Terza Rima

. Judge Not We notice, Signor Alighieri, that You have a rather well developed bent For taking your opponents to the mat And showing them that in the Main Event They will be pinned like insects to a wall To...

Judges Angela Alaimo O’Donnell James Sale . OVERALL WINNER . Papa’s Commedia by Nicholas Walz That was hellish—the hulking chopper plunging Through the top: the battered fuselage yawed, Dipped, and...

. A Sentimental Villanelle This year I’m wrapped in Christmases of old--- The tinseled tree and glee of hearts on high. My mood is laced with myrrh and graced with gold. The air is spiced with mulling wine...

. Last Rites Let not the Rock of Ages ever break Or send apostate magi to the stake; A golden era favoring good men Will likely never come around again. This world, in winter, is a dreary place, Devoid of...

. The Spirit blazes in an upper room; A hundred twenty flames spout sparks to cast Christ’s wildfire on the earth, and make it bloom. The Magdalen, apostle unsurpassed, Conveys her fragrant nard to salve...

  Full Lives, Empty Souls after Ecclesiastes 6 There is an evil I have seen in those who live beneath the sun: A man to whom God gives both wealth and riches, and who knows respect among his...

  Honest to God? after Ecclesiastes 5 Watch carefully your step when you draw near to God. Fools play at worship, coming to Him to be seen and heard, more than to hear. They tip their hats to God,...

  No One to Comfort Them after Ecclesiastes 4 Just look around: Oppression everywhere exists beneath the sun, and the oppressed cry vainly for relief, but who will care? The slaves, the poor, all...

  While walking through the Grand Bazaar In Istanbul, I came upon A man whose name was Al-Jafar. His friendly face was thin and drawn, A misbaha* was in one hand. And in the other, a Qur’an. He stood...

  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...

Hating Life after Ecclesiastes 2 Within my heart I said, “Come now, and I will test your soul with mirth.” For surely, so I thought, the man who would be wise must try out every pleasure, so that...

Wind and Vanity after Ecclesiastes 1 My name is Solomon, and you may know me as the king of Israel, David’s son, a man of wisdom unsurpassed. And so I was. And yet I write to you as one emerging...

Garden Waltz a terza rima sonnet in dactylic pentameter with a truncated foot at the end of each line Radishes sway to the rhythm of sunlight and rainfall, Carrots to minerals present in alkaline...

Canto 2 is part of a sequence of 33 Cantos called The English Cantos that James Sale is attempting to write in the style – and using the terza rima – of Dante. His aim is to create a contemporary epic of...

Canto 1 is the provisional name for a sequence of 33 Cantos that James Sale is attempting to write in the style - and using the terza rima - of Dante. His aim is to create a contemporary epic of heaven and...

Dante’s Inferno, Canto I (Poem by Dante Alighieri / translation by J. Simon Harris in terza rima) In the middle of the journey of our life I found myself again in a dark forest, for I had lost the pathway...

By Dusty Grein Dating to the thirteenth century, the terza rima (Italian for "third rhyme") is a classic form of writing poetry in three-line stanzas called tercets, which are interlinked by their rhyming...