. The Argument: The Poet, with Dante and Virgil, has arrived on the third step of the StairWell, or Purgatory....

. 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 stand upon the Bridge of Sighs as teardrops fill my weary eyes and think of life that used...

. Farmer, Unpack the dormant forces quiet days Have put aside and stoke the smothered fire Whose soot fanned out...

. inspired by this video from communist China: https://youtu.be/b4DmTPtAEbg . All their flipping has flopped, So their stance has flip-flopped...

. Three by Heraclitus I Offend yourself with mirrored knowledge (where’s that face you wore at college?) and your sense...

. A hundred tongues of smoke--- Translucent wisps, lithe specters--- __Rise, snaking languidly, Curling, grasping like tendrils At the light...

. an excerpt When battle rages hot, the charge will sound. An army must not let itself break ranks, Although...

. Silence is not golden. I’ll differ with you here. __Silence is an awful trap Lined with sharpest fear. Silence...

. in response to Traditionis custodes (“Guardians of the tradition”)---the new motu proprio issued by Pope Francis on July 16,...

. When softly my sustaining comfort stirs Herself to offer solace coveted, Advancing toward the left side of my bed...

. Rondeau The rondeau echoes its refrain in a subtle way, just as rain at times will fall, not in...

. Winners announced here. Write a haiku and post it in the comments section below. The haiku must adhere to...

. You’re glad you’ve nabbed The Covid jab That’s newly fabbed In some large lab Created by The jaundiced eye,...

. Guilty, Guilty, Guilty! That most sagacious Mr. K*Told listeners: “Back in the day—‘The Enlightenment,’ they call it; haw,No way!...

. A widespread distemper in modern life is the insistent need that many people feel to justify themselves and their...

. 23 July 2021 Don't send money.  No food to buy. One scanty meal at work or nothing. Outside the...

. Rain Song by Klaus Groth (1819-1899) Pour, O rain, pour down to earth, Give my childhood dreams rebirth, When...

. Da Vinci’s lauded “Savior of the World”— Commissioned by the King- Louis of France, * Entombed for years by...

. ⬙ Judged by Cynthia Erlandson See all entrants here. ⬙ . FIRST PLACE WINNER ($100) . A Slight Deviation...

. While Waiting Through the Night This morning, searching on the laptop, I Found notes I made upon the night...

. Lucky It stormed around our house last night, The lightning turned the black sky bright. Tornadoes came to join...

. A Little Respect an appeal to activist athletes at the Olympic games You have the right to speak of...

. O Happy Glass Another soul inside a glass deep red— I think on Provenance, effect and cause: Do you...

. The Lion Who Thought She Was a Zebra a fable East Africa is where this lion’s tale Takes place---a...

. They lie in serried ranks above the strand. These mighty, whirling monsters made of steel. Where once, a couple...

. . They're Here They are the Saintly Source of Good;  __The Keepers of The Truth.  They’re seeking you. You...

. Kilkenny Castle A moat runs dry revealing secrets buried those conquerors and conquered knights had known. The past, a...

. Making All Things Orderly Stare at grey clapboards in unbroken rows That seem to follow the unceasing sound Of...

. in reference to an Epoch Times' exposé We’re in the loop, we’re up the sleeve, we’re near the Party’s...

. Heliotrope Phaeton, son of the god Helios, attempted to drive his father’s celestial chariot. His inexperience caused him to...

. With How Sad Steps from a Philip Sidney sonnet With how sad steps, O Moon, you climb the skies!...

. Nest Egg The things for which I hoped have come and gone: The power to express a cogent thought;...

. —like his saddle, hat, and spurs No silver on this cowboy’s working saddle; borne bedrolls, stray calves, and dry...

by Adam Sedia Contemporary poetry is plagued by several characteristic vices: obscurity, banality, nihilism---each a topic for examination in its...

. Each view deemed inconvenient is a fake, no matter if deep down you know it’s true. When one lot...

. Am I, am I beautiful? Surely my face qualifies: Forehead pearly bright to rise Over sweetest lips cerise. Tell...

. https://youtu.be/9VRUjxFxQ2A?list=PLfUp4UiBMcEZC4Hgnr33FpijP5W5mRNo6&t=102 “A star!” the wise man shouted, “Look, a star!” forgetting the hour and his solitude, or else too...

. O Say Can It Be? "How long you been suckin’ up oxygen, friend? For seventy years? Well now that’s...

. Brimstone I sniff a whiff of brimstone in the tone Of smooth effusions oozing from his tongue. A lick of sulfur clings like stale cologne To slickest syntax eloquently...