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      Culture, Poetry, Villanelle
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      From the Society, High School Submissions, Poetry, Poetry Contests
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Poetry

‘Autumn Twilight’: A Poem by Cynthia Erlandson

The Society
January 25, 2025
Beauty, Poetry
21 Comments
. Autumn Twilight Full moon. Crickets singing. Scarlet sky.Long past summer solstice; now the sunDescends before the short day’s work is done.Last light and fast-invading violet vieTo shape inconstant...

‘The Introvert’: A Poem by James Bontrager

The Society
January 24, 2025
Beauty, Poetry
13 Comments
. The Introvert Sequestered in an abstract mood,Replete in blissful solitude;Behind the veil of scenes overtYou’ll find the pensive introvert. You may not find him center stage,The Hercules of any age;But...

‘Rattler’: A Poem on Wyeth’s ‘Master Bedroom’, by Carl Kinsky

The Society
January 24, 2025
Ekphrastic, Poetry
14 Comments
. Rattler ---inspired by Master Bedroom, Andrew Wyeth, 1965 The walls and windows unadorned, the bedkept neatly made, the blanket smooth as cream,two feather pillows, perfect for his headto rest against, eyes...
poem/sale/epic

‘Libra’ and Other Poetry by Patricia Rogers Crozier

The Society
January 23, 2025
Beauty, Culture, Love Poems, Poetry
15 Comments
. Libra There in my hand I held a crystal vial Of distillation potent, red, and sweet, By which my broken heart was put on trial, And golden apples scattered at my feet. Ask not the name of him who gave to...

‘On Bill Mahrt’s Retirement as Choirmaster of the St. Ann Choir’: A Poem by Julian Woodruff

The Society
January 23, 2025
Acrostic, Beauty, Music, Poetry
18 Comments
. On Bill Mahrt’s Retirement as Choirmaster of the St. Ann Choir (June, 2024) W e all should thank our God for William Mahrt, I nto whose hands He placed a sacred trust, L eaving to him to keep the aural...

‘I Will Awaken the Dawn’: A Poem by Rachel Meyer

The Society
January 22, 2025
Beauty, Poetry
15 Comments
. I Will Awaken the Dawn The birds have yet to echo Their songs across the trees, The sun has yet to whistle Its foggy rays in streams, The dark still holds the world, Creation slumbers on; But now the time...

‘True Love’: A Poem by Roger Crane

The Society
January 22, 2025
Beauty, Love Poems, Poetry
12 Comments
. True Love On a hill far away, a true love waits, In a place of weathered, broken gates. And though the gates are falling down, One place on the hill is hallowed ground. Nothing moves on that faraway...

‘Another Crossroads’: A Poem by Peter Venable

The Society
January 21, 2025
Beauty, Poetry
4 Comments
. Another Crossroads I have a rendezvous with destiny.It’s at the crossroads of Straight Street and Main.With cardboard sign, that man rules his domain.(Cops do not bother with such vagrancy.)Some iced tea...

‘To Her Ghost: a Sequence from Orpheus Looks Back’: Poetry by David J. Rothman

The Society
January 21, 2025
Love Poems, Poetry
4 Comments
. To Her Ghost: a Sequence from Orpheus Looks Back ---in memoriam Emily Desire Gaynor Rothman, 1964-2020 . 1. Breaking Open A sonnet tells the lover’s tale becauseIt is the lover’s sonnet. Lovers loveTo...

‘The Magic Trick’ and Other Poetry by Shamik Banerjee

The Society
January 20, 2025
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
8 Comments
. The Magic Trick Another dove spawns from the wizard's hat. A youngster, goggle-eyed, forgets to clap, enchanted by the spell. With every flap this spongy creature makes, he wonders at the skill required to...

‘Cloth of Destiny’: An MLK Day Poem by Kevin Farnham

The Society
January 20, 2025
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
4 Comments
. Cloth of Destiny From his jail cell, he preached civility— despite the agony centuries had brought. Proud Rosa occupied a seat; though fraught with risk, that act preserved her dignity. We dreamed of equal...

An Inaugural Poem: ‘Anticipating President Trump’s Golden Age’ by Mark F. Stone

The Society
January 19, 2025
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
21 Comments
. Anticipating President Trump’s Golden Age Unburdened from that which has recently been. An era of progress about to begin. Mending the messes afflicting our nation. Ending the slow...

A Poem for the 2025 U.S. Presidential Inauguration: ‘Free People’ by Daniel Rancio

The Society
January 19, 2025
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
6 Comments
Free People In some sense, free people have no needOf poets to give their speech a better voice.But freedom wanes without great art and heedOf powers that will enslave us with rejoiceIf only given a chance....

‘Stones for My Parents’ and Other Poetry on Grieving by Brian Yapko

The Society
January 19, 2025
Beauty, Poetry
25 Comments
. Stones for My Parents I didn’t want to come. How sad it sounded To kneel beneath a hazy sun surrounded By strangers’ graves---grim watchmen for the bones Of those who’ve crossed the Bridge. The ghosts...

‘Whoever Am I?’: Poetry by Prudentius, Translated from Latin by Margaret Coats

The Society
January 19, 2025
Beauty, Poetry, Translation
26 Comments
. Whoever Am I? Preface to His Poetry .by Prudentius (c. 4th century AD)translated by Margaret Coats If I see clear, through fifty yearsI’ve lived. The seventh after them appears to wheelAround as we enjoy...

‘The Hectic Life’ and Other Poetry by Thor Kangas

The Society
January 18, 2025
Beauty, Poetry
10 Comments
. The Hectic Life _Sometimes we get discouraged _With life and all its fuss, Its raucous moments speeding by _Like children on a bus. _It’s all the hectic worries, _The troubles and the stress, That pull us...

‘Death Is But a Passing’: A Poem by Roy E. Peterson

The Society
January 18, 2025
Beauty, Love Poems, Poetry
13 Comments
. Death Is But a Passing A death is but a passing from one world into another, A change of state, a change of place, a starting to discover, A test of fortitude perhaps for those I leave behind, A change of...

‘Pearls or Swine?’: A Rondeau Redoublé and a Villanelle by Susan Jarvis Bryant

The Society
January 17, 2025
Beauty, Poetry, Rondeau Redoublé, Satire, Villanelle
22 Comments
. Pearls or Swine? Pray show me how to tell a pearl from swine. I have a thirst for sanity to slake. I seek a clue---a firm not fluid sign To steer me from the sway of all that’s fake. While Einsteins whine...

‘Best of the Windy City’: A Poem on Chicago and Other Poems by Russel Winick

The Society
January 17, 2025
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
12 Comments
. Best of the Windy City Nation’s hub and culture center, O’Hare Airport, millions enter. Stunning architecture sites, The awesomeness of Frank Lloyd Wright; Union Stockyards fed the nation; Second City...

‘Elusive Illusive Art’ and Other Poetry by Mike Ruskovich

The Society
January 16, 2025
Art, Beauty, Poetry, Villanelle
1 Comment
. Elusive Illusive Art Where are the pure, illusive works of artthat bubble upward from the deep unknown?Where in this world are worlds Art sets apart? Duct tape? A banana fresh from the cart?Renoir would...

Song Version of ‘The Day the Poetry Died’ by Steve Shaffer

The Society
January 16, 2025
Culture, Music, Poetry
23 Comments
. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xF6v6ES3FMU . This is song was originally a poem published by the Society of Classical Poets in March, 2018. . The Day the Poetry Died Wonder why poetry is in...
poem/corey/saint patricks day

Four Newsy Limericks by James A. Tweedie

The Society
January 15, 2025
Limerick, Poetry, Satire
10 Comments
. Four Newsy Limericks . A pedophile, if you should see one, Must not be reported. The reason? __It could be your fate __That you’d be charged with “hate.” A crime worse by far than to be...

‘A Pleased Jaques’: A Poem by Bruce Dale Wise

The Society
January 15, 2025
Beauty, Poetry
10 Comments
. A Pleased Jaques ---after a soliloquy in Shakespeare's As You Like It At first there is the infant, grinning widebecause he has escaped his nurse's armsand her chagrin, in short shirt takes his stridearound...

‘My Soul Is at Home in the Depths of the Ocean’ and Other Poetry by Corey Elizabeth Jackson

The Society
January 15, 2025
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
7 Comments
. My Soul Is at Home in the Depths of the Ocean My soul is at home in the depths of the ocean; My soul is at home in the cosmos above, Always adventuring, seeking to grow and Wreathing my body in infinite...

A Rondeau on the Fish Behind the California Water Shortage, by Susan Jarvis Bryant

The Society
January 14, 2025
Poetry, Rondeau, Satire
28 Comments
. O Delta Smelt O Delta Smelt of silver scale, O threatened gem of fin and tail, In brackish waters made just so By crimson hands as ill winds blow, Your saviors sing of Toad and Whale. As fires rage and...

‘The Lemon Tree’: A Poem by Satyananda Sarangi

The Society
January 14, 2025
Beauty, Poetry
18 Comments
. The Lemon Tree We leave the house, the nurtured lawn is gone; The garden still resembles lifeless works Of abstract art; at times banana leaves Seem painted by a brush. I look upon The fruiting lemon tree, a...

‘Out in the Open’: A Poem by Steven Frattali

The Society
January 14, 2025
Beauty, Poetry
5 Comments
. Out in the Open The slanting rain comes on and on! The cold drops blear and blur the sun When they hang in my eyelashes. My heavy stomp in the mud mashes The leaves and twigs and mud together. I plough on...

‘Payday’ and Other Poetry by C.B. Anderson

The Society
January 13, 2025
Culture, Poetry, Satire
14 Comments
. Payday Before the crash, the market looked so strong. I doled out cash and credit, buying in While others sold. But, sadly, I was wrong About this, confidence my greatest sin, And I have duly suffered, if...

‘Magna Lex’: A Poem by Jeff Kemper

The Society
January 13, 2025
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
10 Comments
. Magna Lex ---to the choirmaster, a Psalm (19) of David. . I The heavens herald God’s resplendency; The skies above display his artistry. By day the discourse spills like falling rain; Deep verities the...

‘Let There Be Light’ and Other Poetry by Cheryl Corey

The Society
January 12, 2025
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
11 Comments
. Let There Be Light From beyond, there came the Word—a cosmic “Om”That pierced the void with one colossal bang of sound,Releasing undulating waves of hallowed humThat thundered through the geodesic grid...

‘Unnoticed and Unknown’ and Other Poems by James A. Tweedie

The Society
January 12, 2025
Culture, Poetry, Terza Rima
13 Comments
. Unnoticed and Unknown Unnoticed and unknown, she passes through The homeless strewn along the downtown street. Unnoticed and unknown by people who Drive past in cars where high-end Niked feet Press...

‘Emergent Occasions’: A Poem by Maura H. Harrison

The Society
January 11, 2025
Beauty, Poetry
6 Comments
. Emergent Occasions “And even angels, whose home is heaven, and who are winged too, yet had a ladder to go to heaven by steps.” —John Donne, Meditation II, Emergent Occasions __Affliction is a sea, a...

‘Three Cascading Endings on Fallen Civilizations’ and Other Poetry by Cynthia Erlandson

The Society
January 11, 2025
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
17 Comments
. Three Cascading Endings on Fallen Civilizations I. Everywhere, the sands are endless. Look: A joke is made of all my glory. On Stone once sculpted in my image, my High authority, my grandest works’ Marks,...

‘Winter Night’: A Poem by Martin Rizley

The Society
January 10, 2025
Beauty, Poetry
15 Comments
. Winter Night A full moon fills the sky with lustrous light And gives the vault of heaven in the night A golden sheen that gilds the cloudy wisps That drift across the sky like phantom ships. The moon's glow...

‘My Inner Attorney’: A Poem by Warren Bonham

The Society
January 10, 2025
Culture, Poetry
25 Comments
. My Inner Attorney "Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord,...

Two Idylls of Bion of Smyrna, Translated from Greek by Joseph S. Salemi

The Society
January 9, 2025
Culture, Poetry, Translation
20 Comments
. Two Idylls by Bion of Smyrnatranslated by Joseph S. Salemi . Idyll V Great Cypris stood before me in a dreamy hazeHolding by her fair hand the hand of baby DesireWhose head hung heavily downward, in an...
poem/yapko/satire

‘None for All’ and Other Poetry by Peter Lillios

The Society
January 9, 2025
Beauty, Culture, Poetry, Readings
15 Comments
. . None for All Backbones wilt and waistlines grow; Brightness dims as diodes glow. It’s history’s course, a simple fact, Declared with pride—or else with tact. Vigor falters, wits regress; The...

‘Healing Hands’: A Poem for the National Health Service, by Drilon Bajrami

The Society
January 8, 2025
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
21 Comments
. Healing Hands ---in appreciation of the care provided (free of charge) by the NHS, the National Health Service of the UK, while I was hospitalised as a pain patient. I thank the Lord for healing hands,...

‘Happy’: A Poem by Joseph Stuart

The Society
January 8, 2025
Beauty, Poetry
3 Comments
. Happy ---for B.K. A ground to play, a set to swing, A slide to slide, a bell to ring: She walks the way of there and then. “Hap-py,” she says; “hap-py,” again. A ball for foot, a nut for...

On ‘The Three Little Pigs’ and Other Poems by Anna J. Arredondo

The Society
January 7, 2025
Children's, Culture, Humor, Poetry
21 Comments
. Watch Out! Now, “The Three Little Pigs” is a tale More for cautioning than for amusing: Learn its lessons and you may prevail; Heed them not, and you may end up losing. For we, none of us, live in a...
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  1. John Savoie on The Society of Classical Poets 2025 Haiku CompetitionJuly 6, 2025

    nicely done, Carl well lineated, natural, uncluttered, spare

  2. Ashley Horton on The Society of Classical Poets 2025 Haiku CompetitionJuly 6, 2025

    Warning sirens blare Continuing to look down As birds fly away Earlier this time Branches against the window Calmness with…

  3. Cynthia L Erlandson on A Poem on the Ghost Town Bodie, by James A. TweedieJuly 6, 2025

    James, you have managed to put into words the universal thoughts and feelings people have when seeing a ghost town.…

  4. Mark Lukey on ‘Stand’: A Poem by Mark LukeyJuly 6, 2025

    Thanks, Cynthia. Your comment furthered the dampness around my eyes. Mark Lukey LCDR, CEC USNR {ret’d)

  5. Mark Lukey on ‘Stand’: A Poem by Mark LukeyJuly 6, 2025

    Thanks, Margaret. Your comment made me damp around the eyes. Mark Lukey LCDR, CEC USNR {ret’d)

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