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Culture

‘A Remarkable Day’: A Christmas Poem by Shamik Banerjee

The Society
December 24, 2024
Culture, Ekphrastic, Poetry
3 Comments
. A Remarkable Day "He's God in human form!" whispers the crowd In motley clothes and groups of twos and threes Beneath the bulky, partly-aqua sky. As nighttime slowly drops, birds meet the breeze And soar...

Jupiter Hammon’s Christmas Poem: An Essay by Michael Curtis

The Society
December 23, 2024
Beauty, Culture, Essays, Poetry
6 Comments
. Jupiter Hammon’s Christmas Poem by Michael Curtis 1761 was a slow, yet interesting year for poetry. The imposter Macpherson announced the discovery of Ossian’s Gaelic Epic and the collected works of the...

‘Home for Christmas’: A Poem by Martin Rizley

The Society
December 23, 2024
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
12 Comments
. Home for Christmas Beneath the sinking skies I ride, a traveler on his way,                     .Through drizzling mist and fading light until the end of day.As skies grow dim and gray clouds...

A Christmastime Poem by Gigi Ryan, Sung to the Tune of ‘Sterling’

The Society
December 23, 2024
Beauty, Culture, Music, Poetry
16 Comments
. The Story the Stars are Retelling ---to the tune of 'Sterling' When burdens are heavy and Christmas is near And faraway star luster barely appears, Tomorrow’s prediction of rain with a chill Won’t drown...

‘The Interview’ and Other Poetry by Brian Yapko

The Society
December 22, 2024
Culture, Poetry, Satire
20 Comments
. The Interview “Respect my grammar rules or else,” K said, “This interview will be extremely short. Or better yet, I’ll summon you to court.” My pulse raced. I could feel my face turn red. K said,...

Three Christmas Sonnets by Phillip Whidden

The Society
December 22, 2024
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
10 Comments
. Dim and Not He carries one white candle in the space Beneath cathedral vaults. He has to hold His hand in front of it so just a trace Of light escapes. The candle’s flame shines gold Yet it is blocked by...

‘Full Circle’: A Poem by Dennis McSweeney

The Society
December 21, 2024
Culture, Poetry, Science
7 Comments
. Full Circle From age to age how long the fray’s been fought Tween those who seek the Truth on sacred ground And those who wish to harness mankind’s thought To what is measured, tested, proved, and...

‘The Most Impactful Hate’ and Other Poems by Russel Winick

The Society
December 20, 2024
Culture, Poetry
12 Comments
. The Most Impactful Hate It’s fun now to listen to every Trump haterWho tries to explain how a racist dictatorWas able to win with a new coalitionOf Blacks and Hispanics defying traditionPlus middle and...

‘The Wreath’ and Other Poetry by Cheryl Corey

The Society
December 17, 2024
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
15 Comments
. The Wreath Circle of green— What does it mean? Never ending, Ever bending. It’s hope that’s vernal And faith that’s welling For God in-dwelling And life eternal. . Pruning Trees   Now that all...

‘Intersubjective Bootstrap’: A Poem by Josh Mitteldorf

The Society
December 17, 2024
Culture, Poetry
10 Comments
. Intersubjective Bootstrap If all life is a dream, is it your dream or mine? __And why should our two worlds agree? An answer avails if we’re both The Divine, __At our source, I am you and you’re...

‘Let’s Just Say’: A Poem by Mark Stellinga

The Society
December 15, 2024
Culture, Poetry
18 Comments
. Let’s Just Say A friend of ours was asked by some reporter how he viewed the war his only son had gone to fight in and had died. His face went limp, his breathing paused his eyes welled up with tears, and...

‘The Drift of Dark Days’ and Other Poetry by C.B. Anderson

The Society
December 12, 2024
Beauty, Culture, Humor, Poetry
25 Comments
. The Drift of Dark Days November is a time for us to grieve About the dying of the warmth and light, About the passing of our joie de vivre, As we await the bitter arctic bite. Near-perfect vees of fleeing...

‘In Advent Stillness’: A Poem by Jeffrey Essmann

The Society
December 11, 2024
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
11 Comments
  In Advent Stillness In Advent stillness and its purpled nightsWe turn within and with a solemn gazeConsider well our soul’s more reconditeAnd sundry impulses: the many waysBy which we hamper grace’s...

A Poem for American Women with Five or More Children, by Margaret Coats

The Society
December 11, 2024
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
25 Comments
. Motherly Motives ---of the 5% of American women with 5 or more children The greater good is motherhood. Let wealth be vast and health ideal, These blessings are not understood To be too much. The dear...

‘Telepathy’ and Other Poems by Anna J. Arredondo

The Society
December 10, 2024
Culture, Love Poems, Poetry, Terza Rima
24 Comments
. Telepathy Your reticence to speak is no deterrent To my delight to be in your vicinity--- Presence and chatter need not be concurrent; Lack of the latter won’t change my affinity For your dark liquid eyes:...

‘Dragons Lost at Sea’: A Poem by Isabella Simmonds

The Society
December 9, 2024
Children's, Culture, Poetry
14 Comments
. Dragons Lost at Sea In salty seas green dragons fly the waves, With plastic scales—a man-made guard from rot. Submerged to sleep in rocky water caves; Bereft of flames they blow and bubble not. A cargo...

‘I No Longer See It on Mulberry Street’ and Other Poetry by Dusty Grein

The Society
December 8, 2024
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
8 Comments
. I No Longer See It on Mulberry Street I used to walk home from school each day, then report back to Pop, what I saw on my way. I'd imagine all sorts of things wondrous and neat, in my mind, with my brain, on...

A Poem for Notre-Dame de Paris Cathedral’s Reopening, by Margaret Coats

The Society
December 7, 2024
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
28 Comments
. Notre Dame Re-Opens To touch this holiness we have no right, Nor did we earn the privilege to restore Its grandeur. Bringing anguished hearts to soar, We purge remembrance of one fiery night. No lives were...

‘Offerings of the Heart’: A Poem by Yoshikaze Kawakami

The Society
December 6, 2024
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
4 Comments
. Offerings of the Heart A Symbolic Poem . The songs of Yamato From seeds of healing sprout As offerings of our hearts, And if ever hurt we feel, Swiftly songs arise; Heard by hearts, we heal. For one need...

‘Fake Sales’ and Other Poems by Russel Winick

The Society
December 6, 2024
Culture, Humor, Poetry
24 Comments
. Fake Sales “Fifty Percent Off”The store signs all say,But I have to scoff---There is simply no wayThat the clothes I picked outFrom the “sale” in that store,Were---on this there’s no doubt---Ever...

Meditation on Herbert’s ‘Church Monuments’: A Poem by Joseph S. Salemi

The Society
December 5, 2024
Culture, Poetry
20 Comments
. Meditation on Herbert’s “Church Monuments” "…Mark, here below, How tame these ashes are, how free from lust, That thou mayst fit thyself against thy fall." —George Herbert, “Church...

Three Meditations in Verse by T.M. Moore

The Society
December 4, 2024
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
5 Comments
. Meditation 1 “Grace has drawn nigh to mouths, once blasphemous, and has made them harps; sounding praise.” ---Homily on Our Lord, (1) "Let your speech always be with grace." ---Colossians 4.6 Grace...

‘American Espionage and the Soviet Target’: A Poem on His Experiences, by Roy E. Peterson

The Society
December 2, 2024
Culture, Poetry
10 Comments
. American Espionage and the Soviet Target I was assigned to Russia as an Army attaché— A legal spy who operated every single day. The era of the Soviets was run by KGB. Just one uncareful step and then...

‘Lamb and Lion’: A Poem by Warren Bonham

The Society
November 29, 2024
Culture, Poetry
15 Comments
. Lamb and Lion God spoke and caused a great commotion, putting time and space in motion. Nothing is now, or was ever not a part of His endeavor. That’s why He’s the Great I Am. The stars proclaim His...

‘Fair Game on Thanksgiving Day’: A Poem by C.B. Anderson

The Society
November 28, 2024
Culture, Poetry
5 Comments
. Fair Game on Thanksgiving Day Please tell me if you think I’ve crossed a line by unremittingly abusing you with strings of salty words not rightly mine but borrowed from a wicked man I knew who’d done...

‘Election Correction’: A Poem by Richard Lackman

The Society
November 26, 2024
Culture, Poetry
2 Comments
. Election Correction Newsome, Whitmer, Pritzker, Hockel, Murphy Have a strange idea of how things should be. Then, of course, there’s Minnesota’s Walz Simply watching folks destroy their malls. This is...

‘Samhain’: A Poem by Isabella Simmonds

The Society
November 25, 2024
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
12 Comments
. Samhain Behind the turning leaves a red-breast peeks,In light dim-lit by mists on Samhain dawn;The earth is churned by drumming, grubbing beaks,Before the frosts are hard and food is worn.In orange...

‘The Lop-Sided House’ and Other Poetry by Brian Yapko

The Society
November 24, 2024
Culture, Poetry
27 Comments
. The Lop-Sided House A lop-sided house on the edge of a cliff; A family trying so hard to be nice As their eavesdropping neighbors spy, wondering if They can catch every word said on every device. The...

‘Talk Around the Urn’: A Poem by Frank Rable

The Society
November 20, 2024
Culture, Poetry
7 Comments
. Talk Around the Urn In our Sunday best, on folding chairs, We solemnly talk around the urn; A tear, a sniffle, show who cares For the loved one who will not return. No box is there with dressed up...

‘A Vacillating Villanelle On Perception’ by Peter Venable

The Society
November 19, 2024
Culture, Poetry, Villanelle
4 Comments
. A Vacillating Villanelle On Perception  "Understanding the world for a man is reducing it to the human, stamping it with his seal. The cat’s universe is not the universe of the anthill." ---Albert...

‘Truth Streaked Across the Sky’: A Poem by Roy E. Peterson

The Society
November 18, 2024
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
10 Comments
. Truth Streaked Across the Sky Truth streaked across the skyAlighting on a foreign strand,Where politicians buried itBeneath the lying sand. The truth was stranger than the lies,Too dazzling for the mind.The...

‘Sailing to Illusium’ and Other Poems by James A. Tweedie

The Society
November 17, 2024
Culture, Poetry
21 Comments
. Sailing to Illusium Unheralded, the ancient oracle Appears and disappears, pronounce announcing Creaturely mortality while singing Dirges under breath; rhetorical Devices wringing images of death From...

‘First Pick Flamingo’: A Poem by Drilon Bajrami

The Society
November 14, 2024
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
6 Comments
. First Pick Flamingo They used to call this player the flamingo; They chaffed and mocked; they were full of bravado. ‘Cause he’s the new kid, they didn’t know his skills He missed three practice shots,...

‘Jehu Destroys the Temple and Statue of Baäl’: A Poem by Bruce Dale Wise

The Society
November 13, 2024
Culture, Ekphrastic, Poetry
7 Comments
. Jehu Destroys the Temple and Statue of Baäl "—What did that madman want?" ---2 Kings 9:11 He saw Jehu Destroys the Temple and Statue of Baäl, the print by Maarten van Heemskerck of darkness to appall. He...

‘The Ghosts of Altamira’ and Other Poetry by Brian Yapko

The Society
November 10, 2024
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
27 Comments
. The Ghosts of Altamira ---a meditation A herd of prehistoric bison; blood beliefs Depicted in concentric whorls with prints of hands. Stick petroglyphs which hint at ice age births and griefs, And spells to...

‘For the Sake of Ten Thousand: A Supplication from New Sodom’: A Poem by Cynthia Erlandson

The Society
November 9, 2024
Culture, Poetry
9 Comments
. For the Sake of Ten Thousand: A Supplication from New Sodom And Abraham came near and said, ‘Would You also destroy the righteous with the wicked?  Suppose there were fifty righteous…?’” ---Genesis...

‘O Lord, Let Me Not Fall’: A Sonnet by Jeffrey Essmann

The Society
November 9, 2024
Culture, Poetry
14 Comments
. O Lord, Let Me Not Fall O Lord, let me not fall today, I pray, Not in some vague or metaphoric way, As into sin or moral turpitude Or somewhat less than pious interludes. I’m talking, Lord, my face against...

‘Sometimey People’ and Other Poems by Russel Winick

The Society
November 8, 2024
Culture, Poetry
20 Comments
. "Sometimey” People Sometimes he’s quite responsive, Sometimes he disappears. Sometimes he’s downright friendly, Sometimes he switches gears. Sometimes he’s so straightforward, Sometimes he seems to...

‘Contra Computerdom’: A Poem by Mary Jane Myers

The Society
November 8, 2024
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
11 Comments
. Contra Computerdom I hold this fountain pen with thumb and fingers, burgundy barrel, gold and rhodium nib, Montblanc white-sea-star floating on its cap. German, this instrument, successor to the stylus...

A Sonnet on the Vogelherd Horse and Other Poetry by Phillip Whidden

The Society
November 7, 2024
Art, Culture, Poetry
6 Comments
. Horse Figurine —one inch by one point nine inch, 32,000 to 35,000 years before Giacometti's famous horse   A hallowed tiny horse, but missing legs, Comes down to us impossibly, or near In its...
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  1. Frank Rable on ‘Roads of Potter County’: A Poem by Frank RableJune 7, 2025

    C.B., I've lived in Bucks County since 1962. I remember Langhorne Speedway (the big left turn) I bought cars at…

  2. Margaret Coats on ‘On Twenty Years of YouTube’: A Poem by Paul A. FreemanJune 6, 2025

    Thanks for the amusement, Paul! I learned of YouTube practically as soon as it came into being, because choir directors…

  3. Margaret Coats on ‘Two Love Poems’ by James A. TweedieJune 6, 2025

    Thanks, James, for posting the Tin Pan Alley style melody. There's the idea! Seems to me, if you ever do…

  4. C.B. Anderson on ‘Roads of Potter County’: A Poem by Frank RableJune 6, 2025

    Don't apologize, Frank, and never make excuses. Be what you are, because that's what you're best at. I grew up…

  5. Frank Rable on ‘Family Values’: Four Poems by Susan Jarvis BryantJune 6, 2025

    So umm, when you chose Frank, that was with care and glee, because we all know that, umm, never mind,…

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