Poetry

. Wayward Their frosty hearts and polished oaken door Slammed shut the night she found her stolen voice. She sang a moonbeam song---a shocking choice In mystic keys that spurned the common score--- A black-sheep beat that rocked the status quo In jarring notes of pink and indigo. Her sickened kin---they banished her from sight With tongues so sharp they severed touch and tie; With barbs so blunt they bruised her summer sky. Through squalls of pain her bold refrain took flight--- A...

. The Ballad of Baldy McCass Canteen I From Utah to Colorado rode that wily desperado. Sometimes off to wild Wyoming or Nevada he went roaming. In late afternoons towards banks, high society’s rare ranks, coaches, too, slanted his shadow, having stolen o’er the meadow. Spring and summer, fall and...

. To Whom It May Concern a common spelling error: “Isreal.” "Woe to those who say of the evil that it is good and of the good that it is evil; who present darkness as light and light as darkness, who present bitter as sweet and sweet as bitter." ---Isaiah...

. Remembrance I When I, a boy whom youth made bold, Had bid my land of birth one last adieu, To search for glory, fame and gold On distant shores, as seamen do, Drowning old worries in the waves of blue, Exchanging comfort for the cold, The land for sea,...

. A 2023 Survival Villanelle for Potentially Contentious Thanksgiving Gatherings Keep dinner chatter chirrupy and perky. Don’t prod the pachyderm that plods the room. Thank your candied yams you’re not a turkey. Stay cool when you hear tosh that’s crass and quirky, Like blokes lactate and fellas have a womb....

. Spirit of Thanksgiving Past O, noble Spirit of Thanksgiving Past, You are a very strange yet gracious host! Of course the thought of going back brings joy--- To see my life when I was just a boy! So guide me as an insubstantial ghost And through a mist we’ll...

. . The Eve of Thanksgiving ‘Tis the eve of Thanksgiving, and all through the class, The students are wishing the time would soon pass. Though it’s nodes, modes, and frequencies they’re told to find, Bright visions of turkeys sashay through each mind. Though the pencils are poised over notebooks...

. Interrogation at the Grassy Knoll: November 22, 1963 Who are you guys? We’re from the CIA. And you? I’m Lucien Sarti from Marseilles. What about you swarthy types? Who, us? We’re Cuban exiles, and we won’t discuss The reason why we’re here. And how about you? I’m sent by...

. World View Beyond the line where sea and sky collideLie distant lands beyond myopic sightWhere men and women live and love besideThe self-same sea beneath the same sun’s light. Where East meets West depends on where one stands.I travel west to reach the OrientWhile those in distant cross-Pacific landsLook east...

. . Reversing Babel . I. Babel “Now the whole earth had one language and one speech.” ---Genesis 11:1 . An ill wind blows through Babel, where all speech Is one, so that it’s possible to plan--- Then build---our city’s tower, which will reach To realms where God can be...

. Perpetual Emotion “And everybody hates the Jews.” ---Tom Lehrer, National Brotherhood Week Not many people like the Jews; __By many they are hated. The people whom God chose to choose __At best are tolerated. Whenever something seems unfair __It’s Jews who are "outrageous." "Like viruses they’re everywhere. __Thank God,...

. “United” Nations? The U.N. won’t condemn Hamas’s slaughter,Supporting those who want Jews underwater.Iran’s a U.N. human rights group head,Though it would like Americans all dead. Two U.N. questions thus remain unclear---Why we’re still in it, and why it’s still here? . . True Apartheid Leftists say Israel uses “apartheid,”Though...

. Hero, Leander and Marlowe Setting: Christopher Marlowe’s flat in London. Date: May 29, 1593. At last I see the tyrant in the Muse--- She captivates, but those she loves she kills. Like Mephistopheles, adept at ruse, She forces me to plot out what she wills. Now trapped within my...

. Wishful Thinking The “investigation” widens of the traitorous crimes the Bidens __are and have been guilty of for years, As liberal scum like CNN attempt to save his ass again, __he’s grappling with his family's greatest fears! What he's done for all this time, thriving off his life of...

. Prayerwise for Gloria (1934-2013) Tough, keen, opinionated, shrewd:Collected junk, shared what she foundWith those who shared her roof and food,With those who shared her daily round. She prayed her daily round of beads.She loved the ancient Latin Rite,The Athanasian among creeds,Allied with Michael in the fight. Her children chose...

. Fungible Assets A pint’s a pound the world around. Now, lay your oars athwart the gunwales And let your aching muscles get some rest. Relieving strain on carpal tunnels, Your doctor says, is always for the best. What use, my friend, is all the rowing When final destinations are...

. Babylon (or Shelly's "Ozymandias" Paraphrased) . Oh Babylon, sweet Babylon, how long your skeleton has rotted in the sun— your name intoxicates like honeyed wine & makes me smell your incense in my mind & see your ziggurats & pleasure domes & zoos exotic creatures once called home, &...

. . Love Songs for Malcolm . I. Quickly you approach, King Malcolm, Firm and steady is your tread, Predetermined on defeating Faint reluctance in the greeting Made by one you mean to wed. . English words surprise me, Malcolm, Asking questions delicate; Comfort for us you’ve promoted, Courtly words...

. To Some Religious Brothers Beg! pray! or preach!  Or make one gravel-throated noise, Make murmur or a whimper or a single moan! Burble or belch or grunt!  The silence of your voice Unsettles souls and states, and your mute-mouth makes known Our pregnant insufficiency, our copious dearth. Our squally...

Classical Poets Live with Andrew Benson Brown Episode 8: Torquato Tasso, "King of Poets" If you enjoy this video, please like and subscribe on YouTube to support the production. . https://youtu.be/oOoeozJXUVU . . Andrew Benson Brown has had poems and reviews published in a few journals. His epic-in-progress, Legends of Liberty, will...

. What Do You Do When You No Longer Drink What do you do when you no longer drink, no tossing out the empties in a bag as one by one you hear that cautious clink then wipe end tables with a beer-soaked rag? Face reality? No, not right away....

. Assorted Sonic Salads (i.e., Kamalisms) being the first installment of a repository of wisdom from the Vice President of the United States of America. Edited by Jeff Kemper . Space! Exciting insight cited from a speech at the Vandenburg Space Force Base in Vandenburg, CA on 18 April 2022...

. Poetry A poem, subscribing to a plan, Flies higher than the highest planes, Seems safer than a rose-red tan, Or traffic in the fastest lanes, Where people die in random crashes. And yet how dangerous are words? Combined, their meaning soon surpasses A single, random act. Like birds, We...

. It Seems Like Only Yesterday Votes and virtue did not yield Control of our own border, And context did not supersede A breach of law and order. Most people thought the playing of Our anthem was the grandest, The media told what they saw, And weren’t just propagandists. Then...

. Sounds Like Paradise Kids are in the backyard playing; __The dog is playing too. I think that sounds like Paradise--- __Doesn’t it to you? Wife is in the kitchen humming, __Making pumpkin pies. Husband working on a project— __Sounds like Paradise. Christmas gifts under the fir tree; __Each with...

. Beware the Lion "Your adversary the devil prowls about like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour" ---1 Peter 5:8 Beware the lion! Stealthily he creeps By dark of night, or camouflaged by day In leafy veils. He stalks his fated prey With icy stare, then without warning, leaps,...

. Superior Pontiff for Bishop Joseph Strickland of Tyler, Texas, deposed November 11, 2023 Our Father in heaven gives the Bread On which the need of souls is fed. With doctrine and devotion rife, I am he, the Bread of Life Now sin no more, but follow me, Not blinded...

. The Navy by Paul Fort (1872-1960) translated by Joshua C. Frank We find them all again in brief In little loves that last one day, Every joy and care and grief Of loves that shall forever stay— The sailor’s fate and our distress, And that of all our little...

. Glow Brave little candle, shining bright! You send out rays of hope all night. Within your heart you hold a flame, A yellow flame, with loving aim, A flame that banishes the dark, Dispels despair and lights a spark Of faith and hope in every heart. Ignites a love...

. London, 11-11-2023 As wreaths of poppies roar in rebel red Commemorating all our noiseless dead, The streets of London buzz with blatant hate Inflamed by fiends who have a lust to sate--- That ferrous gush splashed in the name of peace. Greed knows the jaws of war will never cease To shred the flesh of...

. The Soldier He started as a little boy from any small hometown. He loved to throw and hit a ball but never gained renown. His parents taught him right from wrong and how to do his best, So he grew up a normal way, not unlike all the rest....

. War Paths in honor of veterans I have known through the retelling of their stories. . “Any Man’s Death Diminishes Me” Preface “Be killed or killed! Be cursed or cursed!” __A lose-lose battle cry. For even if I kill him first __a part of me will die. And though...

. Returning Soldiers With hedgerows, fields and trees the soldiers of a forward trench have rested with unease, reduced beyond a carcase stench. Beneath a one-time, war-torn land they’ve lain---forgotten bones. A century plus has spanned since Frankish earth expunged their groans, flung up, with shrapnel fed, that nowadays rears...

. Carving Fingers "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling." ---St. Paul Percy exhales with a scowl and he spits. In his hickory fingers, an obstinate block; in his critical snicker, a grin; on his table, a cup of the bitterest chicory left to go cold, but the...

. Until You Try "You’ll never know Until you try…" Make this mindset Your battle cry! Your first few steps, A paper route. Try out for sports. Doors all about! Reach out your hand, And make a friend, And when you fail, Make true amends. A summer job, A new...

. Free Press Our founding fathers fought the fight __to conquer tyranny. Once won, the Congress met to write __new laws to keep us free. They knew that governments all gained __voracious appetites. To keep that appetite restrained, __they passed the Bill of Rights. Of all our rights, the single...

. Israel: A Leftist's Guide Hamas atrocities? Don't say a word,To point them out would be an act of treason.A level playing field? Don't be absurd.Make sure your slogans take the place of reason. Remember: Israel's name is always mud.The Jewish state must always be to blame.When ayatollahs scream for...

. . “The moon hung low in the sky like a yellow skull.” ---Oscar Wilde, The Picture of Dorian Gray . The moon hung low in the sky like a yellow skull, A glowing goblin with a garish grin And pathos in its hollow-socket eyes, Like some abandoned, decomposing doll...

. Alfie’s Answer “What’s it all about, Alfie?” ---Hal David Not selfish pleasure, as I thought, but love For isolated pleasures quickly sour. Love feeds a hunger nothing else avails The power of love all others overpowers And love is needed in the giving too, For giving love gives more...

. The Stream of Love Like swollen streams in Spring, young love will roarThrough every obstacle that checks its flow,Though not so fast that winter cannot slowIts great vitality, ‘til frozen o’er;But even as the Spring returns once more,To melt away the coldest of the snow,So Time unthaws the tears...