Poetry

. Poorer by the Day a villanelle They pay in promises they will betray; A scam as cold and ancient as the sea. While those who work grow poorer by the day, Their masters mint fool’s gold to give away To...

. Sonnet I Our arms are leaves stretched out; our thoughts can bloom The grandest only when we crowd out those Who have been planted in a place of doom— Perhaps for something only Heaven knows. While...

. Melodious Curlew Melodious curlew mottled brown and bister, No longer raise your crescent-shapen beak Towards the waning moon, to which you shriek That harmony which haunts the twilight’s glister; Your...

. Via Appia Beneath the pines of Rome, the wrinkled sibyl will croak your future for eleven cents, and with her finger in the dust will scribble predictions of uncertain consequence. But go near, fix your eyes...

. July 20, 1999 a villanelle for Falun Gong Practitioners after 24 years of persecution Your path is narrow, yet look at where it goes As you seek truth and truth defines your ways; The land of bliss waits...

. Meditation on the Moon O! think about that strange celestial clump, That ball of dust God found beneath His bed And set it spinning round the Earth instead Of tossing it in outer space’s dump. Its...

. ***** The Red Hotel has blood on ev’ry floor Where ev’ry room is numbered 666 And blood-greased door knobs bolting every door Suspend a blood red sign of ZZZ So slaving cleaners need not knock to...

. Good Friday, Revisiting Glamis "Not in the legions Of horrid Hell can come a devil more damn'd In evils, to top Macbeth" ---Shakespeare The Dunblane massacre took place at Dunblane Primary School in...

. On Silicon Avenue The lawns on Silicon Avenue were mowed on Wednesdays. All the hedges, too, were cut. On Thursdays cars were polished till they glowed, or else you got a bullet in the gut. The Sheriff-Bots...

. The Park The Park he’d built, which hovered overhead, Went far beyond the scope of any to That time constructed.  Architects were bred For several generations: some were wed To siblings just to purify the...

. It's Dangerously Close to Too Late Virtually stormed by countless disciples, __trolled by their merchants of Hate, We, who obligingly counter their tactics, __impassioned to join the debate, Must, with our...

. Balderdash? What are these hidden, unseen things? Do angels, demons, float on wings? Such ghostly shapes the full moon brings! __Our modern minds dismiss. Who twists and turns a shooter’s mind? Who ties...

. A Birthday Prayer Dear God, a new year has begun, My thirty-fourth of blessèd life. You’ve given children, lovely wife, And lately, happy, newborn son. We have, by your munificence, Enough intelligence...

. Me and My Pronouns Pronouns—I’ve gotten rather tired of them. Not quite so tired, though, as of being queried as to mine. “He,” “him,” “his”—why can’t I hem them up, the lot of them, and...

. Panchavati, An Introduction by Maithili Sharan Gupt (1886-1964) translated by Paddy Raghunathan The full moon’s mesmerizing rays Appear to skim the lake and sand, As moonlight, fresh, diffuses...

. The White House Coke Though Hunter left his laptop at the shop, The Woke deny he lost his White House coke, And call the chance of Joe partaking nil--- Has anyone drug tested Dr. Jill? . . On Second...

. Stand There comes a time to stand for what you know To be the right, whatever be the cost. Then get you up to speak, or do, or go, To fill some gaping breach, though you be tossed From wave to towering wave,...

. Suiseki Rainfall has stopped; it’s the best time for hunting a stone. Drizzle still dampens debris; Trees put forth roots unobtrusively; mosses have grown; Animals leaving their burrows run free— Sodden...

. Insomnia Kyrielle The stars above have gone to bed, their quilt of clouds a calming sweep as moonlight strokes their tossing heads: O lord have mercy, let me sleep! Here in this dark I lie awake. The cliff...

. The Nation’s Heart The Nation’s heart has passed away, A loving grandmother to all. And now it’s for her son we pray Whom Charles the Third we’ll learn to call. But will he fill that vital...

. Heavy Excess a plea from the human realm I must flee this land where feelings choke, Unrope attachments that were tied in love. Through halting rites of passport checks I grope. My bulky baggage makes my...

. SCP Poet Cynthia Erlandson of Michigan has won the 2023 Maria W. Faust Sonnet Competition.  Her sonnet, "Fire and Ice," is a Top Four prize winner, which is the highest designation in the contest.  A Zoom...

. Better with Love I thought I was a pleasant sort __When we first met. Not perfect but near sweet and kind __As one could get. ____I knew I had rough edges ____And for fixes I made pledges ____But there...

. Peace For Our Time "I believe it is peace for our time... Go home and get a nice quiet sleep." ---Neville Chamberlain “An appeaser is one who feeds a crocodile hoping it will eat him last.” ---Winston...

. The Billboard a pantoum It’s propped along the route I roll— A squatting square against the sky, Atop a sturdy metal pole, To tell me what new thing to buy. A squatting square against the sky, It blocks...

. Don't Mess with Texas Gals On My Late Life Wife . Don't mess with my hot Texan. She's Texas born and bred. She does not fool with strangers. She'd rather see them dead. They said when she was born She had...

. The Misologist “There is no greater evil one can suffer  than to hate reasonable discourse.” ---Socrates He reads the notion on the page. __It isn’t to his taste. It blazes fire that stokes his...

. A Poet's Plight I’ll think of a theme for my next little verse, intriguing and witty, though still must be terse. Not road kill, dead flowers, nor weeding the lawn, it can’t wax poetic nor bring a big...

. My Resignation Be still, my Heart, be stiller than the grave. When consciousness dissolves into the sea, This desperate taste will fade with memory Of nothing, undisturbed by bitter wave. Be still, my Heart,...

. Forever Nine My bare feet merge with weathered, knotty pineAs dripping swimsuit water cools the pier.The day belongs to me, for I am nine,With end of endless summer drawing near. My tanned and sunburnt...

. The Great Legitimizer by Euphrates Moss Up from the barbaric yawp of Beowulf and routing through Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-1375), an Italian poet of great distinction, Geoffrey Chaucer (c. 1340s-1400) created...

. Putin That’s, I’m sure, a vampire: Gnaws on bones, bloody-lipped. —A. S. Pushkin. “Vurdalak,” Songs of Western Slavs (Это, верно, кости гложет Красногубый...

. Graves “Then you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves and have you rise from them.” ---Ezekiel 37:13 There was a time indeed when I was dead: Oh: breathing yes, and witty, so I’m...

. Snowfall: Via Negativa “Less is more.” ---Literary Dictum Out on the highway, snow settles in place Covering the tracks the traffic has traced Blotting out edges, disguising the rough Burying the world...

. Independence Day? a rondeau Some dared. Some died. With pluck and pride And guts and grit the brave defied Despotic rule. They stripped the foe Of dominance below a glow Of stars...

. To All Great Eagles Up on High To all great eagles up on high I hope you hear my battle cry! I have some plans I know you’ll love While you are circling above. There is a retailer to maul That has a...

. Fourth of July Limerick Top left, there’s an oblong that’s blue; add in fifty stars, white in hue. To offset the stars are parallel bars, six white, seven red, straight and true. . . Paul A....

. America Is Not the Same America is not the same. __I do not recognize it. We all know who should bear the blame, __But still we analyze it. The teachers’ unions and the press _  All share part of the...

. Evra Our grandma Evra was a trifle difficult. If ever sound advice was needed she’d be there, But quiet, not a word until a person asked, And then she’d give it and you’d better listen ‘cause She...

. Adams Mountain I gather in from this high place, my shadow sprawled on shivered stone: Dusk drifts down: autumnal shroud upon the rusk-brown earth below, fall colors fading; chimneys trailing smoke,...