‘The Good of You’ by Damian Robin The Society February 3, 2021 Covid-19, Culture, Human Rights in China, Poetry 8 Comments . How good of you to do your best __for our great population. So we'll do right by your request __to heal our ailing nation. If we feel sick we'll stay indoors, __won't shout---just put a sock in. With metal...
‘The Senior Covid Blues’ by Lee Goldberg The Society February 3, 2021 Covid-19, Culture, Humor, Poetry 16 Comments . The Senior Covid Blues I have read many articles about the virus particles that swirl about and sneak into our noses. I know it takes tenacity to keep one’s lung capacity and not look up and see the roots...
A Haiku on ‘Blackwater River State Park’ and Other Poetry by K.M. Hayes The Society February 2, 2021 Beauty, Culture, Haiku and Senryu, Humor, Poetry 6 Comments . Blackwater River State Park A warm summer day. The kayak floats quietly. The cicadas sing. . . Nightfall at Pensacola Beach The sun has now set And not a light can be seen. What just made that...
‘Two Social Media Brothers: Jack and Zuck’ by Sarban Bhattacharya The Society January 30, 2021 Culture, Deconstructing Communism, Humor, Poetry 7 Comments . The world is ruled by two men---Jack and Zuck, More than their strange appearance their deeds suck. Jack’s goatee truly suits a Marxist boss Who for free speech and thought gives not a toss, While Zuck...
‘Woman Is’ by Don Shook The Society January 30, 2021 Culture, Poetry 15 Comments . Changeable and fickle is the woman. Some things she says, and surely thinks are so, defy a logic with a bent to wander beyond the bounds of any truth we know. Her reasoning, like multi-colored...
‘Poetic Paraphrase of Martin Niemöller’ by James A. Tweedie The Society January 29, 2021 Culture, Poetry 13 Comments . First they came for the Jews, you see, And I did not speak out’ Because I wasn’t a Jew (not me!) I didn’t give a shout. Then they came for the Communists And I did not speak out; Seditious, Marxist...
‘B.C./D.C.’ and Other Humorous Poetry by C.B. Anderson The Society January 27, 2021 Culture, Humor, Poetry 17 Comments . B.C./D.C. Where history and myth converge Two famous founders do emerge, Of nations that excelled at war. (Coincidence? Or something more?) George Washington and Romulus Are equally eponymous, And...
‘How To Be Like Byron’ by Andrew Benson Brown The Society January 27, 2021 Beauty, Culture, Humor, Love Poems, Poetry 21 Comments . How To Be Like Byron Bright butterfly, why do you fade Into that duller, browner shade That strays into the flame at night? You’ve lost your nature’s vibrant light And seek it in another source. For you,...
‘A Message from The Party of Unity’ by Susan Jarvis Bryant The Society January 26, 2021 Culture, Deconstructing Communism, Humor, Poetry 19 Comments . Daily we vent and cement our position In righteous and virtuous words. Unity fails if each crucial decision Is left to the whim of the herds. Deplorable plebs are so flawed and naïve When treading the...
‘Ode to Spring’ and Other Poetry by Andrew Elliott The Society January 26, 2021 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 2 Comments . Ode to Spring Oh glory be to things that grow! That burgeon, blossom, bud and blow In Springtime’s light and airy breeze, Which ruffles softly new sprung leaves. What tongue there be to justly praise The...
‘Father And John: How It Once Was’ and Other Poetry by Sally Cook The Society January 25, 2021 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 22 Comments . . Father And John: How It Once Was Before self-righteous rules, brash and insistent,There was a natural rhythm, quite unspoken.So when my father hired an assistantTraditionalist, he followed rules...
‘Verbum Dei’ by James Sale The Society January 25, 2021 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 51 Comments . The Verbum Dei Retreat Centre on the Isle of Wight aims to be a place of encounter with God We took the ferry; darkness closed; Warm lights ahead; who knew the way? Crowded in a car, pilgrims led For God...
To Joe Biden: ‘Abiding the Storm’, by David Watt The Society January 24, 2021 Culture, Poetry 17 Comments . Well, you beat the odds against you, though I think you rather knew That with media assistance, and a counting scheme or two, There would be a sudden shifting, like a tide, upon a whim, Moving in the wrong...
‘Uninspired’ by Siri Espy The Society January 24, 2021 Culture, Humor, Poetry 13 Comments . I fear my motivation’s dead; there’s no one home inside my head. I’ve looked for it from dusk to dawn; I tell you, it is really gone! The situation is quite dire; my neurons will no longer fire. I...
‘Bread and Circuses, Checks and Netflix’ by Susan Jarvis Bryant The Society January 23, 2021 Culture, Deconstructing Communism, Poetry 24 Comments . Tyrants would distribute largesse, a bushel of wheat, a gallon of wine, and a sesterce: and then everybody would shamelessly cry, “Long live the King!” ---Juvenal Keep a mind that’s blind to widened...
‘Lament for Henderson’s’: A poem for Burns’ Night 2021, by Margaret Coats The Society January 23, 2021 Culture, Humor, Poetry 16 Comments . January 25 is the birthday of Scottish poet Robert Burns (1759–1796). On or near this day, Scots worldwide gather for a supper of haggis (traditionally made of sheep innards), whisky, and poetry....
‘Coats’ by Stephen Ramsek The Society January 22, 2021 Beauty, Culture, High School Submissions, Poetry 4 Comments . A coat of luminescent snow Descended on my patch of grass, And for a moment all its glow Inflamed my eyes like burnished brass. And in a moment it had gone, But not withdrawn; it nimbly turned Into a...
‘Long View Cottage’ and Other Poetry by Gregory Ross The Society January 22, 2021 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 4 Comments . Long View Cottage The view is long and dark atop the mountain where I roam. Birds sing a little sweeter in a high and softer tone. The people gave it many names; I only call it home. The fog hangs thick...
On Rembrandt’s ‘Return of the Prodigal Son’ and Other Poetry by Brian Yapko The Society January 21, 2021 Art, Beauty, Culture, Poetry, Shakespeare 17 Comments . On Rembrandt's "Return of the Prodigal Son" Three centuries have passed since it was wrought--- A work of art transcendent yet humane. The tender play of feelings Rembrandt caught: A wastrel son disgraced,...
Poetry on Piero della Francesca’s ‘History of the True Cross,’ by Michael Coy The Society January 20, 2021 Art, Beauty, Culture, Ekphrastic, Poetry 1 Comment . The Death of Adam Excerpted from Musings on Piero della Francesca’s “History of the True Cross,” in the Church of San Francesco, Arezzo, Italy There’s always both: the sacred and profane. The right...
‘Priam, King of Troy, Addresses Cassandra’s Concerns about the Horse’ by Michael Vanyukov The Society January 20, 2021 Culture, Poetry 5 Comments . Even then Cassandra, who, by the god’s decree, is never to be believed by Trojans, reveals our future fate with her lips. —Virgil, The Aeneid (Kline translation) Surcease, Cassandra, stop that...
‘Stream’ and Other Poetry by Leland James The Society January 19, 2021 Beauty, Culture, Poetry, Villanelle 4 Comments . Stream Above the bend, the water deep and clear, the current strong; seen from the Buckman Bridge, ten minutes walk for me, my cabin near, through pines down from a timeworn granite ridge —a lofty...
‘Childhood, 1919’ by David Whippman The Society January 19, 2021 Culture, Poetry 34 Comments . Daddy came home from “the war to end all war” And seemed, at first, one of the lucky ones. He looked exactly as he had before, His flesh untouched by bullets, gas, or bombs. But not his memories…soon...
‘Virtual Propitiation: Sacrifice of the Quarantined Caregiver’ by Bethany Mootsey The Society January 18, 2021 Culture, Humor, Poetry 8 Comments Seven inches, simple dark design My modern mind disdains the notion That the measure of devotion Is the size or splendor of the shrine. Spilling supplications, meat and wine My ancestors with deep...
‘Every Little Thing’ and Other Poetry by Daniel Kemper The Society January 18, 2021 Beauty, Culture, Love Poems, Poetry, Poetry Forms 61 Comments X Every Little Thing I. His Version She treasured every little thing that you gave her: the sparrow necklace (hazel blueto match her eyes) the bracelet slipped insidethe box of...
‘For Martin Luther King Jr. Day, 2021’ by Susan Jarvis Bryant The Society January 18, 2021 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 30 Comments “I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.” ---Martin Luther King, Jr. “I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically...
‘Rosarium’: A Sestina and Other Poetry by Benjamin Thomas Cepican The Society January 17, 2021 Beauty, Culture, Poetry, Poetry Forms, Sestina 7 Comments . Rosarium a sestina A rose arises red from its green sheath Adorned with swords that prick and pierce: the thorn, Whose vigil kept ensures its life's not brief. Unmatched in charm though fresh from garden...
‘A Poet’s Strife’ by Sterling Osborne The Society January 17, 2021 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 11 Comments . My word will not survive a fire: the dust, the ash of paper singed by matches struck by fingers bent on silence. And it must rot here in summer heat in humid muck where mold will gnaw away at every page. My...
‘Malingerer’ by Ted Quarterman The Society January 16, 2021 Culture, Humor, Poetry 6 Comments . My inconsistent pharmacist, Administer that certain cure That can relax my hardened fist In doses sweet with taste impure. O give me something for the pain, My head thumps fast, my heart beats slow, Or...
‘Orchestra Tuning Up’ and Other Poetry by Cynthia Erlandson The Society January 16, 2021 Beauty, Culture, Music, Poetry 6 Comments _ Orchestra Tuning Up Is this the way the universe once sounded?A mass confusion of discordant trumpets,Flutes, horns, and violins like baffled cometsWithout a geometric course, confounded? Can this be how the...
‘The Victory of Donald J. Trump in the 2020 U.S. Election’ and Other Poetry by Bruce Dale Wise The Society January 15, 2021 Culture, Humor, Poetry 18 Comments (All poems by Bruce Dale Wise) The Victory of Donald J. Trump in the 2020 U.S. Election by Erisbawdle Cue You can’t make something be so, if the numbers are all wrong. You can’t hide Waldo in a place...
‘Speak with Kind Gentleness’ by Mark F. Stone The Society January 15, 2021 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 22 Comments . Stress can envelop, encircle, entangle. Strictures can pressure from every angle. Tripping and slipping to ways that are errant happen to all who endeavor to parent. What should you do when in need of a...
‘Portrait of God’ by Chateaubriand, and Other Translations by Adam Sedia The Society January 15, 2021 Beauty, Culture, Poetry, Translation 7 Comments . Portrait of God drawn from Scripture by François-René de Chateaubriand (1768-1848), translated by Adam Sedia Know you the jealous God, who dare engage In sin, whose impious deeds ignite his rage? His...
Two Poems of the Sea, by Susan Jarvis Bryant The Society January 14, 2021 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 33 Comments . Rapt “I must go down to the sea again, to the lonely sea and the sky…” ---John Masefield Today I felt the roil of sky and sea Merge to form a swathe of seamless blue, Where surge of...
Two Poems on Benvenuto Cellini, by Joseph S. Salemi The Society January 13, 2021 Art, Beauty, Culture, Ekphrastic, Humor, Poetry 17 Comments . Benvenuto Cellini’s Salt-Cellar A woman sitting back, just mildly curious To hear a man’s contrived, seductive patter, Waiting to see what fabrications spurious He’s dreamt up now. It doesn’t really...
‘Washington’s Grief’ by Alex Rubstein The Society January 12, 2021 Beauty, Culture, High School Submissions, Poetry 10 Comments . Behold the father of this infant land, Conductor of our daunting foe’s defeat, Now warmly laureled for his noble stand Through which our liberty was made complete. Yet Washington the praise did humbly...
‘Humility’ and Other Poetry and Translation by Alexandra Guo The Society January 11, 2021 Beauty, Culture, High School Submissions, Humor, Poetry, Translation 12 Comments . Humility Lo, I have seen the Muses plain. What need Have I to go on living?—’Twas in Rome: I touched the flesh (it was a holy deed) That Michelangelo shaped out of stone. O what a great and glorious...
‘Amen and Awoman’ and Other Poetry on the State of the U.S. The Society January 11, 2021 Culture, Deconstructing Communism, Humor, Poetry 5 Comments . Wokeness by Russel Winick “Amen and Awoman” the Congressman said, The Leftists all thought it was great. What more woke insanity now lies ahead? That young females...
‘With Goals in Tow’ by Janice Canerdy The Society January 10, 2021 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 12 Comments . With Goals in Tow I’ve fewer days ahead of me than those I have been blessed to see. Though time moves on so rapidly, my hopes sustain. God still has plans for me, I know. He’s guiding me as to and...
‘Flodden’ and Other Poetry by James A. Tweedie The Society January 10, 2021 Beauty, Culture, Performing Arts, Poetry 16 Comments . Flodden Historical Note: The Battle of Flodden took place between English and Scottish armies on September 9, 1513. The battle proved a tragic disaster for the Scots who lost an estimated 12,000-17,000 men...
