Poetry

I. The greatest writers are the teachers; The paper is their pupil; Each sheet defiantly stretches With a stark blank, diffused will. But, the teacher writes a story To fill minds, however...

One Has To "quod idem in poematis, in picturis usu venit in aliisque complaribus, ut delectentur imperiti laudentque ea, quae landenda non sint" —Cicero One has to keep on striving even when no one...

Momma says you can do it. Fly away, little bird. Momma’s watched over you, fussed And taught you every word. Momma doesn’t know it all; The dangers out there lurk. She taught you to be...

Until He Dies With hollow bones a bird learns how to fly Not once despising frame all delicate, But pushed without the nest his wings to try, Fast finds the air till flight’s inveterate - And pauses...

Confection Connection The girls were bored and at a loss To find a treat that did not cost An arm, a leg, no more a dime They chose confectionary dross They pulled two nickels from the grime And gave...

Hummingbirds How dramatic of thou hummingbird Glides like a cherub through airs curb Precious gems scatter across and fly To sparkle and gleam in our eye How the glistened hummer Unfolds an enchanted...

Oh sad age, how the years will pass us by, Pass us and then our last visions refuse, Refuse us to look on our childhood skies: Oh daughter I am a burden to you, And this vision of mine, oh cherished...

On the Beam At times when my roiled brain becomes serene, I may achieve a state of clarity In which intuitive insight grows keen, As if it were a beacon beckoning me, And then I sense the guidance of...

The water-birds too are fast asleep upon the Great Lakes of the North. Looking carefully, one finds shepherd's purse on a Vancouver sidewalk. The sound of water alerts a weasel to ducks upon the...

If I were dying, would you ask me to stay Until the Divine came to take me away From the Earthly protection of your arms, Ascending as energy, leaving your charms? Would you kiss me tender, say in my...

As Icarus drowns in the deep-green, wine-dark sea, before the white, round fisher happily ensconced and th' extr'ordinary sailing ship embarking, a shepherd, standing near his flock and loyal dog, is...

Unicorns on New Mown Lawns Quintessential qualities quite quickly quantified Each reason for the morning winds that oh so slowly died, Some things are inescapable, and never fade away And some things...

People always offer opinions and advice, As to what you should or shouldn’t do, Though they can barely manage themselves, They seem to know what’s best for you. An old friend offers relationship...

To the Society of Classical Poets, The website you have is great for starting poets. I don’t know what I would have done without your help. I can be called a poet because of your help. May your anthology...

Looking for Your Keys     While trapped between your life and soul. You look for keys to fit the hole, You struggle through your daily pace; In what we call "The Human Race." How much rain must...

‘On The Group Of The Three Angels Before The Tent Of Abraham, By Raphael, In The Vatican’ O, now I feel as though another sense, From heaven descending, had informed my soul; I feel the pleasurable, full...

Zombie Dawning The zombies are coming; no one knows why – no time to ponder such things anyhow. Apocalypse gives us no time to cry. Survival is all we can think of now. They hunt for us in slow,...

The Society of Classical Poets is pleased to announce the publication of its First Annual Poetry Journal, available on Createspace and Amazon.  Below is a preview of the Featured Poets and...

Verse Forms as Evokers of Poetry I wish to dispute the notion that a “poem” arrives in the formal poet’s mind as if it were a compressed computer file, which he or she then expands into the poem...

The simple fruit the body once begot To please the supplicating year’s poor sky, Who pleaded tearful, nor did have a plot For bare escapes the heart could dignify, Lived and lost against the winter...

"Heavenly Hurt, it gives us—" —Emily Dickinson A sunlit chair by Michael John Hunt sits in light, inside a house with open door. It's at a foyer corner—shadowed bits upon the greenish wall and...

The losses of this lifetime in retrospect I see Reflect a downward spiral of a flawed society: can we now recapture a mere morality? Erase euphoric rapture of the imperial ME? Delete from daily...

"How the Chimney-sweeper’s cry/ Every blackning Church appalls…” —William Blake, London “The Beijing Cough may not be as bad as the Hebei Hack." —Wu “Sacred Bee” Li   In...

Elegy for a Blush No more does she show her flower; No more does the maiden cower. Snow-white cheek has turned to tawny. All the lads are looking scrawny. On Her cheek she spread her plume: A roseate...

History There’s a story in every piece of history. Each time I probe into a part of history, I see wars, plagues, triumphs, romances, and conflicts Between the poor and the rich. History inflicts Me...

A line that travels down the middle of the scene divides the picture's plane in two: above, the vast and airy openess o' th' arching building, green on top, and filled with golden light and shadows...

Dear Competition Participants, Thank you for your submissions! I am pleased to announce the winner and honorable mentions of the 2012 Society of Classical Poets Poetry Competition: Winner of $1,000...

How that florid scent Wafts through your two vents Making all your senses yield To wilderness in a field. How the petals soft Carry you aloft To the clouds above us all, Lightly float and never...

To Plait Celestial Chains They also serve who only stand and wait. - John Milton, “On his Blindness” They also serve who only stand and wait. Ere even days in this dark world and wide, small...

Armor Discard the anxious sheath which guards The balanced song inside Lest ballads deep in ebony Reverberate untied Forgo the throttling winds who sing Their tainted, luring song Face every punch...

By Lew Icarus Bede             It is difficult, if not impossible, to know the state of poetry in any language during its "present period," poetry is such a fluid force, and the best, or the most...

Mount Solitude Snow shelves sit like sentinels Waiting for a tuft-eared lynx Stacked like dishes jutting jewels Balance weights on tiny chinks Dripping in the sun all day Frozen stiff in lunar...

Spring’s Rhyme Colour floods so slowly, Each petal takes its time-- It blossoms near to holy As it enacts Spring’s Rhyme. The petals blush in summer And wither in the fall And wave to each...

My Love, Penelope My love, Penelope, I'm incomplete– You are not here, and I feel so alone; Love is a chore, without you there's no heat, Only dust, mere air, for you're my blood and bone. Victory...

Death Be Not Proud Death, be not proud, though some have called thee Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so; For those whom thou think’st thou dost overthrow Die not, poor death, nor yet canst thou...

Instead of Sominex Write a sonnet tonight before you go to bed. Just fourteen lines before you fall asleep. Something to clear your far-too-cluttered head. More fun than counting endless flocks of...

Quids Pro Quo Does beauty matter?  You, of all, know why: it skirts the edge of my and your decay. It brings at once both smile and knowing sigh. Yes, beauty—ever—has its own cachet. In beauty’s...

On Cancer, Guns, and Hit 'n Runs The chemo sessions wore him down, He so despised the sterile smells, The chatter, beeps, and flimsy gown, And then those plain disgusting gels. But no more thoughts of...

  "every where the trace of men"                         —William Cullen Bryant In Thomas Cole's The Catskills and Lake George, that set on scenic Catskill Creek, New York, in...

Dogfight Sonnet Demon snarl curdles into a roar doubled with the counter-howl of defense. Darkened winter street was quiet before that tired walker’s leash-beast lost its sense. The guard dog growls,...