Translation by Martin Hill Ortiz  Farewell to the Royal Gardens at Aranjuez by María Rosa Gálvez de Cabrera of Spain (1768-1806)...

Mother of Falun Gong They said my mother would be back tomorrow, They said her smile would still shine proudly...

by Edward C. "Ted" Hayes   A Prefatory Poem (or a Gaggle of Goosefeathers) Some will judge this essai the...

  I like it, though it’s very dark; The firelight a fading arc Along the tree, whose ageing bark Shows...

  Before the Darkness  a rondeau Before the darkness brings about the night and steals the world’s colors from your...

Let none dare call it beauty that commands Feigned praise from those whom fashion deems refined But deep revulsion from...

Today the Wind for Elizabeth Today the wind through winter’s unclad bones Drowns in its woeful howl my soul’s discant;...

Who Needs QU? It’s time to retire Q-U. K-W’s logical choice. What’s Q do that K cannot do? And U’s...

  Of unknown age, the great oak tree, initialed with past loves’ decree; Now stands alone on village green, a...

Salesman of Salesmen Infectious spirit, everybody’s friend,Hypnotic and fascinating, a forceOf pushy power, broiling to transcendObjections fully, only to endorsePositions...

  “Jingle Bells, jingle all the way” I sang to her to break the spell of what appeared to be...

by Evan Mantyk As the border wall with Mexico that President Trump is building gains greater and greater attention, so...

    When I was young, I’d disassemble clocks So I could understand what made them go. With tools in...

I start to age ten minutes out of bed, More fragile now but not yet dead. My son-in-law hovers round...

  Reinigeadal, Harris So many years ago it was, a child Tramped up from East Loch Tarbert’s rocky shore Across...

Star Needles A star is just a bauble stuck on what We view as sky.  Lest it let winter in,...

. The Preface to the Poems Composed at the Orchid Pavilion ( 蘭亭集序; Lántíngjí Xu), from the 4th century AD,...

  The Music of the Earth In walking home from church one winter's eve, I paused to hear the echoes...

by Gregory Spicer “Death and taxes” bemoan us now, as ever. Yet as I bask in the fading embers of...

Thank you to everyone who participated! We have had more quality submissions this year than in any past year and...

It... It plays upon the glowing, sunset boughs, When shadows have enveloped all below, And distant, other-worldly thoughts arouse A...

The Fiancé inspired by Anthony Trollope’s "Can you forgive her?" (1864-1865) Alice, he wants your money, honey. Alice, he wants...

February  February froze the skating pond, Beauty gone, still this we won’t deny, She was thoughtful with her airy wand,...

Translation by Michael Coy The Lake Thus, ever driven onward to new shores, borne constantly away, Can we never, in...

Dedicated to far too many of my contemporaries, and they know who the hell they are. I. I am the...

  The fire waits with tiger paws on silent haunches by the hill, then mounts the rock with clinging claws,...

Common Language I hear the music of the artist's brush Bruise with color the canvas' white, Feel the composers' fingers...

Transhumanism Somewhere about there’s a slithering sound of man’s enmity, causing excitement and casting the seeds of calamity, claiming enlightened...

The Catholic Work Ethic I'll do as much as I am able __Before the sun has set. I doubt that...

The Afternoon of Man Fourteen or so, one autumn afternoon, my homework done and supper hours away, I scuffed along...

  This evening of your festive day I pray _Oh Agnes, little model of the pure, _Oh girl with smiling...

Moscow Zoo We saw the mass grave at the Moscow Zoo. A sullen man dug up a human skull Then...

. Sonnet II: Liu Xitong Liu Xitong (pronounced Leo She-tong) recently spoke on Capitol Hill about the persecution he faced...

after the style of Petrarch The aching of your leave clings sadly, still And pangs of emptiness I lone endure...

  These twain ephem’ral lives were fraught with woes When they, a boy and girl in morn of life, Defied...

On Ralph Vaughan Williams’ The Lark Ascending, a romance for violin and orchestra inspired by George Meredith’s poem of the...

Author's Note: This Sonnet, formatted as both prose and poetry, is written as a parody of James Joyce; specifically, his...

A Poet's Prayer My words are lying, cold and still; reproaching me, their silence shrill. With emptiness, my heart they...

(1976-1978) In Soviet Georgia, I feel linguistic shock. At first assuming residents speak Russian, I say Nyet, not Ara, igniting...

To Old Friends Around the bonfire, we were brothers who sang Of joys that are gone, and the flame turned...