Poetry

. Enlightened Minds Most live life unsure and frightened, bearing burdens they want lightened. Waking, working, living, dying. Wondering why they keep on trying. Until thoughts that sound so heightened come...

. The Barista’s Hands Surprisingly, she knew my name and used the chance to give a fleeting glimpse and catch me off my guard. I cocked my head, perused her angled pose, and stretched enough to match her...

. A Valedictorian’s Address at Harvard, about Claudine Gay written at the request of Brian Yapko, and in deepest appreciation of Chris Rufo, who broke this story wide open We’re gathered here to say...

. Kintsugi  There is an ancient practice in Japan--- Chipped and broken vessels, dear to hearts, Are mended with a striking golden blend. These cracked ceramics, kissed with artistry, Have former glory...

. The Resistance There’s something in the way you hear __My meanings when I speak; It draws me dangerously near, __Makes my defenses weak. There’s understanding in your eyes __That shakes me with each...

. Ghosts: At the gate of Auschwitz Наш поезд уходит в Освенцим— Сегодня и ежедневно (Our train is departing for Auschwitz, today as it does every day) —А ....

. Foothold Of hearth and home the better part is not the decorator’s art: not tasteful pillows, painted walls, or photographs along the halls, but sturdy footing, on whose rust a body steps with careless...

. Jewish Detractors of Israel Israel’s Jewish detractors, do you experience remorse? How does it feel to be traitors? Low’s the price of your voice. Jewish self-hatred runs rampant when Israel’s under...

. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/87O4CNfrZ2M https://www.youtube.com/shorts/ufJcOO-y7Ho?feature=share https://www.youtube.com/shorts/GG9J2oEEiyY?feature=share . . Andrew Benson Brown has had poems and...

. Symbolic Expression As polar opposites these days,The liberals and conservativesExpress opinions different ways. They rarely ever are in sync,Since Liberals always say “I feel…,”Conservatives start...

. The Hunchback The belfry beckons. Once again it’s time. This is my cross, the task I’m forced to bear. “To the Cathedral! Hear the noon bells chime!” I summon all of Paris here for...

. In The Beginning We’re stuck in the middle, unsure of the ending but guessing the outcome by how things are trending should make it apparent it’s foolish to frolic and cause us to worry and be...

. Nero Redivivus Others suppose that he was not killed, but withdrawn instead so that he might be supposed killed and that he is still alive and in concealment in the vigour of age he had reached at the time...

. On Turning the Page of a New Year---2023-2024 The hour-glass is almost void of sand,a rounding of the sun described in grainsthat drain away. Now little time remainsas New Year stalks the browns and greens...

. A Prayerful Pantoum for the Perpetually Pessimistic  "We'll take a cup of kindness yet, for auld lang syne."  ---Robert Burns For bellyachers belching bile this year For sourpusses (huffish and...

. New Year's Eve So swiftly tick the minutes to the close Of these twelve months, this day, and life itself! Which jars of clay will stay upon the shelf Another year, and which will break? God knows. For only...

. Woke Christmas We dream of Christmas like we used to know, With Santa Claus and sleigh rides in the snow, Big families all together, super-sized, But leftist thinking has metastasized And each says,...

. After the Stroke Aphasia: an impairment of a previously held ability to produce or understand spoken, written, or signed language, due to disease or injury of the brain. With pencil at the...

. Anniversary Pastoral for Benedict XVI Trustworthy Shepherd of all shepherds, hear Today’s renewed appeal in concord made For Benedict, departed now one year. That he to restful comfort be conveyed, His...

. Mythological Limericks on Defloration . Venus and Adonis Adonis was cute as a berry And Venus was sexy and merry— __The boy said “No dice” __But without thinking twice She jumped him and popped the...

. They Have Our Genes They have our genes; they’re human beings, Our fifteen frozen embryos. Regardless of your disagreeings, They have our genes; they’re human beings. They must be born, by God’s...

. An Abandoned Cemetery Pines thinly hid them on the forest floor: huge, useless molars, only three or four upright---a sign remembrance, too, had died. He climbed the rusted gate and jumped inside. Thick,...

. Christmas Medley performed by Jeff Eardley . . Absent Friends The Christmas lights are twinkling on the houses all around. All we need’s a frosting and some snow upon the ground. But as this old year...

. The Evening The Times Newspaper Turned Into Jane Eyre My life had become like a broadsheet,__The Telegraph, maybe The Times:The financial section---prose sober and neat;__Inflation---the yen falls and...

. Common Currency There’s little written that cannot be said in some way that misunderstands or read as was not meant to be. There’s little heard that’s taken just as meant. There is no word confined by...

. I Know Them Well Don't preach to me of heaven and of hell expecting me to tremble and to cower. They're here on Earth, and yes, I know them well. I do not need to hear your church bell knell from high atop...

. https://youtu.be/MZLhwCyQLcs . Read the complete translated text of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight here. . . Andrew Benson Brown has had poems and reviews published in a few journals. His...

. At The Metropolitan Museum one good reason for the French Revolution Once at the Met, we walked the halls, and she Looked past locked doors, each shaded mystery; Then gazed in silence at a gilded...

. To One Outspoken for A.B. If I had but a fraction of the zeal That burns in you like a volcanic flame And rings like a war-trumpet’s brazen peal Enraptured by the truths it dares proclaim, I doubt not my...

. Christmas 2010 "Love isn't something you find.  Love is something that finds you." ---Loretta Young I hadn't given up on love. I simply thought it couldn't be. I wouldn't buy the concept of A oneness for...

. Christmas Hallelujah sung to the melody of “Hallelujah” by Leonard Cohen When I hear a song of destiny, Of peace and love and harmony, From deep within I feel an Hallelujah. When I can feel a tingling...

. The Ancient Christmas Tree A Dream Memory . The ridge out the window was blanketed white With snow that had fallen that long winter’s night. A lad of eleven, I woke to the noise Of far-away shouts from...

. The Ultimate Christmas Gift “Maybe Christmas, the Grinch thought, doesn’t come from a store.” ---Dr. Seuss This gift winks in the sparkle of the star That tops the twinkling tree with spangled joy __In...

. Author/Composer’s Note: The noël, Il est Né le Divin Enfant (“He is Born, the Divine Christ Child”) is one of the most beloved and beautiful French carols to have crossed into the English-speaking...

. . “Even now, in sordid particulars, the eternal design may appear.” ---T.S. Eliot, Murder in the Cathedral . Among the moan of kine and smell of sheep, The plaintive whine of fowls half-asleep, A woman...

. Sleigh Rides Do Not a Christmas Make While folks down under get to ride their bicycles __And dine alfresco at a Christmas picnic, We blokes up over are avoiding icicles __And making every effort not to...

. The Wisemen and the Shepherds after Eileen Duggan The camels’ footfalls over and around Baked dunes, through pebbled streams, on forest floors; The sages straddling humps without a sound Who’ve long...

. Christmas by Force The jostling beast increases the distress Of Mary whose first labor has progressed. Joseph of the donkey’s reins keeps hold; The night is clear and calm, the desert cold. In town each...

. Christmas I don’t recall the tree or what we ate With sentiment Dickensian and sweet. The tree was in a Midwest way ornate; The food: potatoes certainly; some meat. The past for me gives off more light...

. . Decay What causes a relationship to fail? Decay sets in when thoughtlessness persists, when selfishness extends beyond the pale, and chances to show love are blindly missed. . Vacated houses crumbling with...