Society of Classical Poets logo
  • About Us
  • Join
  • Donate
  • Poetry
    Random
    • 'Sleep' and Other Poetry by Martin Rizley

      The Society
      March 30, 2022
      Beauty, Poetry
      12 Comments
    Recent
    • ‘Spring Has Sprung’: A Poem by Roy E. Peterson

      The Society
      May 20, 2025
      8
    • ‘The Poppy’: A Poem by Akiane Kramarik

      The Society
      May 19, 2025
      2
    • ‘Young Catherine’s Vision’ and Other Poetry by Mary Jane Myers

      The Society
      May 19, 2025
      4
    • Cat Poems by Gigi Ryan

      The Society
      May 18, 2025
      16
    • ‘Today Like Yesterday’: A Poem by Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer, Translated by Paul Burgess

      The Society
      May 18, 2025
      10
    • ‘Bonanza’: A Poem by Jonathan Kinsman

      The Society
      May 17, 2025
      10
  • Submit
  • Contests
    Random
    • Write a Poem on One of These Photographs

      The Society
      November 1, 2019
      Beauty, Culture, Ekphrastic, Humor, Poetry, Poetry Contests
      40 Comments
    Recent
    • 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
    • The 2024 Society of Classical Poets International Poetry Competition

      The Society
      August 31, 2024
      16
  • Journal
  • Books
  • Poetry Contests
  • Donate
  • About Us
  • Submit
  • Poetry

Poetry

Home
Poetry

‘If You’re a Beggar, Be a Chooser Too’ and Other Poetry by Courtney Dowe

The Society
August 10, 2016
Beauty, Culture, Poetry, Villanelle
7 Comments
If You're a Beggar, Be a Chooser Too (Villanelle) If you're a beggar, be a chooser too, For less is more and more can be a curse. The world will offer anything to you. You must discern the useful from...

‘Once a Man, Twice a Child’ by Lucy Giardino Cortese

The Society
August 8, 2016
Humor, Poetry
1 Comment
Old age recycles the body An infant once pink turns blue Nature recalls with rapid speed To complete life’s circle anew Fuzzy hairs on baldy top Steps and thoughts are staid Alpha becomes Omega When...

‘Technology’ and Other Poetry by David Paul Behrens

The Society
August 6, 2016
Poetry
5 Comments
  Technology I am sick of this world Technology has gone wild I miss the peace of mind I used to have as a child Everyone seems so busy Having somewhere to go Information running rampant But what...

‘Petals in the Winter’ and Other Poetry by Zachary Dilks

The Society
August 4, 2016
Beauty, Humor, Poetry
2 Comments
Petals in the Winter Three petals on a lily like the snow were held aloft And though the wind through window whipped it so just one fell off Two petals on that lily blue lamented on the sill But through...

‘Nuptial Evening’ by Yousuf bin Mohammad

The Society
August 2, 2016
Beauty, Poetry
2 Comments
This eve set as elegant exhibit of skin deep beauty for old yearning stares, is time’s harsh labor’s brief retreat. The hands, henna-designed, serpentine snares to trap young wild and restless...

‘Questions for the Gods: Sisyphus’ by Alan Toltzis

The Society
July 29, 2016
Culture, Poetry
2 Comments
for Claudia Why didn’t Sisyphus simply walk away and climb, unencumbered, up the smooth cleft worn in the undulant hillside, up and over that crest bright purple with wild violets one brilliant...

‘Marv’lous Melody’ and Other Poetry by Sara Spry

The Society
July 27, 2016
Beauty, Poetry
1 Comment
Marv’lous Melody I read the words all leaping from the page And hear the joyful rhythm in my head But stop for you, an even-tonéd sage And listen to the words as they are said I could grow old to...

‘Javelin Ekphrastic​’ and Other Poetry by Neal Dachstadter

The Society
July 25, 2016
Culture, Poetry
1 Comment
Javelin Ekphrastic Out of the air and shot from a thrust, Clout of the spear, forethought where it must, Wrought from the ancient and taut and released, Slaughtered and blatant, when caught be the...

‘Dieting Can Be Hell’ by Kathy Figueroa

The Society
July 23, 2016
Humor, Poetry
2 Comments
This dieting can be Hell With nary a late-night snack I wage a constant battle When the hunger pangs attack And should I dare venture out To the neighbourhood café The waitress takes my order And...

‘In Defense of the Aesthetic Sense’ and Other Poetry by Gil Hackel

The Society
July 21, 2016
Beauty, Poetry
2 Comments
  In Defense of the Aesthetic Sense When lovely melodies arouse and wake My dormant bliss, or true words do the same, Dark, dour-visaged men intrude to claim My bliss is false, awakened by...

‘Passing Through the Woods of Ash’ by Daniel Magdalen

The Society
July 19, 2016
Beauty, Human Rights in China, Poetry
3 Comments
Dedicated to Falun Gong practitioners who have peacefully resisted persecution by the communist regime in China for 17 years, since July 20, 1999.   When the world’s despondent spirit sets in...

‘A Chinese Epic, Chapter II’ by Evan Mantyk

The Society
July 18, 2016
Epic, Human Rights in China, Poetry
1 Comment
Chapter II: Visions and Dreams (For Chapter I click here.) THE band and locals, totaling fourteen, Retired to rest before the looming day. Some went to sleep but most in silence sat, Now meditating,...

‘The Wayfarer’ by Edward Ahern

The Society
July 17, 2016
Beauty, Poetry
6 Comments
The waking’s spun with webs of urgent lure And sleep is shriveled dreaming marred by fear. The life allows the walker nothing sure Or level path to others once held dear. But many grasp at getting days...

‘C0d0s0’ and Other Poetry by Bruce Dales Wise

The Society
July 13, 2016
Beauty, Human Rights in China, Poetry
2 Comments
  C0d0s0 By Leweca Derusbi The Chinese hackers who are known as the Codoso group are infiltrating sites across the Internetic loop. They're breaching banks, law firms, and varied...

‘Lost’ and Other Poetry by Mandy Moe Pwint Tu

The Society
July 11, 2016
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
2 Comments
Lost The angel’s cry, the devil’s kiss: How did you let it come to this? You claimed the darkness too: How when the world was screaming, You thought you’d best be dreaming; You thought the lies...

‘ A Meditation on Mohonk Ridge’ by Nathan Cayea

The Society
July 9, 2016
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
4 Comments
  When the wind blows true through the land Rustled leaves hold trees that withstand Tempered gusts with vicious intent. So long lives the day when air’s spent Upon the ridge: that jagged...

‘Jaded I Lay’ and Other Poetry by Charles Eager

The Society
July 7, 2016
Beauty, Poetry
Jaded I Lay Jaded I lay prostrate in bands Constructed of my self-frustration: The morning waned; so too my elation, Jade-hued, whose kite flew out my hands. All joy is rocks, soon turned loose...

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight: Short Student Play Version

The Society
July 5, 2016
Education, Poetry
1 Comment
This rhyming adaption of the 14th century Arthurian poem is suitable for 4-6 students to perform and only takes about 10 minutes or so to perform.   Characters Narrator Sir Gawain Green...

‘Anasazi’ and Other Poetry by C. David Hay

The Society
July 3, 2016
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
4 Comments
Anasazi Mesa castles in the sky Where paintbrush blooms and eagles fly. A people's passage marked in stone; Artifacts of flint and bone. Cliffy cities - vanished host, Sanctum haunt of hawk and...

‘The Pharaoh’s People and the Locusts’ and Other Poetry by John W. L. Toivonen

The Society
June 29, 2016
Poetry
1 Comment
The Pharaoh's People and the Locusts We had our land covered by the locusts. On every leaf the hungry, magnet mouths drew the food in until we had to shout our harvest is gone, poisoned by the kiss that...

A Donald Trump Clerihew and Other Poetry by Dave Martin

The Society
June 28, 2016
Culture, Humor, Poetry
2 Comments
Related Content 'Trump' Presidential Prophecy Poem by Nostradamus Donald Trump (A Clerihew*) Donald “The Donald” Trump Surprisingly took to the political stump What is, perhaps, not as great a...

‘Cribbed Agency’ and Other Poetry by Frank De Canio

The Society
June 27, 2016
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
2 Comments
Cribbed Agency (After a grating entrée) No matter how I madly strove to make sense of the garlic clove the waitress gave me with my plate, it simply made me more irate. And thus, like a rambunctious...

‘Lone Cypress, Pebble Beach’ and Other Poetry by Neal Dachstadter

The Society
June 25, 2016
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
1 Comment
  Lone Cypress, Pebble Beach Crack of stone for rest and bed, Wrack of storm unpressed I tread, Sun and proud and bright and gold; Dun and shroud of night, I hold.   Fraternal I have some...

‘Son of Europe’ by Carlos Perona Calvete

The Society
June 23, 2016
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
6 Comments
So turn whereto it dies, Pulse of a draining sun: The face of daylight’s guise The yield that night has won. See on the far-west front, Goes trotting godly fame: The bull called occident. His white...

‘No One’ by Robert Cooperman

The Society
June 21, 2016
Humor, Poetry
2 Comments
No one can hate you like a former spouse. It sounds like a country-western song, I know, but no one can mutter you’re such a louse as an ex-lover who swears, “What a souse, and if I tried to say a...

‘The Faerie Mountain’ by Elizabeth Henry

The Society
June 19, 2016
Beauty, Poetry
5 Comments
Near rugged shores and inky lochs, Schiehallion prevails. As stronghold of the faeries, she’s the guardian of their tales. And at her foot there is a strath with water through its heart— An...

‘So to Speak’ and Other Poetry by Jane Blanchard

The Society
June 17, 2016
Humor, Poetry
1 Comment
  So to Speak My teen-aged son talks not as I do; I cannot teach him, yet I try to. If I should use subjunctive mood, He indicates an attitude. Instruction in the active voice Is met with his...

‘Communicating Universal Truths’: An Interview with Betsy Hughes

The Society
June 16, 2016
Essays, Interviews, Poetry
5 Comments
By Sharon Kilarski | Originally Published in The Epoch Times A sonnet by Betsy Hughes offers unmistakable relief; you can actually understand what you are reading. Words in glistening, clear images form...

‘April in Washington’ and Other Poetry by David Martin

The Society
June 15, 2016
Beauty, Poetry
2 Comments
April in Washington Around the basin there’s a ring Of cherry trees now blossoming. Showing off the city’s best, They give its residents a rest From all the darker doings there That constitute the...

‘Spirit’ and Other Poetry by Lorna Davis

The Society
June 13, 2016
Beauty, Poetry
7 Comments
  Spirit Where once a spirit, pure and bright, Would sail on gossamer wings of light And pass through realms of endless night Amid the stars in blissful flight, Now life resides in flesh and...

‘Camino D’Oro’ (A Villanelle) by Robert Walton

The Society
June 11, 2016
Beauty, Poetry, Villanelle
2 Comments
  Our paths vanish; our footsteps fade From forest glades, from wave-damp sands From sunlight’s dazzle and twilight’s shade. Babes and toddlers, not yet afraid, We reach and roll and often...

‘This Will Not Make the News Today’ and Other Poetry by Bruce Dale Wise

The Society
June 9, 2016
Poetry
1 Comment
This Will Not Make the News Today "My mother told me to take nothing stronger than aspirin." —Bruce Dale Wise By Dr. Weslie Ubeca O, we have come far from the years of back-yard farmacy, when business...

‘On Turning Eighty’ by Robert King

The Society
June 8, 2016
Beauty, Poetry
4 Comments
  Though I’m eighty and have survived I’m the oldest man that never lived My life flew by too fast for that Each mountain climbed now seems so flat Always a mountain yet to climb, Even now,...

‘2016 Primaries’ and Other Poetry by John W. Steele

The Society
June 7, 2016
Beauty, Culture, Poetry, The Environment
2016 Primaries This season, Mr. Trump’s a raging wildfire, a storm ignited by reality TV, fodder for anyone who likes good satire. He’s poised to win as far as I can see. The exit polls are making me...

‘The Lady and the Unicorn’ by Dylan Schrader

The Society
June 5, 2016
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
1 Comment
Gaunt fades the twilight, nearly gone, a weary world wearing thin Since last the unremembered sun smiled upon the land below, And sluggish sinks the eventide, smothering all warmth and light, Until, at...

On the 27th Anniversary of the Tiananmen Square Massacre: Three Poets Speak

The Society
June 4, 2016
Culture, Human Rights in China, Poetry
6 Comments
Post your Tiananmen Square poems in the comments section below.   Tiananmen By James Fenton, Hong Kong, 15 June 1989 Tianamen Is broad and clean And you can’t tell Where the dead have...

‘Don’t Feed the Trolls’ by Alan Jankowski

The Society
June 3, 2016
Culture, Humor, Poetry
3 Comments
To some the world revolves around them, And nothing else can matter. They’ll do anything to reach that end, Including endless idle chatter. They walk around like “Hey look at me.” And are only...

‘Go Forth, Graduates!’ and Other Poetry by Ron L. Hodges

The Society
June 1, 2016
Beauty, Culture, Humor, Poetry
2 Comments
Go Forth, Graduates! To all you graduates, fare well! This world is yours today. Don’t follow the masses who sell Their minds or don cliché For meaning. The sky is crimson But not dark, the...

‘What If’ by Pamela Corbett

The Society
May 31, 2016
Beauty, Poetry
2 Comments
What if the tall tales we’re told as children, are in fact true?Lost stories about elves, hobbits, and knights of great virtue-Waging battles of honor, searching for glorious men,Fighting wretched villains...

A Biographical Remark in Shakespeare’s Venus and Adonis

The Society
May 29, 2016
Essays, Poetry, Shakespeare
5 Comments
By Douglas Thornton "And lo I lie between the sun and thee" (Venus and Adonis; line 194) To see the poet in the act of composition, to hear his words tell not only the story, but with imaginative zeal,...
  1. 118
  2. 119
  3. 120
  4. 121
  5. 122
  6. 123
  7. 124
  1. Roy Eugene Peterson on ‘Spring Has Sprung’: A Poem by Roy E. PetersonMay 20, 2025

    That is a fantastic endorsement! I greatly appreciate the comment!

  2. Roy Eugene Peterson on ‘Spring Has Sprung’: A Poem by Roy E. PetersonMay 20, 2025

    Thank you, Shamik!

  3. Roy Eugene Peterson on ‘Spring Has Sprung’: A Poem by Roy E. PetersonMay 20, 2025

    Thank you for the kind comments. I will think about the music.

  4. Roy Eugene Peterson on ‘Spring Has Sprung’: A Poem by Roy E. PetersonMay 20, 2025

    Gigi, I just knew you would love the cat verse! Thank you!

  5. Joseph S. Salemi on ‘Spring Has Sprung’: A Poem by Roy E. PetersonMay 20, 2025

    Finally -- a seasonal-change poem that's funny instead of sappy and sentimental!

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

Poetry Challenges

Click here to select from a wide range of free, fun, and creative poetry challenges.

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

  • 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