Poetry

Judges: Michael Curtis, Amy Foreman, Reid McGrath, Adam Sedia A few words from Judge Michael Curtis: In apology: If you, fair writer, did not win, take heart, This juror read for craft more than for art, And we both know that art can be subjective, So, tend your craft, in...

  It comes as no surprise that “golf” When backward spelled is “flog.” For it’s a sport so hard to solve Leaves many in a fog. On surface it so simple seems – Just hit a little ball. Unhindered by opposing teams, It doesn’t move at all. But if when...

Dead Poet Of what I was, not much remains, but that which does, indeed still strains to craft and pen a poem sweet, as I did when my heart did beat. I’m cold and stiff, yet still I yearn! (It seems as if I’ll never learn!) My best refrains, fraught...

The Society of Classical Poets successfully holds its first symposium in New York City (Press Release)   NEW YORK—A growing movement is calling for the return of meter and rhyme in poetry in a bid to bring the once widely popular art form back to the mainstream. The non-profit Society...

Kingfishers and Kites Each mortal thing does one thing and the same: Deals out that being indoors each one dwells; Selves—goes itself; myself it speaks and spells Crying Whát I dó is me: for that I came. —Gerard Manley Hopkins, "As Kingfishers Catch Fire" Were said bird to burst spontaneously...

Doomsday… or Not? The Green New Deal is out there, and Bernie says it’s true— there’s only twelve more years left for the likes of me and you to curtail carbon footprints and cure the ailing earth by living lives of paucity, deficiency and dearth; shunning all air travel to...

G-Mafia "Let us now praise freedom's twilight..." —Osip Mandelstam by Esca Webuilder We live without the feeling of the country under us. We cannot hear ourselves; nobody listens to our pulse. But when there is a chance for words, the talk turns to High Tech. Immense G-Mafia is mentioned merely...

Foggy Morning Fantasy If heaven, as they say, is in the clouds Then it appears my home and neighborhood Were raptured in the night. If so, I should Expect to see streets paved with gold, and crowds Of saints and martyrs with the heavenly host Outside my window singing in...

Disappointment The waiting's not the hardest part: Much worse is when you finally know That what you craved with all your heart ____Will not arrive. Infatuations come and go, Bad luck upsets your apple cart, The gentle rains no boon bestow, ____But you survive.   Soul Mate an alexandroid My...

  The ambit is the noblest cause, A last vestige of Apollo's love, A pursuit freed from any flaws, As peace aloft borne by a dove. In all we have is finitude, So best that we attempt To bask in lyrical pulchritude Of joy and gaiety sans contempt. Our candle...

  The human body is perpetually pregnant with Trillions of microorganisms that hath colonized Its intestinal lair, and like the gravid woman's pith Heart eats not only for herself, but for her fertilized Womb as well, each man must not only eateth for his health, But for the probiotics of...

  Leaf in Fall I feel hard without my love at my side; she is the part of me that lacks the soft buoyancy that rounds and bears me aloft into the spring sky mirrored in the tide… without her I wear my own prickly hide, itch in it like...

The Hong Kong Protest Hymn by Lu "Reed ABCs" Wei The Christian hymn "Sing Hallelujah to the Lord" emerged as anthem of the Hong Kong protests. It's not yet expurged. The hymn is heard almost nonstop at the main protest site, in front of Hong Kong's Legislative Council day and...

Planned Parenthood's a Euphemism upon reading March for Life's annual report by Roy E. Peterson Planned Parenthood’s a euphemism __Covering up the murder Of babies by abortion-ism— __We must react with fervor. What they call “planning” are abortions, __And not for parenthood. They harvest baby parts and portions __To sell...

It’s easy to look without seeing The beauty of life all around; When moments arisen to being Deserve to stir feelings profound. To all of God’s work lies a reason, And all we ought do is agree That ours is a duty to ease in To our heart those wonders...

  Message in a Bottle A ballad written on Easter Sunday, April 21, 2019 While birds above the beachhead soared __and winds began to blow, I took a bottle from the froth, __condemned to ocean's flow. Within its void a treasure showed; __a note on paper stored. 'Twas dated twenty years...

  I Spent My Youth with Byron and the Bard I spent my youth with Byron and the Bard, With Tennyson, the Brownings, and dear Keats— And full of passions, eager, trying hard To imitate their lofty, noble feats, I found it true: the human heart does pump In echo...

Note: Formal Ballroom Dance competition involves five specific dance forms. This sonnet cycle attempts to introduce and describe them. I have also composed and attached audio recordings of a Waltz and Tango as accompaniment. Foxtrot The Foxtrot is an easy dance to learn. __Just hold your partner in a close...

Cicadas There is, I know, some benefit in this, this cycle of emerging, breeding, dying- so brief a time for knowing any bliss, or making friends, or new endeavors trying - only to bring forth offspring which will know a dark, damp, subterranean home for years, preserving life that one...

The Limerick I’d Love to Write by Joe Tessitore There once was a President Trump And many thought he was a chump. ____But none was more shrewd ____Than this big-city dude, Now back over his wall they must jump! Joe Tessitore is a retired New York City resident and poet....

  A song’s composer’s music might reveal A question or idea in such a way That black notes penned on paper weigh what’s real; But if unheard his work subsides to gray. That gray divides back into black and white When trained musicians take the score and play. As themes...

  Birthday Greeting to a Doomed Child a song of lament decrying New York´s “birthday abortion” law, approved January 22, 2019 So, welcome to this world, little one, little one! Your first and only birthday has begun— You´ve grown within a warm and cozy place, and your face In darkness...

  To fight a fight on ground of your own choosing, To force the foe to battle at your pleasure Is feasible so long as you’re not losing— And so you have, so long as you remember. The Right alone as straight as sword to wield And spurn the arms...

  Its coarse name belies this silken treasure, with iridescent dome and spiral apse. Imagination slips in with pleasure, to contemplate an opus like blown glass. Perhaps a queen lived here (no plain pauper,) within these walls of vaulted pedigree, with sheets of silk moiré, pearl-lined coffer, and deep in...

These poems are part of Daniel Galef’s series Imaginary Sonnets. Each sonnet is a verse soliloquy from the perspective of a different historical figure.      Gillette to Frenhofer (spoken by the character in Balzac’s story “Le Chef-d'œuvre inconnu”) I’m lost for words, except to say you’ve made __A nothing...

  May 2018 How pleasant to recall the light of spring, Which with effulgence breaks the woodland morn, As we through beech-clad glade walk marveling At overlay of Bluebells gayly born. We then trace mud-caked paths to yonder mead To view the golden oilseed spanning wide, And though a time...

I Am One, Then "In the midst of my days I shall go to the gates of Hell" - Isaiah 38.10 I am one, then, who's been to hell: __Cut down in my old prime; One day solid, sound as a bell, __The next day quite out of time. So...

Icarus’ Fall at College   Prologue Dear reader, surely, you must think, __“What could be taught to us That we haven’t already learned __Of mythic Icarus? “His plunge is clearly a warning— __Don’t be consumed with pride— Which is the classical insight __On how Icarus died. “And we know the...

  We are a young ocean. We, __with merry veins once meek and coy, shall fill the belly of this sea. And at our bounds of God’s decree __pleasant lines will drink in joy. As our waters swim and swell, __with tides swing dancing to our poles, the great wayfaring...

  Forgetting the Tiananmen Square Massacre for 30 Years Robbed of life and liberty in open air, Young citizens ran out of breath inside the Square. Hot bullets opened skin to pump bright flesh holes bare. A follow-up of tanks made sure no space was spare. The man who shuffled...

  Half man, half monster—I am in a maze. They banished me because of others’ sins. Among these walls, I’m doomed to spend my days. No happy ending. No one ever wins. It was the king, deceitfully, who lied— and thus, led to my mother’s carnal lust. Then born with...

a satirical piece in Sapphic stanzas   Every day they come in a flood: unwanted Big manila envelopes stuffed with verses. Mostly garbage—that’s what we sift and filter Looking for talent. Like safari guides with their long machetes Hacking through deep tangles of vegetation, We confront a welter of mangled...

The clerihew is a kind of epigrammatic verse (normally) consisting of a pair of rhyming couplets. The first line will usually introduce the name of a famous person. The following three lines will describe some “fact” about that person which may contain a grain of truth or may simply be...

. . Song of the Yew, at the University of Georgia, Athens a sprig of General Oglethorpe's ancestral yew was transported and planted aside the University of Georgia Arch on College Square, in Athens Evergreen, with rusty hue, Needles clean, with rain and dew, Oglethorpe transported me From Britain west...

  A New Life an English ode With the blending of two souls, in a dance as old as time a spark ignites, and a cell divides; a baby—hers and mine. Conceived in a moment of utter joy, a new and shining life begins to make it's presence known deep...

A truncated quatrain is a form I have invented in an attempt to find some appropriate English form similar—for its brevity and single-mindedness in theme—to the Japanese haiku. They consist in four lines of iambic rhythm, following the scheme tetrameter, tetrameter, and pentameter. The last pentameter line is broken into...

  John Company was the familiar name of the Honourable East India Company which administered India until the Indian Mutiny in 1858 But, Oh, if only you would raise your eyes, take time to look, not always look away, drink in the lazy buzzard in the skies or watch the...

  Solemn Legion of the brave Marching by there grave to grave, Defending faith and family, Fighting wars for our country. Solemn Legion boots in time, Drummers drumming, bagpipes whine, Marking graves with flower baskets Of the soldiers in their caskets. Past immortals we remember In the spring and cold...

The Forlorn Hope—Vicksburg 1863 Back in Vicksburg, the town was surrounded With a battle line twelve miles long. U.S. Grant sought to conquer the city, But the rebel defenses were strong. An advance storming party was risky; They could possibly lose every man. But they must cross a ditch and...

Delimitation To rhyme with proper meter in the cause Of classic forms is nothing anyone Should derogate, but old poetic laws Were fashioned to enshrine a style, not stun The poet into incoherencies By forcing words to fit a fractured sense. Adhering blindly to a rule may freeze Inventiveness; the...