Poetry

. The Pietà or Mickey Mouse? A book I’ve read depicts a boy Who’s searching for creative joy. His mind can’t focus on a vision, So he’s weighed down by indecision: To carve the rock behind his...

. Belling the Cat The mice called a council to try to defeat A troublesome cat who would ruthlessly eat Any mouse in the house that she happened to meet. A young mouse spoke first. “Pay attention to...

. Aphorisms for a Foggy Morning No literary monuments exist without the word. A lord who lacks entitlements is patently absurd. A song that has no sound to give has never yet been heard. Two wings for every...

. The Magic Casket 'Twas in the local funeral home __The miracle occurred, As ticking clock hands kissed at noon __And restless spirits stirred… A gasp, a creak, a quake, a crash, __A spectral puff...

. Broad Brush Art What’s considered great art isn’t static at all. There are always new trends that beguile and enthrall. We’ve had cave art, art deco, abstract and baroque. There was cubist,...

. Lessons from the Sky I breathe the bracing air, I feel the dew Wet through my shoes and socks. The morning’s fair, The sky’s a waiting canvas backed with blue, The sun still sleeps, my eyes cut through...

. A Deeper Scaly Screed "'Rich Men North of Richmond' is a passionate screed against the state of the country sung by Oliver Anthony, who identifies as a farmer living off the grid with his three dogs in...

. Sonnet for Houston The highway shuffles traffic as the sun begins to bake the tarmac; its black emits waves of heat that waver as it gets a thousand fractions hotter. Heat is one of many factors I find under...

. Modern Times . I. The Cutting-Edge Misogynist He slams the bland and damned old-fashioned type--- Those tiresome dinosaurs born with a womb--- The sexless species of the XX stripe--- The sort he states must...

. The Merry Wanderer When God wills man to know His favor, He sends him where the wide world gleams And makes him wonder at the splendor Of mountains, forests, fields and streams. The lazybones at home lies...

. Trump and Old Slow Joe Republicans and elephants go back a long, long way. The elephant that’s in the room is Donald Trump, today. But if it were a China shop I daresay Trump would be More “bull” than...

. Mosquitoes God designed the darn mosquito, But the reason’s nothing we know. Seems their less than epic purpose Is to bite our epidermis. . . The Left’s Vision for Future Transportation From much of...

. Henry IV, Part I In Henry IV Part 1 the king’s possessed By fears that Harry Hotspur wants him dead. While Henry’s son Prince Harry is obsessed With drinking with his friends at the Boar’s Head. The...

. . Tucson Sunday Morning Chorus: Tucson Sunday morning, See the sage brush come alive. Gold upon the Rincons, Catalina mountain sides. Saguaro in the desert Lift their silent arms in prayer. The mission...

. Gordon’s Soup One day old Arthur Vincent Knowling, Quit the couch to take up bowling, Grasped the fact at fifty-three, The time he’d wasted on TV. He’d been a hermit all these years And suddenly was...

. Overheard in a Mexico City Cantina A downpour started. The cantina beckoned. I sat and heard two men debating change; How Mexico’s divisions should be reckoned. These words are what I heard in that...

. Classical Poets Live with Andrew Benson Brown Episode 6 Part 1 of 3: Against the Critics of Conservative Poetry If you enjoy this video, please like and subscribe on YouTube to support the...

. . Poetics the Ginger Cat —Ποιητική: ‘poi-EIGH-tee-keigh’ By a caged fire I read. Around me walls of ancient lore, of poetry and war….           Prometheus bound, flames behind glass...

. The Old Place Once there was a family here Where now is all plantation pines. There’s a cabin—I see the lines— It was their home for many years. This farm was poor but to them dear, A world whole in...

. . . . . Appreciating Shakespeare by Evan Mantyk Why do people think Shakespeare is so great? Why do they keep returning to his plays 400 years later? And for other classical literature, even thousands...

. At Thirteen At thirteen, I received a birthday card from Buffalo, my aunt sent my Dad’s poem he’d written at thirteen.  Our plain back yard picnic table became a podium as I savored every word… “Oh...

. Something Higher the brown scapular of Elijah Departures and arrivals. Passengers. The life of one old man describes an arc: A sudden collapse from sitting. Messengers, Come lift my weight, grown lighter...

. . Virgil Departs, Beatrice Arrives: Canto XXX of Purgatory by Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) translated by Stephen Binns . Now when the primal Heaven’s Septentrion—____seven lights of the Holy...

. A Discussion on Long Poems by Julian Woodruff  In her second comment to the thread trailing my recent poem “The Heavy Launch of the Siegfried Idyll” (July 29), Margaret Coats suggested I “begin a...

. I Have Loved You All Along for Linda I have loved you all along; No matter what was error, Or what was done imperfectly Through weakness, worry, plainly wrong: I have loved you all along. I have loved you...

. Scenes of passion in literature, on the stage, and on the silver screen, have captivated audiences for years. How about spicing up some poetry with a soupçon of sauciness and savagery (tastefully done, of...

. Crossing the Swamp After about an hour hiking the swamp, I knew. A week’s rains flooded out the trail. Tall sameness of pines stood round me. Stagnant water, coffee dark, spread before me. My new...

. My Favourite Photo of Mum I’ve just found my favourite photo of Mum, standing in the snow of a new century in the back garden; her sweater’s bottle-blue, her smile an ad for British dentistry. Sleeves...

. Deep in the Heat of Texas a rhupunt One hundred one, a scorching sun that I should shun. I shed no tear. Sun blazing down, the grass is brown, I do not frown I’m in good cheer. The soil on fire as we...

. First Footsteps on a One-way Journey to America Leave home behind, another lies ahead, Beyond these hills, these clover-covered dales; Empty the mind aboard those sea-bound sails, To fill with saline tears...

. Ghost in This House "I don’t mind staying in, there’s another ghost here. He sits down in your chair, and he shines with your light, And he lays down his head on your pillow at night.“ —lyrics from...

. The Boy Who Cried Wolf Once there lived a shepherd boy who Despised his dull profession. His job was to alert the town When wolves would show aggression. One Saturday in late July, He thought it would be...

. The Fall of the House of Yellow On July 28, 2023, after months of failed negotiations between Yellow Freight Lines and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT) over Yellow’s proposal to consolidate...

. The Cultured Hedonist Art responds to our need of pursuing an activity without end, for the pleasure of the pursuit, whereas morality compels us to follow a determinate path to a definite end. —Emile...

. My Boy His mess of hair plays with the wind; Eyes beaming now, he shines alive, A thrill to watch amongst his friends, The guys who throw, and hit a drive, And catch the fun, with glove and dirt, And run...

. Lahaina I’ve felt your restless tides and watched your palms Sway in the breeze that sweeps in from Lanai; I’ve joined your mission church in singing psalms, And gazed across the strait at...

. Mighty Oak Spread thy boughs, oh mighty oak, __Let fall thy wine-red leaves, Which, when the rains around thee soak, __Shall pile up high as sheaves. Some leaves are scorched in summer sun, __Or lost in...

. The Jet Not Owned When climate czar John Kerry was chastised, For flying in his carbon-spewing plane, He angrily replied he’d never owned A private jet---he called that charge insane. It’s true---the...

. Beach Fragments A million tiny fragments strewn across the sand Along the foaming margin of the boundless sea--- The spiraled, fluted castles built so splendidly Now smashed and shattered, mere detritus on...

. The Outing . I Miss Deidre Ealing of Tiny Tots School, A woman who'd never be anyone's fool, Observing her charges like little buds sprouting, Decided the next day they'd go on an outing. Departure was...