Poetry

 To a Brother in Paris Like Sun in the woods, or a cold Summer rain, Would trouble make goods, and loss create gain. Then bound to a Lady, and allied to Bro, With the grace of God found, wherever you...

  The captain on this night would have no rest A storm rages and moves in from the West And the heathen banshees screech and wail As the waves bring down the mast and sail On a ship that would lose...

Back  I am an atheist. I don’t believe in God ! Argue this with me or leave ! There is no evidence that ‘it’ exists though faith sects say they squeeze it in their fists. Divine Design is...

Upon seeing "Louis XV of France as a Child" painted by Hyacinthe Rigaud at the Metropolitan Museum of Art   O 'tis the beauty of the art of France To reflect regal majesty in paint, To show the...

Originally written in Chinese and appearing on Minghui.org.   Straight, dignified and unpolluted by the polluted world; They are determined to reach upwards, step by step; Quiet and humble, bamboo...

Bound verse, ironically, is quite unbound, For writing it you have nothing to say, Since sense comes after you have sought a sound As line by line you pace your measured way. Perhaps a general notion of...

Your steps, unequal, hasten, departing from the race Where dust’s all that’s awarded, where just the fit survive, Pursuing trifles, anguished, forgetful of life’s grace. The farther from this...

Tanka By Ue "Bird Claws" Ee In dim morning light, attracting mates, warning males, dawn's choir's singing— liquid-silver jingling— nature's alarm clock...ringing.   On a Piece of Johannes...

Is it ISIS or ISIL? I think it is the latter It really doesn’t matter True, ISIS rhymes with crisis Let’s not lose our heads about this But ISIL rhymes with evil And also with the devil So if...

Creativity Requires a Cave (an Apology for Form and Rhyme) IMAGINE Gretzky “trapped” behind the crease; or Pelé, deking, swarmed before the net; Odysseus before he dons the fleece; or Jordan, bodied,...

Marseille, France In the year 1720, the last great occurrence of bubonic plague struck the port city of Marseille, France, killing half of its citizens in less than a year.   June 16, 1720 The...

Winterberry disrupts the frozen curse. My vision's charmed by tiny blobs of red Between fine-toothed leaves, above a thick bed Of snow that baits low branches to immerse In mounds, but they refute its...

The Inward Light Be proof against the eye and ear And every sense that stultifies The inward light, supreme, austere, The keenly sharp, the keenly clear, That by the lucent beam it darts Illuminates the...

The Cherry Blooms in Central Park In Central Park the cherries now Are hung with blooms along the slough, And stand around the reservoir, Pink and white Spring avatars. Now of my three-score years and...

Wow! The wind is blowin’, the rain is rainin’ slant across the windowpane – and in the yard whole oceans storm across the grass and make some parts too full of mud to pass. In hours this windblown...

  How Long the Night Anonymous Old English Lyric, circa early 13th century AD Loose translation by Michael R. Burch It is pleasant, indeed, while the summer lasts with the mild pheasants' song...

Submerged in blinding red and blue at dawn, I climb the barren fields to find between the gentle tides of crying clouds, where spawn the highest peak of world in mist unseen. I leap across the steps...

Trajan's Column By Uberdi Ascweli In Rome, amidst the many structures, gray, peach, white and brown, around it, rising, Trajan's Column, does not stand alone. It was a work commemorating Trajan's...

Bay from Berkeley Slate blue blustered inland sea Water from the rivers be Sea of salt and rain ashore Many waters, oceans roar. Slate green gusted inland sea Berkeley roof, fraternity Rising sun to...

With steady hand,  he takes a scalpel, cutsthe body open.  Liver, spleen, the gutsextracted, packed in ice.  The Party manlooks on.  There's profit to be made.  The plan:eliminate the Falun Gong and...

One (1979) A policy is still in place Which subjugates each woman’s womb. Spin doctors cannot render grace When pregnancy begets a tomb. Before the mother sees a face, Her green is plucked in fetal...

From what I see of life’s disgust; The killings, rampant shooting sprees, I’m sure that no one not agrees There’s nothing ‘bout it free or just To take of life, spray the horror; To taunt and...

  Through sandy, muddy, rocky creek, Silted, crudded, hard to speak, My heart was heavy, worn, and cramped, I needed someplace I could camp. Nature spoke, I took the chance To venture out with...

The First Day of Spring The first day of spring started rainy and cold, But new greens were sprouting, defiant and bold, And daffodils nodded their bright heads of gold, To make the day not quite as...

The Lumberman by Bud "Weasel" Rice I saw him resting up against a giant gray-brown stump, the lumberman was pausing from his haul, hitch, heave and hump. He stood there in the sunlit forest, head turned...

Burrowed down in leaves of brown piled by the garden wall, our Billy cat dreamed of a rat he’d chased down through the hall. Up from the creek came Max the dog, exhausted from his run, but hearing...

  Lines Composed in the Adirondack Mountains THERE’S a little town nestled in the hills, with an old house I call by that town's name; with husks of flies in the chipped window-sills, a metal...

I. Anxiety and excitement, a strange mixture Saturated me as I attempted to picture Two days alone crossing China’s famous Silk Road Aboard a train, the local transportation mode. I envisioned...

  Record the past and gift-wrap the future Explain the rules of classical culture Listen to the stories plaintively wrought In candlelit taverns for the heroes that fought In wars long-forgotten...

"Orange Persimmons" is a Haiku. "Released" is an American Cinquain, and "Forever Wearing White" is a Tanka about how the Falun Dafa are being tortured and buried in snow at re-education facilities in...

Originally Featured in Woodland Poems Near a ridge where far recedes the frozen Forest into valleys wide, Scoouwa’s chin In despondence fell.  Faint and overcome With brow perplexed, he searched the...

As I was flying high and looking down    the lonely regent of my tiny crown in one-dimension’s cold and breath-thin air    anxiously intent on prey down there I’d had...

  The Goddess I. Black breeze On white foam hands Held high, lifting freedom: Shinning fast Her people’s torch in His eyes. II. Thunder Rolling on dawn-- Tanks over Her hands...

In support of the national youth bike ride, Ride 2 Freedom. Ride to Freedom Riding, riding, riding fast, There can be no time to spare When the present becomes the past All that’s left is the heart...

I dreamt I saw him in the queue, A friend I thought had long since died; But we embraced so warmly then; It seemed a dream we’d been apart. And looking at him, then I knew Some different spirit was...

  Salazar Sneed Salazar Sneed was a man of great need Who traded holey shoes for a pocket of beads. With the beads he then went to the market and bought A pancake pan that was cast iron...

Wanderer's Retreat I Across the dive bar floor strode a figure, Tall but slightly slouching, wearing a cloak. His facial features, save nose and chin, were Submerged in hooded shadow as he...

  One Summer Day An allusion to Beethoven While walking through the woods one summer day, he glanced along a river, clear and bright, saw bubbling notes like dappled fish at play, and dashed them...

Chinese Cameo 13 Exacting Nazis whittled down The Jew – full name, gender, skill type, stamp, tattoo; segued ringlets, noses, black felt hats, with wriggling germs and cancer cells and rats; and...

We are proud to announce the publication of The Society of Classical Poets’ 2015 Poetry Journal! The best poetry of the last year has culminated in this publication.  Poets include competition winners...