A Short Poem for Gov. Andrew Cuomo, by Joe Tessitore The Society August 5, 2021 Culture, Humor, Poetry 21 Comments . I’m Andrew Cuomo---I get a pass. If you don’t like it, kiss my ass! I’m Andrew Cuomo---I don’t resign. I’m governor---this state is...
‘The Bridge of Sighs’ by David D. Irby The Society August 5, 2021 Beauty, Love Poems, Poetry 10 Comments . I stand upon the Bridge of Sighs as teardrops fill my weary eyes and think of life that used to be when she was still in love with me. I watch...
‘Farmer,’ and Other Poetry by C.B. Anderson The Society August 4, 2021 Beauty, Culture, Humor, Poetry 34 Comments . Farmer, Unpack the dormant forces quiet days Have put aside and stoke the smothered fire Whose soot fanned out in lifeless carbon rays Upon the...
‘China’s Twisted Gymnastics’ by Bethany Mootsey The Society August 3, 2021 Culture, Human Rights in China, Poetry 6 Comments . inspired by this video from communist China: https://youtu.be/b4DmTPtAEbg . All their flipping has flopped, So their stance has flip-flopped __To...
‘Three by Heraclitus’ and Other Poetry by E.M. Schorb The Society August 3, 2021 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 6 Comments . Three by Heraclitus I Offend yourself with mirrored knowledge (where’s that face you wore at college?) and your sense of life’s...
‘Incense’ by Adam Sedia The Society August 2, 2021 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 13 Comments . A hundred tongues of smoke--- Translucent wisps, lithe specters--- __Rise, snaking languidly, Curling, grasping like tendrils At the light they...
‘The Bivocational Burden’ by Guy Warner The Society August 1, 2021 Beauty, Poetry 10 Comments . an excerpt When battle rages hot, the charge will sound. An army must not let itself break ranks, Although they see the cannon all around. To my...
‘Silence Is Not Golden’ by Roy E. Peterson The Society July 31, 2021 Culture, Poetry 15 Comments . Silence is not golden. I’ll differ with you here. __Silence is an awful trap Lined with sharpest fear. Silence plays a part Only after we __Use...
‘On the Traditional Latin Mass’ by Sasha A. Palmer The Society July 30, 2021 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 20 Comments . in response to Traditionis custodes (“Guardians of the tradition”)---the new motu proprio issued by Pope Francis on July 16, 2021. She has been...
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...
