Culture

. 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 studiously ignore. It seems that at all costs folk should be spared plantation connotation. Has your...

. 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 Rhine. Before its start existed three estates: the first, the clergy; next, nobility; and third,...

. 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 me: Why? What for? I learned to live without you...

. 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’ sight, Suitcases dragged from under tables; more— The laptop filled with the Bidens’ dirty dealing Dismissed...

. 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 young sweetheart, love oozed from her breast, But he...

. 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 and bric-a-brac that bore her likeness. She was loved by rich and poor who visited each town...

. 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 for those of us well-born. Hell take that bloody butcher Robespierre, Whose...

. 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 rain. The memories shall never wane with sight, Nor lend to coming days a newer tone;...

. "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 1 If you butcher a womb, you'd shoot up a school, Your...

. 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, seeing Britannia’s land Beyond his dreams of conquest, sent his hordes To stab...

. 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 all erased, bar none. Some liberals, long cowed to silence, Rued alone: “What have we done?” . . View from the...

. 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 counter-revolution. We saw the snake, never the first to strike, The fir tree, firm as...

. 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 gods of appetite and prone To drunkenness from bouts...

. 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 high. His empty priestly quarters Just leave me asking why. For priests and bishops who Preach...

. 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 marking stones and trees with sacred runes. Years later, in the vatic Persian sun, I delved into the bright...

. . A Broadside Drawn up before us, proud and sure, Costumed in their haute couture, And sporting all the best coiffures, With colours purple and azure, Loom the powers of disarray, Armed with bromide and cliché, With which to tar or to gainsay Whomever pines for yesterday. Though theirs...

. The Winter Cold I so despise the winter cold; I admit it makes me utter all kinds of truly nasty words, disposition in the gutter. The snow, the ice, this arctic clime do not set my heart aflutter, and skidding down those icy roads, that does sorely make me...

. Calendar Poems by Margaret Coats January loves what goblets hold, And February complains of cold. March plows the fields with furrows new, And April nurtures each flower’s hue. Dew on the grass, and leaves above, prepare May’s beds for sylvan love. June produces its fresh, sweet hay; July makes...

. New Year’s Resolution a villanelle by David Whippman And what have you resolved for the new year? I guarantee your vows will be in vain. Oh, I don’t doubt that right now you’re sincere. But soon, your good intentions disappear. Just as it’s happened time and time again. So...

. Same Old New Year   I bid adieu. You shuffle out. A new you shimmies in--- A you without the frown and pout, A happy you of zip and clout, And once again I’ve little doubt You’ll make me rich and thin. You’ll bring me zing. You’ll make me sing....

. Her Silent Prayer  for Isabel Vaughan-Spruce  Beneath the whisper of suburban trees One sombre, sunless, British afternoon, A hushed and humble lady stood at ease In thoughts that rose above the earth and moon To float beyond the turmoil and the tears. Those needful dreams adrift beyond this world, Those buoyant musings soaring as they swirled, Drew ruthless forces from officious spheres. As life and limb was sucked from pulsing womb, A pack of bullish bobbies on the beat (All taught to snuff out thoughts before they bloom) Sniffed...

. Two Empty Chairs “We did the NFP bit for awhile ... and have felt revulsion over it ever since. During that time we might have had at least two more children.”  ---Letter to the Editor, Seattle Catholic, 2002 Two empty chairs, each in its place— The kitchen table’s vacant...

. “Where Ever-present Joy Knows Naught of Time” ---Dante, Paradiso, Canto X, D.L. Sayers translation a rondeau redouble Where ever-present joy knows naught of time, The music of infinity is sung In full-toned harmony and richest rhyme, In higher speech than any earthly tongue. Outside the bounds of days or...

. Crimes Against My Sanity At any-given-time o’clock While tidying my house, I find--- Oh look---is that another sock? It really isn’t such a shock; My kids for chaos were designed At any-given-time o’clock. I can’t tell if they try to mock Me, or if they are truly blind (Oh...

. Addiction A ripple imperceptible, like hints of amber in the tiring balsams, swells to waves of apprehension, then imprints a vision on my mind, with carousels of pirouetting bronze bouquets that plead for my attention with a fiery spin, a touch-me-not exploding into seed, a symphony of reed and...

. The Fall of Babylon Come hear the footsteps march at warlike pace, Come see the merchants weep and craftsmen flee. The vengeful grin on every stranger's face; The angel's cast the millstone in the sea. Behold the fate that's shortly to befall This queen of whores who rides a...

. St. Joseph's Hymn of Praise Matthew 2: 10-15: “And when the Magi were departed, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word:...

. . An Iffy Christmas   with a nod and a wink to Rudyard Kipling If you can’t rise above the treetop fairy (That plastic risk to Rudolph’s rosy nose); If you can’t marvel at the Virgin Mary And Jesus in the face of weather woes; If you can’t quit your...

.   Christmas Rules and Promises My first rule for this Christmas is__No carrot sticks for me.They might have been a snowman's nose,__So I will let them be. My second rule this Christmas is__Your gift I will remember;So if it turns out kind of cheesy,__I'll match it next December. My...

. Glory in the Night It was a night like any night, when in the evening chill Cold shepherds sat by bonfire's light on many a naked hill To warm themselves while watching over flocks of wandering sheep That grazed on grass and clumps of clover, veiled in darkness deep....

. Nativity Scene The hour draws near to midnight, and a priest Completes his preparations for the feast, Assisting at last practice with the choir, Inspecting layout in a makeshift stable, Checking on the altar boys’ attire, And bringing out the Babe his arms will cradle. “This Child comes here...

. A Christmas medley by poet Jeff Eardley: . . Jeff Eardley lives in the heart of England near to the Peak District National Park and is a local musician playing guitar, mandolin and piano steeped in the music of America, including the likes of Ry Cooder, Paul Simon, and...

. The Present---Tense The partial thaw of yesterday now slips Beneath a crust of light that is white snow. This snow is hiding stumbling blocks that trip Intrepid elders' steps to broken hips As small-warmed kids are dangled off the floor, Yanked from falling by firm parents’ lifts. As sun...

. Vom Himmel Hoch by Martin Luther (1483-1546) translation by James A. Tweedie 1. From highest heaven I here befall To bring a good news tale to all. So much I want this tale to bring To tell it I will gladly sing. 2. A little child this day is...

. Sunday Morning While the World Burns Another something, somewhere, every day Perturbs the practised calm of her routine. Those sad reflections on the fractured screen Of tragedy ten thousand miles away Deface the morning’s promise with dismay And make its dull demands seem so obscene. She’s running late: the...

. “Use the Word ‘Cancel’ or ‘End’ Instead of 'Abort'" —Stanford University's 'Harmful Language' List What might have been What could have been What would have been A child who dared to climb a tree Who dared to jump and skin their knee Eyes filled with possibility, A child who learned to tie...

. See the painting more closely here. Eden The newborn world is all aswirl with beasts Obedient who, as God specified, Have duly fruitful been, have multiplied And claim laid to the garden west to east. Their prowl for food and flesh knows no surcease; With feral instinct so preoccupied...

. Continuation You and I are of two discrepant minds: We disagree on all that matters—plus, Our separate brains are not quite sure what kinds Of things they favor, making four of us. The four of us engage in conversations That sound like bickering in closed committee Meetings where doubtful...

. Mother’s TV It numbs regretBut, better yet,Helps her forget,Lest devils spawn. It quells each thoughtOf folly’s rotLost, sold, or bought,From dawn till dawn. Time Confounder,Siren Sounder,Demon Drowner …Is always on. . . Amber of the Evening Amber of the evening meeklyCreeping up the stairs,Slinks into the room discreetly.Amber of...

. There She Goes When Everyone’s a Woman, No One’s a Woman upon reading the news story here. There she goes, erased from Cambridge pages--- An instant relic wafting on the fringe Of lunacy as sybils, saints, and sages Forewarn of doom and logophiles cringe. There she goes---Eve’s ostracized from...