Poetry

. Bedtime Stories in triolets He’d curl her close and hold her tight and let the words dance in the air. The dragons soared and knights did fight, he’d curl her close and hold her tight. She’d gasp and laugh, her mind take flight, he’d breathe new worlds for his...

. Proof of Climate Change The proof of existential crisis climate change is seen In too much snow, too little snow, and all that’s in between. When yearly total snowfall veers from norms more than a smidgeon, Such climate change disaster evidence is like religion. . . A Claudine Gay...

. Paradise Island Some years ago, from cliff top and from shore,a flock of birds that never touched the skylooked out upon an ocean ship that borea biped crew from whom they could not fly.These creatures, armed with cudgel, club and gunmade landfall on this isle twixt West and East.The...

. The Knitted Dress I began with the best of intentions, Though in hindsight I have to confess, That the scope of my project’s dimensions Were a little ambitious I guess. I imagined an intricate pattern, In a beautiful lacy design, To accentuate curves but not fatten, Close-fitting, but not...

. My Beatrice III Affording still these glimpses like the first, those moments you were yet without a name; between us was the distance untraversed: the bringing into being what you became. Four times I glance into the rearview mirror, each time a Kurosawa axial cut: you’re here, then there,...

. A Musical Offering When Bach arrived at Sanssouci, King Frederick said, “Sir, you must be tired. My fortepianos may help to revive you. Please, come play.” While Bach was busy at the keys, the king presented him a tease: “My dear Herr Bach, I’m wondering if you could do...

. The Fall of Time A Haiku Sonnet . Thinning coat of frost Whitening the ground with grief— Love forever lost Wrinkles on the leaf Yellowing a lawn undone— Beauty all too brief Spots upon the sun Reddening a field gone dry— Present on the run Cracks along the sky...

. Off Guard Coyotes drag their quarry past the line  Drawn in the sand to stop the ghastly game   Of selling wide-eyed tots to vile swine---   No money-grubbing cur is barred by shame. Wild mules haul havoc through the gaping gates As mothers mourn the loss of drug-gorged sons. ...

. A Temporary Exhibit A million drops of water will be sprayed Across my yard today. And each of them Will capture the refraction of each blade Of grass, each dandelion leaf and stem. Each image is reversed and upside-down, Of course, and everything that I can see That stands...

. Masks When tourists arrive in our village, The question that most of them ask, Is, “Why is it all of your menfolk, Are walking around wearing masks?” Well, it started way back in the sixties, While their husbands were down at the pub. Their wives and their partners had...

. Left Outside The shopping cart, precisely ordered now while searching for those perfect little lines of lights for decorations---anyhow, I'm sure there must be something that combines with lights around the centerpiece to show a little flair, if not a little art. I shift my stuff and somehow, yes...

. Sunshine Sun, shine on me—come and stay! Dry my tears, send gloom away. Warm my soul, chilled to the bone By the freezing wind that’s blown. With your reassuring light Put my griefs and fears to flight. Don’t be shy; no longer hide, Cloaked by rain clouds dark and...

. Gawain’s Prayer in the Wilderness …the wildrenesse of Wyrale; wonde ther bot lyte That auther God other gome with gode hert louied. (…the wilderness of Wirral; few wandered there Who loved with good heart either God or man.) —Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, 701-702 Here, where the Wirral...

. Had I held you in the fields of Hay beside The Wye and on an afternoon that cleared To brilliance, although the sun soon would Sink to an evening in which darkness neared, Nothing so near as never---we could not--- Distracted us from purposes of each Other. We said...

. In a Home based on Michael Bunker’s grandmother (b. 1909) as described in his book Surviving Off Off-Grid . I Old, blind, and helpless, Grandma’s all alone— Bed, radio, phone, and nothing stimulating, __Indifferent care-crew members— Unwanted, worn-out human unit, waiting To be no more than carvings on a...

. The Best Poems of 2023: Winners of the 12th Annual SCP International Poetry Competition Judges Joseph S. Salemi, James Sale, Evan Mantyk, Sally Cook, James A. Tweedie, Susan Jarvis Bryant, Adam Sedia, C.B. Anderson, Reid McGrath Based on the poems, all written in 2023, excluding poems by judges, submitted...

. First Place ($200 Prize) "A Star" John Freeborn, Logos Online School, 12th grade student in Concordia, Kansas. . Second Place "Child's Laughter" Jane Schulert, 10th grade student at Redeemer Classical School in Indiana. “Petrarchan Sonnet for a Spring Day” Jane Schulert, 10th grade student at Redeemer Classical School in...

. A Wing-stroked Spectacle Segmented sets of starlings sharply elevate towards candescent skies, suspend, then circulate in sync. Their wingspans whisper sunset symphonies while manifesting silhouetted symmetries. With poise and spurts of swiftness, they transform the air into an ever-changing scape; this canvas where each turn and swirl unfurls a...

. A Pro Who Can Con “Truth” is whatever will further the movement. You’re “credible” if you are telling the “truth.” “School” is my method to inculcate values into the minds of our pliable youth. “Investment” means piling up debt on our children. My “right” to free stuff means that...

. A Blanket of Snow from childhood memories of the blizzard of 1949 on a farm near Bonesteel, South Dakota. The world is all bound in a blanket of snow, The kerosene lamps keep the windows aglow. The fire from the hearth with the wood we laid in Protects from...

. Unshackling the Spirit I toss and turn at night. I wonder why I’m here. But then with dawn the skeptic’s free, Dismissing faith and scoffing at the sky. I’m certain---Oh so certain---all I see Is limited to mass and energy--- What I can see and hear and touch and...

. Once the Future You were the future once, not long ago. Your sterile walls of concrete, brick, and glass Outlined in steel, and jutting angles show Scorn for the forms you thought you could surpass. That future now has come---with water-stains, Sun-bleaching, rust, and there a pressure-crack; The vision...

. Learning to Laugh The pathos of a circus clown, with empty pockets inside out, now challenges a small boy’s frown. Bewildered by the mimicked pouts, the racoon eyes and painted tears, he wonders what this clod’s about who falls but never seems to fear the squirting flowers or flying...

. I Can’t Be Bought I can’t be bought. They always pan my poems and they have a plan to pay me if I will agree to stop composing poetry. They say I am an also-ran. Who cares if they are not a fan! My trek as poet just began....

. Another Day How time has wasted, over time, over time. __At least to me, that’s how it seems. Oh how I’ve chased it, back and forth, back and forth… __I catch it only in my dreams. The clock is ticking overtime, overtime. __I cannot seem to catch a break....

. The Blue Absorbent Towel . As he fillets my leg and makes a flap above my knee of skin to sew it shut, interns are watching closely how the cut is perfect artistry, a suture map, a hemisphere I'm sailing into all alone. That pungent sea of flesh and...

. Dear Death… Don't tickle with your sickle __Don't taunt me when I'm sick. Don’t make me writhe. Don’t spare the scythe. __Be slick and stick me quick. Don’t waltz me long and slowly __Through shawl-and-slipper pain. Zap me with a thunderbolt __Stark-naked in the rain. Don’t sneak me from between the sheets __Inanimate and...

. Ambition We’re dipping our toes in the paddling pool __When we ought to be tackling the seas. There’s no point at all in thinking so small __With the water just up to our knees. We need to be braver, go deeper, work out __What to think, where to go,...

. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/S2VaIdhn3kg?feature=share https://www.youtube.com/shorts/t99I9LcfEhs?feature=share https://www.youtube.com/shorts/4P99bbEAh-0?feature=share . . Andrew Benson Brown has had poems and reviews published in a few journals. His epic-in-progress, Legends of Liberty, will chronicle the major events of the American Revolution if he lives to complete it. Though he writes history articles for American Essence magazine, he lists his...

. Windjam Dry leaves abruptly fell that day— Whirled weathervane communiqué Proposing a quick stroll away Along a narrow inlaid path To venture past the aftermath Of an alfresco yellow bath. Emerging from the stonecut room Behind a waterfall’s stray spume, A tenor tone, “May I presume To lift the...

. What Time Is It? “What time is it?” he asks of me, __“It’s now eleven o’clock;” “What time is it?” he asks of me, __As I hear the tick and tock. “What time is it?” he asks of me, __“It’s now eleven o-two;” His eyes light up in childlike...

. Requiem The notes we cherish most Are gathered from the throats Of those who perished young. The song we sadly toast Was sown from wanton oats, Disowned and never sung. . . Role Models __A forager is digging ramps Up on a sunny hill in Tennessee, __Philatelists collecting stamps...

. A Star O silent sphere of silver-soft-spun light,Thou crystal pearl strung on an airy veilSuffusing bright celestial delightIn snowy glory o'er thy starry trail:The bridal necklace of the night inflameWith purer ray, whose brighter progenyUnveils her blushing face, unmarred by shame,With vestal grace’s immortality---Or so at first you seemed...

. Blessings Every now and then when I’m in prayer I feel Your famous joyfulness descend. It doesn’t descend, of course; it’s always there Waiting for us, just as it’s always been. It doesn’t happen often, just enough To keep me moving toward You. I had come To think I...

. On Cats and Love My cat does not explain himself. He knows his reasons. Why must I? He needs to bathe while on a shelf Or hunt some trash? I don’t care why. I do not need to understand. I love him since he’s loyal, kind, And brings me...

. The Plight of a Troubled Young Soul Parts I and II are paraphrases of actual notes. . I. Not Today I know I’m ill; I am not well. In truth, I want to end it all. I want to toll my own death knell. I wish I could escape...

. Failing at History She always argued when I used to say We were like the great lovers of the past. That was just woolly thinking, she’d insist: Each separate period of history Was quite different from us in the way They defined romance. So my exotic list--- Caesar and...

. Zelda She and Scott were the face of the Jazz Age, Drunk and riotous in post-war Paris, He scribbling out page on potboiling page To fund the wastage of two beaux esprits. When the stock market crashed, in twenty-nine, He ploughed on, as the now notorious Gatsby scribe; she...

. To Find a Waterfall The wild forest is a spiritual place. Disbelief does not last there. Halfway through My span of life, my sunrise-to-set race, I found my trail among the trees anew. Goal for the Spring: to find a waterfall, To trace my pathway out to that grand view....

. The Kakistocracy Does the news give you malneirophrenia, __but you've not been to sleep? Do you galumph all day around the house, __your mind in sorrows deep? Do politicians bring on crapulence, __but you've not had a drink? Is it those ultracrepidarians __who make you doublethink? All the solipsist...