Petrarch’s Canzone on a Dream of Laura, Translated by Margaret Coats The Society July 30, 2021 Beauty, Love Poems, Poetry, Translation 21 Comments . When softly my sustaining comfort stirs Herself to offer solace coveted, Advancing toward the left side of my bed With that sweet courtly...
‘Rondeau’ and Other Poetry by Rita Moe The Society July 29, 2021 Beauty, Humor, Poetry, Rondeau 4 Comments . Rondeau The rondeau echoes its refrain in a subtle way, just as rain at times will fall, not in torrents, but in a fine mist, the wood fence,...
Haiku Competition 2021 The Society July 28, 2021 Beauty, Culture, Haiku and Senryu, Poetry, Poetry Contests 807 Comments . Winners announced here. Write a haiku and post it in the comments section below. The haiku must adhere to the traditional parameters of a haiku...
‘Big Shots’ by Mike Bryant The Society July 28, 2021 Covid-19, Culture, Humor, Poetry 31 Comments . You’re glad you’ve nabbed The Covid jab That’s newly fabbed In some large lab Created by The jaundiced eye, The sneaky, sly, Big corporate...
A Garrison Keillor Satire and Other Poetry by Julian Woodruff The Society July 28, 2021 Culture, Humor, Poetry 6 Comments . Guilty, Guilty, Guilty! That most sagacious Mr. K*Told listeners: “Back in the day—‘The Enlightenment,’ they call it; haw,No way! ‘Twas...
When Poetry Matters, and When It Doesn’t: An Essay by Joseph S. Salemi The Society July 27, 2021 Culture, Essays, Poetry 59 Comments . A widespread distemper in modern life is the insistent need that many people feel to justify themselves and their activities. Countless persons...
‘Intelligence from Cuba’ by Margaret Coats The Society July 27, 2021 Culture, Deconstructing Communism, Poetry 17 Comments . 23 July 2021 Don't send money. No food to buy. One scanty meal at work or nothing. Outside the factory today There was a freedom...
Poetry by Groth and Heine, translated by Julian Woodruff The Society July 27, 2021 Beauty, Poetry, Translation 18 Comments . Rain Song by Klaus Groth (1819-1899) Pour, O rain, pour down to earth, Give my childhood dreams rebirth, When in reverie I roamed Shores where...
‘Salvator Mundi’ by Sandi Christie The Society July 26, 2021 Beauty, Culture, Ekphrastic, Poetry 14 Comments . Da Vinci’s lauded “Savior of the World”— Commissioned by the King- Louis of France, * Entombed for years by paint but now unfurled While...
Winners of the First-Liners Poetry Contest The Society July 25, 2021 Beauty, Culture, Humor, Poetry, Poetry Contests 30 Comments . ⬙ Judged by Cynthia Erlandson See all entrants here. ⬙ . FIRST PLACE WINNER ($100) . A Slight Deviation from the Canterbury Tales after...
‘While Waiting Through the Night’ and Other Poetry by Peter Hartley The Society July 25, 2021 Beauty, Love Poems, Poetry 33 Comments . While Waiting Through the Night This morning, searching on the laptop, I Found notes I made upon the night she died. All through the darkest hours...
‘Lucky’ and Other Poetry by Russel Winick The Society July 24, 2021 Beauty, Humor, Poetry 15 Comments . Lucky It stormed around our house last night, The lightning turned the black sky bright. Tornadoes came to join the fray, The morning news led me...
An Appeal to Activist Athletes at the Olympic Games, by Jeff Kemper The Society July 23, 2021 Culture, Poetry 19 Comments . A Little Respect an appeal to activist athletes at the Olympic games You have the right to speak of truth or trash __In houses, restaurants, and...
Two Poems on Drinking and Other Poetry by Talbot Hook The Society July 23, 2021 Beauty, Culture, Humor, Poetry 14 Comments . O Happy Glass Another soul inside a glass deep red— I think on Provenance, effect and cause: Do you begin in wind? In sun, or rain? Inside a seed...
A Transgender Fable and Other Poetry by Brian Yapko The Society July 22, 2021 Culture, Poetry, Rondeau 10 Comments . The Lion Who Thought She Was a Zebra a fable East Africa is where this lion’s tale Takes place---a land of rugged plains of grass, Acacia trees...
‘Turbines’: A Non-Environmental Poem by Jeff Eardley The Society July 22, 2021 Culture, Poetry, The Environment 28 Comments . They lie in serried ranks above the strand. These mighty, whirling monsters made of steel. Where once, a couple wandered, hand in hand, Not...
‘They’re Here!’ and Other Poetry by Susan Jarvis Bryant The Society July 21, 2021 Culture, Poetry 26 Comments . . They're Here They are the Saintly Source of Good; __The Keepers of The Truth. They’re seeking you. You knew they would. Stand up. Speak...
‘Kilkenny Castle’ and Other Poetry by Lucia Haase The Society July 21, 2021 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 8 Comments . Kilkenny Castle A moat runs dry revealing secrets buried those conquerors and conquered knights had known. The past, a relic—bits and pieces...
‘Making All Things Orderly’ and Other Poetry by Sally Cook The Society July 20, 2021 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 25 Comments . Making All Things Orderly Stare at grey clapboards in unbroken rows That seem to follow the unceasing sound Of thrumming traffic, with no vibrant...
‘CCP Members in World Organizations’ by Damian Robin The Society July 20, 2021 Culture, Deconstructing Communism, Human Rights in China, Poetry 5 Comments . in reference to an Epoch Times' exposé We’re in the loop, we’re up the sleeve, we’re near the Party’s armpit. As high rank cadres we...
Two Mythological Poems by Joseph S. Salemi The Society July 19, 2021 Beauty, Blank Verse, Culture, Humor, Poetry 13 Comments . Heliotrope Phaeton, son of the god Helios, attempted to drive his father’s celestial chariot. His inexperience caused him to burn up part of the...
‘With How Sad Steps’ and Other Petrarchan Sonnets by Peter Austin The Society July 19, 2021 Beauty, Humor, Poetry 9 Comments . With How Sad Steps from a Philip Sidney sonnet With how sad steps, O Moon, you climb the skies! How silently, and with how wan a face! What see...
‘Nest Egg’ and Other Poetry by C.B. Anderson The Society July 18, 2021 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 23 Comments . Nest Egg The things for which I hoped have come and gone: The power to express a cogent thought; Ability to wake at break of dawn; Approval from a...
‘Saddle Tramp’ by Leland James The Society July 18, 2021 Beauty, Ekphrastic, Poetry 5 Comments . —like his saddle, hat, and spurs No silver on this cowboy’s working saddle; borne bedrolls, stray calves, and dry canteens, carried beside lame...
Whitman’s Curse: Contemporary Poetry as Solipsism The Society July 17, 2021 Essays, Poetry 28 Comments by Adam Sedia Contemporary poetry is plagued by several characteristic vices: obscurity, banality, nihilism---each a topic for examination in its...
‘At the Heart of Division’ by Paul A. Freeman The Society July 17, 2021 Culture, Poetry 30 Comments . Each view deemed inconvenient is a fake, no matter if deep down you know it’s true. When one lot says a colour’s red, I’ll make a bet with...
‘A Girl in Her Own Words’ by Eustache Deschamps (1346-1406), translated by Margaret Coats The Society July 16, 2021 Beauty, Humor, Poetry, Translation 23 Comments . Am I, am I beautiful? Surely my face qualifies: Forehead pearly bright to rise Over sweetest lips cerise. Tell me if I’m beautiful! Cupid’s...
‘The Western Star’ by Jack DesBois The Society July 15, 2021 Beauty, Culture, Poetry, Readings 12 Comments . https://youtu.be/9VRUjxFxQ2A?list=PLfUp4UiBMcEZC4Hgnr33FpijP5W5mRNo6&t=102 “A star!” the wise man shouted, “Look, a star!” forgetting...
‘O Say Can It Be?’ and Other Poetry by Joe Tessitore The Society July 14, 2021 Beauty, Deconstructing Communism, Haiku and Senryu, Poetry 7 Comments . O Say Can It Be? "How long you been suckin’ up oxygen, friend? For seventy years? Well now that’s gonna end! And moochin’ off Social Security...
‘Brimstone’ and Other Poetry by Susan Jarvis Bryant The Society July 14, 2021 Beauty, Culture, Humor, Poetry, Rondeau Redoublé 35 Comments . Brimstone I sniff a whiff of brimstone in the tone Of smooth effusions oozing from his tongue. A lick of sulfur clings...
Three Poems on Oölogists, by Peter Hartley The Society July 13, 2021 Culture, Humor, Poetry 33 Comments . A Black-Listed Species The avian community is glad He’s dying out, the mad oölogist. With every species on the British list He always wanted...
‘Birds in Flight’: A Pair of Poems by David Whippman and Evan Mantyk The Society July 12, 2021 Beauty, Poetry 34 Comments . Birds in Flight by David Whippman “Free as a bird,” that's what we always say, "It's time to spread my wings and fly away, I have to find...
Turn a Famous Poem into a Limerick: Poetry Challenge The Society July 11, 2021 Humor, Limerick, Poetry, Poetry Challenge, Poetry Contests 153 Comments . Choose a famous poem and write it in limerick form, putting the title of the original poem at the top. Please fit your chosen poem into one...
‘Riots Everywhere’ by Jeff Kemper, After Hank Snow’s ‘I’ve Been Everywhere’ The Society July 11, 2021 Culture, Music, Poetry 28 Comments . The below poem is a memoir of the summer of 2020, to be sung to the tune of “I’ve Been Everywhere,” with apologies to Geoff Mack and Hank...
‘Dirge for a Dying Diva’ and Other Sonnets by Lionel Willis The Society July 10, 2021 Beauty, Culture, Music, Poetry 12 Comments . Dirge for a Dying Diva Who’s alive now who ever heard the voice That once adorned La Scala and The Met, A native of this land where we...
‘Sequoia Forests, Plexiglass, and Masks’ by Cynthia Erlandson The Society July 9, 2021 Beauty, Covid-19, Culture, Poetry 17 Comments . This poem is inspired by a column in The Epoch Times written by John Falce, entitled “The Experience of Freedom” The rugged beauty of our...
‘The Best and Worst of Times’ by Cheryl Corey’ The Society July 9, 2021 Culture, Humor, Poetry 10 Comments . The Best and Worst of Times “It was the best of times, it was …” but how Can anyone forget those words once pearled By Dickens so very long...
A Poem on the Miss Nevada Contest Winner: ‘Disengendered’ by Michael Curtis The Society July 8, 2021 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 5 Comments . She is not a she in the Silver State. Never shall be. In the bones of her heart He will ever be he, unwombed by fate, Crafted by lies, makeup, the...
‘From the Bay of Naples’ and Other Poetry by Brian Yapko The Society July 8, 2021 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 29 Comments . From the Bay of Naples To Titus Caesar and the Senate, Hail! Gaius Pliny brings you news most dire From Naples where your frightened people...
Review: ‘Light In the Darkness—The Poetry of Peter Hartley’ The Society July 7, 2021 Clerihew, Essays, Poetry, Reviews 19 Comments Reviewed Book: Light In the Darkness—The Poetry of Peter Hartley, Dunecrest Press, 2021. by James A. Tweedie Peter Hartley writes poems. Good...
