‘To a Prisoner of Conscience’ by Martin Rizley The Society September 7, 2020 Culture, Deconstructing Communism, Human Rights in China, Poetry 8 Comments In Response to an Article on the Persecution of Falun Gong Practitioners in China I read the other day about the pain That you endure in some...
A Poem on Nancy Pelosi’s Maskless Salon Trip, by Susan Jarvis Bryant The Society September 6, 2020 Covid-19, Deconstructing Communism, Humor, Poetry 30 Comments A Cut Above Why shouldn’t Nancy break a lockdown rule To bless us with her chestnut-tress finesse? As Speaker of the House she’d look...
‘Vote Joe’ by Wortley Clutterbuck The Society September 6, 2020 Deconstructing Communism, Humor, Poetry, Readings 3 Comments There’s lots of riots in the street or so I’ve heard from someone’s tweet; they’re pulling out all of the...
‘Before the Plague’ by Daniel Kemper The Society September 5, 2020 Beauty, Covid-19, Culture, Poetry 17 Comments Before the plague I never knew my hands. The need to purify the human touch has turned my vision inward, but though much is taken; much...
‘Take Me Out to the Ball Game, 2020’ by Joe Tessitore The Society September 4, 2020 Culture, Deconstructing Communism, Humor, Poetry 27 Comments I am a cardboard cutout. I sit here in the stands. I do not think. I do not blink. I do not clap my hands. You are a cardboard...
A Cat Monologue by E.V. Wyler The Society September 3, 2020 Children's, Culture, Humor, Poetry 27 Comments 'I Shall A Mighty Hunter Be!' “I shall a mighty hunter be, The King of Kills, by God’s decree! Savannahs always guarantee a vantage...
‘We Siblings Three’ and Other Poetry by Randal A. Burd, Jr. The Society September 2, 2020 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 17 Comments We Siblings Three Attempt to add the hours we have shared: One hundred thousand, maybe thousands more? Our paths conjoined for several...
‘Backyard Bliss’ and Other Poetry by Susan Jarvis Bryant The Society September 1, 2020 Beauty, Poetry 36 Comments Backyard Bliss I hear hope’s song fill skies today __In trills beyond my door. Her citrus kiss burns through the grey __As martins dip...
The Society of Classical Poets 2021 Poetry Competition The Society September 1, 2020 From the Society, Poetry, Poetry Contests 11 Comments Winners Have Been Announced Here. "Poetry ... is a more philosophical and a higher thing than history: for poetry tends to express the universal,...
2021 High School Poetry Competition The Society September 1, 2020 From the Society, High School Submissions, Poetry, Poetry Contests 1 Comment "Poetry ... is a more philosophical and a higher thing than history: for poetry tends to express the universal, history the particular."...
2021 Poetry Translation Competition The Society September 1, 2020 From the Society, Poetry, Poetry Contests, Translation 2 Comments "Poetry ... is a more philosophical and a higher thing than history: for poetry tends to express the universal, history the particular."...
‘My Sickness Is a Mistress’ by Kevin Blankinship The Society August 31, 2020 Covid-19, Culture, Poetry 5 Comments I made her a bed with cushions and throws but she refused and slept in my bones. My skin, too tight for both my sighs and hers so she...
Three Poems on Drinking, by C.B. Anderson The Society August 30, 2020 Beauty, Culture, Humor, Poetry 13 Comments The Angels’ Share Oh many a peer of England brews Livelier liquor than the Muse, And malt does more than Milton can To justify God’s...
‘Barnes’ Owl in the Snow’ by William Glyn-Jones The Society August 29, 2020 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 5 Comments rhymes written after reading Simon Barnes’ blog post "Barn Owl in the Snow" Across the marsh, white passing over white, The silent hunter flies...
‘The Wolves and the Sheep’ by Terry L. Norton The Society August 28, 2020 Children's, Culture, Poetry 32 Comments adapted from Babrius, first century A.D., and Jean de La Fontaine, 1621-1695 __At least twelve thousand years (though likely more) Between the...
A Poem on the Oxford English Dictionary, by Maurice J. O’Sullivan The Society August 27, 2020 Culture, Humor, Poetry 9 Comments Editing with the OED for Rita Bornstein __Like a mental abattoir, the OED, With brumous exactitude, looms over me As my blue pen prunes...
Rhyme and Reason: Four Poems by James A. Tweedie The Society August 26, 2020 Culture, Humor, Poetry 36 Comments Abracadabra The written word is magical And not just something clerical. You scratch some marks into the sand; I see the marks and...
‘Corofin Dreaming’ by David Watt The Society August 25, 2020 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 11 Comments The potato blight and resultant Great Famine struck Ireland from 1845 to 1851. Potato crops didn’t recover until 1852, by which time at...
‘In Memory of My Grandmother’ by Susan Jarvis Bryant The Society August 24, 2020 Beauty, Poetry 35 Comments Doris Evelyn Alice Falconer, born April 9, 1922, died August 24, 2004 You taught me the importance of good humour, the gravity of truth and...
‘The Falcon’: A Poem After Blake’s ‘Tyger,’ by Cynthia Erlandson The Society August 24, 2020 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 9 Comments The Falcon “In what distant deeps or skies Burnt the fire of thine eyes? On what wings dare he aspire? What the hand dare sieze the...
‘Angel Ship’ by C. David Hay The Society August 23, 2020 Beauty, Poetry 14 Comments Oh, to helm an angel ship __Adrift in a billowy sea With a specter crew in a sky of blue, __Just the vast beyond and me. Flying the...
The Rebirth of Epic: A Review of James Sale’s HellWard The Society August 22, 2020 Beauty, Culture, Epic, Essays, Poetry, Reviews 31 Comments by Andrew Benson Brown James Sale’s HellWard is the first volume of a planned trilogy entitled The English Cantos. If the quality of the current...
‘Those Unknown’ by Camille Cechini The Society August 21, 2020 Beauty, Culture, Poetry, Villanelle 15 Comments a villanelle My heart goes out to those unknown, Whose life by Time’s cruel hand erased, Their ravaged, riven, nameless...
A Poem on Judgment Day and Other Poetry by Leo Zoutewelle The Society August 20, 2020 Beauty, Culture, Deconstructing Communism, Poetry 16 Comments Ab Initio Mundi* *ever since the beginning of the world At first the darkness reigned o’er all that was, Until a little point of light...
‘The Bell Now Tolls’ by Martin Rizley The Society August 19, 2020 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 24 Comments in memory of my father-in-law, Pietro Lorefice (1938-2020) The bell now tolls, dear Pietro, for this hour When we must bid your faithful...
‘Hollywood Interview’ by David Whippman The Society August 18, 2020 Beauty, Culture, Humor, Poetry 20 Comments My marriage failed (they always do.) Emotionally unequipped To work things out without a script, We didn’t try to talk it...
‘Uncle Joe and the Virtual Convention’ by Jeff Kemper The Society August 17, 2020 Culture, Deconstructing Communism, Humor, Poetry 13 Comments When the wokest of folk virtually convoke In a year of elections and riots and fear, Uncle Joe from the basement the Nanny will...
‘Upon a Boat, by Ocean Bound’ by Alexander King Ream The Society August 17, 2020 Beauty, Culture, Ekphrastic, Poetry 4 Comments Upon a boat, by ocean bound, Below the sun, upon the sound, The bait, a line, a reel, a fish: Bound for butter, herbs and...
A Satire on Joe Biden Picking Kamala Harris, by Susan Jarvis Bryant The Society August 16, 2020 Culture, Humor, Poetry 24 Comments Madcapfesto We’ll unlock prison gates and let the inmates saunter out. We’ll tear down wall and rule; we’ll sponsor every lug and...
Understanding Bad Poetry: The Verse of William Topaz McGonagall The Society August 16, 2020 Culture, Essays, Humor, Poetry 24 Comments by Joseph S. Salemi The poetic effusions of some people are so incompetent that they cross the line into unexpected humor, and thereby become...
‘We Came Together With An Open Mind’ by James Allan Kennedy The Society August 15, 2020 Poetry, Villanelle 17 Comments a villanelle We came together with an open mind No crass intolerance or blinkered view Is it too much to ask us to be kind? The streets in...
The 17 Best Haiku of 2020 The Society August 15, 2020 Beauty, Best Poems, Culture, From the Society, Haiku and Senryu, Poetry, Poetry Contests 8 Comments Winner and Runners-up of The Society of Classical Poets 2020 Haiku Competition Judged by Mike Bryant and Susan Jarvis Bryant See all entrants...
‘A Ditty’ and Other Poetry by Joe Tessitore The Society August 14, 2020 Culture, Deconstructing Communism, Poetry 18 Comments A Ditty What happened to the human race? It vanished, friend, without a trace. And what, pray tell, of humankind? You may well seek, but...
‘Hong Kong’s Freedom Fighters’ by Douglas J. Lanzo The Society August 13, 2020 Beauty, Culture, Deconstructing Communism, Human Rights in China, Poetry 5 Comments dedicated to all those braving injustice in Hong Kong with nobility of spirit Muffled voices, anguished cries, Trampled freedom, published...
On a Photo of Sgt. James J. Regan’s Grieving Fiancee, and Other Poetry by Rod Walford The Society August 12, 2020 Beauty, Culture, Humor, Poetry 16 Comments Hero of Her Heart On February 9, 2007 Sgt. James J. Regan of the 3rd Battalion 75th U.S. Ranger Regiment was killed on active service in...
‘Defy the Mask’ by David Watt The Society August 11, 2020 Culture, Deconstructing Communism, Poetry 9 Comments Due to a recent government edict, approximately 5 million Australians must wear masks whenever they leave the house. We wear a mask because...
‘Blake’s Prairie Fair’ by Bob Schildgen The Society August 10, 2020 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 4 Comments Cotton candy is, yes, is angel hair spun out while merry-go-rounds whirl full-speed with satisfaction fully guaranteed in the local...
‘The Prisoners in Manacles’ and Other Poetry by Bruce Dale Wise The Society August 9, 2020 Beauty, Culture, Deconstructing Communism, Human Rights in China, Humor, Poetry 8 Comments All poems by Bruce Dale Wise The Prisoners in Manacles by Lu “Reed ABCs” Wei The prisoners in manacles in western China were just on a day out,...
‘Oh, When I Think Back’ and Other Poetry by Theresa Rodriguez The Society August 8, 2020 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 14 Comments Oh, When I Think Back Oh, when I think back to those halcyon days, When I believed the possibility That truest love would manifest to...
‘The Taj Mahal’ and Other Poetry by Peter Hartley The Society August 7, 2020 Beauty, Culture, Poetry 44 Comments Taj Mahal Built to commemorate a love that died Four hundred years ago, how sad to say She never saw what we can see today. Serenely does...
