Three Poems on Thinking, by Susan Jarvis Bryant The Society April 4, 2022 Beauty, Culture, Poetry, Villanelle 36 Comments . Birdbrains a villanelle “When you control a man’s thinking you do not have to worry about his actions.” ---Carter G. Woodson If we just parrot newspeak without blinking And push...
Poetry for the Canadian Trucker Protest, by Susan Jarvis Bryant The Society February 19, 2022 Culture, Poetry, Rondeau, Villanelle 25 Comments . Shining Armor The knights roll in. They have a rift to heal--- A rift that stokes the embers of despair. With grit they steer their trusty steeds of steel. They come in peace to seal a vital deal With he...
‘Road Trip’: A Villanelle by Evan Mantyk The Society February 12, 2022 Beauty, Poetry, Villanelle 26 Comments . Road Trip I ride the countryside for you my friend. The white and yellow lines can’t separate The dots I will connect at this trip’s end. With spinning force that pushes on the bend Until the highway...
‘Starbucks Villanelle’ by Matt Hsu The Society January 31, 2022 High School Submissions, Humor, Poetry, Villanelle 9 Comments . Starbucks Villanelle Will someone call an order for Elaine? I have a bunch of stuff I need to do. The wait today is driving me insane. This one dude wants a pinch of sugar cane. I can’t believe he’s...
‘A Sentimental Villanelle’ and Other Christmas Poetry by Susan Jarvis Bryant The Society December 25, 2021 Beauty, Culture, Poetry, Terza Rima, Villanelle 28 Comments . 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...
‘Journey’s End’ and Other Poetry by Talbot Hook The Society December 19, 2021 Beauty, Children's, Poetry, Villanelle 2 Comments . Journey’s End To Adventuresome Children at Bedtime Mountain, forest, stone, and stream all glisten under sun, While golden morn and midnoon beam call children out to run. But after day has had his say, see...
‘Four Thousand Four Hundred Miles’ and Other Poetry by Lionel Willis The Society November 27, 2021 Beauty, Poetry, Villanelle 5 Comments . Four Thousand Four Hundred Miles The shiny willows waved in yellow bloom Inland beyond the spit of dirty sand Where you and I stood, wishing we could zoom Due east and pace that other treasured land Across...
‘Who’s the Villain Now?’ and Other Villanelles by C.B. Anderson The Society November 19, 2021 Beauty, Humor, Poetry, Villanelle 24 Comments . Who’s the Villain Now? My poems drip with vitriol and gall,Each stanza driving home a heartfelt curse—A side-effect of drinking alcohol Incessantly. I lack the wherewithalTo temper my intemperate...
Three Poems on Having COVID-19, by Susan Jarvis Bryant The Society October 15, 2021 Covid-19, Culture, Pantoum, Poetry, Villanelle 48 Comments . A Pox Upon My House a pantoum I heard the hiss of sickness as my mind cracked. I scoured and bleached and reached new hygiene heights. I locked down, muzzled up and shunned all contact--- Its moans and...
‘Heartfelt Baptism’ and Other Poetry by Mike Ruskovich The Society October 7, 2021 Beauty, Poetry, Villanelle 3 Comments . Heartfelt Baptism The morning rain that washes this day clean of yesterday's despair, of last night's sleep, and promises to turn the pastures green by falling gently, penetrating deep, is waking spring in...
Two Autumn Poems by Angel L. Villanueva The Society September 25, 2021 Beauty, Poetry, Villanelle 7 Comments . Autumn's Hand I reach across for autumn's hand, When leaves begin to ride the air, To walk amid the changing land. Though I have yet some days unplanned, And winter waits to bring her glare, I reach across...
‘Cancel Madame Butterfly’ by Brian Yapko The Society September 17, 2021 Culture, Humor, Performing Arts, Poetry, Villanelle 29 Comments . Cancel Madame Butterfly today! Such racist music cannot soothe the soul. Let’s never show another hate-filled play. The King and I must also cause dismay Since white composers can’t know ethnic...
Fairytales in the Age of Transgenderism: Two Poems by Susan Jarvis Bryant The Society June 22, 2021 Culture, Humor, Poetry, Villanelle 22 Comments . Grimm The days of steering princesses from danger With sweet salvation’s life-sustaining kiss From shining-armored knight or regal stranger Are now considered horribly remiss. Young damsels in...
‘A Woke Recipe for Disaster’ and Other Poetry by Susan Jarvis Bryant The Society May 15, 2021 Culture, Pantoum, Poetry, Rondeau, Villanelle 26 Comments . A Woke Recipe for Disaster a villanelle Heap fresh and zesty chaos on despair. Rub salt in history’s wounds till hatred sticks, Then sugar discontent with bogus care. Pour rage and scorn on free-speech...
‘Stream’ and Other Poetry by Leland James The Society January 19, 2021 Beauty, Culture, Poetry, Villanelle 4 Comments . Stream Above the bend, the water deep and clear, the current strong; seen from the Buckman Bridge, ten minutes walk for me, my cabin near, through pines down from a timeworn granite ridge —a lofty...
‘The Inca Kings’ and Other Poetry by Siham Karami The Society January 8, 2021 Beauty, Culture, Poetry, Villanelle 2 Comments . 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...
Four Poems on Writing, by C.B. Anderson The Society October 22, 2020 Beauty, Culture, Humor, Poetry, Villanelle 22 Comments Vocations Always there are things we should be doing; Others, though, are better left unfinished. Also, there are ends well worth pursuing; Likewise, goals that leave a wight...
‘Those Unknown’ by Camille Cechini The Society August 21, 2020 Beauty, Culture, Poetry, Villanelle 15 Comments a villanelle My heart goes out to those unknown, Whose life by Time’s cruel hand erased, Their ravaged, riven, nameless stone. Shattered, lost, grass o’ergrown, No date to tell when coffin...
‘We Came Together With An Open Mind’ by James Allan Kennedy The Society August 15, 2020 Poetry, Villanelle 17 Comments a villanelle We came together with an open mind No crass intolerance or blinkered view Is it too much to ask us to be kind? The streets in which we children played were lined With generosity, and we all...
‘Dear Editor’ and Other Poetry by Susan Jarvis Bryant The Society June 5, 2020 Culture, Humor, Poetry, Villanelle 36 Comments Dear Editor, My odes are grandiose and overblown With pudgy gluts of stodgy adjectives In floods of flabby babble prone to drone, All topped with tired, archaic additives. Forsooth, methinks the...
‘Hummingbird Communion’ and Other Spring Poetry by Susan Jarvis Bryant The Society May 20, 2020 Beauty, Culture, Poetry, Villanelle 54 Comments Hummingbird Communion I watch them play at dawn of day, as molten gold is splashed their way, on feathers flecked with flashing green and rubies fused in morning’s beam, where sleepers dream and...
Poetry from the 2020 Coronavirus Quarantine The Society April 17, 2020 Covid-19, Culture, Humor, Poetry, Villanelle 44 Comments Mayor Rules Chocolatier "Essential Business" by Mark F. Stone Our craving for chocolate is serious. Deny us and we will be furious. Withholding confections could alter elections for mayors in ways...
Two Poems on the Coronavirus by Evan Mantyk and Damian Robin The Society February 27, 2020 Covid-19, Deconstructing Communism, Human Rights in China, Poetry, Villanelle 7 Comments From Some Nightmarish Vial a villanelle by Evan Mantyk Did it emerge from some nightmarish vial? Is it a weapon meant for killing us, Like marching microscopic rank and file? If so, it’d sweep...
‘The Mortal Eyes’ by Emmanuel Flores, LC The Society February 11, 2020 Beauty, Culture, Poetry, Villanelle 2 Comments a villanelle The mortal eyes in time shall wilt away, as fast as breath retreats its kiss from glass, but delight they will on the endless light of day. We never had enough of dawn’s array, of...
‘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...
‘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...
Hiding Behind a Mask: Five Poems by Anna J. Arredondo The Society December 12, 2019 Beauty, Culture, Poetry, Villanelle 17 Comments Intruders Beware If you but knew what weakness lies concealed Within this adamantine outer shell— What woes, what worries I'm too proud to tell; If you but once should tiptoe past this...
A Villanelle and Video by Joseph Charles MacKenzie The Society November 5, 2019 Beauty, Love Poems, Poetry, Readings, Video, Villanelle originally published on MacKenzie Lyric Poetry Oh, run with the sun and the wind in your hair! Before the day-star sets in the west: Love flowers best in the wide, open air. Behold! The noon-tide waxes not...
‘Doublespeak Denial’ by Susan Jarvis Bryant The Society October 16, 2019 Culture, Humor, Poetry, Rondeau, Villanelle 20 Comments Doublespeak Denial Rondeau Redoublé “Gender mattered a whole lot less to Shakespeare than it seems to matter to us.” —John Irving If I don’t care for words you have to share (a pitch which...
‘Dodgeball’ and Other Poetry by T.M. Moore The Society October 9, 2019 Beauty, Culture, Humor, Poetry, Villanelle 28 Comments Dodgeball "But we have the mind of Christ." 1 Corinthians 2.16 Sometimes my thought-life is a dodgeball game— except that I’m the only one on my side of the line—and when at length I try to launch...
‘Let Flow’ by Sathya Narayana The Society September 16, 2019 Beauty, Poetry, Villanelle 4 Comments a villanelle Ye let it flow, the bitter brine, let flow! How long you hold it back, those snowy streams! Don't stop their course, until they touch your toe! Your past congealed as solid misery and...
‘The Loan’ and Other Poetry by Benjamin Daniel Lukey (with Audio) The Society July 11, 2019 Beauty, Culture, Poetry, Readings, Villanelle 7 Comments A reading of the below poems by the poet: The Loan a villanelle This life we hold so dear is but a loan. For good or ill, its balance must be spent, For life is not a thing that we can...
‘That I Might Learn to Love’ and Other Poetry by Jeffrey Essmann The Society March 30, 2019 Beauty, Love Poems, Poetry, Villanelle 18 Comments That I Might Learn to Love a villanelle That I might learn to love I sorely prayed with hopes that God might teach me by romance as yearning I the empty sky surveyed. Yet lovers marched in cumbersome...
‘Villanelle of the Wicked Queen’ by David Whippman The Society March 19, 2019 Culture, Poetry, Villanelle 9 Comments I am a captive of the wicked queen. My mind’s a blank; the temptress took my soul. I know too well what this desire must mean. And oh! The evil beauty I have seen. Though loving her must...
‘Let Them Go’ by Mickey Kulp The Society December 5, 2018 Beauty, Culture, Poetry, Villanelle 13 Comments a villanelle Be still now and let them go. Their trials and losses fade away. Briefly, they were yours to sow. Children stumble, cry, and grow. They are young and so they stray. Be still now and let...
‘I Journey On’ and Other Poetry by James A Tweedie The Society July 21, 2018 Beauty, Poetry, Villanelle 16 Comments a villanelle The sun descends into the silent sea. As shadows lengthen in the fading light I journey on to seek what yet may be. As death from life yearns to be free, And grief seeks comfort in the...
‘Tulip Tree in Bloom, January’ and Other Poetry by Tim J. Myers The Society May 16, 2018 Beauty, Humor, Poetry, Villanelle 38 Comments Tulip Tree in Bloom, January Every working day I pass a tulip tree on yellow grass and strain to see, when it appears, petals out this time of year. Even our southern winter's strong-- it...
‘How Can We Know?’ and Other Poetry by Caroline Bardwell The Society April 17, 2018 Beauty, Poetry, Villanelle 19 Comments How Can We Know? A villanelle How can we know where we go when we die; Pondering signs, looking up at the sky, Wondering if Someone's hearing my cry? Which religion is right, which one a lie? Too...
‘The Maid of Orleans’ and Other Poetry by Nicky Hetherington The Society March 22, 2018 Culture, Poetry, Riddles, Villanelle 5 Comments The Maid of Orleans A villanelle on Joan of Arc As I gazed at the flames of the fire my heart, with all there that day, broke – such strength could not help but inspire. A young woman burnt as...
‘Statues’ and Other Poetry by Charles Bauer The Society March 19, 2018 Beauty, Culture, Poetry, Villanelle 24 Comments Statues A Villanelle Two Buddhas now a lost reality, A crowd chants loudly near a pile of stone; Across the South you won’t find General Lee. The temples fell despite UNESCO’s plea And ISIS’...