Poetry

. Beyond the Visible Veil Gravity cannot hold those forms who float __And drift—hiding in air— Though some guard human souls; the others gloat __And sow their bait on snares. These spirit shapes wage...

. The 10 Best Love Poems of 2022 If you are more of an academic poetry lover who stills enjoy Shakespeare’s love sonnets now and again, then the list for you of the 10 Greatest Love Poems Ever Written is...

. Xanadu Revisited after "Kubla Khan" by Samuel Coleridge __In Washington aristocrats __ordain corruption happily: __here the Potomac River flows __past million dollar homes in rows, ____no common man you’ll...

. How Strange We Cannot See a Reflection on Indian Boarding Schools and the Continuing Subjugation of Native Peoples God gave the land: the water, earth, and sky. And though we take it all away and try To...

. Half the Night a villanelle My stomach isn’t working right. Bubbles, gurgles, twinges and sighs Kept me up for half the night. I’ve got hives too, quite a sight— Neck, belly, all over my thighs. My...

. The Revised Guide to Selling Adult Beverages  Dismiss the woke approach to advertising--- It’s mad and bad and far from enterprising. Avoid loud, lipsticked lads in soapsud scenes In full and frothy...

. The “Muse” A sailboat, small, unvarnished wood, her sail a swath, a patch, of red fastened by type-9 yo-yo string to a pencil mast and a stick of boom; a sailboat, small, unvarnished wood atop a...

. Gnome A long-time fixture at our home Is Schnozz, our little garden gnome. This non-complaining happy chap Appears to have a handicap, And looks to me, I must confess, A poor neglected, grubby mess. His...

. Life and Death This life has so much left in store, We think, a day gone by isn't lost; It's made of hours that bear no cost, A hundred gone, a thousand more While each tomorrow brings its weight, A list...

. Quattrocento On the Fresco “Madonna del Parto” by Piero della Francesca, Monterchi, Italy, circa 1460 We file into a silent darkened room. Now, a stagelight floods the wall to show bright colors of a...

. An Aging Senator Returns to the Capitol Confused and more than half-way gone to Hell, They wheel her in like some decrepit couch They found beside the road. What ebon spell Or awful drug could fortify that...

. Congratulations to SCP Poet Monika Cooper who took First Place in the 2023 Annual Sacred Poetry Contest held by Catholic Literary Arts. See details here:...

. Creation From deep within eternity, the soundOf song burst out! As Perfect Fullness stirred,A melody in wisdom wrought, profound,Complex in form and powerful in wordReverberated…...

. Emptiness “There’s emptiness and then there’s emptiness,” the wise old voice inside me sighing said (and maybe not so wise as old, I’d guess): the emptiness that sits like something dead and leaden...

. Come September a pantoum Ohio State’s your home come September, Though we'll be lonely, stuck as empty nesters. Our home will be without its central member, When college life will beckon each...

. Contract Murder No one is ever quite sure how it’s planned— What’s clear is that a grievance is expressed By injured parties, who directly make Complaints to the Commission, which in turn Investigates,...

. The Number 165: Emily Hyatt A Cautionary Tale . Now this is a story that all those should heed Who think the sole gustatory pitfall is greed. For hear now what happened to Emily Hyatt Whose pleasure by...

. Note to a Sloppy Homeowner in response to C.B. Anderson's “Know How to Mow” Increasing rates are musts for folks like you. “Annoyance tax.” I mowed your lawn last time. I chose the route and sent...

. To Music Oh, Music, wherein lies your wondrous power To pierce the barren heart and open wide Joy's floodgate in the soul, that from inside Fresh streams may flow that make the desert flower? By what...

. Target Gets Targeted A leftist agenda endorsed,Down customers’ throats it was forced.They now find their business is blighted,You could say that they’ve been “Bud Lighted.” . . Newspapers Newspaper...

. We Must Invest in Self-Investigation __If past mistakes were soft cupcakes ____to scoff at and reject and so avoid the drill of mending toothaches, __If all the try-out greeds of youth ____were but a crumb...

. When Two Elephants Fight---Sudan, 2023 The regular army and the Rapid Support Force (RSF) are at war with each other in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, Dharfur, and other places, and civilians are paying the...

. Elegy "Beauty can pierce one like a pain." —Thomas Mann, Buddenbrooks When Mother died, she left me all her books. Bewitched by words, how much she loved to read. And chief among her loves was...

. Classical Poets Live with Andrew Benson Brown Episode 3: Embrace the Epic, Not the Opaque If you enjoy this video, please like and subscribe on YouTube to support the production. . Podcast on Spotify:...

. Gaslighted Our friendship limped along for thirty years. I can’t say why. The scornful views you’d share Instilled resentment, anger, even tears. Your condescending words. Your cutting glare. “Why...

. America America, vast land of dreams __From sea to shining sea, Where eagles soar and twilight gleams __On Lady Liberty; America, you lit the way For those who sought a brighter day __In glorious...

. With Liberty and Justice for All Old Glory may have stripes and stars, But on those stars and stripes are stains— Reminders of a past that’s ours— Where shame, as well as pride, remains. The sweat of...

. The Great War Ever be their memory, Those interred across the sea, Men who, fighting evil, fell, Who endured the martial Hell; Those who to their homes returned, Shot or shell-shocked, broken,...

. For My Grandfather While Sharpton praised low bandits for their grace, And Barack preached self-pity with pure glee, You always taught the simple truth of race. While Black Lives Matter set Pan’s chaos...

. Red Flags a sestina sonnet The national flags of the Westerners’ lands Turn red in the dim, fading light of the sunset, Like Communist red—bloody floors in a prison. All the flags look the same when the...

. Target If you’re too young to take a marriage vow, Stuck at an awkward age that won’t allow A dizzy dose of liquor-laden brew Or puffs of buzzy stuff… just one or two--- __Target beckons...

. True Grit My favourite movie? If I must decide, I'd pick a classic western above all, those epic films of frontier macho pride. Enter the hero, riding straight and tall. There'll be some gunplay, and a bar...

. Some Satirical Epigrams in hendecasyllabics (essentially trochaic pentameter with a dactyl for the second foot) . Complaint to a Complainer You complain all the time; about the weather, Other peoples’...

. The Odd, Flawed and Awed Inspired by “The Cremation of Sam McGee” by Canadian poet Robert W. Service If you hear from God, though the words sound odd, __you must not ignore that voice. That’s what...

. Remorseless Back on 19, returning from the lake, Where she had stowed sling chairs for next week’s meet, Her car broke down. She checked out what she knew, Glad to have parked securely in the grass. She...

. Butterfly Habit Ungainly butterfly, Misdirected flight. Fascinating random, Unpredictable delight. To and fro… up and down And backwards if you please, Bumbling aeronautics Independent of the...

. Beatrice and the Ineffable Smile: Canto XXIII of Paradise by Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) translated by Stephen Binns Just as a bird that stands watch to ensure __the safety of her brood, beside the...

. On Second Thought When words fail, __perhaps it’s not the words at all, __but hobbled minds that cannot call __a lucid image to avail ____the powers of description. When love fades, __it might not be true...

. Behind the Cathedral Master masons made these bastions their own by blending crafts, attaining structural awe; from Notre Dame, to Salisbury and Cologne they dazzled kings and stupefied the poor. The scale...

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