Carol They come slowly—loiter, you might say, Some with olive oil splashed on their bums, Others with enormous crooked thumbs,...

by James Sale Alessio Zanelli is a fascinating poet, and probably a fascinating man as well. This is his sixth...

  For many, the gifts are the be-all and end-all: the big screen, the tablet, the Barbie and Ken doll....

  Recalling Christmas in the past: the time I mixed my drink— a cocktail, “Everything we have”… I puked at...

Sara's Prayer* Take me beyond all thought and word, where only beauty can be heard. Then silently, before Your throne,...

  Cradled in my country’s corn-rich plains, North of the river, good and fertile land, There is a certain wood,...

Childhood Conjugation Our mother tongue’s a mile-long smorgasbord where children eat for free. With giggling ease they wolf down words...

The Lonely Ghost Speaks Each night, upon the creaking stairs My footfalls make no sound As, sad and slow, I...

  Each poem below describes a phobia. Guess what the person is scared of in each. For extra credit try...

  The Winter of Our Contentment Without the winter there would be no spring, No snowdrops, crocus, scilla, daffodils, Or...

Intruders Beware If you but knew what weakness lies concealed Within this adamantine outer shell— What woes, what worries I'm...

  Manichaeus, the 3rd century B.C. founder of the heretical religion Manichaeism, addresses the Zoroastrian god Ahura-Mazda Tremble, Ahura-Mazda! Be...

An Aussie Christmas That joyous time has come to pass When summer’s heat warms man and beast, And wheaten fields...

Hating Life after Ecclesiastes 2 Within my heart I said, “Come now, and I will test your soul with mirth.”...

  In Canto 8 the poet and Dante, accompanying him, encounter the next-door neighbour, Peter, who brutally murdered his wife...

Grimm Reckonings Summary Thoughts on Five Fairy Tales: A Sonnet Cycle   Rapunzel I wish Rapunzel could have saved the...

’Twas the Night Before Christmas ’Twas the night before Christmas and all through the malls there was widespread confusion and...

. Rosemary, Cypress, Cedar, and Pine Rosemary and Cypress, and Cedar and Pine, Green waxen needles and skin of like...

Morning in England Morning in England: web and dew. The county matters not in name, nor distant city hid from...

  Rain, lapping at the windows fast, falls cold and ceaseless, painting lines of marble on the silvered glass while...

I think that I shall never see A tree that is invisible. The very thought is risible— Or maybe it's...

  My Adventskalender in Germany made Of paper and glitter has Heaven displayed Through twenty-four windows. Come open with me...

by T.M. Moore The hectic pace that defines the lives of most of us may be doing more than merely...

  Perhaps the color of your world was dun, And you sank in your couch when work was done, To...

  There lies a way to heaven by that lake. My sickness gone, I fear no chilly mist; A redwing...

  From cradle to the grave, From womb to musty tomb, The sanity I crave Is in a dining room...

  There Is a River There is a river that I know that flows through quiet meadowland Nearby a row...

by James Sale Sonnets, 2nd edition. Shanti Arts, 2020 Jesus and Eros, Bardsinger Books, 2014 Theresa Rodriguez is a relatively...

The Plight of Animals The plight of animals, how must it be Ordained thus, either by a just God or...

  by Caud Sewer Bile A deep state run by rulers lacking thought, a young, unschooled, and mad mob living...

  As I was strolling in a glade of green And paid but little thought to anything, I hardly knew...

Reflections on a Dead Whale The sound of surf; the scratch of sand on feet; The sight of distant ships;...

  Palermo’s great basilica is still— All prayers are tongueless for a lonely hour. Here high and holy silence can...

  What might, what gold does Ithaca hold to vex us; Enthralled ‘till when, by whom, for what, and where?...

Translations by Terry L. Norton. Original Latin by Phaedrus follows each. The Red Kite and the Doves When doves had...

  1. THEATRE Strolling Players Dancers, actors, acrobats! Stripey trousers, floppy hats! They weren’t born to swing a scythe, pay...

Winter's Call O, can you hear her? Yonder autumn days? A siren's voice, as silent steps she takes? Her nuanced...

Ode to Leonidas, King of Sparta by Ian Williams Stern Sire and Father of the ancient West! Sacred, your primogeniture...

The Rime of the Balanced Boxes after Samuel Coleridge's Rime of the Ancient Mariner Part I Now, the training time...

Still Going It may appear that I’ve run out of chances, No more to rise from absolute defeat, Victim of...