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Poetry

Home
Poetry

‘Paper Flowers’ by Sathya Narayana

The Society
May 10, 2019
Beauty, Humor, Poetry
27 Comments
  With lifeless smiles she's sitting tight in the vase. With painted flowers, leaves and twigs she's like a dressed deadman on funeral day. Let days and months pass by; forever she's...

A Line of Shakespeare Poetry Contest

The Society
May 8, 2019
Culture, Education, From the Society, Humor, Poetry, Poetry Contests, Shakespeare
148 Comments
Winners announced here! Write a short poem that begins with one line from any Shakespeare play or poem. The poem should be two to four lines in length. Post it in the comments section below under your...

A Riddle by Connie Phillips

The Society
May 8, 2019
Culture, Humor, Poetry, Riddles
8 Comments
Riddle No. 1 So astounding is this part— A major muscle, like your heart. And so astonishing its job, Without it you would be a blob: You couldn’t stand or lift or bend— You’d be a pretzel in...

‘Irrelephant’ and Other Poetry by Raymond Gallucci

The Society
May 7, 2019
Culture, Humor, Poetry
21 Comments
Irrelephant Within the room there’s something big, But management ignores it. A redwood tree, not tiny twig? Concern they haven’t for it. Though elephant is in the room, It’s on the mouse they...

‘Tolstoy: A Very Brief Biography in Verse’ by William Walters

The Society
May 6, 2019
Culture, Humor, Poetry
6 Comments
  Dust to lust to disgust to trust to must to just to dust.     Wm. Walters is a professor of English and linguistics at Rock Valley College, in Rockford, IL. His poems have appeared...
poem/cooper/culture

‘Some People Did Something’ by J.M. McBirnie

The Society
May 6, 2019
Poetry
8 Comments
Some People Did Something On Rep. Omar's reducing the 9/11 terrorist attacks to "Some people did something" Some people swallowed towers, kept ashes on their bones, saw steel like fainting flowers, or...

‘Streamlined’ and Other Poetry by David Whippman

The Society
May 5, 2019
Culture, Humor, Poetry
10 Comments
Streamlined In some alternative reality I have remained unmarried, all alone. Would that have been a better way for me - Some Spartan bachelor flat, my comfort zone? Just having to look after number...

‘Centauromachy’ by Nathaniel Todd McKee

The Society
May 4, 2019
Culture, Poetry, Short Stories
15 Comments
  This poem recounts the famous mythical battle, “Centauromachy.” It unfolds in the ancient home of the Lapiths in the region of Thessaly, Greece, a generation or two before the Trojan War. King...

‘The Collapse of Character’ by Joseph S. Salemi

The Society
May 3, 2019
Culture, Humor, Poetry
23 Comments
  —from A Gallery of Ethopaths What generates the half-assed views That this dimwit nation spews? Why are persons mindless lemmings? From what source is this stuff stemming? Collapse of...

A Poem on Recent Shooting Heroes Lori Kaye and Riley Howell, by James A. Tweedie

The Society
May 2, 2019
Beauty, Culture, Poetry, Terrorism
10 Comments
  For Lori Kaye and Riley Howell I sing in praise of Lori Gilbert Kaye. When racist hatred paid a deadly call On Congregation Chabad of Poway, She stood and “took a bullet for us all.” I sing of...

On the 200th Anniversary of John Keats’ Odes (A Video Essay by Daniel Leach)

The Society
May 2, 2019
Poetry, Readings, Video
5 Comments
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9LEnZ9T4F0&feature=youtu.be&app=desktop When I Have Fears That I May Cease to Be  by John Keats When I have fears that I may cease to be __Before my pen has...

‘Epigrams on the Decay within Academia’ and Other Poetry by C.B. Anderson

The Society
May 1, 2019
Culture, Epigrams and Proverbs, Humor, Poetry
21 Comments
Epigrams on the Decay within Academia   Liberal Artifice "Progressives," through advanced miseducation, Have shaken our fair land to its foundation.   Gustatory Chiasmus Good taste is...

Remembering John Whitworth (1945–April 22, 2019)

The Society
April 30, 2019
Beauty, Culture, Essays, Humor, Poetry
5 Comments
Read the poetry of the recently departed John Whitworth at Trinacria or The Poetry Archive. by Sally Cook Any ordinary poet composing a landscape piece might easily imagine a dull blue sky, one small white...

‘An Ode to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern’ by James A. Tweedie

The Society
April 30, 2019
Culture, Humor, Performing Arts, Poetry
3 Comments
An Ode to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern 50 Years Later A Poetic Summary of Tom Stoppard’s Award-Winning Play As Seen Through the Eyes of Its Two Leading Characters Says Rosencrantz to Guildenstern, “I...
poetry/homeschooling/teachers guide

‘Venting’ and Other Poetry by T.M. Moore

The Society
April 29, 2019
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
17 Comments
Venting Be angry, and do not sin. —Ephesians 4.26 We're told a large volcano roils and seethes beneath the soil of Yellowstone. The steam that rises all throughout the park, and wreathes its many...

‘On Time’s Memory’ and Other Poetry by Frederico Nick

The Society
April 28, 2019
Beauty, Poetry
12 Comments
On Time’s Memory Time is a sieve of our own brand. A net Made not to catch but to let go: of gold, Of fish, of bread, or dust; a knotted mould Formed from ourselves, to let us so forget. Or else time is...

‘The Fall of the Fourth Estate’ and Other Poetry by Randal A. Burd, Jr.

The Society
April 27, 2019
Beauty, Culture, Poetry, Rondeau
4 Comments
The Fall of the Fourth Estate a rondeau The Media: the Fourth Estate* Performed disgracefully of late: Delivering the news askew, Allowing certain viewpoints through To fuel the discontent and...

Translation of Gottfried von Strassburg’s ‘Tristan’ Prologue

The Society
April 26, 2019
Beauty, Culture, Poetry, Translation
4 Comments
Translation by Matthew Wildermuth Note: In the time of its composition—the first decade of the 13th century—Tristan was already a timeless story of heroism and romance, yet in the hands of a great...

A ‘Birthday Apology’ to Shakespeare on his 455th, and Other Poetry by Joe Tessitore

The Society
April 26, 2019
Beauty, Culture, Humor, Poetry, Shakespeare
8 Comments
  Birthday Apology William Shakespeare was born April 26, 1564 If all the world’s a stage, and all the men are women, myne eye be true, I gauge; her beard doth need a...

‘Towards the End of Chinese Communism’ and Other Poetry by Damian Robin

The Society
April 25, 2019
Beauty, Human Rights in China, Poetry
11 Comments
Towards the End of Chinese Communism Through Shanghai’s packed glissando peaks and Beijing’s glossy miles, As though to keep out counter breaths and polish glassy smiles, The dazing days of blinding...

‘The Keyhole’ by Lynn Michael Martin

The Society
April 24, 2019
Beauty, Poetry
5 Comments
Here shut behind an oaken door I stay, left in a room paneled with times long gone, and learn to know the passing of the day, for day and I await the selfsame dawn. My window faces west, my door is...

Five Sonnets on World War I by Peter Hartley

The Society
April 23, 2019
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
33 Comments
Gallipoli, 1915 There are none left on earth can ever tell At first hand of this mortal waste of war Hard-fought one hundred years ago and more, The stench of death, of corpses left to swell, Their...

‘Sonnet’ by Andrew McDiarmid

The Society
April 22, 2019
Beauty, Love Poems, Poetry
5 Comments
  I face the day with unexpected strength, to know we’ll meet when the sun has disappeared. Your hand in mine we’ll walk the forest’s length, with peace of mind and nothing to be feared. I...

‘The Terrorist Attacks in Sri Lanka, Easter, 2019’ by Bruce Dale Wise

The Society
April 21, 2019
Culture, Poetry, Terrorism
16 Comments
  O, curse Zahran Hashim and, yes, Abu Mohammad too, for evil at the Shangri-la and Batticalao, just two, of all those vicious men, who hit Sri Lanka's calm. O, Lord, the people cry aloud; they long...

A Poem for Easter Sunday: ‘Tosspot Tulip’ by James A. Tweedie

The Society
April 21, 2019
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
7 Comments
  Tosspot tulip, withered, bowed and bent; __Severed stem embedded in a vase. __Natal bed a now-forsaken place. __Glory passed; its bloom and beauty spent. Birthed, bedecked, betrothed, by bulb and...

‘A Spot in Time’ by Theresa Rodriguez

The Society
April 20, 2019
Beauty, Love Poems, Poetry
2 Comments
  It is a moment or a spot in time, When time is quieted and put away; A simple thing becoming the sublime, Suspended and eternal in a day And all around me just dissolves to naught; I feel my...

Poetry for Good Friday 2019

The Society
April 19, 2019
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
12 Comments
A special holiday post featuring "My Cross" by Joe Tessitore of New York, New York; "Pietá" by Tonya McQuade of Los Gatos, California; "The Pietá" by Michael Charles Maibach of Alexandria, Virginia.

‘Pleasuring Dreams’ by P. T. O’Talryn

The Society
April 18, 2019
Culture, Poetry
6 Comments
They fell into a numbing sleep Perchance to darkly dream. The kettle for their tea was boiling; The plants were rich and green. They stoned themselves on television And marriage habits bad; Their...

‘Luckily for the Lovelorn’ by E.V. Wyler

The Society
April 17, 2019
Beauty, Poetry
18 Comments
  Luckily for the bereft grieving through darkness alone, dawn is abundantly deft at its medicinal tone. When a new morning appears, duty abruptly commands focusing thoughts on careers and...

Three Poems on the Fire at Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris

The Society
April 16, 2019
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
33 Comments
The Cathedral, Burning by T. M. Moore Flames wreck the walls and ceilings that had stood for centuries, scorch ancient timbers, raze to ash that sanctuary made for praise, and cruelly crumble sacred...

A Poem on Euthanasia, by Ron L. Hodges

The Society
April 16, 2019
Culture, Deconstructing Communism, Poetry
13 Comments
  The Life That Is Not Life “I’m getting ready for my trip now.” —Aurelia Brouwers (who chose to be euthanized at age 29 in the Netherlands) You said it was the humane thing to do __For those...

SCP Poetry and Culture Symposium 2019

The Society
April 15, 2019
Culture, From the Society, Poetry, Symposium
2 Comments
The Society of Classical Poets is holding its first Poetry and Culture Symposium at the Princeton Club in Manhattan, on Monday, June 17, 4 to 8 p.m. Register here. The Symposium will feature prominent poets...

‘In Favour of Form’ by M. P. Lauretta

The Society
April 15, 2019
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
18 Comments
  Today poetic form is ostracised. It’s stifled and suppressed, deemed obsolete; classed as archaic, stuffy and effete, a vestige of the past to be chastised. Make no mistake, the ‘advice’...

‘A Deer Encounter’ by Connie Phillips

The Society
April 14, 2019
Beauty, Poetry
8 Comments
’Twas just a fleeting moment when our journeys crossed, When you were walking roadside, munching on the moss, On Christmas, we were driving, dinner on our mind, To share with friends and fam’ly at that...

‘Where the Heart Goes’ and Other Poetry by Roy E. Peterson

The Society
April 13, 2019
Beauty, Love Poems, Poetry
13 Comments
Where the Heart Goes Where the heart decides to go, The feet must go along. The heart is first to know A thing is right or wrong. The heart knows who to trust. The heart knows who to fight. The feet...

An Immigration Poem: ‘Of Geese and Migration’ by James A. Tweedie

The Society
April 12, 2019
Culture, Humor, Poetry
7 Comments
  The Canada Geese used to migrate each year. They’d summer up there and spend winter down here. Their nests were in Canada, home of their birth. From there they would fly to the ends of the...

A Poem for Former Greenpeace Activist Patrick Moore, by Bruce Dale Wise

The Society
April 11, 2019
Culture, Deconstructing Communism, Poetry, The Environment
5 Comments
District E for former Greenpeace Activist Patrick Moore by Eric Awesud Ble It always was at night when people simply disappeared. Names were removed from registers; such memories were seared. The...

‘Wings’ and Other Poetry by C. David Hay

The Society
April 10, 2019
Beauty, Poetry
10 Comments
Wings Oh, to catch the winds of flight And soar where eagles go, To leave the woes of troubled souls Behind me far below. I'd listen to the song of birds And sail in endless flight, Then chase the sun...

‘Domitian’s Dark Dinners’ by Joseph S. Salemi

The Society
April 9, 2019
Blank Verse, Culture, Poetry
3 Comments
  The Graeco-Roman historian Lucius Dio Cassius, in his Roman History, describes “dark dinners” that were given by the emperor Domitian to specially chosen guests.   Domitian’s dinners...

‘Pachelbel’s Love Song’ by Michael Maibach

The Society
April 7, 2019
Beauty, Culture, Love Poems, Poetry
3 Comments
When we listen To his sweet song, Did he then know It'd live this long? A song that gives To every age, A timeless sense Of history's page. Reminding you, Reminding me, Love songs can last Eternity. From...
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  1. Roy Eugene Peterson on The Poetry of Thomas Hardy: An Essay by Adam SediaSeptember 16, 2025

    This is a fascinating portrayal of a poet and his works with all his trials and tribulations along with his…

  2. Adam Sedia on ‘In the Name of Whose God’ and Other Poetry by Paulette CalasibettaSeptember 16, 2025

    That is a wonderful epigraph from Solzhenitsyn. I have copied it down. The poem does the quotation justice, reminding us…

  3. Adam Sedia on ‘Pamela’s Garden’: A Poem by Pat TyrerSeptember 16, 2025

    You reveal much about the garden, but mention Pamela only in the title, making her something of a mystery. We…

  4. Adam Sedia on ‘Why She Broke Up with Him’ and Other Poetry by Russel WinickSeptember 16, 2025

    Both of these are good "snapshot" poems -- it doesn't matter if they're based on actual experiences or not; they…

  5. Adam Sedia on ‘Blood, Sea’ and Other Poetry by C.B. AndersonSeptember 16, 2025

    "Blood, Sea" is marvelous. You paint a vivid scene, then "pan out," portraying the sea in all its majesty and…

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