Society of Classical Poets logo
  • About Us
  • Join
  • Donate
  • Poetry
    Random
    • 'The Meat Purveyor’s Son': A Sestina by Shirley Bunyan

      The Society
      April 11, 2024
      Humor, Love Poems, Poetry, Sestina
      14 Comments
    Recent
    • ‘On Quantock Hills’: A Poem by Andy Moody

      The Society
      July 6, 2025
      1
    • ‘The Juggler’ and Other Poetry by Brian Yapko

      The Society
      July 6, 2025
      5
    • ‘Optimism’: A Poem for the Graduating Class of 2025, by Benjamin Daniel Lukey

      The Society
      July 5, 2025
      2
    • ‘Never Time to Spare’ and Other Poetry by Gigi Ryan

      The Society
      July 5, 2025
      9
    • A Poem on the Ghost Town Bodie, by James A. Tweedie

      The Society
      July 4, 2025
      12
    • ‘Independence Day, 2025’: A Poem by Susan Jarvis Bryant

      The Society
      July 4, 2025
      15
  • Submit
  • Contests
    Random
    • poetry/contest/inspiration

      The Best Poems of 2022: Winners of SCP International Poetry Competition

      The Society
      February 1, 2023
      Best Poems, Dante, From the Society, Poetry, Poetry Contests
      15 Comments
    Recent
    • The Society of Classical Poets 2025 Haiku Competition

      The Society
      June 21, 2025
      127
    • Winners of Friends of Falun Gong 2025 Poetry Competition Announced

      The Society
      May 13, 2025
      1
    • 2025 Friends of Falun Gong Poetry Competition

      The Society
      March 31, 2025
    • The Best Poems of 2024: Winners of SCP International Poetry Competition

      The Society
      February 1, 2025
      28
    • Winners of 2024 SCP International High School Poetry Competition Announced

      The Society
      February 1, 2025
      2
    • The Best Haiku of 2024: Winners of the 2024 SCP Haiku Competition

      The Society
      September 29, 2024
      14
  • Journal
  • Books
  • Members
  • Poetry Contests
  • Donate
  • About Us
  • Submit
  • Poetry

Culture

Home
Poetry
Culture

An Alternative Ending to Romeo and Juliet by Reid McGrath

The Society
April 13, 2017
Culture, Education, Poetry
7 Comments
If Romeo Had Received the Letter Part I Romeo (in the catacomb, lying down beside Juliet) The friar’s note said: “Romeo she will wake.” Thus here I am now with my life at stake. You’ll...

‘Blue Star’ and Other Poetry by Sally Cook

The Society
April 12, 2017
Beauty, Culture, Humor, Poetry
5 Comments
Blue Star Mama painted calm and clouded landscapes Before she wed, blue-green and grassy shapes, But these went by the board just after she Jumped off into the matrimonial sea. Later, Bach rocked the...

‘Boston Public Garden’ and Other Poetry by Mina Le

The Society
April 10, 2017
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
  Boston Public Garden On Boston Public Garden's willowed shorebank, two little girls are feeding ducks: they prance from beak to beak, arms arcing past their foreheads to farther thrust their...

‘Gaius Plinius Secundus’ by Bob McGinness

The Society
April 7, 2017
Culture, Poetry
4 Comments
  “Doing what deserves to be written, writing what deserves to be read, living to make the world a happier place.” That's what Pliny the Elder said. He quoted “In Vino Veritas,” from...

‘White Wolf, Black Wolf: A Cherokee Story’ and Other Poetry by Dusty Grein

The Society
April 6, 2017
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
3 Comments
White Wolf, Black Wolf: A Cherokee Story A trijan refrain Inside you lives a wolf of white— of patience, peace and love. He is forgiveness, hope and light; a blessing from above. This wolf of white...

‘After E. T. A. Hoffman’ and Other Poetry by Bruce Dale Wise

The Society
April 4, 2017
Beauty, Culture, Humor, Music, Poetry
2 Comments
After E. T. A. Hoffman "Only connect..." E. M. Forster, Howard's End By Ewald E. Eisbruc The inner structure of the movements, working joint by joint, the way they all are linked together, toward a...

‘Rhyme to Me’ by Lee Nyary

The Society
March 28, 2017
Culture, Poetry
1 Comment
  To me, to rhyme— It is sublime To others But a waste of time To match the sounds Of words, they say Promotes an Aural truth-decay To them I say To rhyme’s the way! To make the...

‘The Theater of the Bush’ and Other Poetry by David Watt

The Society
March 27, 2017
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
9 Comments
The Theater of the Bush To westward the sun seeks a comfort nocturnal, Her warmth slipping under the covers ahead; And daylight soon passes the threshold eternal, Turns on the night-light and settles in...

‘Approaching Spring’ and Other Poetry by Alec Ream

The Society
March 26, 2017
Beauty, Culture, Ekphrastic, Poetry
2 Comments
. . Approaching Spring Above the mountain, under the sky, Canadian Geese, you hear their cry, Over the mountain, hear them sing, Man and Wife, approaching Spring. . . Charge to Orion Gird thy blade and...

‘How Much Wheat Can a Woodchuck Eat?’ by Connie Phillips

The Society
March 21, 2017
Children's, Culture, Humor, Poetry
How much wheat can a woodchuck eat? Or cabbage, carrots, and peas, Spinach, parsley, peppers, and kale, Tomatoes, lettuce, n’ beans? What if he brings his family n’ friends? A party they will...

‘The Rocky Mountain Pines’ and Other Poetry by Blake Elliott

The Society
March 20, 2017
Beauty, Culture, Poetry, The Environment
The Rocky Mountain Pines Written in Rhymed couplets of Anapestic Tetrameter. In the mountains or plains, with the pine in the air, I’ll awake to the sun with a chill to compare. When I hike up a hill,...

‘Dancer’ and Other Poetry by Ayame Whitfield

The Society
March 18, 2017
Beauty, Culture, Poetry, The Environment
3 Comments
Dancer the arch of her collarbone a bridge, her legs a throne, the clean and simple lines of her body free of confines. she dances, arms akimbo, hair flowing, and I know that she belongs to the...

‘Saint Patrick Was a Green Alien’ by Damian Robin

The Society
March 17, 2017
Culture, Poetry
4 Comments
  Saint Patrick was a green alien, He came from other parts. He was not a native Irishman But was taken to their hearts. On oceans of pre-destiny He made a Christian start With a sense of...

‘On the Press-ident’ by Caud Bile Sewer

The Society
March 11, 2017
Culture, Poetry
3 Comments
The Press is not the enemy, but Donald Trump is right; the Press is disingenuous; they cannot get it right. Left in the midst of overladen, value-judgment words, left in the air, they're like a flock of...

‘Upon the Pompeii Exhibition at the National Gallery’ by David Essex

The Society
March 8, 2017
Culture, Poetry
or Mutatis Mutandis The mode of most catastrophe is gradually, then suddenly. Time slowly ratchets up the stress in states that tend to stay at rest until some last-straw catalyst, the tumblers’...

Poetry on the Photography of Mark Wyatt, Poetry by Alec Ream

The Society
March 3, 2017
Art, Beauty, Culture, Poetry
All photos by Mark Wyatt / All poetry by Alec Ream Chant of the Wooded Hall Chlorophyll concordant eaves Soaring ceiling, verdant leaves Torah spell my secret sees Worded oracle of trees Beneath a thing be...

‘Sonnet for an Arabian Autumn’ and Other Poetry by Diane Woodcock

The Society
March 2, 2017
Beauty, Culture, Poetry, Villanelle
1 Comment
Sonnet for an Arabian Autumn After William Shakespeare’s Sonnet 73 This time of year you will in me perceive When all things green take on their second growth, The sun at last agrees to a...

‘A Note on Rumi to the Global Diversity Committee’ by Joseph S. Salemi

The Society
March 1, 2017
Culture, Humor, Poetry
8 Comments
  Teaching the Inner Couplets of one Rumi Has left me truly desolate and gloomy. They say he’s great, this Sufi poet Rumi, But frankly, it is most astounding to me That anyone can read the...

Poetry Based on Holocaust Testimonies

The Society
February 26, 2017
Culture, High School Submissions, Poetry
2 Comments
A Million Thoughts Based on the Holocaust testimony of Bertha Haberfeld By Surina Patel A million thoughts are rushing through my brain, The looming gas chamber ahead of me, The sounds I hear and the...

‘Console Her With the Atheist’s Philosophy’ by Samuel Johnson

The Society
February 24, 2017
Culture, Deconstructing Communism, Poetry
2 Comments
  Console her with the Atheist’s philosophy: ____Never mind! Your grandma’s dead. It’s Nature’s way of denoting an atrophy ____In the muscles, lungs and head. I mean to say her central...

‘Riven’ and Other Poetry in Traditional Bardic Forms by Elizabeth Spencer Spragins

The Society
February 22, 2017
Beauty, Culture, Poetry, The Environment
2 Comments
Riven (A Rannaigheacht Ghairid) Once I dreamed Ospreys soared where salmon teemed. Frigid streams and waterfalls Frosted walls where glaciers gleamed. Darkness cowled The moon whenever wolves...

‘Education: To Be Continued…’ and Other Poetry by C.B. Anderson

The Society
February 17, 2017
Culture, Education, Poetry
3 Comments
  Education:  To Be Continued ... There is no lack of opportunity For education in this spendthrift age, And boys who wish to earn a decent wage Must show the general community That they have...

‘Says Simon Cowell (A Villanelle)’ and Other Poetry by Agnes Bookbinder

The Society
February 16, 2017
Beauty, Culture, Humor, Poetry, Villanelle
1 Comment
  Says Simon Cowell (A Villanelle) “Which came first, the egg or fowl? This is what I’d like to know.” “Who cares?” says Simon Cowell. (Not so much “says” as speaks in growl) I...

Whitworth Over Whitman: A Poem by Sally Cook

The Society
February 6, 2017
Culture, Deconstructing Communism, Poetry
41 Comments
What a Wit is Worth For John Whitworth, poet Oh,  Whitman was a rhymer who enjoyed to play the part Of complicating everything.  It's something of an art To ramble on for pages on the pinprick of a...

‘Susan B. Anthony Upbraids Elizabeth Cady Stanton’ by Joseph S. Salemi

The Society
February 4, 2017
Culture, Deconstructing Communism, Poetry
10 Comments
You’ve not come to a meeting in three years— Within the movement, there are buzzing fears That marriage has ensnared you in its cage. And frankly, I myself have reached the stage Where anger has...

‘On the Protesters Filled With Hate’ and Other Poetry by Bruce Dale Wise

The Society
February 2, 2017
Culture, Poetry, Terrorism
11 Comments
On the Protesters Filled With Hate By Bruce Dale Wise And while American airports were filled with screaming hate, Chief Petty Officer Will "Ryan" Owens met his fate, caught in a raid against Al-Qaida's...

‘Bubbles’ and Other Poetry by Mike Dashiell

The Society
January 31, 2017
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
1 Comment
  Bubbles I swish the stick To watch a spread of bubbles gleam; Free and delightful they float Almost a dream. This pristine orbs, A fragile yet audacious batch Seem hopeless until they...

On Their Uncanny Similarities: Hamlet and Journey to the West

The Society
January 30, 2017
Culture, Education, Essays, Shakespeare
5 Comments
by Evan Mantyk WHAT DOES THE classic Chinese story Journey to the West have to do with William Shakespeare’s classic play Hamlet? A lot it turns out. Both Hamlet and Journey to the West were...

‘Song of Ulysses’ and Other Poetry by Clinton Van Inman

The Society
January 25, 2017
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
5 Comments
Song of Ulysses For greatness and glory’s sake For all things rich and noble In proud ships tall let us make Again where only men are able Tired we’ve grown of glitter and gold Of the clamor of...

‘The “Greatest Show on Earth” Is Coming to a Close’ and Other Poetry by Bruce Dale Wise

The Society
January 21, 2017
Culture, Poetry
2 Comments
The "Greatest Show on Earth" Is Coming to a Close By Sirc de Budalewe The "Greatest Show on Earth" is coming to a close in May; financially it could not make it in the USA. The Ringling...

‘Shin-Rin-Yoku: Forest Bathing’ and Other Poetry by Betsy Hughes

The Society
January 17, 2017
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
3 Comments
Shin-Rin-Yoku Forest Bathing You stand beneath this canopy of trees, surrender will, hold still.   You close your eyes and listen as the rustling of the leaves and lapping breeze-blown waters...

‘Departure’ and Other Poetry by James McKee

The Society
January 13, 2017
Beauty, Culture, Poetry, The Environment
4 Comments
  Departure Like escaping through a siege, growing older       Hampers itself with hopes of return; So if, over your bare shoulder, Upwind palaces start to...

‘The Terrorists’ and Other Poetry by Gleb Zavlanov

The Society
January 10, 2017
Beauty, Culture, Poetry, Terrorism
6 Comments
  The Terrorists Tears feed the sweeping sands beneath their feet, And blood runs deep into the living ground. The sun throbs down with agonizing heat. The captives kneel, blindfolded, with no...

‘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 Alec Ream

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...
  1. 69
  2. 70
  3. 71
  4. 72
  5. 73
  6. 74
  7. 75
  1. Frank Rable on ‘Every Square Inch’: A Poem by Frank RableJuly 6, 2025

    My my! You're not holding back, are you. Tell me what you really think. Yikes! (Since you are using "yech")…

  2. Judith McNeil on The Society of Classical Poets 2025 Haiku CompetitionJuly 6, 2025

    Pohutukawa Water like paint in relief Framed in a Landscape

  3. Diane Smither on The Society of Classical Poets 2025 Haiku CompetitionJuly 6, 2025

    On my window-sill a cycladic figurine. reveals existential knowledge with threads of connection. 5,000 years ago as i wash my…

  4. C.B. Anderson on ‘Every Square Inch’: A Poem by Frank RableJuly 6, 2025

    I don't despise the sentiments, but overall, as a coherent poem: yech! Did you ever give any thought to metricality?…

  5. John Savoie on The Society of Classical Poets 2025 Haiku CompetitionJuly 6, 2025

    nicely done, Carl well lineated, natural, uncluttered, spare

Your subscription could not be saved. Please try again.
Your subscription has been successful.

Daily Poems

Subscribe to receive updates in your email inbox

poetry/benson brown/reading

Categories

  • Acrostic
  • Alexandroid
  • Alliterative
  • Art
  • Beauty
  • Best Poems
  • Blank Verse
  • Chant Royal
  • Chaucer
  • Children's
  • Classical Poets Live
  • Clerihew
  • Covid-19
  • Culture
  • Dante
  • Deconstructing Communism
  • Education
  • Ekphrastic
  • Epic
  • Epigrams and Proverbs
  • Essays
  • Featured
  • Found Poem
  • From the Society
  • Haiku and Senryu
  • High School Submissions
  • Homer
  • Human Rights in China
  • Humor
  • Interviews
  • Limerick
  • Love Poems
  • Music
  • Pantoum
  • Performing Arts
  • Poetry
  • Poetry Challenge
  • Poetry Contests
  • Poetry Forms
  • Popular Poetry Archives
  • Readings
  • Reviews
  • Rhupunt
  • Riddles
  • Rondeau
  • Rondeau Redoublé
  • Rondel
  • Rubaiyat
  • Sapphic Verse
  • Satire
  • Science
  • Sestina
  • Shakespeare
  • Shape Poems
  • Short Stories
  • Song Lyrics
  • Symposium
  • Terrorism
  • Terza Rima
  • The Environment
  • The Raven
  • Translation
  • Triolet
  • Video
  • Villanelle

Poetry Archive

  • July 2025
  • June 2025
  • May 2025
  • April 2025
  • March 2025
  • February 2025
  • January 2025
  • December 2024
  • November 2024
  • October 2024
  • September 2024
  • August 2024
  • July 2024
  • June 2024
  • May 2024
  • April 2024
  • March 2024
  • February 2024
  • January 2024
  • December 2023
  • November 2023
  • October 2023
  • September 2023
  • August 2023
  • July 2023
  • June 2023
  • May 2023
  • April 2023
  • March 2023
  • February 2023
  • January 2023
  • December 2022
  • November 2022
  • October 2022
  • September 2022
  • August 2022
  • July 2022
  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • October 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014
  • April 2014
  • March 2014
  • February 2014
  • January 2014
  • December 2013
  • November 2013
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012
  • August 2012
  • Poetry Resources
  • Poetry Readings
  • High School Poetry
  • Translation
  • Poetry Contests
  • Poetry Forms
  • From the Society
  • Poetry Archive
  • Education
  • Humor
  • Reviews
  • About Us
  • The Raven
  • Riddles
  • Journal
  • Members
  • Terms of Use
  • The Society of Classical Poets © 2024