Culture

  Re-shifting in Reverse Alas, I fear the world has fallen prey To well-conceived and ill-intended evil; An armageddon; shattered...

  The Face At night, surreptitiously, it emerges out of the TV screen, or when the light bulb's put to...

  Snow Foe I’m rather certain snow falls for a reason, Like adding charm to wintertime’s cold season. But after...

  Fireship ---August 7, 1588. The English Channel. Since William’s conquest England has not faced Such danger of defeat---so dire...

  Tinian Tucked into the corner of the sea, Birthed in fire, volcanic history, A stepping stone across the ocean...

  Prayer (5:00 a.m.) Some stubborn pain (the world… the past…) Is peeking through the cracks, and all I want...

  The Room Exhaled Before I Did The patient sat before me on the table Clearly hoping that I would...

  Mother’s Loom ---after Li Bai's poem "Midnight Song of Wu" The moon above the palace, Reigns bright within the...

  The Sons of Issachar “The Sons of Issachar understood the times in which they lived, and knew which way...

  Will the Sentence Get the Death Sentence? ---a triolet I write a line, then I decide: will it survive,...

  Mass Destruction Give me a reason to trust in words spoken--- Tricksters have twisted the truth till it’s dead....

  Mixed Blessing Our image of ourselves helps keep us grounded, As thoughts and deeds conform to feel well-founded. It...

  The Otherhood of Man “He who is compassionate to the cruel will ultimately become cruel to the compassionate.“ ---Jewish...

On the Ruins of the Ancient City Cumae by Jacopo Sannazaro (1458–1530), translated from Latin by Margaret Coats Here the...

  250 Years of the "Invisible Hand" We should all want to shake the invisible hand, since it knows how...

  Bombing Iran How sad that war provokes such controversy. Why can’t we just get on with it without A...

  The Number 86: A Humean Tragedy "For my part, when I enter most intimately into what I call myself,...

  Who Wrote Shakespeare?   It could not be the glover’s son; _it had to be the Earl. To know...

  Hidden Harmonies “In all chaos there is cosmos. In all disorder a secret order.” ---Carl Jung   I. Slaying...

  How Fast __How fast can AI do Theology? How quick can it descry _The infinite, sort somehow through _The...

  Undone Decisions made in haste are doubts deferred. The need to come off confident, to seem As though in...

  The Departure His soulful eyes did look on life, and sorely did he weep. He turned his head upon...

  Apologia We stand on others’ shoulders. That is why I sometimes speak a thought already spoken. It’s tradition. Truth...

  Montaigne and Us He holed up in his tower of stone, alone, Sickened by what he saw had overcome...

  A Song for the Survivors of Grooming Gangs Clutches of cowards stain once restful ways Where doors opened on...

  True Susanna Susanna, beauty faithful to young love, To marriage, and to parents’ righteous ways, But most to God,...

  Olympic Gold _Eat the beauty and the beast. Ingest, digest until you’ve had your fill. _Sojourn till the west...

  Atomized The Great Stillness fell throughout the loud town. A quiet dust began to settle down. Where laughter once...

  The Vault _The turning sky enwraps the world. Each day, entreating eyes wide-open to This circling vault shall earn...

  Clonmacnoise (Cluain Mhic Nóis) Rocky gray ruins, round tower stronghold, speckling a wide expanse of green, residuum of a...

  Song of the Beelzebots We lure you with our speed and with our flair. We snare you with our...

  Modern Generation Gap I wish some young folks’ touchiness was less extensive, _So more of them could ponder this...

  Beauty Is a State of Mind A young Masai tribe suitor who is wanting to get married, Must offer...

  The Triumph ---on the three lost legions, and the abrupt end to expansion under Augustus The lovely face of...

  Carnival Quintilla Subtly startling Harlequin, Mutely miming tenderness, Yang you are and I am yin, Thrilled to feel your...

  Village There once was a village where everyone shared _whenever another had need. The folks in that place were...

  Thoughts at Daybreak At break of day, you rise up quietly To check on our young daughter, who lies...

  Humpty Dumpty Redux Some say we stole the land we think we own, and that we must return it...

  A Forecast of Fortune Here’s my forecast of fortune for today, The local and the universal too, Informed by...

  The Cupbearer or the Baker? --Genesis 40 A dream goes through a sieve once we awake, With only fragments...