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    • 'My Daughter Sees a Starling on the Lawn' and Other Poetry by Mark Anthony Signorelli

      The Society
      January 12, 2020
      Beauty, Culture, Poetry
      7 Comments
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    • A Poem for the 100th Anniversary of the Scopes Monkey Trial, by Warren Bonham

      The Society
      July 21, 2025
    • ‘The Inclusivity Policy of a British School’: A Poem by Susan Jarvis Bryant

      The Society
      July 20, 2025
      2
    • ‘Don’t Call Me Shirley’ and Other Poetry by Brian Yapko

      The Society
      July 20, 2025
      10
    • ‘On the Epstein Files Debacle’: A Poem by Drilon Bajrami

      The Society
      July 19, 2025
      5
    • ‘One Dumb Mistake’: A Sestina by M.D. Skeen

      The Society
      July 19, 2025
      7
    • ‘Not All Angels Play the Harp’: A Poem by Roy E. Peterson

      The Society
      July 18, 2025
      7
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    • Winners of the Friends of Falun Gong Poetry Contest Announced

      The Society
      May 13, 2021
      Human Rights in China, Poetry, Poetry Contests
      12 Comments
    Recent
    • The Society of Classical Poets 2025 Haiku Competition

      The Society
      June 21, 2025
      202
    • 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
    • Winners of 2024 SCP International High School Poetry Competition Announced

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

      The Society
      September 29, 2024
      14
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  • A Poem for the 100th Anniversary of the Scopes Monkey Trial, by Warren Bonham

    The Society
    July 21, 2025
    Culture, Poetry
  • ‘The Inclusivity Policy of a British School’: A Poem by Susan Jarvis Bryant

    The Society
    July 20, 2025
    Poetry, Satire
    2 Comments
  • ‘Don’t Call Me Shirley’ and Other Poetry by Brian Yapko

    The Society
    July 20, 2025
    Humor, Poetry
    10 Comments
  • ‘On the Epstein Files Debacle’: A Poem by Drilon Bajrami

    The Society
    July 19, 2025
    Culture, Poetry, Villanelle
    5 Comments
  • ‘One Dumb Mistake’: A Sestina by M.D. Skeen

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

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

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

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

    The Society
    July 16, 2025
    Beauty, Poetry
    5 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

‘The Battleground’ and Other Poetry by Ken Kenigsberg

The Society
May 15, 2014
Humor, Poetry
The Battleground The slashing blades strike fierce and deep The newly stricken fall down in heaps. In vain: the foe storms back enraged, The...

‘Cynthia Moon’ and Other Poetry by Clinton Van Inman

The Society
May 12, 2014
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
1 Comment
  Cynthia Moon Go drag your white skull before blind seas That tumble dazed to your mono-eyed magic Go string the treadmill tides around...

‘Waiting, Sadly’ and Other Poetry by James Sale

The Society
May 9, 2014
Culture
2 Comments
Waiting, Sadly For Keats I'm waiting, sadly, for a guest to come: What hour defeats me and how I don't know. But come he will, like some...

‘Two Strangers Passing on the Street’ by Richard Lackman

The Society
May 6, 2014
Humor, Poetry
1 Comment
The two were different as could be as anyone could surely see One was tall and thick and white, the other black and thin and slight To look at...

‘The Fallen Vestige’ and Other Poetry by Theresa Rodriguez

The Society
May 3, 2014
Beauty, Culture
4 Comments
The Fallen Vestige The fallen vestige of her foliate time: Browned leaves beneath; coarse needles of old pine Once green and pungent; when her...

‘Vespers’ by Kemar Cummings

The Society
April 30, 2014
Beauty, Poetry
1 Comment
Vespers Lonely broods the moonlit gloom High above the river's flume, Hiding in its dark vault Stars nebulous clouds exalt. The winds are...

On China Today

The Society
April 27, 2014
Poetry
1 Comment
Click: a Pic of Xi Jinping By Lu "Reed Cabs" Wei He rolls along, like as a giant panda bear, the present tyrant of Red China—Xi...

‘Earth’s Canvas’ by Mark Sautter

The Society
April 24, 2014
Beauty, Poetry
3 Comments
Oh what is the hue? The right shade of blue To color the new morning sky And the green for the trees But, what color’s the breeze? How does...

‘The Gospel According to Hoffman-Laroche’ by Mike Alexander

The Society
April 22, 2014
Humor, Poetry
3 Comments
Tell me why the patient is still crying. What pharmaceuticals? pain pills? barbiturates? What pretties has the doctor been supplying? Finish the...

‘Retreating Snow’ and Other Poetry by Reid McGrath

The Society
April 20, 2014
Beauty, Humor, Poetry
Retreating Snow Like an old man dragging his long white hair out of the lawn, back toward the forest’s shade, the snow retreats, cornered, and...

‘Ode to Alexander’ and Other Poetry by Michael Rovner

The Society
April 18, 2014
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
  Ode to Alexander They say he cried, the great king, when He marched upon his journey's end. To live but once, and yet to know There's...

‘The Searchers of Beauty’ by Brice U. Lawseed

The Society
April 16, 2014
Beauty, Poetry
3 Comments
"Beauty comes from life well lived." —Wilbur Dee Case They are all looking for a loveliness refined, a beautiful design or feeling of...

First New Tang Poets Reading Held

The Society
April 14, 2014
Beauty, Poetry
2 Comments
Held on April 14, 2014, at Da Tang, in New York, participants read Tang Dynasty poetry, contemporary poetry previously written by attendees, and...

‘This Autumn Evening’ and Other Poetry by Jessica Hoard

The Society
April 12, 2014
Culture, Humor, Poetry
  This Autumn Evening These words of Bashō I cannot claim as my own, but they appear again and again in poems I try to write this...

‘In Prison Cells: Rondeau for the Falun Gong’ by Bronwen Hudson

The Society
April 9, 2014
Poetry, Rondeau
1 Comment
In prison cells our aching calls go nowhere but around the walls, and bruising hands repress our cries, replacing truth with frigid lies. We...

‘Skies of a Child’ by Jerri Hardesty

The Society
April 6, 2014
Beauty, Poetry, Science
6 Comments
I love to gaze into the midnight sky To search the night for planets and bright stars, Caress, with pointing finger, blazing Mars, And blow a kiss...

‘To Falun Gong’ by Michael Curtis

The Society
April 3, 2014
Poetry
A little hurt, a little grime, a little dirt, a little crime on Falun Gong. A little smell, a little sale, a little cell, a little...

‘Morning Song’ by Mandy Moe Pwint Tu

The Society
March 31, 2014
Beauty, Poetry
5 Comments
O sweet be this soft morning’s song As golden mist on earth descends And skylarks trill an hour long While gently this wild river bends: The...

‘Who Needs a Chinese Tractor?’ by Reid McGrath

The Society
March 28, 2014
Poetry
2 Comments
Because he gave up life in town To graze the old undulant farm They called him a provincial clown Who did not get all up in arms. They said,...

‘Of a Swiss Fortress – Ruined’ by Camilla Marx

The Society
March 25, 2014
Culture, Poetry
1 Comment
I dreamed again last night, of waters, raging, That break in waves across the Thunersee, Where mountains coldly climb, fir-clad and...

‘Splendor’ by Kathy Figueroa

The Society
March 19, 2014
Beauty, Poetry
A grand council of trees Stood majestic, serene Heavy laden with snow Beautiful and pristine And I felt reverence For such a peaceful scene And...

‘Truth in Fairy Tales’ by Susan Martin

The Society
March 16, 2014
Culture, Poetry
2 Comments
If you want your children to be brilliant, tell them fairy tales. If you want them to be very brilliant, tell them even more fairy tales. -Albert...

2014 Journal Released

The Society
March 14, 2014
From the Society
7 Comments
We are proud to announce the publication of The Society of Classical Poets' 2014 Journal! The best poetry of the last year has culminated in...

‘Daybreak’ and Other Poetry by Dawn Munro

The Society
March 13, 2014
Beauty, Poetry
  Daybreak As day begins in honey’d light, I watch a flock of geese take flight. They fly formation heading south o’er field and...

‘Where Does the Sky Begin or End?’ and Other Poetry by Sierra July

The Society
March 10, 2014
Beauty, Poetry
1 Comment
Where Does the Sky Begin or End? Where does the sky begin or end? The sea above, the stars attend? Burn bright, a galaxy anew Not in the sky we...

‘Waiting for Dawn atop Butterfly Mountain’ and Other Poetry by Martin Elster

The Society
March 7, 2014
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
5 Comments
  Waiting for Dawn atop Butterfly Mountain A dilapidated lepidopteran dying atop The Mountain of Butterflies holds out her wings to the...

‘Autumn’s Kiss’ by Aaron Berkowitz

The Society
March 4, 2014
Beauty, Poetry
1 Comment
The wisp of wind that makes the leaves go dance and play above the browning grass, cannot but stir awake my eyes and ears from trance to sound and...

‘A Message in the Halloween Decorations’ and Other Poetry by Damian Robin

The Society
February 26, 2014
Poetry
1 Comment
  A Message in the Halloween Decorations (Based on a True Story) Compressed and clandestine, the Chinese script small, The paper...

‘Unbroken’ and Other Poetry by Andrew Gelinas

The Society
February 23, 2014
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
1 Comment
  Unbroken If I should break myself today Unchanged from every burden bare Determined unafraid to say That I shall find the strength to...

‘The Philadelphia Pepper Pot Legend’ and Other Poetry by S.M. Westerlie

The Society
February 20, 2014
Culture, Poetry
  The Philadelphia Pepper Pot Legend This day in 1777, American soldiers, at Valley Forge, camped. By hunger and winter's breath,...

‘Death by Animated Sponge’ by Janice Canerdy

The Society
February 17, 2014
Humor, Poetry
"More SpongeBob, Mimi"--this I hear a dozen times a day. How much more can I stand to see? No more of this, I pray! I turn the TV off and...

Announcing 2014 Poetry Competition Winners

The Society
February 15, 2014
From the Society
1 Comment
  First Place: Bruce Dale Wise (Prize: $500) Second Place: Damian Robin Third Place: Reid McGrath Honorable Mention: Betsy M....

‘Made (by Imprisoned Falun Gong) in China’ and Other Poetry by Khalid Mukhtar

The Society
February 14, 2014
Beauty, Humor, Poetry
1 Comment
  Made (by Imprisoned Falun Gong) in China It's mass production everywhere I look, From toys of plastic hope to airplane parts, And...

‘The Better Life’ by Tyler Horn

The Society
February 11, 2014
Beauty, Poetry
What’s out to kill us makes us more alive. Let’s go escape with me forget our fear, So run with me my brother lets survive. We just have to...

The Sculptor to His Apprentice: A Five-Sonnet Cycle by Michael Curtis

The Society
February 8, 2014
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
3 Comments
  Instruction The tales of Ovid are a theme that suits The Prince, but will not do for your repute. Avoid lust.  Clients of the better...

‘Research Guideline’ and Other Poetry by James Ph. Kotsybar

The Society
February 5, 2014
Beauty, Poetry
  Research Guideline Throughout investigative history, a basic principle has long held sway: When we unravel Nature’s...

‘Metaphorical Meditation Musings’ and Other Poetry by Rama Devi

The Society
February 2, 2014
Beauty, Poetry
  Metaphorical Meditation Musings My thoughts, like waves of ocean's surface swells that roll repeatedly, then crash on shore, neglect...

‘Contemporary Chinese Holocaust’ by Jim Dunlap

The Society
January 29, 2014
Culture, Poetry
3 Comments
Imprisonment, torture, pathetic wrong - begat from  a people of age-old culture, wit, classic beauty, artistry and song: practices akin to...

‘Greeks, Bearing Gifts’ and Other Poetry by Phill Doran

The Society
January 26, 2014
Culture, Humor, Poetry
1 Comment
  Greeks, Bearing Gifts The coils of wood cascade as worn blades glide from cedar lengths, rough-hewn deformed and coarse, while nearby,...

A Sonnet by Evan Guilford-Blake

The Society
January 23, 2014
Beauty, Poetry
1 Comment
What wonder! - In the arcs described by wings Aloft and floating on the fair spring air. In graceful glides, parabolas of dare Defying, in ascent,...
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  1. Margaret Coats on ‘Don’t Call Me Shirley’ and Other Poetry by Brian YapkoJuly 21, 2025

    Brian, as I was reading through "Little Me," I thought it might take on the serious notion of loss of…

  2. Lynn CaroleBrown on The Society of Classical Poets 2025 Haiku CompetitionJuly 21, 2025

    Outside my window the night air carries music, and I sing along. What we can not see does not mean…

  3. Lynn CaroleBrown on The Society of Classical Poets 2025 Haiku CompetitionJuly 21, 2025

    Outside my window the night air carries music, and I sing along. What we can not see does not mean…

  4. Ashley Houston on The Society of Classical Poets 2025 Haiku CompetitionJuly 21, 2025

    About Losing My Dearest Aunt A chaotic storm Rumbling in the distance Echoing our grief A funeral shroud Gathering dewy…

  5. Sherri Ali on The Society of Classical Poets 2025 Haiku CompetitionJuly 20, 2025

    When all creatures die Those of feather, scale, and fur, We'll eat each other

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