‘It Goes Without Saying’: A July 4th Poem by Warren Bonham The Society July 4, 2024 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 11 Comments . It Goes Without Saying "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with...
‘Battle Hymn of the Republic’: A Poem by Brian Yapko The Society July 4, 2024 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 38 Comments . . Battle Hymn of the Republic The Lord doth come; the grapes of wrath are crushed! Behold His fiery sword of Victory. He heartens those whose...
‘American Dream Where Did You Go?’: A July 4th Poem by Roy E. Peterson The Society July 4, 2024 Culture, Poetry 23 Comments . American Dream Where Did You Go? American dream, where did you go? Visions grand that I loved so? Land of opportunity Heading toward...
‘Endless Dreaming’ and Other Poetry by Joshua C. Frank The Society July 3, 2024 Ekphrastic, Poetry, Villanelle 20 Comments . Endless Dreaming a villanelle I lunge ahead in bed and start to scream. The nightmare’s end is far; I’m still inside A dream within a dream...
‘Fed Up’ and Other Poetry by C.B. Anderson The Society July 2, 2024 Poetry, Satire 20 Comments . Fed Up It’s not just fogies and the aging nanniesThat look askance at all the mixed-up trannies.The everyday American has had itWith flagrant...
‘Militant Books’ and Other Poetry by Skye Campbell The Society July 2, 2024 Beauty, Poetry, Villanelle 6 Comments . . Militant Books Marshaled ranks of silent books Formed on shelves as in brigade, Fill the wooden dusty nooks Waiting for their next...
‘The Rise of Washington’: Excerpt from the Mock Epic Poem by Andrew Benson Brown The Society July 1, 2024 Epic, Humor, Poetry 18 Comments . The Rise of Washington from Legends of Liberty, Volume 3 IT’S TIME! Let’s give our story’s star some space. He’s famous through the land,...
‘Becoming a Poet Laureate’: A Formalist Poet at the Open Mic Part IV, by Daniel Kemper The Society July 1, 2024 Essays, Poetry, Readings 17 Comments . A Formalist Poet at the Open Mic Part IV: Becoming a Poet Laureate by Daniel Kemper Inflationary times. The invisible hands of markets or of...
‘Ba’al’: A Poem on Abortion by Michael Vanyukov The Society June 30, 2024 Culture, Poetry 6 Comments . Ba’al "And they built the high places of Ba'al to burn their children with fire as burnt offerings to Ba'al, which I did not command, neither did...
‘Three Views of Venus’: A Poem from Houghton Hall, by Margaret Coats The Society June 30, 2024 Beauty, Ekphrastic, Poetry 20 Comments . Three Views of Venus "When you’ve got a goddess, make good use of her. —local guide, Green Velvet Bedchamber at Houghton Hall, Norfolk “Ah,...
‘Elder Abuse’: A Poem Written Upon Watching the Presidential Debate, by Brian Yapko The Society June 29, 2024 Culture, Poetry 44 Comments . Elder Abuse What’s left to us to say? There’ll be no more debates. We know the truth now. Biden is not there--- The president of the United...
‘Soulmate’ and Other Poems by Russel Winick The Society June 29, 2024 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 11 Comments . Soulmate Your spouse ideally is your best friend,Providing love and laughter end to end,Supporting and enhancing all day through,But still at...
‘To the Full Moon’: A Poem by Adam Sedia The Society June 29, 2024 Beauty, Poetry 18 Comments . To the Full Moon Heavenly voyager, you course Across the skies’ infinity--- The calm, serene celestial sea, Which yields before your silent...
Three Epigrams by Stephen M. Dickey The Society June 28, 2024 Epigrams and Proverbs, Poetry, Satire 5 Comments .. 1. Generative artificial intelligence As for-profit tech makes some obverse sense: It markets to itself, its own monopoly Secured on genuine...
‘The Pink of Gentle Hermione and White of John Paul II’: A Poem by Phillip Whidden The Society June 28, 2024 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 13 Comments . The Pink of Gentle Hermione and White of John Paul II The lodger pauses, as he leaves, to gaze At blossoms in the border at the front— The blooms...
A Poem on a Performance of Beethoven’s ‘Appassionata’ Sonata, by Julian Woodruff The Society June 27, 2024 Culture, Music, Poetry 13 Comments . Again Sir Charles Hallé plays Beethoven’s “Appassionata” Sonata for Henri–Montan Berton and Luigi Cherubini, Paris, ca. 1835 The two...
‘Savannah Blossoms’: A Poem by Margaret Brinton The Society June 27, 2024 Beauty, Poetry 7 Comments . Savannah Blossoms Blossoms dress the trees __On Southern parkways Where petals glow like silk __If skies are fair, And a busy stir of bees __Within...
‘The Lazarus Effect’: A Poem by Jeffrey Essmann The Society June 26, 2024 Beauty, Poetry 10 Comments . The Lazarus Effect Until you’re raised, you’ve no idea how dead You were, how long you’d been beyond the scope Of human give and take; how...
‘Rending the Night’: A Vietnam War Poem by Roy E. Peterson The Society June 26, 2024 Culture, Poetry 33 Comments . Rending the Night Remembering My Army Service in Vietnam . Flying bullets rend the night, Sleeping birds in instant flight. See the darkness...
‘Were She to Ask, and I Affirm’: A Poem by Sohaib Aboona The Society June 25, 2024 Humor, Love Poems, Poetry 10 Comments . Were She to Ask, and I Affirm Were she to ask, and I affirm That I'd still love her as a worm, I'd make it clear (because my dear Has Northern...
‘Spanish Moss’ and Other Florida Poetry by Brian Yapko The Society June 25, 2024 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 32 Comments . Spanish Moss A thicket hides the remnants of a grange, An antebellum place of ghosts and rue--- A gothic ruin---tropical and strange Which even...
‘Memento Belli’: A Poem by Alison Jennings The Society June 24, 2024 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 6 Comments . Memento Belli _My father had mementoes of the war; _he kept them in a box above his clothes, _where also hung a uniform he wore _when he was...
‘The Plagiarising Poet’: A Poem by Drilon Bajrami The Society June 24, 2024 Culture, Education, Poetry 11 Comments . The Plagiarising Poet A young lad sat in class—geography— Bored and in a peaceful reverie. The school bell blared, the teach showed...
‘On the Dine-and-Dash Phenomenon’: A Poem by Paul Freeman The Society June 23, 2024 Poetry, Satire 26 Comments . On the Dine-and-Dash Phenomenon In restaurants, we dined but didn’t pay; we gourmandised, then upped and ran away. An appetiser, main course and...
‘Flamingo’: A Poem by Jeremiah Johnson The Society June 23, 2024 Beauty, Poetry 23 Comments . Flamingo The S-curve of that sinuous neck,The stern black tip of that great bill,The blue eye with which we must reck-on like a gaudy monarch’s...
‘Just Like That’: A Poem by Anna J. Arredondo The Society June 22, 2024 Love Poems, Poetry 23 Comments . Just Like That No special words, no passionate embrace; No gazing, full of meanings, soul to soul. Just casual talk, not even face to face; Just...
‘Four Letter Words’: A Poem by Gigi Ryan The Society June 22, 2024 Humor, Poetry 27 Comments . Four Letter Words My dad was smart, my dad was wise; He crossed his t’s and dotted i’s. His grammar skills were without taint. And he did not...
‘Ora Pro Nobis’: A Poem by Jeff Minick The Society June 21, 2024 Beauty, Poetry 12 Comments . Ora Pro Nobis pray for us The dead die when we living let them die; We breathing clasp to hearts our breathless dead; We pack them fresh-embalmed...
‘Reward for How You Live’: A Poem by D.A. Cooper The Society June 21, 2024 Culture, Humor, Poetry 5 Comments . Reward for How You Live from Italo Calvino’s Italian folktale “Gesù e San Pietro in Friuli” One night, while traveling on a mountain...
‘The Ghost Girl’: A Poem by Joshua C. Frank The Society June 20, 2024 Love Poems, Poetry 16 Comments . The Ghost Girl One sunny May, I ran to play, __When I was twelve years old, Upon the hill. I miss her still— __A girl with curls of gold In...
‘The Snare Drummer’s Plight’ and Other Poetry by Martin Elster The Society June 20, 2024 Beauty, Music, Poetry 2 Comments . The Snare Drummer’s Plight The highlight of the evening is Bolero. The snare drummer begins the famous beat, the marrow of the land of the...
‘Some Words to Catholics about Bergoglio’: A Poem by Joseph S. Salemi The Society June 19, 2024 Culture, Poetry 29 Comments . Some Words to Catholics about Bergoglio God only knows what’s left to say— Most Catholics drift from day to day, Like refugees in war or...
‘The Day the Roofers Came’ and Other Poems by Susan Jarvis Bryant The Society June 19, 2024 Humor, Poetry 26 Comments . The Day the Roofers Came He fled the day the roofers came. His fur was fluffed and frizzy. He whizzed across the busy lawn so quick it made me...
‘A Precious Wife Is Like Fine Wine’ and Other Poetry by Martin Rizley The Society June 19, 2024 Beauty, Love Poems, Poetry 14 Comments . A Precious Wife Is Like Fine Wine A precious wife is like fine wine, made mellow with the years, Aged in a barrel made of smiles and laughter,...
A Poem on ‘Cicada Fever’ in Springfield, Illinois, by Mary Jane Myers The Society June 18, 2024 Culture, Poetry 12 Comments . Periodicity Springfield, Illinois, May-June 2024 All our town has caught cicada fever. Seven broods emerge, the selfsame time. This fluke converts...
Five Rose Poems by Rainer Maria Rilke, Translated by Alan Orsborn The Society June 18, 2024 Beauty, Music, Poetry, Translation 9 Comments . . Five Rose Poems by Rainer Maria Rilke translated by Alan Orsborn . The Austrian poet Rainer Maria Rilke (1875-1926), writing in both German and...
‘Sidetracked’ and Other Poetry by C.B. Anderson The Society June 17, 2024 Culture, Poetry, Satire 19 Comments . Sidetracked Life’s troubles come in all varieties,From nagging aches that barely raise a frown,To fearsome packs of deep anxietiesThat, given...
A Formalist Poet at the Open Mic Part III: Something in the Rafters, by Daniel Kemper The Society June 17, 2024 Essays, Poetry 23 Comments . A Formalist Poet at the Open Mic Part III: Something in the Rafters by Daniel Kemper I wander into the incandescent glow of the poetry center and...
‘A Sonnet for My Son on Father’s Day’ by Susan Jarvis Bryant The Society June 16, 2024 Beauty, Poetry 25 Comments . A Sonnet for My Son on Father’s Day You coo her name in buoyant notes of joy Then watch her toddle, tickled by her grin. She spies the bug-eyed...
A Father’s Day Sonnet by Evan Mantyk The Society June 16, 2024 Beauty, Poetry 16 Comments . A Sonnet ---for my father, an avid gardener and feeder of wildlife, who recently underwent hip surgery No one shall intervene this afternoon. The...
