‘The Oak’ by Martin King The Society February 25, 2019 Beauty, Poetry 1 Comment Of unknown age, the great oak tree, initialed with past loves’ decree; Now stands alone on village green, a witness to life’s daily...
‘Salesman of Salesmen’ and Other Poetry by Steve Cooke The Society February 24, 2019 Beauty, Culture, Poetry Salesman of Salesmen Infectious spirit, everybody’s friend,Hypnotic and fascinating, a forceOf pushy power, broiling to...
‘Making Spirits Bright’ by Frank De Canio The Society February 23, 2019 Beauty, Humor, Love Poems, Poetry 1 Comment “Jingle Bells, jingle all the way” I sang to her to break the spell of what appeared to be her fell demeanor. Neither would she...
Trump’s Border Wall Revives Frost’s ‘Mending Wall’ (and a Poet’s Response) The Society February 22, 2019 Culture, Essays, Humor, Poetry 12 Comments by Evan Mantyk As the border wall with Mexico that President Trump is building gains greater and greater attention, so too has the early 20th...
‘The Clockmaker’ by Benjamin Daniel Lukey The Society February 8, 2019 Beauty, Culture, Poetry, Readings 7 Comments When I was young, I’d disassemble clocks So I could understand what made them go. With tools in hand, and pieces in a...
‘Withering Slights’ by Michael Glassman The Society February 7, 2019 Culture, Humor, Poetry 4 Comments I start to age ten minutes out of bed, More fragile now but not yet dead. My son-in-law hovers round me when I walk In case I stumble as we...
‘Reinigeadal, Harris’ and Other Poetry by Peter Hartley The Society February 6, 2019 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 10 Comments Reinigeadal, Harris So many years ago it was, a child Tramped up from East Loch Tarbert’s rocky shore Across the peat hags underneath...
‘Star Needles’ and Other Poetry by Sally Cook The Society February 5, 2019 Beauty, Culture, Human Rights in China, Humor, Poetry 10 Comments Star Needles A star is just a bauble stuck on what We view as sky. Lest it let winter in, We join sky fabric back together. When It makes a...
Preface to the Poems Composed at the Orchid Pavilion (A Rhyming Poetry Translation) The Society February 4, 2019 Beauty, Culture, Poetry, Translation 11 Comments The Preface to the Poems Composed at the Orchid Pavilion ( 蘭亭集序; Lántíngjí Xu), from the 4th century AD, is generally regarded as the...
‘The Music of the Earth’ and Other Poetry by Martin Rizley The Society February 3, 2019 Beauty, Poetry 14 Comments The Music of the Earth In walking home from church one winter's eve, I paused to hear the echoes down the street; The dead leaves rattled...
God Rest We Merry Gentlemen (An Essay) The Society February 2, 2019 Culture, Essays, Humor, Poetry 2 Comments by Gregory Spicer “Death and taxes” bemoan us now, as ever. Yet as I bask in the fading embers of Christendom's most sentimental season, my...
Announcing the 2019 Poetry Competition Winners The Society February 1, 2019 Education, From the Society, Poetry, Poetry Contests 13 Comments Thank you to everyone who participated! We have had more quality submissions this year than in any past year and it has been a privilege to read and...
‘It’ and Other Poetry by Daniel Leach The Society January 31, 2019 Beauty, Poetry 11 Comments It... It plays upon the glowing, sunset boughs, When shadows have enveloped all below, And distant, other-worldly thoughts arouse A passion in...
‘The Fiancé’ and Other Poetry by Sheri-Ann O’Shea The Society January 30, 2019 Culture, Deconstructing Communism, Humor, Poetry 8 Comments The Fiancé inspired by Anthony Trollope’s "Can you forgive her?" (1864-1865) Alice, he wants your money, honey. Alice, he wants your...
‘February’ and Other Poetry by Theresa Zappe The Society January 29, 2019 Beauty, Poetry 6 Comments February February froze the skating pond, Beauty gone, still this we won’t deny, She was thoughtful with her airy wand, Thankful, think, a...
A Translation of ‘The Lake’ by Alphonse de Lamartine The Society January 28, 2019 Beauty, Culture, Poetry, Translation 12 Comments Translation by Michael Coy The Lake Thus, ever driven onward to new shores, borne constantly away, Can we never, in the Ocean of the...
‘Going Along to Get Along’ by Joseph S. Salemi The Society January 27, 2019 Culture, Deconstructing Communism, Humor, Poetry 61 Comments Dedicated to far too many of my contemporaries, and they know who the hell they are. I. I am the perfect poet— I strike a dainty pose. I...
‘Tiger Fire’ by Sally Sandler The Society January 26, 2019 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 27 Comments The fire waits with tiger paws on silent haunches by the hill, then mounts the rock with clinging claws, and contemplates the moment it...
‘Common Language’ and Other Poetry by Mike Ruskovich The Society January 25, 2019 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 36 Comments Common Language I hear the music of the artist's brush Bruise with color the canvas' white, Feel the composers' fingers rush Across the keyboard...
‘Transhumanism’ and Other Poetry by Joe Spring The Society January 24, 2019 Beauty, Culture, Humor, Poetry, Science 10 Comments Transhumanism Somewhere about there’s a slithering sound of man’s enmity, causing excitement and casting the seeds of calamity, claiming...
Three Poems Before Sleeping, by C.B. Anderson The Society January 23, 2019 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 23 Comments The Catholic Work Ethic I'll do as much as I am able __Before the sun has set. I doubt that I will run the table __Because I haven't...
‘The Afternoon of Man’ and Other Poetry by Jeffrey Essmann The Society January 22, 2019 Beauty, Culture, Deconstructing Communism, Poetry 7 Comments The Afternoon of Man Fourteen or so, one autumn afternoon, my homework done and supper hours away, I scuffed along on sodden paths bestrewn with...
‘Saint Agnes’ by Bruce Wren The Society January 21, 2019 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 26 Comments This evening of your festive day I pray _Oh Agnes, little model of the pure, _Oh girl with smiling eyes, and faith so sure: They won for...
‘Moscow Zoo’ and Other Poetry by A.M. Juster The Society January 20, 2019 Poetry, Shakespeare 13 Comments Moscow Zoo We saw the mass grave at the Moscow Zoo. A sullen man dug up a human skull Then held it high for journalists to view. Forensic...
‘Sonnet II: Liu Xitong’ and Other Poetry by Evan Mantyk The Society January 19, 2019 Beauty, Culture, Human Rights in China, Humor, Poetry 15 Comments . Sonnet II: Liu Xitong Liu Xitong (pronounced Leo She-tong) recently spoke on Capitol Hill about the persecution he faced in communist China for...
‘A Love Sonnet’ by Jan Darling The Society January 18, 2019 Beauty, Poetry 13 Comments after the style of Petrarch The aching of your leave clings sadly, still And pangs of emptiness I lone endure But slowly I ascend towards love...
‘In Memory of Romeo and Juliet’ by Victor Tyne The Society January 17, 2019 Beauty, Culture, Education, High School Submissions, Poetry 7 Comments These twain ephem’ral lives were fraught with woes When they, a boy and girl in morn of life, Defied their due inheritance as foes And...
‘Listening to the Lark’ by Daniel Magdalen (with Video) The Society January 16, 2019 Beauty, Culture, Poetry, Video 24 Comments On Ralph Vaughan Williams’ The Lark Ascending, a romance for violin and orchestra inspired by George Meredith’s poem of the same title (see both...
‘The Pointless Voice of James Joyce’: A Sonnet by James A. Tweedie The Society January 14, 2019 Culture, Humor, Poetry 20 Comments Author's Note: This Sonnet, formatted as both prose and poetry, is written as a parody of James Joyce; specifically, his final two novels, Ulysses...
‘A Poet’s Prayer’ and Other Poetry by Joe Tessitore The Society January 13, 2019 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 15 Comments A Poet's Prayer My words are lying, cold and still; reproaching me, their silence shrill. With emptiness, my heart they fill. Inspire me, Lord,...
‘Tbilisi თბილისი’ by Ralph C. La Rosa The Society January 12, 2019 Culture, Deconstructing Communism, Poetry 7 Comments (1976-1978) In Soviet Georgia, I feel linguistic shock. At first assuming residents speak Russian, I say Nyet, not Ara, igniting discussion of...
‘To Old Friends’ and Other Poetry by Joshua Philipp The Society January 11, 2019 Beauty, Poetry 17 Comments To Old Friends Around the bonfire, we were brothers who sang Of joys that are gone, and the flame turned to ash And blew on the wind to where...
‘Rosettes’ and Other Poetry by David Hollywood The Society January 10, 2019 Beauty, Poetry 34 Comments Rosettes When seasons pause in moments cast, By visions of each flower’s past, The rose amongst all florae kissed, Appears within my...
Odysseus Strings His Bow: Translation of Homer by Mike Solot The Society January 9, 2019 Culture, Homer, Poetry, Translation 27 Comments The Odyssey, 21.388-22.125, translated with an eye on Homer's instinctively cinematic style. by Mike Solot The cowherd, Philoetius, quickly but...
‘Time for the B.S.: Susie and Johnny Go to College’ by Amy Foreman The Society January 7, 2019 Culture, Deconstructing Communism, Humor, Poetry 25 Comments a sequel to “Let’s Take the Other Bus” Welcome, young friends, to this great university. I am your counselor, Dr. Diversity, here to advise...
‘Armed with Imagination’ and Other Poetry by Randal A. Burd, Jr. The Society January 6, 2019 Beauty, Poetry 12 Comments Armed with Imagination Imagination armed this youthful knight— a plywood shield and sword of sapling wood created echoes in the...
Sonnets on the Arts Today, by Peter Hartley The Society January 5, 2019 Art, Beauty, Culture, Ekphrastic, Poetry 38 Comments Poetry Today If elevated thought had ever beenThe least criterion of excellenceIn poetry, why should it then be seenToday as...
‘Dirty Hands’ and Other Poetry by Connie Phillips The Society January 4, 2019 Beauty, Deconstructing Communism, Poetry 14 Comments Dirty Hands on Communism’s evil specter The evil specter’s dirty hands Have soiled the windows to the world. It’s smeared them with the...
‘Shattered Prospects’ and Other Poetry by David Watt The Society January 3, 2019 Poetry 20 Comments Shattered Prospects Pursued by every shadow,He rode the winding wayTo where his love lay waiting:Trunk packed for ocean stay.An owl looked...
‘You Poor, Unfortunate Woman’ and Other Poetry by Janice Canerdy The Society January 2, 2019 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 3 Comments You Poor, Unfortunate Woman Last Monday was a special day for me. You got that big promotion and the raise! I pity you, for now your life...
