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Poetry

‘Love Letter to a Spoon’ by Leland James

The Society
March 19, 2022
Humor, Poetry
5 Comments
. Love Letter to a Spoon How fine thou art my silver spoon. Your neck as graceful as a swan. Your hips full as the harvest moon. Thy manner gentle as a fawn. Bright curls of finespun filigree Like rays of sun...

‘Dueling Violins’ by Tamara Beryl Latham

The Society
March 18, 2022
Beauty, Culture, Music, Poetry
11 Comments
. Dueling Violins Yanni, Karen Briggs and Shardad Rohani live at the Acropolis in 1993 Anticipating each half-note he brings to life, her fingers stretch to find the grooves. Perfection springs, as sound is...

A Poem for Saint Patrick’s Day: ‘Slàinte!’ by Susan Jarvis Bryant

The Society
March 17, 2022
Culture, Humor, Poetry
26 Comments
. Slàinte! Today we’ll lift the Lenten limitations And don our Gaelic garb of kelly green. Bonhomie and glee and lush libations Will flow at dawn and dusk and in between. We’ll pluck a harp and pick a...

Share Your St. Patrick’s Day Poetry (with Music by Jeff Eardley)

The Society
March 17, 2022
Beauty, Culture, Music, Poetry
15 Comments
. Happy St. Patrick's Day! Share your St. Patrick's Day Poetry in the comments section below. While writing and posting, enjoy an Irish medley of songs, “Chief O Neil’s” followed by “The Red-Haired...

‘Heights of Passion’ by David Watt

The Society
March 16, 2022
Beauty, Poetry
22 Comments
. Heights of Passion Passion flowers white and purple Bloom where tendrils curl and cling To the overhanging myrtle Sheltering my garden swing. Scents befitting distant tropics Catch the senses...

Two Poems on the Departed, by Sally Cook

The Society
March 15, 2022
Beauty, Poetry
38 Comments
. Berenice for my mother, Berenice Stone Cook Indebted to a simple spark of life, You missed your chance at Europe’s wondrous door. A conscientious mother and a wife, You danced your dance upon an inland...

‘On Sighting a Marsupial’ and Other Poetry by C.B. Anderson

The Society
March 14, 2022
Beauty, Culture, Humor, Poetry
16 Comments
. On Sighting a Marsupial "Serve with: Turnip greens" —Joy of Cooking Opossums are so ugly that it isn’t clear Another of their kind would find one good to look At.  Matted fur and hairless tails do not...

Two Poems for White Day, by Margaret Coats

The Society
March 13, 2022
Beauty, Culture, Humor, Love Poems, Poetry
20 Comments
. Two Poems for White Day On White Day, March 14, men in Japan present white gifts to women, in return for the chocolates they receive from women on Valentine’s Day. White Day began in 1978 as a commercial...

A Poem for Daylight Savings 2022, by Norma Pain

The Society
March 13, 2022
Culture, Poetry
17 Comments
. Time Is of the Essence The powers that be in their ivory tower, Make important decisions for sure, While the rest of us mortals surrender our power, We conform… we adapt… we endure. I refer to the...

‘A White Knight’ and Other Poetry by Phil S. Rogers

The Society
March 12, 2022
Beauty, Poetry, Triolet
3 Comments
. A White Knight a triolet With fires of hope and spirit bright, who will stand up for what is just thence set our country all alight with fires of hope and spirit bright? A hero true, a great white knight a...

‘A North Indian Summer’ by Rohini Sunderam

The Society
March 11, 2022
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
19 Comments
. A North Indian Summer They ask of me to write a sonnet fine In praise of Summer and her pretty dress, But I hail from a place of different clime Where Summer’s heat knows best how to oppress. She raises...

Three Poems on Jewish History, by Brian Yapko

The Society
March 10, 2022
Beauty, Culture, Poetry, Rondeau
43 Comments
. The Arch of Titus The Arch of Titus was constructed in 81 AD by the Emperor Domitian to commemorate the victory of Titus and Vespasian, over the Jewish rebellion in Judea. The arch depicts the triumphal...

Comparing Translations of Charles d’Orleans, by Margaret Coats

The Society
March 9, 2022
Beauty, Essays, Poetry, Rondel, Translation
34 Comments
. "I Heard Chapman Speak Out Loud and Bold" by Margaret Coats My title quotes “On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer,” a sonnet by John Keats. When Keats first read Homer, the voice he heard was not...

‘Captured’ by Lucia Haase

The Society
March 8, 2022
Beauty, Poetry
8 Comments
. Captured As Herbert writes in Love-joy there’s a view of grapes upon a vine.  But mine is this- the perfect blooms of summer that renew by our Creator’s hand.  Each one its own as you or I beneath a...

‘Hermes, The Artisan’ by Cheryl Corey

The Society
March 7, 2022
Culture, Humor, Poetry
6 Comments
. Hermes, The Artisan Hermes, son and messenger of Jove, Surveyed the coast, where often he would rove, And found a tortoise beached upon a cove. He took it home and made a turtle soup— The shell, he...

‘Young Strongbow’: An Anonymous American Ballad Presented by Jack DesBois

The Society
March 6, 2022
Culture, Music, Poetry, Readings, Song Lyrics
7 Comments
. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CaAv09XqwAY . Young Strongbow anonymous American ballad (Words in parentheses are alternate lyrics suggested by other extant versions of the song.) To Dartmouth’s...

A Poem on the Proverbial Uptight Librarian, by Joseph S. Salemi

The Society
March 5, 2022
Humor, Poetry
32 Comments
. Prudence Huntleigh, Head Librarian theme of “the proverbial uptight librarian” suggested by Brian Yapko She mans the front desk and she oversees All borrowings, returns, and two-cent fines. A tailored...

‘Yet Another Exhibition Opening’ by Shaun C. Duncan

The Society
March 5, 2022
Art, Culture, Poetry
16 Comments
. Yet Another Exhibition Opening "Art is the pleasure of a spirit that enters nature and discovers that it too has a soul." ---Auguste Rodin Although this bourgeois slum is flush with cash, No decent man could...

‘Ex Nihilo Is a Joke’ by Phillip Whidden

The Society
March 4, 2022
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
3 Comments
. Ex Nihilo Is a Joke “. . .it starts with an empty universe” ---Stephen Fry, Cosmos, vii An empty universe is paradox. In such a boundless space there’d be no time. Among all other blanks there’d be...

‘Justification’ and Other Poetry by Russel Winick

The Society
March 3, 2022
Culture, Poetry
20 Comments
. Justification He smashed the windows, grabbed the wares, With rage against society That made him free of any cares Or thoughts of impropriety. He stole until his pockets filled The chance of apprehension...

‘Seeing the Light’: Three Poems by Susan Jarvis Bryant

The Society
March 2, 2022
Culture, Pantoum, Poetry, Triolet
43 Comments
. Seeing the Light by Susan Jarvis Bryant . I. Peace Be with You… a pantoum   “Peace is possible, truth at all costs.” ---Martin Luther  The churchyard cat is terrified The belfry bats are numb with...

‘Little to Regret’ by David Watt

The Society
March 2, 2022
Beauty, Love Poems, Poetry
20 Comments
. Little to Regret When Time has stilled my body __Think of me now and then, Asleep beneath the wattle, __Which flowers yet again. And as the summer follows __With rays I cannot see, Let the warmth embrace...

2022 FoFG Poetry Competition

The Society
March 1, 2022
Human Rights in China, Poetry, Poetry Contests
. Introduction Today, the communist government of China, the world’s largest nation, is attacking the basic freedom of thought and belief that have been a cornerstone of human civilization throughout...

‘Pergola’ by Andre Wilson

The Society
March 1, 2022
Beauty, Poetry
13 Comments
. Pergola My vines entwined around your posts and beams of weathered wood the sun had silvered gray. My trunk extends its arms, your trellis teems with viridescent leaves throughout the day. The hungry...

A Poem for Mardi Gras Travelers, by Ben Broussard

The Society
February 28, 2022
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
10 Comments
. Memento, Homo… "There is no architecture in New Orleans, except in the cemeteries." —Mark Twain If we should go to New Orleans We’ll see our share of raucous scenes At Mardi Gras soirees and balls With...

‘The Poem that Built a Nation: Finland and the Kalevala’: An Essay by Adam Sedia

The Society
February 28, 2022
Culture, Epic, Essays, Poetry
13 Comments
. The Poem that Built a Nation: Finland and the Kalevala by Adam Sedia Nowhere perhaps is the power of poetry more apparent than in its ability to unite a culture---literally to build a nation. Homer’s epics...

‘Trudeau’s Canada’ and Other Poetry by Norma Pain

The Society
February 27, 2022
Culture, Humor, Poetry
17 Comments
. Trudeau’s Canada Jab them all, Big and small. Small are buffer And must suffer. No opinions, Little minions. Cover traces Of their faces, With a mask, Do not ask. Issue orders Across borders. What the...

‘Beneath the Tide’ and Other Pacific Northwest Shoreline Poems by James A. Tweedie

The Society
February 27, 2022
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
16 Comments
. Beneath the Tide The tidal basin ebbs and flows each dayAs if it were a sentient, breathing thing—A pas de deux, a moon-dance interplay—As time and space, in silence, sway and swing. As like a fraying...

‘Salieri on Mozart’ by Brian Yapko

The Society
February 26, 2022
Beauty, Culture, Music, Poetry
27 Comments
. Salieri on Mozart More wine, Signore... Should I say mein Herr? I know! French cognac. Spirits help me share Dark thoughts. Now listen. I take one full year To pen these operas Kaiser Josef lauds; Then you...

Share Your Poetry on the Russian Invasion of Ukraine

The Society
February 26, 2022
Culture, Poetry
245 Comments
. Many poets have been sending in poetry on Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Post your poetry directly...

‘Spring’ by Morrison Handley-Schachler

The Society
February 26, 2022
Beauty, Poetry
2 Comments
. Spring The Spring is coming and each day Earlier falls dawn’s curtain grey Before the star-enchanted world Where, in each other’s limbs fast curled, As Venus, our directrix, bade, In many acts our masque...

‘From the Tower’ by Francisco de Quevedo, Translated by Elwin Wirkala

The Society
February 25, 2022
Beauty, Poetry, Translation
6 Comments
. From the Tower by Francisco de Quevedo (1580-1645) | translated from Spanish by Elwin Wirkala Retired to these deserts and at peace, and with but few, though learnèd, books beside, I live conversing now...

‘Because He Could Not Jump’ adapted from Lewis Carroll’s ‘The Pig’ by Beverly Stock

The Society
February 25, 2022
Culture, Humor, Poetry
7 Comments
. Poem Introduction Lewis Carroll (who lived 1832-1898 and was born Charles Lutwidge Dodgson) was a master at humorous wordplay and making the illogical logical. His accomplishments as an English writer of...

‘The Pear Pit’ by Leland James

The Society
February 24, 2022
Children's, Humor, Poetry
8 Comments
.   The Pear Pit I fell into a pear pitupon a summer’s day.I fell into a pear pitand whiled the time away. How sad will be the hunter,as sad as he can be,finding not a pitted pearbut finding only...

‘Come Winter, Come’ by Cheryl Corey

The Society
February 23, 2022
Beauty, Poetry
12 Comments
. Come Winter, Come Come Winter, come. Lay this body down to rest. A squalling wind is blowing, north by northwest; __And every tree a bower __In Nature’s darkest hour, __And every creature deep __In...

A Poem for the CDC: ‘Unsettled’ by Susan Jarvis Bryant

The Society
February 22, 2022
Culture, Poetry
40 Comments
. Unsettled written upon reading of the CDC refusing to publish data on booster effectiveness I’m niggled and nettled. The science is settled __Yet fails to make sense or equate. My mind is left addled when...

A Love Sonnet by Alena Casey

The Society
February 22, 2022
Beauty, Love Poems, Poetry
2 Comments
. When words are sharp, and clash like iron blades, I swallow swords. I grimace, turn away. You fear I wield a shield, that love will fade, That wordless I our promises betray. Yet iron sharpens iron, I have...

A Poem on Criselda Vasquez’s ‘New American Gothic,’ by Bruce Dale Wise

The Society
February 21, 2022
Culture, Ekphrastic, Poetry
22 Comments
. A Working Man and Wife “…aware of the humanity on the other side of the door.” ---Criselda Vasquez They stand before some distant trees, on pavement, amber, gray,a three-door cargo van, a...

‘Bluer Skies’ and Other Poetry by Norma Pain

The Society
February 20, 2022
Beauty, Humor, Poetry, The Environment
20 Comments
. Bluer Skies after Ogden Nash Spring ain’t sprung, the grass ain’t growed, The fields ain’t fit for man nor toad. They tell us that the world is warmin’, ‘Pears to me the world is stormin’. Snow...

Poetry for the Canadian Trucker Protest, by Susan Jarvis Bryant

The Society
February 19, 2022
Culture, Poetry, Rondeau, Villanelle
25 Comments
. Shining Armor The knights roll in. They have a rift to heal--- A rift that stokes the embers of despair. With grit they steer their trusty steeds of steel. They come in peace to seal a vital deal With he...
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  1. Alan Steinle on ‘If You Ever Break Down’ and Other Poetry by James A. TweedieMay 15, 2025

    I just turned my phone to landscape mode and realized you wrote the first poem in anapestic meter. Sounds good.

  2. Margaret Coats on ‘If You Ever Break Down’ and Other Poetry by James A. TweedieMay 15, 2025

    James, I must say I am grateful, on behalf of women in general, for guys in all types of vehicle…

  3. James A. Tweedie on National Limerick Day: Post Your Limerick HereMay 15, 2025

    For Paul and Joe: Some say he's God-blessed, or he's cursed. The best that we've had or the worst. "Make…

  4. Alan Steinle on ‘Emmaus’: An Easter Poem by Jeffrey EssmannMay 15, 2025

    I especially like your sestet and the final line really hits it home. The last line or two of a…

  5. James A. Tweedie on National Limerick Day: Post Your Limerick HereMay 15, 2025

    Back in the day when my wife and I were living in Edinburgh, a man we knew (with de rigueur…

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