‘After Christmas’ by Damian Robin The Society January 6, 2017 Culture, Poetry 2 Comments We may hear some Bible phrase and laugh. __That book has no monopoly on ‘goods’. Some words clang, we tip its old tin bath __and out rolls “Baby Jesus” with the suds. Like cliqué’d,...
‘Water Music’ and Other Poetry by C.B. Anderson The Society January 4, 2017 Beauty, Culture, Poetry, Terrorism 6 Comments Water Music Just as white as a blanket of new-fallen snow Is the noise of a waterfall cresting a brim And ebulliently thrashing the basin below. But the sound of a freshet resembles a hymn, Its discrete...
10 Greatest Novels Ever Written The Society January 1, 2017 Best Poems, Culture, Education, Essays, Poetry 39 Comments By Evan Mantyk From The Iliad, Beowulf, and Shakespearean literature in the West to the Chinese Classic of Poetry, the Indian Ramayana, and the Middle Eastern Epic of Gilgamesh, classical poetry is the...
‘New Year’s Hopes, 2017’ by Daniel Magdalen The Society December 31, 2016 Acrostic, Beauty, Culture, Poetry 5 Comments Color streams burst brightly in a flourish of elation, Each to soar and cover night's condoning, lofty, canvas – Livening this moment, man-made shooting stars' vibration Emanate our gladness to...
‘A Second Shirt’ by David Subacchi The Society December 27, 2016 Culture, Poetry For King Charles I of England On the day I asked for a second shirt So my people would not see me shiver In the cold breeze blowing from the river And think me afraid to die or be hurt On that scaffold...
‘Holiday Horror: A True Story’ and Other Christmas Poetry The Society December 24, 2016 Culture, Poetry 1 Comment Holiday Horror: A True Story By Lucy Giardino Cortese Twas two weeks before Christmas And all through the house Water standing in puddles Mama starting to grouse Three pipes in the floor Had...
‘On the Winter Solstice’ and Other Poetry by Neal Dachstadter The Society December 21, 2016 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 5 Comments On the Winter Solstice Winter Winter cold and crass Winter Winter old the grass Fast we go across the field Massed the snow and frost to wield Night of rest abed when tired Light and fest and sled and...
‘Scrabble-ism’ and Other Poetry by Ron L. Hodges The Society December 20, 2016 Culture, Deconstructing Communism, Human Rights in China, Humor, Poetry 3 Comments Scrabble-ism One night I was hangin’ with Len, Eating and watching t.v. All the pizza rolls gone, I then Suggested Monopoly. “That game is all luck!” he then said, Voice revealing some...
‘Christmas Eve’ by Christina Rossetti: Poetry Analysis The Society December 19, 2016 Beauty, Culture, Education, Essays, Poetry 2 Comments By Jane Blanchard On December 5, 1830, Christina Rossetti was born in London to an Italian-English mother married to an Italian poet in exile. The youngest of four children, all of whom grew up to be...
‘To the Kurdish Women Soldiers’ and Other Poetry by Ruth Asch The Society December 18, 2016 Culture, Poetry, Terrorism 5 Comments To the Kurdish Women Soldiers With girlish smiles above costumes of war - you dance, sisters; stamp the pallid golden dust to furbellows about your booted feet. Cold light, drab uniforms are aching...
‘Mulan’ by Stephanie Fang The Society December 16, 2016 Culture, High School Submissions, Poetry 1 Comment Sighs fill the room as Mulan weaves the loom She doesn’t want Father to meet his doom. The Khan needs an army to face the Huns; Father can barely walk let alone run. There’s none to take his...
‘Obi-Wan Bin Laden RIP’ and Other Poetry by James Sale The Society December 10, 2016 Beauty, Culture, Humor, Poetry, Terrorism 1 Comment Obi-Wan Bin Laden RIP Let’s remember what God wants: Killing people’s never right, So Obi-Wan Bin Laden then Cannot be a Jedi knight. To make folks free you face them straight...
A Shen Yun Review: ‘I Love the Dance’ The Society December 8, 2016 Beauty, Culture, Poetry, Rondeau 8 Comments A rondeau on Shen Yun Performing Arts By Evan Mantyk I love the dance that can exalt The human form without a fault, Demeanor grand, inspiring pose; They’re swift yet seem in sweet repose And all my...
‘Ohio State University Attack’ and Other Poetry by Bruce Dale Wise The Society December 7, 2016 Culture, Poetry, Terrorism 1 Comment Ohio State University Attack By Wilbur Dee Case "If you don't like liberal democracy, go to North Africa, the Middle East, or China. Oops." —Waseel Budecir I'm warning you, America, the post on...
‘Unforeseen Good Fortune’s Heirs Are We’ and Other Poetry by Pat Brisson The Society December 6, 2016 Beauty, Culture, Poetry, The Environment 2 Comments Unforeseen Good Fortune’s Heirs Are We There’s little of the Plague that we can find to celebrate except for this small gem – when those who died left property behind it often changed their...
‘Christmastime’ and Other Poetry by Jennifer Bravo The Society November 25, 2016 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 2 Comments Christmastime Lush green tree, wet pine scent fills the air. Strings of tiny gems, that plump tree, strangle, Children’s handmade trimmings everywhere, Red and green and bells that...
‘The Pilgrim’ by John Bunyan (1628-1688) The Society November 24, 2016 Culture, Poetry 2 Comments Who would true Valor see Let him come hither; One here will Constant be, Come Wind, come Weather. There's no Discouragement, Shall make him once Relent, His first avowed Intent, To be a Pilgrim. Who...
‘The Policeman’ and Other Poetry by Bruce Dale Wise The Society November 20, 2016 Culture, Poetry 2 Comments The Policeman By Brice U. Lawseed He dreamed there were ten thousand demonstrators on the streets, a nightmare of the vicious mixed with youngsters sending tweets. He woke up in a sweat, but it had...
‘The Pleasure-Time of Good Queen Bess’ by Becca Menon The Society November 15, 2016 Culture, Poetry 1 Comment Now does a mischief Winter grip our Isle with hands Which, Midas-like, turn all they touch to silvery ice. Thus does our season prove itself more strong than old, Its touch is an enchantment...
‘Of Election and Limits’ by Neal Dachstadter The Society November 8, 2016 Culture, Poetry I think we need your help Lord God; Fairly sure we do, Sure as feet upon the sod, Sure as coins be few, We must concede the modern day is dim and dark, unclear, For limits seem so far away, while close...
‘The Fall of Atlantis’ by Daniel Magdalen The Society November 7, 2016 Culture, Poetry 6 Comments Can one’s eyes pierce the shroud of time to learn The message of Atlantis drowned in dust? Past Hercules’s Pillars thrived man’s lust For power – now in History’s dark urn, As baneful greed’s...
‘Pygmalion at Twilight’ and Other Poetry by Keith Allan Jones The Society November 6, 2016 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 1 Comment Pygmalion at Twilight Like a fiery dawn came we forth unto Our place on pedestals above the dunes Of disappointment – longing dared to paint A fairer portrait, distorted by the wait; A gilded...
‘Trump’ Presidential Prophecy Poem by Nostradamus The Society November 5, 2016 Culture, Poetry, Translation 1 Comment By Nostradamus (1503-1566) | Translated by Evan Mantyk X 76 The great Senate will award the pageant, To one who’s then vanquished, driven out; For adherents, the sound of the...
‘Culloden Moor’ and Other Poetry by Alessio Zanelli The Society November 4, 2016 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 6 Comments Culloden Moor At last they met. No sound. Arrays deployed. It was the perfect day—no haze, no shine. Long minutes lapsed before the bagpipes trilled. By noon it all ran smooth. Forlorn and...
Solace from Terror, a Set of Poems about Living in the West by Damian Robin The Society October 29, 2016 Beauty, Culture, Human Rights in China, Poetry, Terrorism 1 Comment Persistent Danger Where is this going when state and foe mow down civilians and non-combatants in market stalls? They shock and flame like an erratic clown whose grisly creativity...
‘Aleppo’ and Other Poetry by Bruce Dale Wise The Society October 23, 2016 Beauty, Culture, Human Rights in China, Humor, Poetry, Terrorism 2 Comments Aleppo By Cid Wa'eeb El Sur We will drain it dry as hay. Peace shall neither night nor day hang upon its pent-house lid; it shall be a place forbid. Weary seven months times nine, shall it...
Shakespeare’s Iambic Pentameter Treats Autism, Say Researchers The Society October 22, 2016 Culture, Poetry, Shakespeare 4 Comments By Conan Milner | The Epoch Times For centuries, the plays of William Shakespeare have been celebrated for their larger-than-life storytelling and rhythmic language. Now the Bard’s work is being studied...
‘Intimations of a Dream’ and Other Poetry by Brett Forester The Society October 21, 2016 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 1 Comment Intimations of a Dream When the wind rustles through the open pine, And the leaves murmur and shudder off dew; When the sun, like an undeciphered sign, Through the imperial vault of swimming...
‘The Price’ and Other Poetry by Dusty Grein The Society October 7, 2016 Beauty, Culture, Pantoum, Poetry, Rondeau Redoublé, The Environment 1 Comment The Price (a pantoum in iambic pentameter) The sea and sky, once beautiful and clean, They’ve paid the price for man’s hubris and greed. The jungle canopies were brilliant green as nature...
Paean to “ODE TO JOY” and Other Poetry by Don Shook The Society October 1, 2016 Beauty, Culture, Humor, Poetry 5 Comments Paean to “ODE TO JOY”* I heard the “Ode to Joy” today, ten thousand times at least. I could not hold my heart at bay, engorging on a feast of melody, of majesty, of rhythmic...
10 Greatest Poems about Death: A Grim Reader The Society September 29, 2016 Best Poems, Culture, Education, Essays, Poetry 16 Comments By Conrad Geller Poets demonstrably know nothing about death since it is, in Hamlet’s phrase, “the undiscovered country from whose bourne no traveler returns.” Yet from the Egyptian Book of the Dead...
‘The Pleiades’ (Pantoum) by Carol Smallwood The Society September 25, 2016 Beauty, Culture, Pantoum, Poetry 6 Comments There is a tale of seven sisters whose father help up the sky pursued by Orion, carried to the heavens by Zeus. Farming season began when their star cluster appeared high— their position in the...
‘Genesis’ by Liùsaidh The Society September 17, 2016 Culture, Humor, Poetry 4 Comments Gathering like large and lazy vultures they asked me, on my travels, where I’m from — my origins, religion and my culture the place from which I came, so forth, and on. But how to answer...
‘Will Power’ and Other Poetry by Ron L. Hodges The Society September 5, 2016 Beauty, Culture, Humor, Poetry Will Power When God asked Solomon one day What his heart did most desire, The man said if he had his way Unmatched wisdom he’d acquire. Now some might...
‘Such Was My Prayer’ and Other Poetry by James Sale The Society August 29, 2016 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 8 Comments Such Was My Prayer Such was my prayer. And she, so far away, Or so it seemed, looked down at me and smiled; Then to Eternal Light she turned once more. -Paradiso 31.91-93, Dante Such was my prayer – she...
‘Ice’ and Other Poetry by Michael Curtis The Society August 26, 2016 Children's, Culture, Humor, Poetry 3 Comments Ice I open my golden flowing fins, I dance beneath the ice, I dip and twirl and pose and spin: Tell me, don’t I look nice? Look at me! a...
‘Blaschka Glass’ and Other Poetry by Bruce Dale Wise The Society August 22, 2016 Beauty, Culture, Human Rights in China, Poetry, Terrorism 4 Comments Blaschka Glass By Beau Ecs Wilder So beautiful they are, the lovely Blaschka glass displays, exquisite floral blossoms and marine invertibrates; such fragile, magical designs, and educational, as if...
‘A Hero’ and Other Poetry by Evan Mantyk The Society August 21, 2016 Culture, Human Rights in China, Poetry 18 Comments A Hero These are the weathered shoes worn by the Jew, So cracked from all the miles walked since he fled. These are the slave’s strong legs like trunks that grew And worked so hard until he’s...
‘A Song to Some Lady’ by Justin T. Monelt The Society August 20, 2016 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 1 Comment If I were to have been conceived Beneath a greater star, My sorrows would have been reprieved By powers great and far. Were I to have been born as strong As storm and fire and sea, Your royal...
‘To Beauty’ and Other Poetry by H. Wendell Howard The Society August 17, 2016 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 2 Comments To Beauty (Tribute to Sarah Lane, American Ballet Theater Ballerina) Who see you move across the stage Themselves are moved by easeful gifts That vivify as they assuage The day's reflux. Your grace...