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    • 'Before Checkmate': A Poem by Peter Venable

      The Society
      June 3, 2024
      Beauty, Poetry
      5 Comments
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    • ‘Time and Place’: A Poem by Margaret Brinton

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      June 8, 2025
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      June 8, 2025
      12
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      The Society
      June 7, 2025
      10
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      June 6, 2025
      8
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      June 5, 2025
      31
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      Monika Cooper Wins Sacred Poetry Contest, SCP Readers Invited to June 6 Reading-Celebration

      The Society
      June 5, 2023
      Poetry, Poetry Contests, Readings
      23 Comments
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      May 13, 2025
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      March 31, 2025
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      The Society
      February 1, 2025
      28
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      February 1, 2025
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      August 31, 2024
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  • ‘Time and Place’: A Poem by Margaret Brinton

    The Society
    June 8, 2025
    Beauty, Poetry
    2 Comments
  • ‘Soldier of the Rising Sun’: A Poem by Brian Yapko

    The Society
    June 8, 2025
    Beauty, Culture, Poetry
    12 Comments
  • ‘Double Rondel for Pentecost’ by Margaret Coats

    The Society
    June 7, 2025
    Beauty, Culture, Poetry, Poetry Forms, Rondel
    10 Comments
  • ‘On Twenty Years of YouTube’: A Poem by Paul A. Freeman

    The Society
    June 6, 2025
    Culture, Poetry
    8 Comments
  • ‘Family Values’: Four Poems by Susan Jarvis Bryant

    The Society
    June 5, 2025
    Humor, Pantoum, Poetry, Triolet
    31 Comments
  • ‘The Legend of Zhong Kui’: A Poem by M.D. Skeen

    The Society
    June 5, 2025
    Culture, Poetry
    5 Comments
  • ‘Roads of Potter County’: A Poem by Frank Rable

    The Society
    June 4, 2025
    Culture, Humor, Poetry
    19 Comments
  • On the Art Institute of Chicago’s South Garden and Other Poetry by Adam Sedia

    The Society
    June 3, 2025
    Art, Beauty, Poetry
    16 Comments
  • ‘My Fairytale’: A Poem by Roy E. Peterson

    The Society
    June 3, 2025
    Love Poems, Poetry
    14 Comments
  • ‘In Her Fair Foundry, Nature Forges Art’ by Claude Gaspar Bachet, Translated by Josh Middeldorf

    The Society
    June 2, 2025
    Beauty, Poetry, Translation
    5 Comments
  • ‘Lost Ark’: A Poem by Christopher Fried

    The Society
    June 2, 2025
    Culture, Poetry
    5 Comments
  • ‘Two Love Poems’ by James A. Tweedie

    The Society
    June 1, 2025
    Love Poems, Poetry, Villanelle
    12 Comments

‘Becalmed’: A Poem by Peter Venable

The Society
July 8, 2024
Beauty, Poetry
7 Comments
. Becalmed When life is smooth—a gentle breeze On a porch swing—the garden lush. Retirement! Do as I please. Watch leaflets stir—two bluebirds...

‘Street 3/4’: A Poem by Shamik Banerjee

The Society
July 8, 2024
Beauty, Poetry
10 Comments
. Street 3/4 On both sides of this street, there are small stores Of groceries, canned food, medicine, and toys. Beside a Hindu shrine whose iron...

‘The Lord of His Castle’: A Poem by Brian Yapko

The Society
July 7, 2024
Beauty, Culture, Poetry
38 Comments
. The Lord of His Castle Setting: King Stephen’s siege of Newbury Castle, England during the English civil war known as “The Anarchy.” The year...

‘I Need My Coffee’: A Villanelle by Gigi Ryan 

The Society
July 6, 2024
Humor, Poetry, Villanelle
24 Comments
. I Need My Coffee  I need my coffee; don’t get in the way Of that which wakes me up and makes me tick. Addicted? Yes. I’ll quit another...

‘A Console Table’: A Villanelle by Julia Griffin

The Society
July 6, 2024
Beauty, Poetry, Villanelle
12 Comments
. A Console Table after a Google entry A console table in the entryway __Provides a focus for a guest Inside your home: a welcome, you might say. A...

‘A Hurricane by Any Other Name…’: A Poem on Hurricane Beryl, by Susan Jarvis Bryant

The Society
July 5, 2024
Culture, Poetry
34 Comments
. A Hurricane by Any Other Name... The lights went out in Mexico today. A fury hit Cancun with no remorse. With death upon her breath, she makes her...

‘Dandelion Dreams’: A Poem by Martin Rizley

The Society
July 5, 2024
Beauty, Poetry
21 Comments
. Dandelion Dreams ---to Melody, on the occasion of her fifth birthday I see her, through the window, picking flowers. Adrift upon a sea of green,...

‘The Convert’: A Poem by Benjamin Cannicott Shavitz

The Society
July 5, 2024
Beauty, Poetry
8 Comments
. The Convert “Uh, Professor, I don’t get it, Why do people choose to read that? Does it just not fit my taste?” She said, “If you really...

‘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...
poem/graham/culture

‘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...
poem/sedia/beauty

‘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...
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  1. Margaret Coats on ‘Time and Place’: A Poem by Margaret BrintonJune 8, 2025

    Margaret, the "Time and Place" question about Ireland's literary giants is a most intriguing one. Wilde, Yeats, and Joyce all…

  2. Joseph S. Salemi on ‘Soldier of the Rising Sun’: A Poem by Brian YapkoJune 8, 2025

    Philippine jungles are intricately dense, and often trackless. A resolute soldier can hide in them for years without being found.…

  3. Michael Koegel on ‘Double Rondel for Pentecost’ by Margaret CoatsJune 8, 2025

    Good Job Margaret! I think we were all enveloped by a “ radiant aureole” today and hopefully for all eternity.

  4. C.B. Anderson on ‘Roads of Potter County’: A Poem by Frank RableJune 8, 2025

    I worked at the Morrisville DQ a few years before I graduated to U.S. Steel, so I'm biased.

  5. C.B. Anderson on ‘The Legend of Zhong Kui’: A Poem by M.D. SkeenJune 8, 2025

    This was great fun to read. You are lucky you don't have to litigate this case.

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