Culture

. The Chained Oak This tale concerns the fifteenth Earl of Shrewsbury, A member of the English aristocracy. With mighty Halls and Castle where he’d often go, Perched high above the river running down...

. . Shhh… Shanghai trembles at the edge of hell As horror wafts and weaves its way through streets. The moon melts in the flare of terror’s yell--- Hot howls of raw despair till morning...

. One Afternoon One hot Arabian afternoon a boom reverberated through my flat and woke my napping wife and children; in each room the windows shook, but not so much they broke. Two cars with insurrectionists...

. Easter Monday Luke 24: 13 – 35 With hearts eclipsed by Friday’s three-day night And eyes still blinded to their master’s face, They hear his sermon, senseless that his light Has thrown the flames of...

. The Prince of Peace     He braved each gouging lash and bruising blow Till scourged and bludgeoned flesh was raw and torn--- Paraded in a crown of thorns to show This phony King of Jews was ripe for...

. Easter 2022 In silence, night retires with a yawn— Its starlit labor blessed by God’s, “Well done.” And as the weary world awakes to dawn, The auric radiance of the risen sun Illumes a garden where...

. Sunrise at the Hollywood Bowl A sleepy son, a father who mourned still. Their first time greeting Easter since she died. When illness came, Anne said her fondest will Was that their boy know God. John set...

. Support the Current Thing Don’t ponder on the horrors of our age. Don’t thumb through all those dusty history tomes. Don’t dally in the dazzle of a sage. Don’t chew on clues and muse like Sherlock...

. Via Dolorosa for those who have suffered abuse. Where does one go to forget? Where does one go to erase Memories filled with regret? Nightmares of shame and disgrace? What does one do with the pain Abusers...

. Sepulcher Jerusalem is built of prayer and quarried stone, From yearning, heartache, sacred scrolls and ancient bone--- The shuls, the mosques, the churches, every ancient room. And as a bride prepares with...

. Annunciation It’s not really an angel but a voice, Less heard than sensed, an urgent undertone That murmurs in the place where I’m alone And all my fears with longing there alloys. It whispers that I...

    . https://youtu.be/PguXX2PRzvI . CREDITS Poetry: Emma Lazarus (1849-1887) Voice-Over: Katy Mantyk Photos/Footage: “Unveiling the Statue of Liberty Enlightening the World” by Edward Moran, 1886...

. The Flowers' Easter Debate Palm Sunday is the Flowers’ Easter, the day when they honored Jesus Christ entering Jerusalem. As they did not need Good Friday’s bloody atonement for sin, the flowers were...

. Birdbrains a villanelle   “When you control a man’s thinking you do not have to worry  about his actions.” ---Carter G. Woodson If we just parrot newspeak without blinking And push...

. (See an explanation on what Sibyls are here.) . The Tyburtine Sibyl The Tyburtine sibyl has the iconographic attribute of a hand, indicating her foreknowledge of insults suffered by Jesus. Not from my...

. Uncle Sam's Tomb after Samuel Coleridge's "The Knight's Tomb" (see below) Where will the grave of that great figurehead be, That leader of free men and symbol of might, That vision of justice in our country...

. Woman For years I’ve known exactly what it means To own the weight and wonder of my sex--- The crimson flow of knowledge in my teens, The curve and swell---my spell---the heady hex That lures love...

. The Short-Lived Triumph of the Junior School's Health & Safety Officer The children wait in line to sanitize Their grubby hands before their morning class. The teacher guards the door, and none may...

. Share your poetry on currently unfolding Russo-Ukrainian war in the comments section below.  We received a large response on our first post of poetry on Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February, and poets...

. The Simplest Way to Save the Earth The simplest way for us to save the earth Would be for women to stop giving birth. For when there are no longer any mothers We’ll solve the problem of too many...

. The Hypodermic For a poet, the pen is merely part Of the apparatus of addiction. He emulates the frozen fly in amber Watching eons come, roll by, and pass. As motionless as veined quartz in a stone, He seeks...

. https://rumble.com/embed/vvm2wt/?pub=4 . Identity Crisis I used to think my body was all woman, My fruitful womb refused to be dismissed. But now I’m not so sure I’m even human--- I’m not a fully...

. From The Burkean: Icarus magazine currently holds the reputation of being Trinity College’s — if not Ireland’s — premier poetry journal… with contributions from Seamus Heaney and John...

. Sold I. Summer Honey Crush  Soft, silken lips shone from her screen last night. She saw them, plump and ripe, as smooth and lush As velvet peaches kissed by Sol’s delight. If her smile blushed in Summer...

. https://youtu.be/LRxFaGgdazE Our Worthy Sons dedicated to Samuel by Susan Jarvis Bryant Our worthy sons should never be ashamedOf who they are and who they’re meant to be.For far too long men’s gender...

. Ode to Salmon, the Episcopal Fish a poem in honor of Bishop Athanasius Schneider No birdsong greets the chilly damp of dawn In dreary gray autumnal cloud-filled skies, As rosy salmon swim upstream to...

. Dispiration I have nothing to say, Not a thought in my head. If I needed to pray There would be nothing said. Just a large empty space And no functioning brain, With the mouth on my face Filled with nothing...

. The Street Cop's Choice Thanks for coming home to help me choose. I know my kids will always have my back. Today was rough. By now you’ve seen the News--- Such blatant lies! They’ve tied me to the...

. Dueling Violins Yanni, Karen Briggs and Shardad Rohani live at the Acropolis in 1993 Anticipating each half-note he brings to life, her fingers stretch to find the grooves. Perfection springs, as sound is...

. Slàinte! Today we’ll lift the Lenten limitations And don our Gaelic garb of kelly green. Bonhomie and glee and lush libations Will flow at dawn and dusk and in between. We’ll pluck a harp and pick a...

. Happy St. Patrick's Day! Share your St. Patrick's Day Poetry in the comments section below. While writing and posting, enjoy an Irish medley of songs, “Chief O Neil’s” followed by “The Red-Haired...

. On Sighting a Marsupial "Serve with: Turnip greens" —Joy of Cooking Opossums are so ugly that it isn’t clear Another of their kind would find one good to look At.  Matted fur and hairless tails do not...

. Two Poems for White Day On White Day, March 14, men in Japan present white gifts to women, in return for the chocolates they receive from women on Valentine’s Day. White Day began in 1978 as a commercial...

. Time Is of the Essence The powers that be in their ivory tower, Make important decisions for sure, While the rest of us mortals surrender our power, We conform… we adapt… we endure. I refer to the...

. A North Indian Summer They ask of me to write a sonnet fine In praise of Summer and her pretty dress, But I hail from a place of different clime Where Summer’s heat knows best how to oppress. She raises...

. The Arch of Titus The Arch of Titus was constructed in 81 AD by the Emperor Domitian to commemorate the victory of Titus and Vespasian, over the Jewish rebellion in Judea. The arch depicts the triumphal...

. Hermes, The Artisan Hermes, son and messenger of Jove, Surveyed the coast, where often he would rove, And found a tortoise beached upon a cove. He took it home and made a turtle soup— The shell, he...

. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CaAv09XqwAY . Young Strongbow anonymous American ballad (Words in parentheses are alternate lyrics suggested by other extant versions of the song.) To Dartmouth’s...

. Yet Another Exhibition Opening "Art is the pleasure of a spirit that enters nature and discovers that it too has a soul." ---Auguste Rodin Although this bourgeois slum is flush with cash, No decent man could...

. Ex Nihilo Is a Joke “. . .it starts with an empty universe” ---Stephen Fry, Cosmos, vii An empty universe is paradox. In such a boundless space there’d be no time. Among all other blanks there’d be...