Poetry

. The Bristlecone Pine For centuries, the stalwart pine has stood __in this unwonted spot. Its shallow roots and resinous hard wood __shield it from drought and rot. __Thin soil, high winds, cold air: it thrives where other living things cannot. __Dear tree, please hear my prayer. __Lend me your...

. The Troubadour Remembers A troubadour wayfaring town to town, Hamlet to homestead, dale to grassy down, While he his vagabond mandora strummed, Now with the bass, now with the treble hummed, Until the dancing echoes of the air, Cast on the seas of carefreeness and care, Lured from the...

. Conjugation: Tense with Mood ---a verbal disagreement between the indicative and the subjunctive If I were all that I could be, Perhaps I’d spend eternity Cavorting in a field of lilies With thoroughbred seductive fillies. But I am just a common man, Essentially no better than A frog that’s...

. Beneath the Blooms I search the hills for blooms to smell. The dew drops kiss my naked feet to wish me and my journey well but fade before the rising heat. Oh flowers, flowers everywhere I dance between the red and white. Oh flowers, flowers without care I hide...

. Most Conversations Near every grocery-line or petrol-pump, at every social-gathering or game, outside of every church or at the dump, the conversation’s usually the same. I’m hopefully only halfway through this life, and yet it feels I’ve been around the block enough to know, that even with my wife,...

. Autumn’s Fairy Tale ーan ode to Yugen The golden eve allures As autumn’s sun illumes, Gleaming in rose subdued. Replacing clouds that consume, The yonder storm forlorn. Upon the fairy leaves, And flora so pale and lone, Lie tears of dew in eve, Glistening still, divine. In the blessèd...

. The Point The Point, defined by geometry, substantiates a theory: position without magnitude. Lest the point be misconstrued consider how a politician, lacking substance, has position. . . Petition for Riddance of a TV Celebrity Disown her, Pheme, pity me and cleanse my screen of this red-carpet-bagging naught. Estrange...

. The Dance When Arsis and Thesis met on the dance floor, one bowed to the other, the other implored: “Let’s strike up the band now with haste and due speed. Why wait for the others? We’re all that we need!” Away they both flew over polished blond boards, the...

. Pushback The New Puritans run amok, remaking our society. Through countless forms of media, they assert their authority. Through threat and bluster they control those poor souls who’ll bend the knee, but lighting up my Dunhill pipe, I claw back some autonomy. . . David Greenwood is a lecturer...

. Whistling Woman "A whistling woman and a crowing hen will scare The Devil out of his den." ---English proverb ____I have whistled and I whistle still, ____gone my own way to my own sweet will. ____I’ve walked like a target when I knew the score, ____had a bellyful and...

. Radio New Zealand's Culture 101 sat down with SCP Editor Evan Mantyk to talk about the SCP's Haiku Competition, the SCP, and the history of the haiku. Listen here: https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/culture-101/audio/2018994399/the-art-and-history-of-the-haiku . Original Haiku Featured in the Interview: . The cold lake shimmers Softly lapping on the shore Fifty years...

. Of Cats and Cardinals ---for George Lionel (2005 – 2025) You left us at the hour of the owlWhen shameless moons are far too loud and bold__For one so still and cold---One shrouded in a freshly laundered towel,One lowered oh so softly in the earth---___Our whiskered gift,Our lifeless, purrless...

. The Gospel of Wives Wives everywhere possess the firm belief Of all their many roles, the one that’s chief Is sparing husbands from the sheer mayhem That would befall their lives, if not for them. . . Beneath the Bad Manners Her brother, on belief that she is loaded,...

. History’s Rondel Human history’s plot repeats In variations, with refrain Each time we purpose to regain Eden, fooled by the deceits That conquered Eve. Then Flood defeats And drowns our pride---but, yet again, It rises; history’s plot repeats Its variations, with refrain. Each Babel built on our conceits Collapses...

. Aubade at Seven AM The years have fled, and time so swiftly flees,since that brief hour when you and I first met;but how we loved I still remember yet;so purely did you live and love and please.You were a wonder then and still are now,a form of beauty and...

. Five Dappled Things A weave of twigs upon the ground; five eggs, cream white, flecked with gray. An ark dislodged —a callous jay or heartless wind— the nest set down. A slant of sun, an ark of twigs. a future vanishing. Five dappled things upon the ground. . ....

. Paradox of Tolerance "f tolerance is taken to the point where it tolerates the destruction of those same principles that made tolerance possible in the first place, it becomes intolerable." ---Gaetano Mosca (1858-1941), Italian political scientist  People touting their toleranceoften are thosewho are most prone to hollerwhile aiming their...

. Spoiled-Rotten Cat Instructs Visitors Don’t you dare try to sit in my spot! I’ll decide if you pet me or not. _I’m the star here you’ll see. _They all cater to me. They just like you; they LOVE me a lot. . . Ninety-Nine Candles Great Grandpa made this...

. The Old Man and the Mouse: A Sicilian Folktale An old man poured a glass of milk, and left it on the table. A small mouse came and drank it up, as much as he was able. The man returned, and when he saw the mouse right by the...

. Let Me Hold the Door I hold the door for you, and then you scoff. “He only wants to push old gender roles,” You think. Because you know you're strong enough, To get a door or dig some garden holes. But let me tell you in sincerity That I...

. Hairless Apes On the 100th Anniversary of the Scopes Monkey Trial . In nineteen hundred twenty-five, as Darwinists began to thrive, they wisely chose to hang their hopes upon a teacher named John Scopes who’d contravened the Butler Act by teaching children, it was fact that humans, not so...

. The Inclusivity Policy of a British School ---on a 12-year-old student in Britain being barred from making a speech about being British on Culture Celebration Day Celebrate your race with jubilation. Flaunt your flag with fervent glee and grit. Revel with elation in your nation— But not if you’re...

. Don't Call Me Shirley A Comic Homage Robert Hayes as reluctant pilot Ted Striker: “Surely you can’t be serious!” Leslie Nielsen as Dr. Rumack: “I am serious. And don’t call me Shirley.” (From “Airplane!” screenplay by Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, Jerry Zucker) I said to him, “But surely that’s...

. On the Epstein Files Debacle ---a villanelle Where are those awful Epstein files? It doesn’t matter left or right! Who are those sordid pedophiles? We need a cleanup on this aisle, From desk to void, they’ve taken flight, Where are those awful Epstein files? They think they’re fooling us...

. One Dumb Mistake When young I made a dumb mistake And was arrested by the cops. I found myself alone in court. Needless to say, my case was lost. And I was sentenced by the judge For murder: ten to twenty years. In prison I had many years To...

. Not All Angels Play the Harp Not all angels play the harp, _Or sing in heaven’s choir. Some of them are warriors _Who fly on wings of fire. Daniel saw before his eyes _A mighty angel standing. Gabriel the messenger _Gave Daniel understanding: “Looking up, he saw there stood...

. Living Dead The riffled rush of water mingles withThe wind among the Ponderosa pinesAs damp chill of late summer mountain rainSoaks through my shirt and clings and binds it toMy skin as if I were a mummy wrappedIn strips of liquid linen, parodyOf Karloff’s walking dead, where echoes ofThe...

. Martha “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!” ---Martha, Luke 10 In Jericho, the house was washed in white, Where roses climbed around each windowpane. The scent of baking drifted through the night, And laughter...

. The Harvest As drops of water drop and drip and drop, Each dripping drop soon fills the deepest crack. But when there is a freeze, they split the rock And once it’s cleft, no hands can pull it back. So too, His seed, when sown in hardened hearts, Will...

. Unspoken Moments A sunpatch nap the first warm day of Spring, A curled up kitten sleeping in your lap, A country walk down lanes where robins sing, The surge of joy in every thunderclap And burst of rain that sets one's spirit free. A book by Dickens, Stevenson, or...

. The Hokey-Cokey---Chaucer Style With music was a dingy tavern blessed, In Southwark, where we stopped to take our rest. The Miller, Robin, on his bagpipes played A tune---the Hokey-Cokey---and he made Us pilgrims form a circle, where we put Each arm in first, then out, and then each foot....

. Poetic Influences Elements swirling in motion,Music in splashes and streams!Waterfall, wild rushing river,Nature is stirring up dreams. Fog on the shores of illusion,Mixing with mist from the seas.Whispering wind o'er the coastline,Verses aloft in the breeze. Grandeur of sunrise and sunset,Moonbeams that light up the soul,Echoes of rhyme in...

. Of a Feather Professor Swann was new among the fonts of knowledge chugging up the tenure track; he'd earned his place among the college fac- ulty with bold views and a fierce response to critics. Apropos to ambience the ivied walls lent, students dared attack his points with blatant...

. Vesper At dewfall Pipistrella brings her silent flickering silhouette to haunt the after-glimmerings that linger on the garden yet. And quiet overcomes the sky; and shadow pacifies the night; and indigos intensify one lonely point of silver light. Deeper stillness amplifies the distant road, a far-off bark; and purer...

. Lasting Karma What’s the key to living life that matters? How do we spend this precious time on earth? Listen to the lessons of our fathers ---they illustrate the path from birth to death. So fleeting is the beauty of our bodies which amble down a trail from dust...

. Myths _I mined the Grecian myths _and wrung from them this gem: The gods amuse themselves with us and we amuse ourselves with them. . . Chuang Tzu We steal all our lives, was Chuang Tzu’s belief, to gather up booty for some greater thief. . . O Lethe...

. Poetry as a Pathway to Critical Thinking —with a focus on metaphor and image Poetry: “the right words in the best order.” —Samuel Taylor Coleridge Critical thinking: “conceptualizing, analyzing, synthesizing, evaluating, questioning, and exploring information, ideas, and expressions from multiple perspectives.” by Leland James First, on “metaphor,” Robert Frost...

. In this poetry challenge, poet Roy E. Peterson challenges you to post a classic poem and a poetic response to it (of any length). See his example below. Post your choice of poem and poetic response in the comments below. Feel free to comment on others' poems as well....

. The Flower’s Refrain A tender shoot breaks through the ground, Drawn upward by the golden sun; It spreads its quiet leaves around, And grows till warmer days are done. It heeds not time nor wind nor rain— Still, it grows, and grows again. A bloom appears with breathless grace,...

. Family Affair It was an educational affair, So many distant relatives were there, And it was nice to learn who they all were, Too bad without a death, this won’t occur. . . Argument Avoided There’s no need for an argument, _We do not have to fight. I’ve learned...