‘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...
‘The Doctor’: A Father’s Day Poem by Shamik Banerjee The Society June 16, 2024 Beauty, Poetry 22 Comments . The Doctor An expert in each area, this man's The doctor for all things in disrepair— Tea kettles, doorknobs, hafts, electric fans... His fingers...
‘Mates of the Greats’: A Poem by Sally Cook The Society June 15, 2024 Art, Poetry, Satire 25 Comments . Mates of the Greats Gauguin the banker thought Painting while married was Quite a nice hobby And so did his wife. But then in Tahiti Paul met with...
‘Distant Thunder’ and Other Poetry by Adam Sedia The Society June 15, 2024 Beauty, Poetry 23 Comments . Distant Thunder Oppressive heat in heavy air; Oppressive light from summer skies; White clouds glow with a garish glare, __Menacing as they...
‘Home Run’: A Poem by Mike Bryant The Society June 14, 2024 Culture, Poetry 18 Comments . Home Run Oh my God the play we made, And, really quite efficiently. We had two billion pawns we’d played, Lost sixty million… two or...
‘Ozymandias’: A Poem by Dave Blanchard The Society June 14, 2024 Culture, Poetry 3 Comments . Ozymandias after Percy Bysshe Shelley More solitary than an orphan’s reachThat vigil, that the shifting peaks repel,A site of none left even to...
Poetry from and about Xu Zhimo, by Margaret Coats The Society June 13, 2024 Beauty, Poetry, Translation 30 Comments . Meeting Xu Zhimo by Margaret Coats Three Chinese girls behind me in the line Escape King’s College Chapel evensong; They show a phone, ask where,...
‘Longfellow’s Bridge’: A Song from Longfellow’s Poem by Gunny Markefka The Society June 13, 2024 Music, Poetry, Song Lyrics 2 Comments . . Download "Longfellow's Bridge" on your favorite music app HERE. . Longfellow’s Bridge (Lyrics) lyrics by Gunny Markefka, inspired by...
‘I Hear the Distant Thunder’: A Poem by Roy E. Peterson The Society June 12, 2024 Culture, Poetry 18 Comments . I Hear the Distant Thunder I hear the distant thunder rolling__Across the nighttime sky.Incendiary lightning strikes__Of fire are drawing nigh.If I...
A Revised Version of ‘Little Boy Blue’ by Doug Dawson The Society June 11, 2024 Humor, Poetry 4 Comments . . Little Boy Blue . Original Version Little Boy Blue, come blow your horn, The sheep's in the meadow, the cow's in the corn. Where is the boy who...
‘Driven from Their Homes’ and Other Israel-Inspired Poetry by Brian Yapko The Society June 11, 2024 Culture, Poetry 21 Comments . . Driven from Their Homes Deported and despised. Compelled to leave. 900,000 driven from their homes With pain enough to fill one-million...
‘The Latest Gender Identity’ and Other Poems by Russel Winick The Society June 10, 2024 Poetry, Satire 17 Comments . The Latest Gender Identity He’s fat, but he identifies as skinny, Insisting everybody call him “Mini.” He now, of course, considers...
‘Cape Canaveral’s Pioneers Asleep’ and Other Poetry by Phillip Whidden The Society June 10, 2024 Beauty, Poetry 7 Comments . Cape Canaveral’s Pioneers Asleep I wonder if the lights across lagoon Waves, little though they are, the lights and waves, Portend some goodness...
Two Strange Poems by Joseph S. Salemi (with a Note) The Society June 9, 2024 Beauty, Culture, Essays, Poetry 18 Comments . The Universal Horoscope and Zodiac Twelve figures in the blazoned zodiac Set by the gods in their unchanging track Spin in a regulated, yearly...
‘The Song of Everlasting Sorrow’ by Bai Juyi, Translated by Evan Mantyk The Society June 9, 2024 Love Poems, Poetry, Translation 19 Comments . The Song of Everlasting Sorrow Tang Dynasty poet Bai Juyi (772-846) wrote this poem about Tang Emperor ("Son of Heaven") Xuanzong (685-762) and his...
On the Meeting of Poets James A. Tweedie, Jeff Eardley, Peter Hartley, and Margaret Coats in the UK: Poems and Other Writings The Society June 8, 2024 Culture, Essays, Poetry 19 Comments . In Spring 2024, UK poets Jeff Eardley and Peter Hartley crossed paths with American poets James A. Tweedie and Margaret coats in...
‘Winter into Spring Sonnet’ by Jedediah Smith The Society June 8, 2024 Beauty, Poetry 2 Comments . Winter into Spring Sonnet The garbage dump outside the town is white as winter’s snowfall claims the castoff chair from autumn’s cluttered...
Book Review: Legends of Liberty Volume II by Andrew Benson Brown The Society June 7, 2024 Poetry, Reviews 4 Comments . Book Reviewed: Legends of Liberty Volume II by Andrew Benson Brown, Bard Owl Publishing, March 2024 by Theresa Werba Andrew Benson Brown has...
‘Admonition’: A Poem by Edward Stansell The Society June 7, 2024 Beauty, Poetry 23 Comments . Admonition It is a form of madness To long for days of yore. And bitter is the sadness O'er those who've gone before. Now we, ourselves, must...
‘Poetry Is Warfare’: A Poem by Gigi Ryan The Society June 6, 2024 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 20 Comments . Poetry Is Warfare A poem is the writer’s battle pleaAgainst asceticism’s barren call.Truth and beauty (air that poets...
‘On the 80th Anniversary of D-Day’: A Poem by Paul A. Freeman The Society June 6, 2024 Culture, Poetry 17 Comments . On the 80th Anniversary of D-Day Humanity once more is under threat,when eighty years ago a Western frontwas opened up at Normandy to...
‘Today My Brown Sedan Is Two’ and Other Poetry by Shamik Banerjee The Society June 6, 2024 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 10 Comments . Today My Brown Sedan Is Two Today, my brown sedan is two, But I behave as if it's twenty, So freezing by a showroom's door, I scan the...
‘To a Cicada’ and Other Poetry by Martin Rizley The Society June 5, 2024 Beauty, Poetry 23 Comments . To a Cicada So, welcome back, you ancient thing! Some time ago, your tribe took wing; But here you are again, my friend, These summer nights with...
‘Under the Umbrella’: A Poem by Joshua C. Frank, Inspired by Brassens’ Le Parapluie The Society June 5, 2024 Love Poems, Music, Poetry, Translation 23 Comments . Under the Umbrella inspired by “Le Parapluie” (“The Umbrella”) by Georges Brassens (1921-1981) Rain fell in waves throughout the street; A...
