Poetry

  Poetic Justices: The Poetry of United States Supreme Court Justices by Adam Sedia In 1979, Justice John Paul Stevens of the United States Supreme Court remarked in an interview that “the best preparation for the study of law was the study of poetry, especially lyric poetry.” The relationship between...

  Blur The seconds tick, the minutes race, __The hours fly, __The days flash by, The weeks go at a breakneck pace--- __I wonder why __I even try; The months, the years, the decades pass, __All I’ve pursued __Becomes worm food; I strive to do it all---alas--- __I’m left to...

  The Cottage on the Ridge The gray mist lingers in the wooded vale And drifts across the piney hills at dawn, Infused with light, as daybreak sheds its pale First rays upon a lonely ridge, whereon A cottage sits in quiet solitude, Amidst the ancient landscape lush and green....

  Poem 5 by Catullus (circa 84-54 BC) translated from Latin by Mary Jane Myers Ah, Lesbia, lust’s our sweet pastime. Old codgers censure us en bloc. Their gossip’s worth not one thin dime. Dawn always breaks in each epoch, but our span’s brief. Life’s suns soon set, we slumber...

  Undeclared College Major Discussing broader options that young women have today, One of my female classmates had a startling thing to say, About how in our time some college women’s foremost plan--- Encouraged by their mothers---was to find themselves a man.     Kitchen Comfort He asked her if...

  The Sowers by Gabriele D’Annunzio (1863-1938) translated from Italian by Joseph S. Salemi Strong lads drive the docile oxen through The field. Behind them open furrows steam As plowshares tear the ground in preparation For the sowers’ casting of the grain. Then with a sweeping gesture of their arms...

  Three Kittens Went to Kitten-Garten Three kittens in kitten-garten. Whose teacher was a dog. They had to write their answers In their daily log. The dog would ask the kittens, “Are you ready now?” Each kitten had to answer, “Meow, meow, meow.” They boned up on their math, Then...

  The Number 217: A Glimpse of Armageddon "And palmeres for to seken straunge strondes" ---Chaucer, Canterbury Tales  It happened on the number 217 While on his way one day to Turnpike Lane That Palmer had a glimpse of Armageddon And never rode a London bus again. While sitting on...

  The Heart of the Wood At the edge of the wood it is green, With the leaves all aglow in the light, And the forest appears so serene, That my eyes could do naught but delight. In the midst of the wood it is dim, And the sun is...

  Twelve Labors More Part II. The Music of the Spheres Read Part I here. I. My life continued quiet till one morning When—“knock, knock, knock”—upon my porch I found Great Socrates, Achilles, and Falstaff. I craned my neck: no cop cars were around. “Come on, you ready?” Socrates inquired....

  Today Awake, and do not fade away into your gloom—and stay within your room. Instead, without delay, compel yourself to a wide grin, and slowly some joy will sink in, as you’ll allow yourself to think of how much worse it could have been— the tumble downward from the...

  Chaucer's Medieval Hangover Advice and Cure If you should quaff nocturnally too much, and waking, find your mouth’s a rabbit hutch in fragrance, while you’ve copiously been sick, raw eels and bitter almonds do the trick. Those eels and almonds cancel out what brew doth loiter in your guts,...

  April Flowers Bring May Showers You festive blossoms---whose ephemeral lives are poured Ecstatically into youthful grass as you dance toward Your death---your petals ornament the air, drift down From winter branches that appeared bare aging bone Before your lavish gift of flesh and color.  Dense- ly robed with Easter’s...

  O Come, Holy Ghost "The Fear of the Lord Is the Beginning of Wisdom..." ---Proverbs 9:10 O Come, Holy Ghost, and send us Thy gifts, Confirm Thou our souls, give cause to their lift. Offer us counsel through life’s destination; Make us more wise: illume preparation. Ever bestow Thy...

Cato of Utica: Canto I of Purgatory by Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) translated from Italian by Stephen Binns Dante and Virgil emerge from the Inferno, having followed the course of the Lethe, the  river of forgetfulness. Here they are once again under sky and stars, though unfamiliar  stars: this is an...

  Cherry Blossom Cherry blossom, cherry blossom, Dancing, lilting in the breeze, Hither speak of pretty whispers, Told to you by buzzing beez. Cherry blossom, cherry blossom, Petals, soft, and sweet, and fair, Sing to me the dryads' musings, Floating, bobbing through the air. No one else can hear us...

  Home I wandered lonely, not so much a cloud As more a type of fog, as something cool And indistinct, ephemeral, endowed With little of that which an older school Would call of moment: willful, silly, proud. But things then shift somehow, by sudden grace Or simply desperation. Old...

  Tempus Fugit, Carpe Diem, Memento Mori Sed fugit interea, fugit irreparabile tempus.—Virgil, Georgics There comes a time in every errant life When pleasures of the flesh are not enough, And vivid dreams about a neighbor’s wife Seem pale compared to all the other stuff Imagined. Learning ancient Greek is...

Competition Judge and Classical Poets Live creator Andrew Benson Brown discusses the competition requirements and gives some background on odes, ballads, satire, and more: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kauu2iUyifo     Andrew Benson Brown‘s epic-in-progress, Legends of Liberty, chronicles the major events of the American Revolution. He writes history articles for American Essence magazine and...

  Epitaph for a Lost Civilisation "Mine honour is my life; both grow in one: Take honour from me, and my life is done." ---Richard II, Act I, Scene 1, 188-9 O what is left, our armies lying defeated, Surveying now the ruins of our world, When not from foe,...

Advice for Tokyo Rose February, 1943---Tokyo, Japanese Empire. Iva D’Aquino---an expatriate American national---is hired by Kenchiki Oki, on behalf of the Japanese Ministry of Propaganda, to serve as the radio figure “Tokyo Rose.” Forgive me, please. Remind me of your name? Ah, Iva. Yes, of course. Konichiwa. I am Mr....

  Beautiful She cracked a throaty Marlboro laugh that piped her spicy liquored breath into my face. Her blouse hung half unbuttoned—spilling, braless breasts. I lay my forehead and my chin where greedy groping hands had been, and all but tasted salty skin cologned by smoke and random men. The...

  The Wiles of a Woman The wiles of a woman, men, you never should discount. For after all, they often want what’s in your bank account. When pressures of their passions do precipitously mount, Some women will try anything to get a high amount. We think of lovestruck young...

  Amore If looks could kill I’d be a dead man walking. Your drop-dead beauty has me in its spell. If I were deaf, I’d yearn to hear you talking, For beautiful would be your words as well. You’d be a perfect film noir femme fatale. You’ll always win my...

  To May, the Prince of Months by Eustache Deschamps (1346–1406), translated from French by Margaret Coats Noble month, father to Zephyr balmy, Brother to Pallas, Juno’s uncle―and lo, Kissing cousin caught by Venus’ beauty, Unnumbered sons and daughters you can show. Through love you make new leaves and flowers...

  FIRST PLACE   Her Matted Hair Based on “Daughter Dies Three Days After Admission to Prison for Practicing Falun Gong” by Maura H. Harrison For sixteen months, Ms. Chen remained detained. It was a crippling time, her body strained By torture and neglect. It left her weak And worsening....

  Coach “Black Mike” Castronis, Athens Y Camp ---1947-1987 “Enthusiasm” was his word, Win or lose, he bore it well, From the front he ran our herd, This was clear and one could tell. Led the hikes to Rabun Lake, Called us men to not forsake The Lord. And when...

  Mosi-oa-Tunya Mosi-oa-Tunya is ‘The Thunderous Smoke’; twixt Zambia and Zimbabwe it sits; Doc Livingstone, that missionary bloke observed its wonders, loving it to bits. This waterfall feeds two almighty gorges, descends into a geologic gash one hundred metres deep, and there it forges a one-point-seven-kilometre slash. The longest single...

  Creation of Mom God flew through the Halls of Heaven _From His throne into his lab. Angels came to watch Him since _His inventions were always fab. Excitedly they gathered round; _They knew they should be calm. One quietly asked “What is it?” _He said, “I'm making Mom.” They...

  Spontaneous Conjugal Combustion ---a villanelle He simply couldn't turn the other cheek On ceaseless babble drowning out the game. He caved to scorching fits of crimson pique. He smoldered, snapped, then hollered like a freak--- Sparks flared and flew; his words were far from tame. She simply couldn't turn...

  The Man in the Moon Was a Very Round Man   The Man in the Moon was a very round man, _And a jolly round man was he, So he took up his knife and whittled away, _And whittled his phases with glee.   He whittled in daytime and...

  Fibromytrauma My body’s still and will not settle. It keeps the scores: Muscles. Nerves. “Tough love,” he said. A girl of mettle again receives what she deserves. The room was dark. I couldn’t see. Only the blows. They came and went. I screamed. His belt imposed on me. I...

  A Lonely Sliver “The wood is dead,” he pointed out _the windows rimmed with frost; “those columns there—” he meant the trees— _“are done and finished, lost.” My grandfather, whose wisdom, once, _no argument could shake; who’d plied his atlas, maps, and tomes _with knowledge-thirst unslaked; Now stranded on...

  Higher Gas Prices Are a Small Price to Pay For years, “Death to America” _is the chant that we have heard. When someone threatens me with death, _I take them at their word. So now, once more, our nation is _pursuing a solution. I ask myself, what is my...

  Always Ahead We live—but life runs on in restless haste; Through back doors cut in doubt and hidden fear. We clasp our hands when paths cannot be traced, Or when the way must shift and reappear. Forward compelled—no dwelling, never here. So long as breath endures, and in the...

  Hamlet's Lawyer Will Shakespeare? Here. These papers are for you. Aye, open them. A summons and complaint! Don’t grumble, sir! We have the right to sue, And Lord knows you are neither prince nor saint. You stand accused, you whoreson playwright bore! You recall nought? You do not give...

  On An Old Photograph It was late fall of 1944. Dad was back from Italy, on leave, When no one dreamt the Bulge would soon explode, Or that an A-bomb waited in the works, Or that a world was crumbling while they smiled, Sure that the war would wind...

  Faust Foresees His End Now, as holy darkness falls And curfew reigns within the walls, To each gatehouse troops a guard. Behind their doorways locked and barred, Where warm domestic shadows creep Men take themselves to honest sleep. The wakeman sets off on his rounds; Down cobbled ways his...

  À la Carte A crouton on a flaccid salad, Your dinner date adds texture to An otherwise anemic toss, And with a tint not half so pallid Promotes your lettucey appeal To something more than total loss. So drink the wine and thank the Father For garnishing your evening...

  Where the Sweet Bluebonnets Bloom There is one thing a Texas cowboy _Always takes into account: _A cowboy will ride to heaven _On his favorite trusty mount. There is a crowd of clapping hands _As he rides through heaven’s door. _The open range is boundless _With bluebonnets evermore. There...