Poetry

  Spring Storm A stirring in the pine, a tomblike pause, and then a rhythmic misty harmony is tapping on the leaves, as if applause were heralding some heavenly esprit for boughs awakened by the breeze. A veil of steamy gloom obscures the forestland, and droplets in neurotic fits impale...

  In this episode of Classical Poets Live, Andrew Benson Brown sits down with the illustration of the new SCP edition of Homer's Odyssey, Aedan Kennedy. https://youtu.be/cxz2PpEmAxE   Andrew Benson Brown's epic-in-progress, Legends of Liberty, chronicles the major events of the American Revolution. He writes history articles for American Essence magazine...

  Undone Decisions made in haste are doubts deferred. The need to come off confident, to seem As though in charge, is really quite absurd When self-control remains a bootless dream. Those sudden unexpected bouts of rage Belie the promises you whispered in A semblance of remorse and turn the...

  The Departure His soulful eyes did look on life, and sorely did he weep. He turned his head upon the gate. His heart hurt hard and deep. He saw the door from hinges torn. He had to take this trip, and leave behind the pegs, without a hawk’s or...

  Apologia We stand on others’ shoulders. That is why I sometimes speak a thought already spoken. It’s tradition. Truth endures unbroken and belongs to poets; others lie. So why disparage metre, form and rhyme as habits of a hidebound intellect? What pleased yesterday, today rejects; but canons and conventions...

  The Most Important Forgiveness Humiliating errors we’ve all made, And plagued ourselves by tending to relive, Would stand a better chance to be allayed, If we instead could learn to self-forgive.     Insensitive Kindness The wealthy man would always grab the checks, Which he deemed kind, but others...

  King Cyrus Issues an Edict “Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia: ‘All the kingdoms of the earth hath the Lord, the God of heaven, given me; and He hath charged me to build Him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whosoever there is among you of all...

  Montaigne and Us He holed up in his tower of stone, alone, Sickened by what he saw had overcome All France: religious wars, the worst they’d known. Was Paris worth a mass grave? Yes, said some. His library well stocked, his pen in hand, His essays surveyed his own...

  A Song for the Survivors of Grooming Gangs Clutches of cowards stain once restful ways Where doors opened on twilight and sweet calm And families shared joy at close of days, In Oxford, Oldham, London, Rotherham, Cologne. The numbers of the wounded rise. No mercy stays Rogues’ bodies or...

  When Still Means Free ---upon watching the movie Melania When someone causes one to smile, With radiance mild, and without guile, And makes demonics far to flee, Amid such times when still means free, Without commotion, but with nerve, No fret or gust, yet still with verve, She’s cultivated...

  Sister Goddess and the Chimera “In Greek myth, a chimera is a creepy combination of lion, goat, dragon---in humans, chimeras are one person who contains two sets of DNA.” ---Susannah Cahalan Behold the sister goddess. Her very name is Gloria Deo—glory to God. Her blood has now been offered:...

  Divorce _We part our ways Like others part a sea; _You, Egypt, stay, While I, a Hebrew, flee. _We must decide What each of us will take: _I keep my tribes, You choose to keep your plagues. _I bid shalom To you, my not-so-dear, _And look for home Another...

  True Susanna Susanna, beauty faithful to young love, To marriage, and to parents’ righteous ways, But most to God, found only one defender Against two judges wasted by lewd gaze. Corrupted, with no power to look above Their loins, these lustful gaffers had aspired, Each one alone, to force...

  Seven Limericks of an Old Cynic Ataraxia (ἀταραξία) – accented on the penultimate vowel. Untroubled stillness, pure calm, impassiveness, the absence of turmoil and disturbance. My life has a firm, solid basis. Friends say I’m enslaved to cold stasis. But I gladly aver That in fact I prefer This...

  'The Real Star' of the 2026 World Economic Forum —inspired by quotes from U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent Gavin Newsom believes he’s the be-all and end-all, but he’s “Patrick Bateman meets Sparkle Beach Ken” doll. A psycho who does what those with savoir-faire do, a shell of a man...

  Olympic Gold _Eat the beauty and the beast. Ingest, digest until you’ve had your fill. _Sojourn till the west meets east And find your fortune sliding down a hill. _Future past, time out of mind To strike it rich, your long-sought mother lode. _Seek and you will surely find...

  Mice and Midges Please remove your shoes of leather During this inclement weather. Also boots with deepest ridges, Full of bits of mice and midges. Footwear wet with spew or spoor, Should not pass beyond this door. Running shoes appearing white, Underneath may harbor blight Or parasites or slimy...

  Reviewed Poetry Book: The Burning Word: A Poetic Pilgrimage through Suffering, Faith, and Divine Encounter, by James Sale, 2026 by Theresa Werba I have had the honor and privilege of knowing British poet James Sale personally and reading his poetry for over ten years. He remains one of the...

  A Hospital Drawing She sketched the world upon a sheet of white— A hospital with corridors of beds. Two nurses running, sleeves a blur of blue; A doctor in a coat too loose and long Walked on, his stethoscope hung dark against his coat, Towards a child whose stuffed...

  Garden Goddess   I. This humble plot of land is bogged in snow And ice, with twigs and brushy sweeps of pine; But soon, the giant marigolds will grow, Emerge from littered leaves and broken vine; For yonder’s where I sprinkled heads of seed In no specific order or...

  Old Bengal A Mystic Play ---for Shivani Muvva Shivani longs for old Bengal, _For palaces and kings, For servants at her beck and call _And all expensive things. Her father is the powerful raj; _Her mother is his queen, Surrounded by an entourage _No finer ever seen. And sometimes...

  Atomized The Great Stillness fell throughout the loud town. A quiet dust began to settle down. Where laughter once had echoed in the square, Now only silence lingered in the air. The cathedral doors stood closed and shut fast, No kneeling form to seek a rite long past. The...

  Baucis and Philemon A Poem for the Day After Valentine’s Day   Dank February’s leavened turf broods green stirrings, true, but now the glaze, steel-bright, sun sheeted on our frosted yard lured me outdoors past yesterday’s bouquet and card, your Valentine gift, poor compared with breathing roses our tight-trimmed...

  To Thine Own Text Be True For My Autocorrect on Valentine’s Day You turn my hope to mope, my bliss to dross, My win to sin, my better into bitter. Your lunacy has left me at a loss. You make my finer fellow-texters titter. I’m now a shitshow of...

Listen, Wishin' Star Listen, you cotton pickin’ Wishin’ Star, I know how far up in the sky you are. I sent a wish up to your starry vaults; I made a wish and I expect results. My wish was quite explicit. I told you who Was one I wished for,...

  Hallmark Holiday Some chocolates in a crimson, heart-shaped box— if ever there’s a thing that says I love you with much less of an effort (maybe socks, some roses or a teddy bear, what have you) I don’t know what it is. The corner stores, the pharmacies, the strip...

Poet Mark F. Stone delivers a speech on reading poetry live on the radio. His remarks were given at the Society of Classical Poets’ in-person Poetry Symposium held in Naperville, Illinois on September 5-6, 2025:   https://youtu.be/hV4wYXu2lE4 Video created by Andrew Benson Brown.     Transcript of the YouTube video of...

  Snow Day Behold! A winning winter’s day! The soul of spring is on display: A vivifying snow is come And January plays at May. The blanco-verdant maples sway And white relights the heavens’ gray While hills call children out to play. ’Tis only strange the birds are dumb.  ...

  The Mystery That Is You The gasping hulks of rusted wrecks that share with eyeless scavengers the mysteries of Styxlike depths; the lecherous affair of heaving earth expelling centuries of fetal carbons from its fiery womb; grotesque microbic warriors, whose fields of battle on a wisp of breath consume...

  The Vault _The turning sky enwraps the world. Each day, entreating eyes wide-open to This circling vault shall earn a benefaction, A grain of living salt; and over time Ensues discerning capability To separate inconsequential things _From those that absolutely matter. _Autumnal rains quell squirrel chatter, The leaves grow...

  Clonmacnoise (Cluain Mhic Nóis) Rocky gray ruins, round tower stronghold, speckling a wide expanse of green, residuum of a fabled scene: fine flourishment of monasteries, communes in strict ascetic mold, launched by godly visionaries. Saint Ciaran found this perfect site: the Shannon meets a key trade route. High kings...

  Song of the Beelzebots We lure you with our speed and with our flair. We snare you with our lexical appeal. We’re here to make you ever more aware Of why and how. And no---we cannot feel. We gather scattered fragments of ideas. We seek and scan and sift...

  Come Spring Come spring, and all the creeping things come back. The gnats and flies (of various kinds). The ants and spiders. And the ladybugs in black and red. The bees in pollen-gathering pants. The dragonflies and butterflies, one long of tongue, the other with its bulbous eyes. Cicadas...

Lydia, De-Tattooed Lady ---with apologies to Groucho Marx The years she spent performing in the sun Have made her epidermis overdone. To make things worse, in each one of her shows She posed onstage in scarcely any clothes. If Lydia had sheltered from the weather Perhaps her skin would not...

  Modern Generation Gap I wish some young folks’ touchiness was less extensive, _So more of them could ponder this apt dictum--- Some things can be perceived as other than offensive, _Thus there are ways to feel besides a victim.     Worries Of the large and small matters I’ve...

  A Fishing Tale ---24 November 2025 Young Jeffrey oft went fishing with his dad Sometimes for perch but oftener for shad. When spawning shad were running wild upstream To catch one, two, or three was Jeffrey’s dream. Jeff’s daddy drove his boat upstream and down They trolled and brought...

  Beatrice Departs, St. Bernard Arrives: Canto XXXI of Paradise by Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) translated by Stephen Binns It was in semblance of a bright white rose______Celestial Rose, holding souls in Heaven __that I was shown the sacred soldiery, ______the souls __which by the blood He shed Christ would espouse,______Church...

  Beauty Is a State of Mind A young Masai tribe suitor who is wanting to get married, Must offer to her father cows, but the number’s varied. The more prestigious or more beautiful the woman is The more the cows to offer for the prize he wants as his....

  The Triumph ---on the three lost legions, and the abrupt end to expansion under Augustus The lovely face of recent progress made On far-flung savage shore, by loyal arms… And yet as though another roadway laid Away from Rome somehow, that now alarms As though behind the lovely mask...

  Carnival Quintilla Subtly startling Harlequin, Mutely miming tenderness, Yang you are and I am yin, Thrilled to feel your eyes’ caress Flashing as you nimbly spin. What appeal do you intend, Speechless dancer with a smile? Near and clearly to commend Sympathy as you beguile Ardor toward an early...