Poetry

. On Noms de Plume Justin Von Depathos strode across the ballroom floorTo sit with Carlton Vishizwa and Charlotte Genevieve—While I, in silent fascination, watched them from the door—The “major players” waltzing ‘round the room that Friday eve. Thurston Beaumont Jr. brushed my arm as he walked by!His 12 best-selling...

. If Need Be If lawfare prosecutors aren’t proficient, And Biden family crimes can’t be denied, The ballots that they harvest aren’t sufficient, Their policies’ gross failures they can’t hide, If truth leaks from behind the censor’s curtain, Fake news is obvious despite the show, Don’t worry Democrats---and know for...

. Snowy Egret Here where sunlight sparkle rinses Cypresses whose balding branches Shoulder epiphytic orchids (Cowhorn, spider, ghost, or scented), Tangled mangrove swamp condenses Fortress walls against surf breakage; Leggy roots and finger shoots pry Into algal mats fermented. Spanish moss like pearl-grey hair flows Over knobby knees of pond...

. . On the Altar of Our Nation I must confess it took a long, long time For Donald Trump to grow on me. He’s gruff, Undiplomatic, calls opponents slime And scum. Of course the man is right, but rough . Around the edges. Loud, uncensored, brash. Plus I can...

. The Woods Have Waited Anxiously The woods have waited anxiously for me to reappear. I left them when the snow piled high in fall of late last year. The tree trunks have another ring while branches reach for air. What changes have transpired since last fall when I trod...

. Miss Pronoun-ciation She know how Grammar Nazis be all anal. Their like theyre fancy, boring words—so banal. When grading papers, allways giving discounts— All airy like some Eiffel-tootin viscounts. “Sowhatif words ain’t spaced write? For one hole Your making a big deal—its’ hyperbole.” (Don’t judge…she goes to public school....

. Gallows Lane A lesser charge once meant the pillory, With head and wrists securely set in blocks; For just the legs and feet, a pair of stocks; Or stripped and strapped against the whipping tree, Then branded “A” as in Adultery. Offense to God or Christ the great Redeemer...

. The Proud “You are proud because you live in those high, inaccessible cliffs. ‘Who can ever reach us way up here!’ you boast. Don’t fool yourselves! Though you soar as high as eagles, and build your nest among the stars, I will bring you plummeting down,” says the Lord....

. To the Evening Breeze When I unbolt the terrace door, He enters quickly, greeting me With kisses on my cheeks and hair As if a friend who'd longed to see My face for countless centuries. As night begins to blacken more And, ray by ray, the moonlight flees, I...

. A Clock Describes People Their faces do not show the time of day But something called emotion: what that is, I've no idea; but I can tell you this: they worry as the hours slip away. “Time's a great healer.” So they like to say, and yet it carves...

. Empire “We have been nought, we shall be all!” —The Internationale “The Empire is a country for fools” — Joseph Brodsky, Post aetatem nostram That’s the Empire’s last few days. It’s been a while since it was splendid. Then rules and customs got amended. Who had been nothing got...

. Counsel from a Self-Help Guru I haven’t come here purposed with defendingYour excesses or manifold omissions,Or promise all of you a happy ending:I’m here to explicate a few conditions That bear on how you’ll elevate your game.If you repeat your most egregious errors,The end-result will likely be the sameAnd...

. Goodbye, Sweetie Oh, devil-angel, Sugar! Your time’s done! You rot my teeth, yet melt upon my tongue. I’m forced to hide my black smile from the sun; meantime, my exhalations smell like dung. You cause us cardiovascular disease and diabetes I and II, as well; you pile the flesh...

. Lone Musketeer "To be a poet in a destitute time means: to attend, singing, to the trace of the fugitive gods. This is why the poet in the time of the world’s night utters the holy … Poetry is a place marker for the gods in times of great...

. The Meat Purveyor’s Son Aesthetically impaired, she was the heir to daddy’s fortune. She was plumpish, short and much too close together were the eyes. She hankered after marriage with a man to birth at least a daughter and a son. Alas! She wasn’t what you’d call an English...

. The Snares of Simplicity by Joseph S. Salemi Liberals, Communists, and capitalists all share one dangerous and demonically-prompted trait. They want to simplify. The complexities and nuances of any traditionalist society irk them no end, and they are driven by an impulse to flatten and homogenize everything. To understand...

. Poem I of the three Quiet and Peaceful Melody Poems by Li Bai The clouds like swirling clothes, the flowers like a face, The Spring breeze brushes railings, dewdrops condensate. If you don’t see her at the mountaintop displayed, Meet there beneath the moon at the terrace known as...

. A Reverie Some days in August there’s a summer hum Of distant outboard motors, or a plane Relentlessly pursuing a puffed cloud, Echoes of past revelers, and then some More silent moments, full of what’s to come. Waves I will see crash shores, cold driving rain, Fast traffic on...

. How to Build a Monster Don’t bother digging corpses up to suture body parts; Don’t seek out full-moon werewolves or unstake vampiric hearts--- For monsters can be crafted much more easily of late: First, take a child and train him to hate everyone you hate. Then sneer at common...

. The Qua-Train In four lines stood iambic feet To board the quatrain from the street. The poem made of quatrain cars Passed each four lines like music bars. Each quatrain car rolled down the track, First the front, and last the back. Now that all the poem’s said, The...

. A Formalist Poet at the Open Mic Part I: Before the Reading by Daniel Kemper A two-story, square shaped “U” made of corrugated tin. Two theaters, a haunted attic. A gravel lot with reserved parking spaces—handicapped—and unofficial reservations. Some are simply old. Nestled deferentially in the corner, the SPC,...

. Old New England Logging Camps My father-in-law oft told me tales __Recalling logging camp— Tough men who cut gigantic trees __In winters cold and damp. Nearly all were bonded Frenchmen, __Who hailed from old Quebec. And pledged that when the winter passed __Back homeward they would trek. Formal schooling...

.\ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8of3uhG1tCI . Uncle Joe B inspired by “The Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy of Company B,” sung by the Andrews Sisters, lyrics by Don Raye and Hughie Prince He was an up an’ comin’ kid from down New Castle way. The game of blowin’ hard he knew just how to...

. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/zCa93J600VM?feature=share https://www.youtube.com/shorts/gbbU83mrtis?feature=share https://www.youtube.com/shorts/mgYQHhoBR9g?feature=share https://www.youtube.com/shorts/K5bwONw9M-E?feature=share https://www.youtube.com/shorts/eqtlO3hbcxQ?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...

. Ovid in Tomis Relegated, scorned, I languish here in this drab town. Unwitting, I caught sight of what must not be seen; my wretched plight, harsh exile from my laureate lettered sphere. The ancients tell of Actaeon, a brash voyeur, ravishing virgins his sanguine princely right. I think my...

. State of the Apple Pie I stepped into the finest restaurant, A destination nearly all would want, My expectations firmly in the sky, From its long famous, luscious apple pie. A pie I’d savored since I learned to crawl, Jam-packed with apples, three full inches tall. OK, the fat...

. Poetry in the Image of God Conjure and weave a calligraphic spell Within the wells of mystic words and themes, And bring to life a voice with tales to tell Of life and death, of laughter, love, and dreams. Conceive, command, contrive, connive, cajole From sweet romance or willful,...

. A Fitful Veil A wanton wave of pallid hail descends from ashen skies. Its drifts are carried through to every nook and peak by lofty winds; abundant, jutted, powdered sheets imbue terrains with bright white hues, as structured flakes display arrays of lustrous reveries. This frigid reign persists. A...

. The Light Under the Door for GGG, in lieu of roses On school days, dark on winter mornings, my mother rose Before us all and in her quiet way imposed Rough order on our little world. I’d lie listening To kitchen sounds—the kettle filled, the openings And closings, porridge...

. Thoughts Upon Hearing of the Taiwan Earthquake Big earthquake in Taiwan. My first concern: “Will China take advantage and attack?” Why did that cross my mind? Where did I learn To think like that? My brain is out of whack! My wife reminds me that someone we know Is...

. The Mock Savior's Song also known as the Mobster Quadrille, after Lewis Carroll Saving critters from extinction (lonely lovelies, prone and rare) Is our calling. Gaia told us, “Save the toad with tufty hair!” Our imperiled fuzzy buddies are our busy destiny--- Help preserve these coiffured croakers---will you come...

(Advertisement) Request for Papers---PAMLA 2024 Conference Pacific Ancient and Modern Language Association . Deadline for Proposals: April 30, 2024 . Conference Details The conference will be held from Wednesday, November 6 through Sunday, November 10, 2024 at Margaritaville Resort, Palm Springs, California. . Description: The standing Poetry and Poetics session...

. Rudolf Hess Deputy Führer found strangled at Spandau Prison, August 17, 1987 Odd winter whirlwinds occupy my brain With telepathic messages I cherish. Dynamic years! Mein Führer cannot perish When august frenzy storms my mind’s terrain, But fever may mean poisoned food. I sensed it. These Allies once starved...

. Soviet Tactics I Witnessed and Still in Use Today by LTC Roy E. Peterson Outside of the Chinese Communist Party, which itself uses forms of capitalism to advance its economy, people today tend to think of communism as an antiquated bogeyman. They point their fingers elsewhere: statism, totalitarianism, corporate...

. Sapphire Space and Eden Green "...and they saw the God of Israel; and under His feet there appeared to be a pavement of sapphire, as clear as the sky itself." ---Exodus 24 "I saw a new heaven and a new earth" __---Revelation 21 O Son of God, this ground...

. Hymn to Evolving Faith after C.S. Lewis Lead us, Liberalism, lead us Past hidebound inerrancy; Prick us with your needle, bleed us Of our elders’ certainty (Mired in knowing they keep sowing Biblical idolatry). Culture always is evolving; Paul is often obsolete. Who would look to him for solving...

. Glimmers Alone in rumination, distant dawn Eludes the desperate aching of my eyes, My senses blunted by a cheerless pall, Upon a cratered landscape, dazed hope lies. . Unbridled chaos there for all to see In unrelenting waves from every side, Strong breakers pound the ever-shifting shore And leave...

. April Fools’ Day is Dead I’m sad to say this merry day’s no more. It died alongside guts and grit and glee. Insanity (now writ in twisted lore) Makes plain to those of saner brain that we Are spinning in a sphere that’s so bizarre No prank could match the...

. The Emmaus Highway Each day we wake up and we walk to Emmaus, escaping what has, and what may yet dismay us. Returning each evening downcast and defeated. Arising again as this loop gets repeated. We start every journey with thoughts that are clouded, and inch down the highway...

. He Knows Our Hearts The Sunday flocks who sing as glory pours Through fancy glass as lusty organs play, The loner bowed in prayer behind closed doors, The lonely who have lost their will and way--- __He knows our hearts    ____He hears our call   ______He loves us...