Poetry

. Stress can envelop, encircle, entangle. Strictures can pressure from every angle. Tripping and slipping to ways that are errant happen to all who endeavor to parent. What should you do when in need of a...

. Portrait of God drawn from Scripture by François-René de Chateaubriand (1768-1848), translated by Adam Sedia Know you the jealous God, who dare engage In sin, whose impious deeds ignite his rage? His...

. Rapt “I must go down to the sea again,  to the lonely sea and the sky…” ---John Masefield  Today I felt the roil of sky and sea Merge to form a swathe of seamless blue, Where surge of...

  You can’t imagine what I saw,Some clouds that only God can drawWith pinks and reds and violet blue.He painted with a heavenly hue. Then from my mountainside retreatI had a special viewing seat.The distant...

. Spacious spans the starlit sky; Silver shines its light; Vast the veil, Pearly-pale, Drawn o’er the dusky night; Silently the star-strewn brooks Through flow’ry meadows flow; Glitt’ring gleams On...

. Benvenuto Cellini’s Salt-Cellar A woman sitting back, just mildly curious To hear a man’s contrived, seductive patter, Waiting to see what fabrications spurious He’s dreamt up now. It doesn’t really...

. Behold the father of this infant land, Conductor of our daunting foe’s defeat, Now warmly laureled for his noble stand Through which our liberty was made complete. Yet Washington the praise did humbly...

by Andrew Benson Brown Theresa Rodriguez, Sonnets. 2nd edition. Shanti Arts, 193 Hillside Road, Brunswick, ME, 04011, 2020. 75 pp. $12.95. In his literary criticism, William Empson showed a subtle...

. Humility Lo, I have seen the Muses plain. What need Have I to go on living?—’Twas in Rome: I touched the flesh (it was a holy deed) That Michelangelo shaped out of stone. O what a great and glorious...

. I wonder where my father’s cardinal is--- The colored-pencil drawing that he made In art class---he was only in fourth grade, I’d been impressed to learn. _____________________It was not his Idea to...

. Wokeness by Russel Winick “Amen and Awoman” the Congressman said, The Leftists all thought it was great. What more woke insanity now lies ahead? That young females...

. With Goals in Tow I’ve fewer days ahead of me than those I have been blessed to see. Though time moves on so rapidly, my hopes sustain. God still has plans for me, I know. He’s guiding me as to and...

. Flodden Historical Note: The Battle of Flodden took place between English and Scottish armies on September 9, 1513. The battle proved a tragic disaster for the Scots who lost an estimated 12,000-17,000 men...

. The Death of Today’s Sequoia Flecte ramos, arbor alta, tensa laxa viscera: Et rigor lentescat ille, quem dedit nativitas, Ut superni membra regis miti tendas stipite. —Venantius Fortunatus (c. 530-609...

. In nature’s loving show of all things fair the fruits of youth seem sweetest to the eye, the world applauds youth’s beauty as most rare and pours sweet praise on looks that sadly die. Light limbs,...

. The Inca Kings Who stole the kings? Even Pachacutec's mummy now is gone from Lima's hospital display of Inca royalty—the T-Rex of them all, ferocity turned brittle bones and shrunken body in a...

. An Ode to Letters We cannot be sure what the future will hold, But I doubt this prediction will fail. That no one will ever unearth in an attic An old treasure trove of email. . . Outvoted In my marriage I...

. “Di pensier in pensier, di monte in monte” by Francesco Petrarch (1304-1374) __From thought to thought, from mountain to mountain, Love guides me, and every path in which I’ve strayed is hostile to a...

. From Parthenope’s coast each to his post, Beseeching eyes upraised with steady gaze. That night would nature’s cruelty erase A city from the broiling earth and roast The dying with the lying dead....

. with reference to Macbeth V,5 . So bleak and dreary, like a stormy day, The world a whirl of whorls of endless rain And wind, with crash and flash from out the fray As cannonades exchange defiance and...

. after Matthew 2:1-12 From distant regions of the east they came, Wise Magi, searching for a royal son, Into Jerusalem with single aim: Determined, they, until their search was done. “Where is this little...

. Fools sneered at his rightful place; __“He isn’t our leader” they said. They labeled his traits a disgrace. __En masse, they demanded him dead. They screamed that his term was treason __And fought...

. I asked the Lord, “Please tell me, where's the outrage From those who claim to love the cause of right? Why aren't more people going on the rampage To battle dark deception with the light? A nation has...

  This ode concerns a wealthy gent, To London Town, one day he went. He’d paid to see an Opera, But got more than he bargained for. For as he reached the City wall, He stopped to take a cell...

. Biden Kneels Before the Red Beast by Damian Robin from a scenario of Evan Mantyk On silver-smoke-screen in mid air __the Red Beast’s horde has beckoned. Its full face groomed, a beauty rare, __but...

Selected by Beverly Stock ---From Liver Pills to stuff that kills, and makes it smooth to die, The last is not their mission, though, and yet within their power, But if you’re sick--go to them quick, or...

. Away with loneness--he whose winter bites, who haunts the wasted wilderness and shores, born in thunder on the misty moors; who, bred by wolves, with howling fills the nights. But bring his smooth browed...

. . Hunting My father strides ahead of me.His khaki cap is all I see,beside the barrel of his gun.We’re hunting upland quail that runfrom us in loose community. The way is one that he knows best:zigzag...

  Dear Edgar, __We’re sorry our response has taken so much time, but it grieves and pains to tell you that you’ve missed our paradigm. __While past works were droll and erudite ---nay,...

. . The Rub   I’ve had a taste of wonder and I cannot give it back. I’ve seen each deep state blunder and the swamp’s heart dipped in black. I’ve witnessed this great country as it’s getting back...

  . Old doors to opportunitiesare gone, so, not one opens.Enticements that were there, just tease,no keys, just slot-less tokens. Lost gains are gone, missed chances gone,mistakes abound like raindrops . ....

. . Ode on ​Bertel Thorvaldsen’s Ganymede and the Eagle Bending down in offering, a Boy extends a shallow bowl; Craning neck of eagle dips, the Child foresees his coming role. Swept from earth to...

  . O hail you lied-to, baffled Yanks,__false-fed with sick afront’ry,If only rigging votes were pranks__not killing your good country. I know you're in the midst of it,__the bin bags full of ballotsThat...

“Pride Goeth . . . .” “How dare you, sir! Your libel will not stand!” The words flew out across the now-hushed room. “Retract your vile lies or face your doom! “Repent or you shall die by my...

. Long the shadow that it casts, Christmas present, o’er our pasts. In its darkness made to bask, Mumbling carols through a mask. Oh, the distance we observe. No resistance, gone our nerve. Cowering in...

. Anno Domini 1348 ‘Tis thirteen months since those twelve ships of death Docked in Messina bearing vicious plague From the Black Sea. The fevers, rasping breath, The frightful buboes, tortured minds gone...

. The Burden of Truth Our founders feared and could foresee that politics might come to be far more intense than mere debate of means to best perpetuate the liberty they'd given birth unparalleled in all the...

  adapted from a Filipino folktale __Once, when the sun was at its height, A dragonfly thought she’d alight Upon a branch. The air was hot, And she fatigued. So, on that spot, Under the shade of...

. The leaves may shine with colored gloss, But they will fall, forever lost. In this false world, what soul, I ask, May hope in timelessness to last? Today I cross these mountain depths With no vain dreams or...

  This is the day for manifesting soul To flesh, for making contemplation real; Incorporeal yet real and whole Advancing to some heavenly ideal. Not such transcendence as annuls the Earth Or...