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      'The Tale of Tatyana The Temptress' by Jeff Eardley

      The Society
      May 25, 2021
      Humor, Poetry
      12 Comments
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      The Society
      July 19, 2025
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      The Society
      July 18, 2025
    • ‘Living Dead’: A Poem by James A. Tweedie

      The Society
      July 18, 2025
      7
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      The Society
      July 17, 2025
      5
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      July 16, 2025
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      Poem of Passion Challenge 

      The Society
      August 16, 2023
      Culture, Poetry, Poetry Challenge, Poetry Contests
      88 Comments
    Recent
    • The Society of Classical Poets 2025 Haiku Competition

      The Society
      June 21, 2025
      186
    • Winners of Friends of Falun Gong 2025 Poetry Competition Announced

      The Society
      May 13, 2025
      1
    • 2025 Friends of Falun Gong Poetry Competition

      The Society
      March 31, 2025
    • The Best Poems of 2024: Winners of SCP International Poetry Competition

      The Society
      February 1, 2025
      28
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      February 1, 2025
      2
    • The Best Haiku of 2024: Winners of the 2024 SCP Haiku Competition

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      September 29, 2024
      14
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  • ‘One Dumb Mistake’: A Sestina by M.D. Skeen

    The Society
    July 19, 2025
    Culture, Poetry, Sestina
  • ‘Not All Angels Play the Harp’: A Poem by Roy E. Peterson

    The Society
    July 18, 2025
    Culture, Poetry
  • ‘Living Dead’: A Poem by James A. Tweedie

    The Society
    July 18, 2025
    Blank Verse, Culture, Poetry
    7 Comments
  • ‘Martha’: A Poem by Scharlie Meeuws

    The Society
    July 17, 2025
    Beauty, Culture, Poetry
    5 Comments
  • ‘The Harvest’: A Poem by Peter Venable

    The Society
    July 16, 2025
    Beauty, Poetry
    3 Comments
  • ‘Unspoken Moments’: A Poem by Michael Pendragon

    The Society
    July 16, 2025
    Beauty, Poetry
    8 Comments
  • ‘The Hokey-Cokey—Chaucer Style’: A Poem by Paul A. Freeman

    The Society
    July 15, 2025
    Chaucer, Culture, Poetry
    14 Comments
  • ‘Poetic Influences’: A Poem by Margaret Brinton

    The Society
    July 15, 2025
    Beauty, Poetry
    8 Comments
  • ‘Of a Feather’ and Other Poems by C.B. Anderson

    The Society
    July 14, 2025
    Culture, Humor, Poetry
    7 Comments
  • ‘Vesper’ and Other Poetry by Martin Briggs

    The Society
    July 14, 2025
    Beauty, Poetry
    16 Comments
  • ‘Lasting Karma’: A Poem by Thomas Beckman

    The Society
    July 13, 2025
    Beauty, Culture, Poetry
    4 Comments
  • ‘Three Philosophical Quatrains’ by Ian Allaby

    The Society
    July 13, 2025
    Culture, Humor, Poetry
    4 Comments

‘On Formal Slavery (to a Nation of Free Verse)’ by Kristin Garth

The Society
October 9, 2017
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
7 Comments
On Formal Slavery (to a Nation of Free Verse) For there are those that call us slaves.  How poor and simple we must be to cling to ties that...

‘Columbus Statues Defaced (A Haiku)’ and Other Poetry by Joe Tessitore

The Society
October 8, 2017
Haiku and Senryu, Poetry
2 Comments
Columbus Statues Defaced A haiku High-jacked history An Autumn of mutiny We are lost at sea   A Step Beyond A step beyond The...

‘Flagellation I: Cervantes at Lepanto’ by Joseph Charles MacKenzie

The Society
October 7, 2017
Beauty, Culture, Poetry, Terrorism
17 Comments
  What is my body that was never mine, That, fevered, it should waste below the deck? I rise, instead, to face the ocean’s brine, The...

‘Basics’ and Other Poetry by R. Nikolas Macioci

The Society
October 6, 2017
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
2 Comments
  Basics Tonight I paint flowers on my tablet. I wanted to write about deeper things like God and love and time and death which brings me...

‘Body and Mind Recluse’ by Leonard Dabydeen

The Society
October 5, 2017
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
9 Comments
  "A man’s as old as he’s feeling …" ~ Samuel Taylor Coleridge “If the body frees the mind in its quest For youthful dreams to be...

‘Productivity’ and Other Poetry by Rita Dubman

The Society
October 4, 2017
Beauty, Poetry
8 Comments
  Productivity Lately a feeling's been making me twitch, The Creator in me has too long sat bewitched. Too idle He sits, and He longs to...

‘One Person Every Minute’ by James A. Tweedie

The Society
October 3, 2017
Culture, Deconstructing Communism, Poetry
2 Comments
Joe Stalin led his country for just short of thirty years— Three decades filled with purges, hunger, suffering and tears. “To make an...

‘L’ame du Mahatama*’ by Sultana Raza

The Society
October 2, 2017
Culture, Poetry
6 Comments
Decades later, his voice still heard: Sustainable, organic, and home-grown. We're reaping what he'd wisely sown: Ahimsa*, respect, main...

‘On the Murder of Two Women Outside the Gare Saint Charles in Marseilles, France’ by James A. Tweedie

The Society
October 1, 2017
Poetry, Terrorism
1 Comment
Blasphemy A Reflection On the Murder of Two Women Outside the Gare Saint Charles in Marseilles, France, This Morning, October 1, 2017 “Allahu...

Beatrice: Muse for One, Model for All (Essay)

The Society
October 1, 2017
Beauty, Culture, Essays, Poetry
3 Comments
by Jane Blanchard Beatrice, Dante Alighieri’s second guide in La Divina Commedia (The Divine Comedy), makes her literary debut in an earlier...

‘The Teacher to His Students’ and Other Poetry by Evan Mantyk

The Society
September 30, 2017
Culture, Deconstructing Communism, Poetry
17 Comments
The Teacher to His Students The ghost… the ghost of Hamlet’s father, came To walk the castle walls one moonless night. This father, once the...

‘Morning Ecstasy’ by Sandeep Kumar Mishra

The Society
September 29, 2017
Poetry
2 Comments
Reluctant night is slowly retreating The earth in gray, dim shades still hovering, Dawn strides out leisurely to wake each farm Her sleepy liquid...

‘The Luna Moth, the Poet, and Philosopher’ by Phillip Whidden

The Society
September 28, 2017
Beauty, Poetry
3 Comments
“Carlotta Capuccino , ‘Plato’s Ion and the Ethics of Praise,’ takes the . . . view that poetry deploys ‘groundless praise’ and...

‘Life Science’ by N. Ram

The Society
September 27, 2017
Culture, Humor, Poetry
10 Comments
  Scientists of the world were meeting Stars among them they were feting Challenges new they were seeking Of wine and wisdom, they were...

‘The Incarnation Sonnets’ by Joseph Charles MacKenzie

The Society
September 26, 2017
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
6 Comments
  Incarnation I: Ego Mater Pulchrae Dilectionis I blossom forth delights on fruitful vine; My grapes are opulent and fair, Productive of a...

Book Review: Groans From Old Bones by William F.E. Morley (1920 – )

The Society
September 25, 2017
Essays, Poetry, Reviews
4 Comments
Click here to download the entire book as a pdf file. By Leonard Dabydeen In the fraternity of poetic minds we can luxuriate joyously on the...

‘Poetry on Organ Harvesting from Falun Gong Practitioners’ by Damian Robin

The Society
September 24, 2017
Deconstructing Communism, Human Rights in China, Poetry
41 Comments
Read about forced organ harvesting in China here. Photograph This man is lost, dead, His organs taken. Dark; hard to look at: His drained...

‘Not Every Morning’ and Other Poetry by Anne Janai

The Society
September 23, 2017
Beauty, Poetry
2 Comments
  Not Every Morning Not every morning is as this one, calm excitement for a future brought by change, so many years’ hard work to wrought...

‘Re-visiting Dante’ and Other Poetry by James Sale

The Society
September 22, 2017
Beauty, Culture, Dante, Poetry
5 Comments
  Re-visiting Dante “For Dante it was a strict rule not to rhyme the word ‘Christ’ with any other word except itself” – Clive...

Translation of a Sonnet by Joachim du Bellay

The Society
September 21, 2017
Beauty, Poetry, Translation
3 Comments
  Sonnet by Joachim du Bellay (1522-1560) / Translation by Morgan Downs   If all our life is no more than a day In the Eternal;...

Wedding Vow in Poetry: ‘Walk With Me’ by Amy Foreman 

The Society
September 20, 2017
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
12 Comments
Walk with me, though both of us May wonder where we go. Talk with me, explore, discuss The things we may not know. Sit with me, through anxious...

‘Beneath Brambles’ and Other Poetry by Karen Shepherd

The Society
September 19, 2017
Beauty, Poetry, Villanelle
6 Comments
Beneath Brambles A villanelle Beneath the tangled brambles, look around. Vines creeping, smothering, create the dark. A trillium insists her...

‘Requiem for September’ and Other Poetry by Ann Christine Tabaka

The Society
September 18, 2017
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
3 Comments
Requiem for September (or/ November Is Upon Us) Withering leaves Dying grasses Autumn is here Time Passes Gray skies Chilly days Brisk...

Interview with Samuel Gilliland: ‘The Finest Lyric Poet in Scotland’

The Society
September 17, 2017
Beauty, Culture, Essays, Interviews, Poetry
7 Comments
By Joseph Charles MacKenzie, for the Society of Classical Poets Born in 1939 Samuel Gilliland attended the ancient Dreghorn School in an old...

‘Cagney’s Last Curtain Call’ by Sam Gilliland

The Society
September 16, 2017
Beauty, Culture, Poetry, Translation
15 Comments
  Cagney's Last Curtain Call Words shape my lips, words that I shall borrow, Pre-dawn, the sun, yet to fully arise, Caresses land edged by...

‘Translation of Marcabru’s L’autrier Just’una Sebissa’ by Joseph S. Salemi

The Society
September 15, 2017
Culture, Poetry, Translation
11 Comments
Translation (1) By a hedge, the day before, I met a half-breed shepherdess Full of cheer and sense no less— A peasant woman’s child....

‘Grading Gumnuts’ by David Watt

The Society
September 14, 2017
Children's, Humor, Poetry
4 Comments
  One afternoon, ‘neath forest tall, where Sunlight dons disguise, I saw a sight few people see (unless they’re telling lies); For...

‘Youths For Prophets, Without Sin’ by David Hollywood

The Society
September 13, 2017
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
4 Comments
Youths for Prophets, Without Sin As youths for prophets steer a course, Towards our futures of remorse, We forge a dauntless faith...

‘American Incipits’ by Reid McGrath

The Society
September 12, 2017
Culture, Poetry
5 Comments
AMERICAN INCIPITS Ishmael “You shall call his name Ishmael, because the LORD has listened to your affliction. He shall be a wild donkey of a...

‘A Lament for 9/11’ by Zachary Dilks

The Society
September 11, 2017
Beauty, Culture, Poetry, Terrorism
2 Comments
  'Twas so much more on that morn before fall that we all came to mourn as it fell As the shadows that touched had borne, by its clutch, a...

‘To Terror’s Followers’ by Daniel Magdalen

The Society
September 10, 2017
Poetry, Terrorism
2 Comments
Cloaked in rumors of religion, looming bloodthirst Brings upon world’s drowning morals bouts of horror, As the force of chaos calls you... Depths...

Hurricane Irma: ‘Trouble in Paradise’ by Lucy Cortese

The Society
September 8, 2017
Culture, Poetry
2 Comments
  We folks in Florida are quick to extol her amenity: The beach, the surf, the lifestyle announce unique identity. But, sometimes Mother...

‘The New Explorers’ and Other Poetry by Daniel W. Galef

The Society
September 8, 2017
Culture, Humor, Poetry
2 Comments
The New Explorers See this figure? That’s the Spirit Sent up way back when to scout. She rolls around And samples rocks To see if any...

‘Super Bowl Podcast’ by John W. Steele

The Society
September 7, 2017
Culture, Humor, Poetry
2 Comments
The best way to understand America is through the lens of football esoterica. If you have no clue where you belong, why not join the friendly...
poem/antifa/culture/riot

‘Hero for Hire’ and Other Poetry by Joe Tessitore

The Society
September 6, 2017
Culture, Humor, Poetry
3 Comments
Hero for Hire About myself I feel so good I grabbed my club, I donned my hood I found a hater to beat Then on the other side of town I knocked...

‘Urban Butterfly’ and Other Poetry and Music by Adam Sedia

The Society
September 5, 2017
Beauty, Poetry
1 Comment
Urban Butterfly What business have you here, In acrid air, to strain Through jagged glass and steel On a cracked asphalt plain. Faint, shady...

‘The Sea’ and Other Poetry by David Bellemare Gosselin

The Society
September 4, 2017
Beauty, Poetry
4 Comments
The Sea My sleeping spirit wakes As the town’s vespers Climb the stairless sky And the sea whispers. The rushing waves crash On the...

‘Cicada and Mantis’ and Other Poetry by Ron L. Hodges

The Society
September 3, 2017
Beauty, Culture, Humor, Poetry, Short Stories
2 Comments
Cicada and Mantis You are known to us by your choral song, The clicks and buzzes of an insect throng. Hidden in darkness, a collective...

Review: Wolfe and Other Poems by Donald Mace Williams, Wundor Editions, 2017

The Society
September 2, 2017
Essays, Poetry, Reviews
3 Comments
By James Sale Donald Mace Williams Wolfe and Other Poems is an extraordinarily good collection of poems, clearly written by a veteran writer....

2018 Poetry Competition Announced

The Society
September 1, 2017
Poetry Contests
46 Comments
Submit three to five poems, each of which does not exceed 50 lines. Email as a word file or in the email body...
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  1. Priscilla King on ‘Living Dead’: A Poem by James A. TweedieJuly 18, 2025

    It has a formal rhythm. Isn't it possible to think of *bad* classical poetry? (Not that this is what comes…

  2. Erin Zampaglione on The Society of Classical Poets 2025 Haiku CompetitionJuly 18, 2025

    avocado tree wide and low, heavy with fruit invites small climbers red rose petals fall do I mourn lost youth…

  3. Joseph S. Salemi on ‘Living Dead’: A Poem by James A. TweedieJuly 18, 2025

    There were exactly 60 respondents in that survey, of which about one third (20) were non-members of the SCP. And…

  4. Roy Eugene Peterson on ‘Living Dead’: A Poem by James A. TweedieJuly 18, 2025

    A consensus seems to exist in the literature I have recently read that autobiographical/biographical verse follows a formula and rely…

  5. Raewyn Hutchinson on The Society of Classical Poets 2025 Haiku CompetitionJuly 18, 2025

    Birds dart like arrows Shot from tree to tree to tree Bullets of bird fire Stop Mum wait keep right…

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