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Beatrice: Muse for One, Model for All (Essay)

The Society
October 1, 2017
Beauty, Culture, Essays, Poetry
3 Comments
by Jane Blanchard Beatrice, Dante Alighieri’s second guide in La Divina Commedia (The Divine Comedy), makes her literary debut in an earlier work, La Vita Nuova (The New Life), a combination of prose and...

‘The Teacher to His Students’ and Other Poetry by Evan Mantyk

The Society
September 30, 2017
Culture, Deconstructing Communism, Poetry
17 Comments
The Teacher to His Students The ghost… the ghost of Hamlet’s father, came To walk the castle walls one moonless night. This father, once the king, had come to blame His brother, for his grave,...

‘Life Science’ by N. Ram

The Society
September 27, 2017
Culture, Humor, Poetry
10 Comments
  Scientists of the world were meeting Stars among them they were feting Challenges new they were seeking Of wine and wisdom, they were reeking "We have caught the long tail of pi We did count...

‘The Incarnation Sonnets’ by Joseph Charles MacKenzie

The Society
September 26, 2017
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
6 Comments
  Incarnation I: Ego Mater Pulchrae Dilectionis I blossom forth delights on fruitful vine; My grapes are opulent and fair, Productive of a deep, supernal wine Of highest knowledge, hope, and...

‘Re-visiting Dante’ and Other Poetry by James Sale

The Society
September 22, 2017
Beauty, Culture, Dante, Poetry
5 Comments
  Re-visiting Dante “For Dante it was a strict rule not to rhyme the word ‘Christ’ with any other word except itself” – Clive James Inferno Down we went like no other care were there; No...

Wedding Vow in Poetry: ‘Walk With Me’ by Amy Foreman 

The Society
September 20, 2017
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
12 Comments
Walk with me, though both of us May wonder where we go. Talk with me, explore, discuss The things we may not know. Sit with me, through anxious hours Of waiting and of pain. Stay with me, to share...

‘Requiem for September’ and Other Poetry by Ann Christine Tabaka

The Society
September 18, 2017
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
3 Comments
Requiem for September (or/ November Is Upon Us) Withering leaves Dying grasses Autumn is here Time Passes Gray skies Chilly days Brisk nights Life’s fabric frays Weary bodies Wracked with...

Interview with Samuel Gilliland: ‘The Finest Lyric Poet in Scotland’

The Society
September 17, 2017
Beauty, Culture, Essays, Interviews, Poetry
7 Comments
By Joseph Charles MacKenzie, for the Society of Classical Poets Born in 1939 Samuel Gilliland attended the ancient Dreghorn School in an old mining village on the right bank of the river Irvine, said...

‘Cagney’s Last Curtain Call’ by Sam Gilliland

The Society
September 16, 2017
Beauty, Culture, Poetry, Translation
15 Comments
  Cagney's Last Curtain Call Words shape my lips, words that I shall borrow, Pre-dawn, the sun, yet to fully arise, Caresses land edged by a bustling sea; Joy’s tears form, for I may weep...

‘Translation of Marcabru’s L’autrier Just’una Sebissa’ by Joseph S. Salemi

The Society
September 15, 2017
Culture, Poetry, Translation
11 Comments
Translation (1) By a hedge, the day before, I met a half-breed shepherdess Full of cheer and sense no less— A peasant woman’s child. She wore A cloak of fur. One could adore Her simple skirt...

‘Youths For Prophets, Without Sin’ by David Hollywood

The Society
September 13, 2017
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
4 Comments
Youths for Prophets, Without Sin As youths for prophets steer a course, Towards our futures of remorse, We forge a dauntless faith believed, Inspired by deeds not yet bereaved, And age which slows, and...

‘American Incipits’ by Reid McGrath

The Society
September 12, 2017
Culture, Poetry
5 Comments
AMERICAN INCIPITS Ishmael “You shall call his name Ishmael, because the LORD has listened to your affliction. He shall be a wild donkey of a man, his hand against everyone and everyone’s hand against...

‘A Lament for 9/11’ by Zachary Dilks

The Society
September 11, 2017
Beauty, Culture, Poetry, Terrorism
2 Comments
  'Twas so much more on that morn before fall that we all came to mourn as it fell As the shadows that touched had borne, by its clutch, a scorn we remembered so well From the sky rained a fiery...

Hurricane Irma: ‘Trouble in Paradise’ by Lucy Cortese

The Society
September 8, 2017
Culture, Poetry
2 Comments
  We folks in Florida are quick to extol her amenity: The beach, the surf, the lifestyle announce unique identity. But, sometimes Mother Nature interrupts our serenity: The pointed target of Irma's...

‘The New Explorers’ and Other Poetry by Daniel W. Galef

The Society
September 8, 2017
Culture, Humor, Poetry
2 Comments
The New Explorers See this figure? That’s the Spirit Sent up way back when to scout. She rolls around And samples rocks To see if any life’s about. We sent her up here Ages back To serve in the...

‘Super Bowl Podcast’ by John W. Steele

The Society
September 7, 2017
Culture, Humor, Poetry
2 Comments
The best way to understand America is through the lens of football esoterica. If you have no clue where you belong, why not join the friendly football throng? Get to know the winners and the losers, then...
poem/antifa/culture/riot

‘Hero for Hire’ and Other Poetry by Joe Tessitore

The Society
September 6, 2017
Culture, Humor, Poetry
3 Comments
Hero for Hire About myself I feel so good I grabbed my club, I donned my hood I found a hater to beat Then on the other side of town I knocked another statue down it crumbled at my feet I am a hero...

‘Cicada and Mantis’ and Other Poetry by Ron L. Hodges

The Society
September 3, 2017
Beauty, Culture, Humor, Poetry, Short Stories
2 Comments
Cicada and Mantis You are known to us by your choral song, The clicks and buzzes of an insect throng. Hidden in darkness, a collective hum Consumes attention like a temple gong. You are not known to...

Hurricane Harvey: Late August, 2017

The Society
August 29, 2017
Culture, Poetry
4 Comments
by E. Ducabe Wisler "Pray for Texas." —Ubs Reece Idwal The tropical cyclone named Harvey plastered Houston's plat, ten trillion gallons of rainwater in a constant splat; the size of Harvey, as immense as...

‘Britannia’ by Jane Blanchard

The Society
August 29, 2017
Culture, Poetry
5 Comments
As times turned hard and harder yet, The Queen grew apprehensive— Relentless tides of change had made One luxury expensive. Reluctantly, she let her yacht Retire to Edinburgh— It was refitted for a...

‘Despair’ by James A. Tweedie

The Society
August 28, 2017
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
2 Comments
  Poet's Note: "Back when I was eighteen years old, things were sort of grim with the Vietnam War and my draft status up in the air. I had just graduated from high school the week before and was...

‘Poetry before Writing’ and Other Poetry by Phillip Whidden

The Society
August 26, 2017
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
5 Comments
Poetry before Writing “Greece down through the fifth century has aptly been described as a ‘song culture’.” ~ Michael Schmidt in The First Poets, 10, quoting Leslie Kurke, “The Strangeness of...

‘Let Us Raise Statues to the Prince of Peace’ by Joseph Charles MacKenzie

The Society
August 25, 2017
Art, Beauty, Culture, Poetry
21 Comments
  Let us raise statues to the Prince of Peace: __Cain’s monuments are powerless to bind __Our hearts in summer’s sheaf, or to remind The world of our first fall through sin’s caprice. Our...

Excerpts from ‘Bones of Earth’ and Other Poetry by Michael Curtis

The Society
August 23, 2017
Beauty, Culture, Poetry, Riddles
2 Comments
Proem In rhyming, timing is everything. Rhymes in wrong places make awkward spaces. A rhyme in rhyming knows more than prose. Rhymes are the rings you hear in the mind’s ear. Nature’s rhymes are free:...

Ode to the Confederate Dead

The Society
August 20, 2017
Culture, Poetry
23 Comments
by Cause Bewilder for Joshua Philipp Grave statue after statue falls with strict impunity. Memorials and monuments yield to community. The wind whips up no recollection; it cannot forget; the soldiers...

‘George and the Dragon’ and Other Poetry by Sue Vincent

The Society
August 14, 2017
Beauty, Culture, Humor, Poetry, Villanelle
6 Comments
George and the Dragon In the Yorkshire dialect “Nah, sithee,” said Granny, “Just set thee dahn ‘ere, An’ I’ll tell thee a tale old and true, Of ‘ow good Saint George slew a dragon one...

‘The Plaint of Aunegild’ by Joseph S. Salemi

The Society
August 11, 2017
Culture, Poetry
7 Comments
Argument The following poem is a dramatic monologue in four sections, based on a brief passage in a barbarian legal text. In the sixth-century law code Lex Burgundiorum, an account is given of the widow...

Rhyming Riddle Contest Winners Announced

The Society
August 10, 2017
Culture, Poetry, Poetry Contests, Riddles
1 Comment
Thank you to everyone who participated! Judges Dusty Grein, Michael Curtis, and Damian Robin have selected the below winners for the first Rhyming Riddle Contest. Judge Curtis said meter was...

‘The Tea Garden: A Crown of Sonnets’ and Other Poetry by Evan Mantyk

The Society
August 6, 2017
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
16 Comments
On Visiting the Tea Garden in Middletown, New York I. A harried daddy with two kids in tow, Maneuvering through city streets and cars, I look around quite nervously for crows Whose filthy bombs my head...

‘Untitled’ and Other Poetry by Phillip Whidden

The Society
August 3, 2017
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
5 Comments
  Untitled All older statues want to come alive, Those Greek and Roman ones, and Christian, too. Their skeletons and veins and muscles strive To break through marble skin.  They want their...

Three Poems on the Brainwashing of America by Joe Tessitore

The Society
August 2, 2017
Culture, Deconstructing Communism, Humor, Poetry
8 Comments
I. My brain just came back from the laundry they tell me it's perfectly clean and it's thinking the way it's supposed to though I'm not really sure what they mean They tell me I shouldn't be...

‘Again’ by Jane Blanchard

The Society
July 30, 2017
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
7 Comments
Upon the release of the Society’s How to Write Classical Poetry   When feeling some compulsion to compose, One wonders which of many forms to choose, Then tends to favor what one really...

“Though You Behold Me Silent in This Room…” By Joseph Charles MacKenzie

The Society
July 29, 2017
Beauty, Culture, Love Poems, Poetry, Popular Poetry Archives
81 Comments
For Elizabeth On the Poet’s Eleventh Wedding Anniversary   Though you behold me silent in this room, Know that I walk in fields of fresh-cut hay; Though I be still, my thoughts like roses...

‘The Devil’s New Mission’ and Other Poetry by Troy Camplin

The Society
July 28, 2017
Culture, Humor, Poetry
4 Comments
  The Devil's New Mission The Devil went to every single school Across America to find a Faust— But no one wanted knowledge. Each dim fool Stared at a phone—the Devil could not roust A one to...

A Translation of Catullus’s ‘Ad Sirmium Insulam’ by Douglas Thornton

The Society
July 25, 2017
Beauty, Culture, Poetry, Translation
7 Comments
The important events in the life of Gaius Valerius Catullus (84-54 B.C.) are recounted through the poems he has left. The particular poem below was written on his return from Asia Minor, where he had attempted...

‘Inside the Dragon’s Teeth, Maui, Hawaii’ and Other Poetry by Ron L. Hodges

The Society
July 24, 2017
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
6 Comments
Inside the Dragon’s Teeth Maui, Hawaii From inside, you get a new perspective ___Of the tourist spot known as Dragon’s Teeth. The people who write about such things give ___This place, which lies on...

‘Unshaken Faith’ and Other Poetry by Joshua Philipp

The Society
July 20, 2017
Beauty, Culture, Deconstructing Communism, Human Rights in China, Poetry
1 Comment
Unshaken Faith Forward Alliterative verse dedicated to Falun Gong practitioners who have faced persecution in China since July 20, 1999   The ground was broken, crusty, cracked for miles and...

‘On a Bodegón of Zurbarán’ and Other Poetry by Joseph Charles MacKenzie (with Audio)

The Society
July 19, 2017
Beauty, Culture, Ekphrastic, Poetry, Readings
18 Comments
LVII. On a Bodegón of Zurbarán From carbon darkness, splendor! Light comes forth. A painter knew the warm fidelity Of lemons pointing east and west and north, And praised the Thornless Rose’s...

‘To the Orient. An Elegy’ by T. Bothwell

The Society
July 18, 2017
Beauty, Culture, Poetry, Terrorism
2 Comments
  At last, the sunset’s knell forebodes the ceasing day— The merchants in their silken garments trudge their way Along, with Turkish camels and Koranic tunes. Diurnal light retreats from...

Translation of Dante’s Inferno, Canto I and Poetry by J. Simon Harris

The Society
July 14, 2017
Beauty, Culture, Dante, Epic, Poetry, Terza Rima, Translation
10 Comments
Dante’s Inferno, Canto I (Poem by Dante Alighieri / translation by J. Simon Harris in terza rima) In the middle of the journey of our life I found myself again in a dark forest, for I had lost the pathway...
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  1. Cheryl A Corey on Lyrics of Oliver Goldsmith, Translated into Latin by Joseph S. SalemiJuly 8, 2025

    To translate any foreign language poem into English makes for an interesting challenge. As far as I know, yours is…

  2. Mark Stellinga on ‘On Never Giving Up’: A Poem by Mark StellingaJuly 8, 2025

    You know how very welcome you are, Brian. I'm very pleased that it helped to strengthen YOUR resolve, and it…

  3. Mark Stellinga on ‘On Never Giving Up’: A Poem by Mark StellingaJuly 8, 2025

    Thank you, Margaret - it's fashioned after several hundred more of the same style - I'm a diehard, rhyme-'n'-meter 'populist',…

  4. Mark Stellinga on ‘On Never Giving Up’: A Poem by Mark StellingaJuly 8, 2025

    Thanks, Roy. Few know this better than Connie and I as we've been restoring all sorts of finer antiques for…

  5. Mark Stellinga on ‘On Never Giving Up’: A Poem by Mark StellingaJuly 8, 2025

    You're very welcome, Paul, and I can relate to the task of 'cooking a meal' more than ANY mountain -…

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