Blank Verse

  The Family Archive With moldy hand through tender shards I graze In boxes, old and dusty, some collapsed, And...

  Soul of a Prophet: A Trialog “But the house of Israel will not listen to you…” ---Ezekiel 3.7. “Well,...

  Allegrezza In the harbor, the masts tilt left and right like metronomes conducting waltzes made of wind and wave,...

  The Reveal of the Rocks The August days of summer weighed in full Upon us, green and heavy with...

  Omaha Beach The ramp went down, and the brute din of war Was like a furnace. Some collective will...

  250 More My country, sweetest home I’ve come to know, Your wings have sheltered me, a foreigner. I came...

  The Sowers by Gabriele D’Annunzio (1863-1938) translated from Italian by Joseph S. Salemi Strong lads drive the docile oxen...

  On An Old Photograph It was late fall of 1944. Dad was back from Italy, on leave, When no...

On the Ruins of the Ancient City Cumae by Jacopo Sannazaro (1458–1530), translated from Latin by Margaret Coats Here the...

  King Cyrus Issues an Edict “Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia: ‘All the kingdoms of the earth hath the...

  Sister Goddess and the Chimera “In Greek myth, a chimera is a creepy combination of lion, goat, dragon---in humans,...

  A Hospital Drawing She sketched the world upon a sheet of white— A hospital with corridors of beds. Two...

  The Vault _The turning sky enwraps the world. Each day, entreating eyes wide-open to This circling vault shall earn...

  Refrigerator Bird “Say the word for penguin.” Jen Jen waited. Silence. Then I guessed: “Refrigerator bird?” Laughter shook the...

  Glog Gets Participation Prize Our tale’s set in a prehistoric cave Carved in a cliff above a vast expanse...

  Old Bottles ---Oneida County, Wisconsin From time to time, when stirring in the muck below our lakeside dock, we...

. Rare Books ---Magdalen College, Oxford, November 1993 From London, westward ho, and slantwise north, I journey into Oxfordshire and...

. Surviving the Cultural Revolution Why should this tourist want to take my picture? I’m just a woman who is...

. Five Dappled Things A weave of twigs upon the ground; five eggs, cream white, flecked with gray. An ark...

. Living Dead The riffled rush of water mingles withThe wind among the Ponderosa pinesAs damp chill of late summer...

. An Unfortunate Encounter ---27 March 2025 A ragamuffin mob surrounded mewhilst on an errand, walking in the street.They pressed...

. Two Lyrics by Philodemus of Gadara translated from Greek by Joseph S. Salemi . V.124 Summertime has not yet...

. A Token of Espousal Sister Elisabetta Dardinelli Speaks Concerning the Token of Espousalof Saint Catherine de’ Ricci (1522-1590) Dixit...

. Americans in Florence Ooo David! Whoa, you’re well-hung! But why a foreskin, underslung? Your left hand, do you hold...

. Skellig Michael a remote island off the Irish coast A whispered, whistled wind resounds the echo Of the circling...

. Aphrodisiac I. It was past midnight when we met and spoke One rainswept winter Friday. The wet street Stood...

. Kristallnacht---The Night of Broken Glass I tell my son he must not make a sound. I whisper, “Karl, this...

. The Worst of Our Convictions When, finally, the last church shuts its doors; when we run out of new...

. The Harmonies of Holst While doing errands, driving roundabout, I listen to the classic music station. An orchestra plays...

. Rising with the Sap You would not call them blocks, those obscure streets Where people live. Their driftings trace...

. I Am the Stone I am the stone The humble stone the barefoot shepherd boy Selected from the muddy...

. Saint Sebastianus Sebastianus, soldier, pinioned, bleeding, Stands at his lonely and forgotten post Unperceived—no, even unsuspected— By the diseased...

. Kintsugi  There is an ancient practice in Japan--- Chipped and broken vessels, dear to hearts, Are mended with a striking golden blend. These...

. Evra Our grandma Evra was a trifle difficult. If ever sound advice was needed she’d be there, But quiet,...

. La Campana Ring, grandfather! And ring for liberty. The bell spoke once and, speaking, croaked and cracked. Our gazes...

. Le Bal Des Ardents for Joe Salemi On 28th January 1393 in Paris, Queen Isabeau of Bavaria, wife of...

. Green I’m talking green: the greening ground Of spring and springing hope eternal; The spectrum’s hidden light unbound And...

. The House on 58th Street for my father Salvatore J. Salemi (1913-2008) The house on 58th Street stood right...

. Contract Murder No one is ever quite sure how it’s planned— What’s clear is that a grievance is expressed...

. Some Satirical Epigrams in hendecasyllabics (essentially trochaic pentameter with a dactyl for the second foot) . Complaint to a...