‘A Letter to Sir Grammar’ and Other Poetry by Dania El-Ghattis The Society January 26, 2020 Beauty, Culture, High School Submissions, Humor, Poetry 8 Comments A Letter to Sir Grammar Dear Sir Grammar: With all kindness and courtesy, may I request, A new package of words, freshly made, For, truly, it seems I have used them all up, And my writing has...
‘The Turkey Vulture’ by Anna J. Arredondo The Society January 25, 2020 Beauty, Culture, Poetry, The Raven 18 Comments Years ago—I still remember: final Thursday in November, I was in my kitchen cooking food to rival feasts of yore; To and fro sashaying, hopping, slicing, dicing, mincing, chopping, Dish by...
‘The Lorelei’ by Heinrich Heine (1797-1856) The Society January 25, 2020 Beauty, Culture, Poetry, Translation 5 Comments translation by Anna Leader I do not know what it might bode That I should be so sad, A fairytale from long ago Now will not leave my head. The air is cool and darkening Above the quiet...
‘Praise for Fall’ and Other Poetry by Janice Canerdy The Society January 24, 2020 Beauty, Culture, Humor, Poetry 7 Comments Praise for Fall You float in on a late September breeze with still-warm days and mild, cool nights in tow. It’s not your way to bring the first hard freeze before November when your cold winds...
‘Thank You Sonnet’ and Other Poetry by James Sale The Society January 23, 2020 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 15 Comments Thank You Sonnet This thanking you in sonnet form might seem Somewhat unusual, but I think it best, Simply to show how simply lines are stressed Without a trace of guilt or silly squeam- ishness; or...
‘Forgotten’ and Other Poetry by Randal A. Burd, Jr. The Society January 22, 2020 Beauty, Culture, Poetry Forgotten The grass has overgrown the weathered stone Since they first placed his body in the ground, And visitors no longer come around With hope they'll not, in turn, face death alone. Did...
‘Mama’ and Other Poetry by Sally Cook The Society January 21, 2020 Beauty, Culture, Humor, Poetry, The Environment 19 Comments Mama My mama took two drinks a year; A shot glass down the gullet— Yet hated bars and abhorred beer. Would execute a pullet— An ax, a stump—one frightened bird Was done for in a minute, Yet any...
‘Et In Arcadia Ego’ and Other Poetry by Michael Coy The Society January 21, 2020 Beauty, Humor, Poetry 6 Comments Et In Arcadia Ego Oh, that's it, Keko. Pass through. Go ahead. Just walk across my books without a glance, with all that arrogant insousiance of yours, encoded in that languid tread. No, never...
‘What Song Shall I Sing?’ by James A. Tweedie The Society January 20, 2020 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 35 Comments What song shall I sing for a nation divided By politics, race, economics, and power? By what sweet refrain shall our nation be guided Through all that we face in this dark, bitter hour. Around...
Write a Poem on One of These Images The Society January 19, 2020 Beauty, Culture, Ekphrastic, Poetry, Poetry Contests 39 Comments The above photographs were taken and submitted by New York City poet Joe Tessitore. We invite readers to pick one of the images (or both) and write a poem. Post your poem in the comments section...
Three Translations of the Poetry of Jean Froissart, by Margaret Coats The Society January 18, 2020 Beauty, Culture, Deconstructing Communism, Poetry, Rondeau, Translation 3 Comments Translator's note: The following consists of three poems by Jehan (or Jean) Froissart (c.1335–c.1410), translated not very literally but as far as possible in the original form, with its elaborate repetition...
‘Song at Sunset’ by Connie Phillips The Society January 18, 2020 Beauty, Culture, Humor, Poetry 6 Comments Song at Sunset The sun sets ‘neath the mountain top: __A golden orb that blinks And just for seconds lights the sky __Ablaze before it sinks. I see the sunset in your eyes, __Heart sinking in your...
‘Requiem for the U.N.’ and Other Poetry by Rod Walford The Society January 17, 2020 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 6 Comments Requiem for the U.N. 73 years—countless billions of dollars— And here we are today... Behold the statesmen smartly dressed Assembled from the East and West United in your global cause To feed the...
‘To You, My Wife’ and Other Poetry by Angel L. Villanueva The Society January 16, 2020 Beauty, Culture, Love Poems, Poetry, Villanelle 8 Comments To You, My Wife a villanelle To you, my wife, my love I declare, My joy and gain, a gift to me blessed, A morning flower of beauty and flair! O flesh of mine, this heart you repair, Whenever...
FoFG 2020 Poetry Contest: Adult, College, and High School Awards The Society January 15, 2020 Deconstructing Communism, Human Rights in China, Poetry, Poetry Contests 1 Comment Fight for Freedom. Write for Freedom. A Great Cause, Plus Over $1,200 in Prizes and No Submission Fee. Today, the communist government of China, the world's largest nation, is attacking the basic freedom...
‘Grapes’ and More Phobia Limerick Riddles by Jan Darling The Society January 15, 2020 Culture, Humor, Limerick, Poetry, Riddles 9 Comments Grapes Peel me a grape But remove the seed I love the flesh But have no need Of hard encounters In the skin Juicy, fat, dry or thin. On second thoughts—feed me gin. More Phobia...
Ecclesiastes 3, Recast in Classical Poetry, by T.M. Moore The Society January 14, 2020 Beauty, Culture, Poetry, Terza Rima 13 Comments Eternity in Our Hearts after Ecclesiastes 3 I contemplated all these matters from beneath the heaven, seeing things the way God sees them. For, no matter what may come, it has its place, and...
An American in Rome: Five Sonnets by Ambassador Peter Bridges The Society January 13, 2020 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 12 Comments I. Return to Rome Turn, turn, sing Seeger and the Shakers, turn Till one day all comes right—but is it so? Here down Domitian’s track I run, I burn: Here dreamed of glory, all those years...
‘My Daughter Sees a Starling on the Lawn’ and Other Poetry by Mark Anthony Signorelli The Society January 12, 2020 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 7 Comments My Daughter Sees a Starling on the Lawn I thought to tell you how the bird was called, What symbol circumscribed the creature’s being; Intending to give your mind a better hold On the unsought...
‘Mozart in Heaven’ by Conor Kelly The Society January 12, 2020 Acrostic, Beauty, Culture, Poetry 22 Comments Who is that smiling cherub whose huge wings, Open, extended, like a swan in flight, Lifts him above the angels to a height From which he conducts, for the King of Kings, Great open-air orchestral...
‘A Moving Experience’ and Other Poetry by Raymond Gallucci The Society January 11, 2020 Culture, Humor, Poetry 24 Comments A Moving Experience We’re the Stooges Three—your moving company. If it ain’t broke before we tote, it soon enough will be. Your furniture and prized possessions We handle as if our own. Employed,...
‘The Rock’ by Nathaniel Todd McKee The Society January 10, 2020 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 13 Comments In Frenchman bay, near Otter Point, the sea Against an ancient rock comes crashing down. This grey-clad cliff protrudes its stony knee Into the swirling surf, with horny crown. Sometimes the...
Two Humorous Poems by Daniel Galef The Society January 9, 2020 Culture, Humor, Poetry 4 Comments Von Sacher-Masoch’s Rebuttal to the Golden Rule If a brutal bash can bring one pleasure, one man’s lash is another man’s leisure. Angus MacHartey’s Final Party a sequel to...
‘The New Year’ and Other Poetry by Adam Sedia The Society January 8, 2020 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 12 Comments The New Year The fields stretch out, bare, icy: __Wide, blank, yet-unetched slates, Tabulae rasae, waiting __The chisel of the Fates, But deep beneath their starkness __A mighty force has...
‘Shaman of the Waves’ by Theresa Rodriguez The Society January 8, 2020 Beauty, Poetry 58 Comments I am the raging tempest tossed upon the fretful sea; you are the calm and quiet gale that steadies me. And yet I am the raging sea as well as all its roar; and you are even, still, the...
‘At Twilight’ by Erin Jeon The Society January 7, 2020 Beauty, High School Submissions, Poetry 7 Comments The sun sinks deep into the hill Behind the town that perches still. An amber fog prowls through the street Of cobbled stone and stonewashed chill. Dark navy night skies come compete With...
‘Moth, Angel of the Night’ and Other Poetry by Michael Zhao The Society January 7, 2020 Beauty, Culture, High School Submissions, Poetry 8 Comments Moth, Angel of the Night Emerging from a rich cocoon, you shed off your old husk– with legs outstretched and wings unfurled, you head out in the dusk. O harbinger of sunsets-- O twilight...
‘Surveillance, Twenty Twenty’ and Other Poetry by Joe Tessitore The Society January 6, 2020 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 8 Comments Surveillance, Twenty Twenty I never thought I'd live to see my TV looking back at me! One Nation, Divisible How long have I heard about ______their lies? How they weaponize...
‘Smith on Pollock’ by Julian D. Woodruff The Society January 5, 2020 Art, Beauty, Culture, Poetry 34 Comments It seems the art world all but missed the dart Hurled ‘cross the continent when Hassel Smith Called Jackson Pollock’s paintings “restaurant art”; Or else it put it out of mind...
‘The Ballad of Darryl O’Day’ by Martin Hill Ortiz The Society January 5, 2020 Humor, Poetry 13 Comments There's a legend that's told in the neighborhood pubs, In the smoke-filled gin joints and the posh country clubs, In the places beer flows, be it froth or in dregs, They say Darryl O'Day is the...
‘Gilbert and Sullivan on New York Affluence’ by Joseph S. Salemi The Society January 4, 2020 Culture, Humor, Poetry 9 Comments Hark now to the yuppies’ anthem, And the lifestyle that it preaches— How we all reside on the chic West Side With our Chardonnay and quiches. Chorus: We all reside on the chic West...
Five Sonnets from the Forthcoming Work Commentary, by Michael Curtis The Society January 3, 2020 Beauty, Culture, Humor, Poetry 3 Comments Cumæan Below, beyond the tiles now cave’d down, Up from the rubbled earth arose a sound Shrieking in a pitch strung to sting the ear, Some spirit of a hag command I hear Of the low, ruined place...
‘Bees Are Spectacular’ and Other Poetry by Leo Zoutewelle The Society January 2, 2020 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 26 Comments Bees Are Spectacular When people talk of “bees” it well could mean Two things: the sum of separate insects or A colony—some workers and a queen— A score of several thousand bees or more. In...
A New Year’s Day Poem: ‘Into 2020’ by Damian Robin The Society January 1, 2020 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 13 Comments On the occasion of New Year's Day 2020, two poems by Damian Robin, a writer and editor living in the United Kingdom.
‘Fireworks Burst’ by Cyrus Jalinous The Society December 31, 2019 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 6 Comments ‘Tis late now in the balmy eve, without the slightest stir, When lighter than a hot balloon cuts through the humid air Such light through dusk that becks the dawn like some dry burning...
‘The Burning of a Flag’ by Bruce Dale Wise The Society December 30, 2019 Culture, Deconstructing Communism, Poetry 17 Comments by Eric Awesud Ble Adolfo Martinez, a man who hails from Ames, Iowa, was sentenced sixteen jailed-years for the burning of a flag. The thirty-year-old man purloined a raindow-coloured flag that...
‘Three Hundred Spartans’ by Sancia Milton The Society December 30, 2019 Beauty, Culture, High School Submissions, Poetry 12 Comments Three Hundred Spartans In twilight’s ash three hundred stars await As blue-black thunder roars with battle drums, Three hundred voices murmuring of fate, As odds and armour stack in fearful...
‘One Last Candle’ and Other Poetry by Angel L. Villanueva The Society December 29, 2019 Beauty, Culture, Deconstructing Communism, Humor, Poetry 13 Comments One Last Candle The angry storm approaches in the night, Its curdling howl is heard for miles around. The trees all flinch in fear of nature's smite, Then cast their sobbing leaves upon the ground. No...
The Falun Gong Practitioner: A One-Act Play The Society December 28, 2019 Culture, Deconstructing Communism, Human Rights in China, Performing Arts, Poetry 13 Comments . A play in one act based on the true story of Li Zhenjun. Play by Evan Mantyk. Characters Narrator / Voice of Tradition Zhenjun “George” Li Communist Policeman 1 (CP 1) Communist Policeman 2 (CP...
‘Palimpsest’ and Other Poetry by T.M. Moore The Society December 27, 2019 Beauty, Culture, Poetry, Villanelle 8 Comments Palimpsest ...written in their hearts... Romans 2.15 We try, but cannot fully scrape away those ancient words engraved upon the soul. We would instead compose upon the scroll of our morality that which...