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      ‘On the Existence of Two Genders’: A Poem by Brian Yapko

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Culture

Home
Poetry
Culture

‘Of Elizabeth Bishop’ and Other Poetry by Julian Woodruff

The Society
March 9, 2025
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
15 Comments
. Of Elizabeth Bishop Ms. Bishop is one able–eyed observer;her vision is acute, that’s plain to see.Staring at her, I doubt I could unnerve her,though from the page she sometimes unnerves me.The variations...

‘An Ode to a Hymn’: A Poem by C. Walker

The Society
March 9, 2025
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
. An Ode to a Hymn “Like aught that for its grace may be Dear, and yet dearer for its mystery” ---Percy Shelley in “Hymn to Intellectual Beauty” Cathedral with its prayer sings homily _About an ancient...

‘Nishijin Weaving’: A Poem by Margaret Coats

The Society
March 8, 2025
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
28 Comments
. Nishijin Weaving In the tranquil heartThere is no scattering ofBlossoms once gathered. ―Satomura Jōha, master of linked verse The shining fabrics of nobilityDemand the planning of a pattern first.The...

‘Craft’: A Poem by T.M. Moore

The Society
March 7, 2025
Culture, Poetry
7 Comments
. Craft ---a conversation between Beauty and Productivity "You don't have time for this, you know." "Says who?" "That daily checklist down there in your tool bar, that's who says!" "Calm down. You need to...

‘A Token of Espousal’: A Poem on Saint Catherine de’ Ricci, by Joseph S. Salemi

The Society
March 6, 2025
Beauty, Blank Verse, Culture, Poetry
23 Comments
. A Token of Espousal Sister Elisabetta Dardinelli Speaks Concerning the Token of Espousalof Saint Catherine de’ Ricci (1522-1590) Dixit mihi Dominus meus: Ne timeas, filia: Non rapiet tequisquam de manu...

A Poem for Ash Wednesday, by Jeffrey Essmann

The Society
March 5, 2025
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
7 Comments
. Ashes Before the Lenten ashes fade and thin, I might remind myself of those regrets More earnest than a taste for sweets Or bad TV and that my conscience meets With frightening ease at times far greater...

‘The Greatest Time of Fatherhood’ and Other Poems by Russel Winick

The Society
March 3, 2025
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
12 Comments
. The Greatest Time of Fatherhood I know that I’m supposed to say The finest time is now—today. And with all their accomplishments, That would indeed make lots of sense. And yet the greatest time of...

‘We Already May Be in Purgatory’: A Poem by Roy E. Peterson

The Society
March 2, 2025
Culture, Poetry
16 Comments
. We Already May Be in Purgatory The Peterson Postulate "What if this life is just a test so we can become better people?" ---The White Lotus HBO TV series What if God has sent us all to Purgatory? It’s our...

‘Zelensky Gets a Hard Lesson’: A Poem by Joseph S. Salemi

The Society
March 1, 2025
Culture, Poetry
67 Comments
. Zelensky Gets a Hard Lesson Zelensky comes strutting, in hope of a payout— Trump and young J.D. are trusting that he’ll Accept their diplomacy’s well-crafted layout Of how the Ukraine needs a...

‘The Vice’ and Other Poems by Gigi Ryan

The Society
February 27, 2025
Beauty, Culture, Poetry, Villanelle
12 Comments
. The Vice Worse than the addiction of a smoker, And harder to get over than cocaine, More drawing than to gamblers their poker Is a vice that never ends the game. It’s worse than the attraction of a...
poem/rosenbaum/culture

‘If I Could but Touch His Hem’: A Poem by Rohini Sunderam

The Society
February 25, 2025
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
18 Comments
. If I Could but Touch His Hem ---Mark 5:25-34 Forgive me, Lord, you know it’s true That I have prayed twelve years to you, To stop the bleeding and the shame To live a normal life again. And now there is...

‘Trumped by Reason’: A Poem by Warren Bonham

The Society
February 25, 2025
Culture, Poetry
10 Comments
. Trumped by Reason Our elitists loved extolling all their virtues while controlling each dimension of all nations through new laws and regulations. The more burdensome the better, and they held us to each...

‘As Hamas Celebrates Dead Babies’: A Poem by Brian Yapko

The Society
February 23, 2025
Culture, Poetry
24 Comments
. As Hamas Celebrates Dead Babies The Bibas deaths... how do I tell this news? A mother and her sons---all blameless Jews--- Killed senselessly. My words seem desecration... For I have not one word of...

‘Chasing COLAs in a Hard World’ and Other Poetry by C.B. Anderson

The Society
February 19, 2025
Culture, Limerick, Poetry
6 Comments
. Chasing COLAs in a Hard World COLA: cost-of-living adjustment We learned, each time we tried to file a claim, _That dealing with the Demiurge Adjustor _Takes all the fortitude that we can muster, And that...

Five Quintilla Poems by Cheryl Corey

The Society
February 15, 2025
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
26 Comments
. Scarlet Pimpernel Amassing clouds—the air still warm; But you, my scarlet pimpernel, You sense that there's a coming storm, Compress your petals, and transform To brave the current's rising swell. . The...

‘Made from Scratch!’: A Poem by Mark Stellinga

The Society
February 15, 2025
Culture, Poetry
13 Comments
. Made from Scratch! An ever-growing-number of our adolescent children are suckled by the biased breasts of prejudice and greed--- born to persons steeped in hatred, keen to fashion soldiers built to fit in...

‘Fifties Country Living’: A Poem by Roy E. Peterson

The Society
February 13, 2025
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
29 Comments
. Fifties Country Living Sit down with me my children, come! __I'll spin a tale or two About when I was just a kid __in nineteen fifty-two. No cell phones, televisions, laptops, __email, or...

‘Evensong’: A Poem by Peter Venable

The Society
February 11, 2025
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
3 Comments
. Evensong The embers dimmed on the Pacific; _The sky a scarlet hue. One might conclude the fire seraphic--- _A seascape brushed by the muse. Some mares’ tails smudged the vista with soot _While gulls...

‘The Clown’: A Poem by Pamela Ruggiero

The Society
February 9, 2025
Culture, Poetry
15 Comments
. The Clown I went inside my mind today. I hoped my thoughts would want to play. But all they did was get me down. I saw a large imposing clown. She had some tears upon her face, and tried to lock me in...

‘Reflections on Still Waters’: A Collection of Poems by James A. Tweedie

The Society
February 7, 2025
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
8 Comments
. Reflections on Still Waters . Isaiah 55:12 You shall go out with joy and be led forth with peace, And a song will break forth from the lands. While the echoes of praise in the hills never cease, And the...

‘Piazza della Signoria, Florence: February 7, 1497’: A Villanelle by Tom Wehtje

The Society
February 7, 2025
Culture, Poetry, Villanelle
20 Comments
. Piazza della Signoria, Florence: February 7, 1497 Savonarola gets up off his knees (much contact with the ground has formed a welt) and lights the bonfire of the vanities. His purpose is to purge the...

‘Lament to the Passing of Paper’: A Poem by Paul A. Freeman

The Society
February 6, 2025
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
29 Comments
. Lament to the Passing of Paper I learned to write my A-B-Cs and form my shapely 1-2-3s on paper, when I was a lad; but now, since I’ve become a dad, the era of the written word is passing like the dodo...

‘Our National Precipice’: A Poem by Kenneth Horne

The Society
February 4, 2025
Culture, Poetry
4 Comments
. Our National Precipice The time has come for all good men To recognize our nation’s end. We have been silent much too long, Just caught up in a siren’s song. That song, that beckons our demise, Brought...

‘Sonnet 1’ by Saki

The Society
February 3, 2025
Culture, Humor, Poetry
7 Comments
. . Sonnet 1 I felt like trying something new today, And so I put my pen upon a page To mimic Shakespeare's famous olden way— A style which, I hear, was all the rage. So here I am committing fourteen...

‘The FBI—Then and Now’ and Other Poems by Russel Winick

The Society
February 3, 2025
Culture, Poetry
11 Comments
. The FBI---Then and Now So respected when I was a kid, For the things we all read that they did, It’s substantially altered today--- Now we hardly trust one word they say. . . The Modern Mainstream...

‘Dead Sea Scrolls Trilogy’: Poems by Brian Yapko

The Society
February 2, 2025
Culture, Poetry
32 Comments
. Dead Sea Scrolls Trilogy “Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer, and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin, he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the...

‘The Untimely Demise of My Dear Uncle Sam’ and Other Poetry by Susan Steele Rives

The Society
January 31, 2025
Beauty, Culture, Poetry, Satire
6 Comments
. The Untimely Demise of My Dear Uncle Sam I received the somber news __as sun set low today. My beloved Uncle Sam __by death was swept away. It wasn’t on the battlefield that __he met his demise. ‘Twas...

‘Accidents Happen’: A Poem by Shaun C. Duncan

The Society
January 30, 2025
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
8 Comments
. Accidents Happen We’re told time tends toward catastrophe, And that a butterfly’s ephemeral wings Might quake the sky somewhere across the sea By strange cascades of simple happenings, Arousing thus a...

‘The Settlers’: A Poem by Martin Rizley

The Society
January 29, 2025
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
17 Comments
. The Settlers —to my forefathers, and all the intrepid men and womenwho settled the Oklahoma panhandle. Across these barren hills, the cold winds blow,As bitter now as in those days long past,When first...

‘Rather Drown Than Hang’: A Poem by A.R. Pereira

The Society
January 29, 2025
Culture, Poetry
2 Comments
. Rather Drown Than Hang “He who is destined for the gallows will not be drowned.” ---Russian proverb A lethal thing, the writ of man _that soaks this realm like rain, from the code of Hammurabi _to the...

‘Mexican Sestina’ and Other Poetry by Geoffrey Smagacz

The Society
January 26, 2025
Culture, Poetry, Sestina
8 Comments
. Mexican Sestina Perhaps I left because I got too bored, and no one could put sense in my thick head, or talk me out of trekking to the beach by reading newsclips of prolific death by drug cartels or...
poem/sale/epic

‘Libra’ and Other Poetry by Patricia Rogers Crozier

The Society
January 23, 2025
Beauty, Culture, Love Poems, Poetry
15 Comments
. Libra There in my hand I held a crystal vial Of distillation potent, red, and sweet, By which my broken heart was put on trial, And golden apples scattered at my feet. Ask not the name of him who gave to...

‘The Magic Trick’ and Other Poetry by Shamik Banerjee

The Society
January 20, 2025
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
8 Comments
. The Magic Trick Another dove spawns from the wizard's hat. A youngster, goggle-eyed, forgets to clap, enchanted by the spell. With every flap this spongy creature makes, he wonders at the skill required to...

‘Cloth of Destiny’: An MLK Day Poem by Kevin Farnham

The Society
January 20, 2025
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
4 Comments
. Cloth of Destiny From his jail cell, he preached civility— despite the agony centuries had brought. Proud Rosa occupied a seat; though fraught with risk, that act preserved her dignity. We dreamed of equal...

An Inaugural Poem: ‘Anticipating President Trump’s Golden Age’ by Mark F. Stone

The Society
January 19, 2025
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
21 Comments
. Anticipating President Trump’s Golden Age Unburdened from that which has recently been. An era of progress about to begin. Mending the messes afflicting our nation. Ending the slow...

A Poem for the 2025 U.S. Presidential Inauguration: ‘Free People’ by Daniel Rancio

The Society
January 19, 2025
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
6 Comments
Free People In some sense, free people have no needOf poets to give their speech a better voice.But freedom wanes without great art and heedOf powers that will enslave us with rejoiceIf only given a chance....

‘Best of the Windy City’: A Poem on Chicago and Other Poems by Russel Winick

The Society
January 17, 2025
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
12 Comments
. Best of the Windy City Nation’s hub and culture center, O’Hare Airport, millions enter. Stunning architecture sites, The awesomeness of Frank Lloyd Wright; Union Stockyards fed the nation; Second City...

Song Version of ‘The Day the Poetry Died’ by Steve Shaffer

The Society
January 16, 2025
Culture, Music, Poetry
23 Comments
. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xF6v6ES3FMU . This is song was originally a poem published by the Society of Classical Poets in March, 2018. . The Day the Poetry Died Wonder why poetry is in...

‘My Soul Is at Home in the Depths of the Ocean’ and Other Poetry by Corey Elizabeth Jackson

The Society
January 15, 2025
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
7 Comments
. My Soul Is at Home in the Depths of the Ocean My soul is at home in the depths of the ocean; My soul is at home in the cosmos above, Always adventuring, seeking to grow and Wreathing my body in infinite...

‘Payday’ and Other Poetry by C.B. Anderson

The Society
January 13, 2025
Culture, Poetry, Satire
14 Comments
. Payday Before the crash, the market looked so strong. I doled out cash and credit, buying in While others sold. But, sadly, I was wrong About this, confidence my greatest sin, And I have duly suffered, if...
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  1. Brian Yapko on ‘On the Existence of Two Genders’: A Poem by Brian YapkoJuly 2, 2025

    Mike, I'm so moved to read this compassionate new comment which shows such an intense awareness of what this poem…

  2. Brian Yapko on ‘On the Existence of Two Genders’: A Poem by Brian YapkoJuly 2, 2025

    Thank you very much indeed, Andrew. The rhymes on this one were particularly difficult to figure out because the poem…

  3. Carole Mertz on ‘Summer Family Cookout’: A Poem by Doug StoiberJuly 2, 2025

    I truly enjoy the flap snap of your hamburger toss and all its fixin's down to the yellin' for the…

  4. T. M. on Two Poems on Cardinals, by T.M. MooreJuly 2, 2025

    Easy to praise what you prize, no? Thanks, Susan.

  5. Joseph S. Salemi on ‘Bayesian Hubris v. Mercy Seat 11A’: A Poem by James SaleJuly 2, 2025

    The story is definitely apocryphal. Hitler was wounded twice in the war -- once in 1916 by a shell fragment,…

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