity, Your exasperation reaches heights That challenge all the laws of gravity. When you talk at us and...

. Ian’s Ire Forecasts: Storm blasts. Cars leave. Clouds heave Endless rain. Flood’s domain. Massive surge. Nature’s scourge. Toy boats heaped up. Homes filled like cups. Millions’ suspect Their lives...

. The Modern Cardinal’s Song after “The Major General’s Song” from Gilbert & Sullivan’s The Pirates of Penzance from a faithful Catholic scandalized at the men purporting to lead the Church. I...

. Moonburst I saw a comet streak across the night, And rend the sky with fire-tipped harpoon; While stars went out in fits of astral fright, The comet struck and burst the silver moon. The moon came down in...

. Dr. Quack My name is Dr. Henry Quack and in my little room out back, Are lots of pills and potions. There's drugs for this and drugs for that; if you’re too skinny or too fat, And drugs to cure...

. Σχολή (Leisure) A Meditation on Horace’s Carmen I.IX You see the glist’ning peak of Mount Soracte, which towers, high with snow, its straining forests bent low and cracking under their wintry...

. . Vanderbilt’s Nemesis Written for Matt Walsh of The Daily Wire who has called out the evils of lucrative transgender surgery on minors at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville. They...

. I Sailed Away to Ancient Greece I sailed away to ancient Greece In search of Jason’s golden fleece. I climbed aboard the Argonaut, But could not find the fleece I sought. Odysseus was waiting there And...

. Proposition One Proposition One, written by the state legislature, amends the California constitution “to expressly include an individual’s fundamental right to reproductive freedom, which includes the...

. Tower of the Winds Eight winds blowing, bluster overflowing,Buffet all the crevices of earth.Eight winds searching, lustily and lurching,Spawning every misery and mirth. First blows Boreas, minion of...

. Sincerity of the Left The sanctuary cities said: “Undocumenteds may come here, It’s merciless to keep them out, We welcome them with open arms!” “We’ll grant your wish,” DeSantis said, "Take...

. The Good Samaritan Scene: The road between Jerusalem and Jericho. It is now three days since a good Samaritan has left an injured robbery victim in the care of an innkeeper. Your wounds are healing? Good....

. Serious Poetry Serious poetry, somber and grim; Dashing, descriptive, with narrative flair. Formal and versified; Rhythmic and dignified; Romance and rhetoric; ribald and prim. Taking you places while curled...

. Equal Schmequal   The traits of men were glibly mocked __By those who thought men strange--- Those who thought the world half-cocked __ And fought for chop and change--- All those who chose to rise and...

. The Tech Addict’s Lament As I take one more hit of electronic cocaine, I snort a fresh shot of noise into my brain And feel the cacophony’s endless refrain Charging at me like a runaway train. I...

. 1960s Soap Operas “Soap operas,” they called them. Housewives watched Them while they sewed or cooked or ironed clothes. At two o’clock each afternoon began The sleazy saga to which mom...

. Green Energy with apologies to Dr. Seuss I do not like green energy Don’t subsidize it, AOC. I do not like it in the dark, My solar panels will not spark. I do not like it with no breeze, Wind generators...

. Sonnet 89 I passed her on the footbridge (underneath, the cars rushing pell-mell to Hades’ mouth). Backwards flowed time then as I scoped her face: lineaments of smack; thin, whorish, thief up for the...

. A Woodstock for China You sit within a public Chinese bus, And out the window: buildings, concrete, dust, Which all are perfect—life is simply thus. You stare with shining eyes, soft-spoken trust. A face...

. Uncontrolled When my behavior needs to change, __But I can’t make that be, Such lack of self-control seems strange, __And I’m ashamed of me. Sometimes the angst I feel inside __Was planted long ago, And...

. Vicente el Bisonte (Vincent the Bison)  Vicente el Bisonte used to live in Mexico He said, “I do not like it here, it’s time for me to go. For lunch they give me Bison Chow, Purina mixed with hay, I’m...

. Congratulations and Homage to Giorgia Meloni Italy rises up and overthrows The stench of leftist tyranny at last. Rage among the EU’s pooh-bahs grows— They realize that their heyday is now...

. The Last Detail Two cocksure, loud–mouthed lads one day set out, Intent on catching perch. “No,” Jim said, “trout.” The hole they headed for neither one knew: All for adventure, they sought...

. Sex in the English Garden Light, feathery Astilbe Sways gently in the breeze Afraid she always will be Faint fluff beneath the trees Concealing dear Sweet William, Who rings each foxglove’s bell Mid...

. Sentimental Song A pad and pen lie by his side __This moonless night of fall. And though he tries to hush his pride, To only see the tears she cried, His hands refuse to breach the wall, __A pithy line to...

. Cruise Control? based on a real incident in San Francisco on April 1, 2022 (though not an April Fool's joke) A well-mannered Cruise driverless-car Drove light-less, but didn’t get far. Its empty seats...

. The Recollected Dream When midsummer rain is spearing From storm clouds darkest grey That provide no hint of clearing To reveal the blue of day, The scent from marshland grasses Permeates each breath of...

. Milking the System We waited, we have waited, and we wait. Delays continue to increase the cost Of doing business.  Every magistrate Can understand the hours and dollars lost But yet cannot, according to...

. Carcassonne by Gustave Nadaud (1820-1893) Translated by Joshua C. Frank “At sixty years, I’m getting old, And I’ve been working all my days Not being able to behold Fulfillment of my wishing gaze. I...

. StairWell Canto 10 extract 2 Context: In the 10th Canto of HellWard we met 4 poets condemned to Hell. Now in the 10th Canto of StairWell, we meet another 4 poets stuck in Purgatory. This extract takes us to...

. Paracelsus Creating man demands not much: Combine the four base elements In right amounts; the lodestone’s touch At once should jolt him into sense. First Earth, in greatest quantity: For what is flesh...

. I. Lefties, in fact, are cool with using guns. Their Mayakovsky howled The floor is yours, Comrade Mauser! as they came for the sons of their serfs, knocking grimly on their doors. What leftists won’t...

. The Odyssey Translator's Note: The Odyssey, Book 1, which exemplifies an essential feature of Homer's art as a storyteller, the way he composes the books of his epics as wholes, each with its own beginning,...

. Obedience by Giuseppe Gioachino Belli (1791-1863) translated from Romanesco by Joseph S. Salemi It’s not true, Christians, what you have been told— That you need endless patience to obey. Obedience...

. An American Tragedy In his mind the purple walrus __mutated to a bat, its unstable form evolving __till it became a cat. "Old cat," said he, "you frown at me, __it seems you are annoyed." "I am your mind,"...

. The Beginning of Wisdom Within the passing noon of our own life, I saw through woodlands dark and traces grim, Those words upon the graven arches rim, Whose clarity compounds immortal strife. They claimed...

. In Silence I Sing for those affected by the Mill Fire, September 2022 Uplifted to God as with wings of a bird In silence I sing without music or word. Though once filled with praise I no longer rejoice, For...

. The Adjudication “I weep for you,” the Walrus said: __“I deeply sympathise.” With sobs and tears he sorted out __Those of the largest size, Holding his pocket-handkerchief __Before his streaming...

. The Way of the World Some horrid truth seems now made manifest: __Some nothingness tucked in the human core Parades itself as fullness and the best __In us—our grace, our reason—sore distorts. __In...