Poetry

. Supplication to Erato and Melpomene Erato, decked in crimson roses; green branches of myrtle, Help me forge the words to win her heart: My crippled pen can summon not the words that might make fertile Barren...

. Yet The withered dune grass slumps beneath a sere Gray frozen sky, as winter tag-teams fall And nighttime frost compels the Black-Tailed deer To seek out warmer lairs beneath the tall, Cone-laden Sitka...

. In a Soviet Gulag from an oft repeated joke There was a break in the relentless cold And then the guard stepped out for quite a while. Such changes made the prisoners grow bold: Two yelled their thoughts,...

. Gathering in the Names for Michael Vincent Laureate Ortiz Hill (1957-2022) I'll add names to my life until I'm subtracted, And my name is as long as this poem. There's a scroll with a list of the lives I've...

. Tuesday Afternoon I sit beside a lake and fish, And read The Captive Mind. An hour gone, I stand and switch My bait for a new kind. But cheddar cheese and crawdad square For catfish work the same: In wind...

. Sister Thérèse Scatters Flowers Soeur Madèleine has brought me this bouquet--- Vermillion, scarlet, each rose bright and pretty. She’s kind to join me in my cell to pray, But I cannot accept her...

. The 2022 State Dinner Elites come to Washington and dine On lobster harvested in Maine. (They plan To regulate the catch, create a ban, Because enviros claim the fishing line Is killing whales.) Also on the...

. Child's Garden  To never end, we thought, the morning light that kissed our eyes, and breezes whispering with cherub voices, pausing to invite us to a secret world, and conjuring the whims of pussy willow...

. Write a poem about the 2022 FIFA World Cup happening now and post it in the comments section below. To get the ball rolling (pun intended), here is a World Cup sonnet by poet James A. Tweedie: . Fast...

. Elegy for Miran Sutherland Miran Sutherland was miscarried at 14 weeks. Read his story here. His earthly life a hundred days, He died inside his mother’s womb. His tiny eyes would never gaze On lights that...

. A Right Royal Circus a villanelle  Roll up! Roll up! Come hear the desperate call Of sparkless Markle and her spurned buffoon. With pleas for privacy, they welcome all. They welcome all like flies upon a...

. Covid on a Clear Day One day I window watched for things to write; the next day I was lost, and underneath the spell of fever, hot, with skin stretched tight, I slept curled up with clenched and grinding...

. CBS Has Now Verified CBS says it’s now verified, The laptop Hunter took in for repair. And other breaking news that it’s supplied Is Washington has crossed the Delaware. . . Plan Needed Republicans...

. On Ford Madox Brown's "The Last of England" Their balcony beringed with cabbages, They fix their eyes on the receding shore And blankly call to mind the ravages Now past and wonder at the ones in store. The...

. China’s Silent Screams  The CCP will never hear the screams Of those who strive to find their way back home. It steals all hope and freedom---snatches dreams From lost souls tossed where wolves...

. Grifters With smug, aggressive faux urbanity __They do their worst to seize control. They think it signals perfect sanity __When they adopt a regal role, Expecting us to stroke their vanity, __Lest our good...

. Nessun Dorma after the Italian libretto by Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni  The aria "Nessun Dorma" was played for Donald and Melania Trump's first dance at their wedding in 2005. No sleep tonight.  The...

. What Now Will They Build Written upon reading about anti-colonizer graffiti recently found on a Lincoln statue. Read the story here. We see angry children Assembled after dark. Attack defenseless statues Of...

. Aunt Helen Aunt Helen told me it was time to go. It hurt her to sit upright in the bed, a fact I'd rather that I didn't know. It's OK, I can turn this gear below. Please don't; a flattened mattress hurts my...

. Advent Poem When October leaves have fallen and November skies are grey, The stores proclaim that Jesus, hope, and joy are on the way. The virgins hear and heed the call (this world they long to flee), And...

. What Geese May Teach My mother had the power that knowledge wields, So questions such as—Would you like to go? Were never invitations, but commands To fly away, cross yellow fields and low, Like summer...

. Last Letter from Florence A recent incident recalls the fears Your letters have expressed: that seven years In this art-laden place might rob me of Whatever you once thought that you could love: The flat I...

. Making Children Lie __Canker of mind, the soul Denied—a lonely social wound Is making children lie with pruned __And grafted lines, their whole __Unfolding stories cut And rearranged. Inverted nouns And...

. . Instructions Set in Bone With my own knife, by my own hand, I carve these words in no-man’s-land Upon the skull of my late foe, Who sheltered here some weeks ago. He’d only paused to rest a...

. Check Out Your Church inspired by this article: Queen's former chaplain, others slam 'perverse' Cambridge sermon about 'trans' Jesus: ' Repulsive and shameful' Are the pronouns in the Bible ripe for...

. Lightning Ben an excerpt from Legends of Liberty, Volume 2 Sing, muse! Bestow your gifts on—blah blah blah. I opened my first book with that. You get The point. Obliging poets need to draw The paths of...

. Boots Before Us a sequel to "Shear Wickedness" The time had come. Poor Boots was sinking low, and further down no fitting place to know. Our burden was to fix the bottom floor and see our old friend gently...

. Pope-Lion by Giuseppe Gioachino Belli (1791-1863)translated from Romanesco by Joseph S. Salemi Before Pope Genga went down to the grottoTo be four slabs of cured ham on the bone,He was thought by everyone in...

. Pearls at the Wake I must admit I glance at the obits.Is there someone I know? Someone close-knit?I see faces of strangers I don’t know—I pray they rise to be with God, then goTo the cartoons. No...

. Late Autumn Twilight The still earth beckons sweetly.  I must go. The dry reeds on the creek have gathered round. The waters, in suspense, have ceased to flow. Along the bank, no creature makes a...

. From Left to Right I started out a liberal, __Just like my family was. It made me feel superior, __That’s what leftism does. But once I moved from school to work __I saw with my own eyes, Most leftist...

. FTX & Other Damn Scams If you want to make some money Dangle golden dreams like honey And then claim that you can turn dross into gold. When you claim the future’s sunny Don’t let on you think it’s...

. For HE Who Is The Light There's been a spell of nightmares since He left. Like Job, I am the likeness of distress. I pine in piles of crumbling stones bereft; deprived of Him I'm worn in wretchedness. When...

. A contextual note: The American patriot Thomas Payne wrote "The Liberty Tree" early in the American Revolution; it was published in the Pennsylvania Magazine in July 1775. Payne wrote the song to be sung to...

. Somewhere in Time . Tuesday, August 13, In the Year of Our Lord 1895 Dear Wells, despite your sober apprehension, I’m grateful that you’ve granted me the boon Of borrowing your brilliant new invention. I...

. Ode to Winter A honeypool of sun seeps from the skies. The crisp and clingy leaves have lost their grip. __My scarlet spirits dip As gold and russet highs bid cold goodbyes. I feel your icy bite in...

. Vanity Falls I’m feeling a little lightheaded; I’ll confess it’s what I’ve always dreaded: More hairs on the floor Than ever before, My ego and vanity shredded. . . Miera Rao is a writer living in...

. God’s Finger on Whittaker Chambers My baby miracle so dear Smeared oatmeal on her face; I saw her perfect seashell ear, Curving like a vase, The pinkest little fiddlehead, In spiral like a scroll. How...

. Thanksgiving 2022 Today’s the day we gather and embrace The chance to join in praise for gifts we share. We cuddle, chat and chortle---face-to-face. We’re social souls not meant to sit and stare At...

. I Am Thankful for Thanksgiving I am thankful for Thanksgiving, A special holiday That doesn't require atonement, Or starvation, by the way. There are no gifts I need to give, Less money to be spent. Just...