Culture

. Strange Election inspired by President Trump's speech on election fraud (below) by Evan Mantyk Strange numbers were appearing in the dead of night From ballot boxes As if foxes Crept there out of...

The Painting of the Virgin God, seeing in America a child Embracing Faith with jubilation meet, Took up His paints, and on a flowered sheet By His own hand a portrait deftly styled, For He intended...

. That Day of Infamy ∼ December 7th, 1941 Zeros burst through bluest skies __Like stealthy birds of prey, Set to swoop and pulverize __Pearl Harbor’s soul that day; That day of scarlet rising suns __On...

for my two-year-old grandson, Exander “There’s no tale in the world I can’t believe.” I said.“If you have learned belief, you have learned something.” ---Rudyard Kipling, “Bimi” X We meant to...

. Act I Scene I NARRATOR Imagine now the scene: the angry engine, Its beeping brain, its smooth and metal muscles That barely seem to strain beneath the mighty load; And standing all around no creature...

. One night a lean and wizened soul scuffed down the old mill road, while moonlight cast upon the knoll a mounted figure showed. The Horseman sat perfectly still, face shrouded in the mist. His hooded form...

. To Some Other Poets Let hoary heads divine and then divide,Dot i’s and dance on pins and sneer with pride,And ogle with an obverse obfuscationTo fuel the furious fires of their frustration.  An academic...

. Appeal to the Muse O Saint Cecilia, more than just a muse— The very author by this pen and ink— I plead thy help, and never wish to lose Assistance at the quill, or in the rink. For Art is cutthroat;...

  Gather round everyone, come near! My story is for all to hear. A song for you I now shall sing, A song about Murry the King. Murry was the King of the West And ruled till he was laid to...

X No tengo más que darte —Inscription on a Spanish sailor's gold ring, in the shape of a hand holding out a heart, found off the western coast of Ireland. Their splintered hulls well-raked with cannon...

_ Our Bishops, on Nov. 4, 2020 Our bishops hail the president-elect.Do they suppose the election is decided?Or are they anxious that we all move onAnd welcome policies that won’t excludeThe illegal alien...

2 November 2020 Two weeks and counting here I be In clutches of the CCP I don’t delight as I once did In birthday presents, cards, and quid, But my two darling angel-girls Served me with functionary...

  They mix together here waiting for the trim black and gold gondolas heading into side canals that drain and brim with refuse and will bear souls that wait to ride. The tourist's straying...

  Famine de l'âme The soul, deprived of one essential thing, Cannot rely on dusty stores of hope; Seeking to mitigate starvation's sting, Finds worthless every erstwhile way to cope: Profound...

  The turkey that we blithely ate Had little cause to celebrate The final Thursday in November. It's customary to dismember A hapless bird that's plucked and trussed To satisfy our boundless...

  Thanksgiving 1984 2020 Wear a mask until you eat and never touch your face. Muzzle up between each bite and when you’re saying grace. No more guests than four to eight at six full feet apart. To...

  Pandemic epidemic, fever, chills; As viral spiral sickens, quickens, kills. We’re tasked and masked with no place left to go. A lockdown, knockdown, drag-on TKO. The churches, schools, and...

  The Shisendō is a hideaway villa in the eastern hills of Kyoto, Japan, created by poet and calligrapher Jōzan Ishikawa (1583–1672) as a place where he could read and write classical Chinese poetry...

  Cricket The game of Cricket, I’ll relate, Goes back to fifteen fifty-eight, Upon a field in Guildford way, In Surrey, many miles away. The game was played by many more, Up to the English...

Mozart on His Kegelstatt Trio Quite recently I wrote a little trio While wasting time at skittles with some friends. We needed something for the clarinet, Something not dolorous, but not con brio— A...

Heart of Darkness a rondeau redoublé A heart of darkness mocks and flouts the rules. It robs our orb of honesty and light. It tempts then toys with sycophantic fools--- Duped souls that sate the dark...

. Vulture Culture Above the clouds, a vulture soars, the leader of a culture war. The bird of prey is wide awake, ready to punish grave mistakes. A rooster crows with all his might, and fast, the vulture drops...

. The Violence in Philadelphia “Par le regne des maleureux chetis“ —Eustache Deschamps by Urbawel Cidese Say first what caused the violence in Philadelphia; a man named Walter Wallace, Junior, with a...

All Divinity Is Love or Wonder* New Harbor October 2020 All Divinity is love or wonder. The moon pulls up the sea, while rocks plunge deeply underneath; ragged, cracked asunder, synclined metamorphic...

Originally Published by the SCP on November 24, 2019   dedicated to my wife, who was mobbed and defamed for political gains They've come before with pitchforks high, With torches beaming off their...

  Truthfulness I walked through our lovely suburban downtown, Which always is ranked as the best. But everywhere windows and doors had gone down, The triumph of peaceful protest. I heard a most...

_ Pope Urban II Sonnet-Speech, Clermont, 1095 Oh Noblemen, I’m charged by God to warn that Christendom is threatened by the Turk. Torched churches and our pilgrim dead we mourn, whilst in Jerusalem’s...

  Introductory Note These paraphrased translations represent three short poems composed by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, a person so well-known that I will pass on offering a biography and only note that he...

A Wheelchair They kept their car-doors shut and windows closed, Nor left their house but stayed inside, disposed To hide if D were waiting wheelchair-bound Outside. Attendant crew, no siren sound, The...

  On Marriage I married a girl named Sue And alas! She married me too!     As Then, So Now When years ago and many ages since My flaming ardor flared (now fondness thrives For you,...

  On a Turtle of Broken Jade The tiny turtle made of milky jade Was smuggled by Jun’s parents from afar Evoking memories that flame and fade--- Confucian virtue rescued from the war. The treasured...

  She was the one who approached me and spoke, Saying my lectures had swept her away. Maybe we could have occasional chats After class ended, with coffee or drinks? Cued and emboldened, I made an...

  Thoughts following a visit to the World War 2 National Cemetery at Colleville-sur-Mer, Normandy, France. Eugene Ovid Lambert was my name, U.S. Army Airborne casualty. Died on D-Day, that’s my...

  On Voter Fraud after Li Hongzhi’s poem "On the General Election" by Evan Mantyk Is chivalry dead in the hearts of the people? I knew it was lacking but this is pure evil. The stars of the...

  Mary had a little lamb His fleece was white as snow. This little lamb, we’ll call him Stan, Starred at a livestock show. Stan followed her to cooking school Her class was on white...

  Remember, Remember… by Susan Jarvis Bryant No thankful foot falls on the London street In honour of our brave and voiceless dead. Remembrance Sunday’s rendered incomplete Without the...

The complete new translation can found from Hackett Publishing here. My poem sings of one man forced from Troy by war. Fate harried him to find a home on Latium’s shore— On some Lavinian littoral. By...

originally published on November 2, 2020 on MacKenzie Lyric Poetry Where shall they hide now, the merchants of death, Who cloaked our eyes and robbed our throats of voice, Who muzzled minds and sought to...

  Perfectionist Inclined Maligned by self-encasing brine, defined By certainty's demise, self-image lies Within a shrine. Perfectionist inclined, I crouch transfixed in infinite surmise: Confined by...

  “The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything.” ---Albert Einstein The issue isn’t black or white. It isn’t left, it isn’t...