Poetry

A mysterious substance is ruling our lives. It flows through our oceans and floats in our skies. “It’s good for you,” cries four docs out of five. It will keep your skin young for the rest of your...

  For a girl with rosy cheeks I didn’t know when Valentine’s Day was, and didn’t need to. That day came and went like any other. Now I know it cause you’re perfect, dear; you don’t know...

I saw a grand palace as sculpted by the Genie of the Lamp, adorned with lights so golden, as if it came from within. I saw great achievements under the sky of glass, soared to extraordinary heights: a...

for E.E. Club Saw Reid   I. Priam, Returning to the Ramparts He’d never say it to my face and yet I sense that Hector senses I’m washed up: too old, too soft. Not that he is the pup that...

  I Saw a Giant Train by Red Was Iceblue I saw a giant train come out of blue and purple light, the colours of its cars, red, yellow, orange, black and white. It seemed gargantuan and powerful, a...

Chinese Cameo 5 A glinty dental check-up’s made my day – some skiffs of plaque, no ominous decay … A shiny, multi-jointed arm in white displayed a tray of steely tools laid tight. These...

  First Prize ($500): Reid McGrath Winning Poems: “Tares in the Wheat” “A Recurring Dream, Vanquished” “Retreating Snow” “Lamenting Our Complicity in the Installation of Suicide Nets”...

  The Shore Forever lost in the ocean the water seeps into my chest I’ve lost myself in the motion let the fish swim beneath my breast And yet each time I’m pulled under the sun too far...

Though tear gas spiraled through receding light and wrung out tears and mangled up clear sight; and though the bitter gas was spiked with hate, the thin-clad crowd did not retaliate. The death of...

Rose Window Firs at sunset cast golden geometries As myriad needles swarm like bees And burst into sun-kindled flame – A rose window without its frame.   Falun Dafa Fingers curved like...

  Where Can I Find You? A girl, with hair the colour of honey, giggled while she chased a little bunny through fields of golden hay and black cherries. Suddenly she stopped and asked a...

  Vessel No one can insure candlelight; its flame Precisely burns in flickering waves of gas, Ingesting oxygen while fibers pass Through burning into soot, and feel no shame. A stroke of pen or...

The nightingale flutters on its wings And lighting on a branch he sings Voices the song of his spirit Brings joy to all that hear it With pen and paper in my hand I listen to my heart’s command I hope that...

Life's Golden Key Like the sparrow, robin and crow sharing in a concrete birdbath, mortals require kindness to grow, pleasantly exploring life's path. Each gifted day, time is borrowed to search and...

  I. The people of China in ancient times, Knew good was blessed and evil was punished, By Gods who observed all of their actions, When they were virtuous their country flourished. For five...

In the Shadow of a Mountain In the shadow of a mountain lies a valley, lies my home swaddled by the earth’s embrace in sweet repose – a state of grace in the shadow of a mountain in a valley,...

  Shadow of the Laogai In the Laogai’s shadow, the ghosts of China stir, Unseen by dreaming eyes as golden currents blow Across the sea. Our compassion seems to falter In the Laogai’s...

Shakespeare Wrote Shakespeare Some say that Shakespeare didn’t write The many works that bear his name; But surely if that were the case, A rival would have blown his game...   Inner Beauty...

  The Day the Persecution Began "The year is 1999, July, A king of terror would come from the sky,” The Frenchman Nostradamus prophesized Indeed, the red dragon in China flies. It covers all...

He Kept On By Erisbawdle Cue He kept on striving to attain an ideality connected to the good, but grounded in reality. He kept on working to achieve perfection in the act, pragmatism on the run with...

Just a Dream I. You vowed to descend to the world below, In an agreement that was made. To the mortal world others dared not go, Yet what would happen if you stayed? A promise to save sentient...

Tares in the Wheat "No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God,” Luke 9:62 “The sun will burn; the heat will cause you sweat; Dust will choke before the sun...

Youths' Sonnet They view the world through filmy innocence, these youngsters who now hear the future call. Into that forest bountiful and dense, some travel slowly, wary of the fall. With nurturance and...

I've had some poems I could submit but now I've got behind a bit, they're packed inside the silent hive of a sev’ral-year-old, old hard drive tho’ un-backed-up, their form survives in sev’ral...

The British are coming! The whole fourth estate Must wear what is smart For William and Kate. The British are coming! Men, watch how you dress: A jacket and tie Should lead to success. The British...

To incarnate legally─ No reincarnates can be found In Beijing’s atheist compound─ In this city where dead is dead─ A reincarnate could lose his head! No passports may be issued now To souls...

Our Day in the Sun We, each of us, every one Have had our day in the sun Came a time that day was done Let us then no longer dwell On what we consider we did well Time moves on –so must we...

"...that best portion of a good man's life;     His little, nameless, unremembered acts     Of kindness and of love."         —William Wordsworth, Lines Composed...Above Tintern Abbey At any...

Life Ravaged forests again take root Life nestling within the sturdy acorn Cannot be throttled Ashes reborn yield bitter fruit Fragrance scattered upon the winds Cannot be bottled   The Old...

Dandelions She touched their gray-haired afros tenderly: an urban six year old with kinky hair who pounced on dandelions (bud-vases were full of yellow stubby). Telling me: “This is the way that...

Canadian reservist Corporal Cirillo was killed this day at the War Memorial in Ottawa, while standing in his ceremonial and Scottish dress, Glengarry bonnet, kilt, red garter flashes, and the rest. He was...

The tip jar was snatched at O Cafe. O! “Somebody just picked it up,” mused the guy at the register. I’d stopped in to buy six ounces of beans, fresh sweet espresso, number two grind. The young...

Fall Haiku New England college towns: Pumpkins, apples, breakfast in a warm café. Swamp-maples afire! Rusty colored barns, silos draped in bittersweet… In their black pea-coats, off of the...

From the Pages of Washington Irving, for my Hudson River Friends Whoever 's made a voyage up the Hudson must remember Catskill Mountains, a dismembered branch of the great Appalachian family, I trust. West...

French Suites Each keystroke is precise, clear as a verb Untouched by modifiers. Sharps and flats Are reliable as death, the light trills All mapped out. This strict staff allows no room For cadenzas....

  Waiting at a Bustop Under an Umbrella By Damian Robin The pro-democracy tear-soaked bud could burst into a petaled flower flood. Protesters gorged the city like a sea and said they’re not...

Two Months On I walk between the tired trees restless soldiers standing ground pray for just a tiny breeze bringing me a cheerful sound. Bubbling ruby robins tweet, squirrels dart from tree to...

610 is there to take it down, the Falun Gong, that touches Dao. It's clear to see the dangers of forbearance, truth, compassion, love.   Note: The 610 Office, created on June 10 (6/10),...

Courage I saw a tiny spider spin a web Within my humble hut between two beams. He tried to throw a thread across, it ebbed Away.  He did not have the will, it seemed. And then the tiny spider tried...

I saw the face of beauty fixed Upon the rising sun Beyond all mortal compliment Her loveliness there shone Within the constellations set Against the heav’nly realm She glittered ‘cross the...