Beauty

Chapter I: Arrival in Beijing Inspired by real events   Sing to me, Muse, who flies through Heaven’s realms, Sing of that night when terror swept the land And peaceful practitioners of Falun Gong Were made to live in fear, their practice banned. What was it like to know tomorrow’s...

  The Mirror True When all at once I seem to see you there I find I never knew you from the first When all that I once thought you seems reversed I wonder what my mind could so ensnare. How could I so mistake your every mood Give words...

  Spring O hallow tulip, flower of the spring, I cannot wait until the sun may bring, From out the earth your amethystine grace, Your smell, your pinkish shade, your tender face. For of your musky scent does bringeth glee, So come! My lovely spring, come gladden me!   The...

In the Lotus Pose By Uwe Carl Diebes At first, he was uncomfortable in the lotus pose, but as he sat down carefully, his upper spine arose. Though startled where he found himself, he gradu'lly became relaxed, content, at peace, alert, like as a spirit flame. His inner being danced...

A Riverside Sonnet Under a tree and upon roots I sit, Drinking a forlorn draught of love’s sweet rhyme. Leaves fall and birds fly to distract my wit, For I’ve seen her not in so long a time! Days beyond counting are measured in years, Stretched out by feelings so...

. . Tahoe Plane On the above photo by M. Kirson Far above the lake I soared, Above the dock, above the shore, Above the rock, above the pine, Mid snowy cloud and engine whine. Below, the cafe - orange duck - Amid the forest, doe and buck, Composed in...

Born at Constantinople in 1762 of a French father and Greek mother, André Chénier grew up in pre-revolutionary France and studied at Paris. Well-read, and enamored with ancient Greece, he is considered one of the last classicists in verse, and for his sentiment, a precursor to the romantics. He was executed...

A gray mid-March day: the bare branches lean across the blank sky. All colors moved indoors where my daughter and I play with her toys laid out on the rug: rattles, dolls, and trucks, nesting plastic bowls, a flock of yellow ducks. Shakily she stands, her tongue darting like a...

Storyteller We sit around the fire. The storyteller drones, until his words expire in silence like the stones. Primeval darkness frames the flower-yellow flames enlightening our faces. Like breeze-blown blossoms, we shift mutely in our places within the ring while he, as yellow flowers fail, resumes again his tale, which...

  The Clockwork Butterfly When I was a child, and my dreams were of gold I always believed everything I was told, My faith was implicit, my innocence pure And magic existed, of that I was sure. My old uncle Arthur was always in bed His twinkling eyes sunken into...

By Dusty Grein and Evan Mantyk “The Raven” by Edgar Allan Poe remains one of the English language’s most popular and influential poems since it was written in 1845. Much of this was Poe’s own doing, as he performed it quite frequently, and wrote many essays and commentaries on it...

The Rock Climbers By Cal Wes Ubideer I saw them climbing up the gray-white, rocky mountain hills, like any mountain goats, where over all the sunlight spills, so beautiful, so free, o, nature's booty draped in green, and up above a little pool of water, splashing, seen. What were they...

August 13, 2012 I dreamt last night of singing with Li Po. (Or is he now sleeping, dreaming of me?) How much we drank… The world all vertigo… He brought his ch’in.  It was life’s apogee. Yet thinking back, if he dreamt me before I went to sleep, what would...

Sonnet II The spark which lights my innermost desire,     whose flame burns fierce in Spirit and in vein, your blinding glory makes my heart aspire     to grasp the highest good one can attain. Of all the worthy joys that I could gain     from all the ecstasies of earth’s delights, I’d...

. Dunblane Cathedral On the massacre of sixteen children and their teacher at the Dunblane Primary School near Stirling, Scotland, March 13, 1996 LOVE’s light lost the bleak night breathes a black breeze of loss. The dread dawn dons dusk’s vale. “Is death dead?” the bells Ask across the mourning...

. . Metaphysical Mortar Between the cobalt and the blueGlean gestalt and sum of trueAll and each be more than sixWall and reach be more than bricks .   Photo by A Sclamberg & H Hall . . Tahoe Navy, cobalt, slate of blue,Bright and white and cold of hue,Bold...

  A Fifteen-Year-Old's Response to Frost "This 'pome' don't make NO sense! What junk!" the scowling students muttered. "Two roads in the woods!" one hissed. "Such bunk"-- opinions rudely uttered. I quelled the urge to hurl my book. I said, "Can't you surmise what they might mean? Let's take a...

Transient I lingered along the sandy runway Hearing the winds blowing about; A tender voice from far, faraway, “Hurry, or we’ll be late,” calls out. I cannot tear myself from it all. “Wait,” I say, “Let me be a while For the seagulls call, the waves call And the call...

Horses Tell me what power hits the ground, heard a mile away, ear to mound? Earth’s tympanic membrane resounds; like kettle drums, the hoof beat pounds! Or what, when they run together, frightens every flight from feather? Deer run sideways and leave their young; minnows from shallow creeks are flung....

Apes or Angels Humans, some say, aren’t much more than an ape— A reasoning beast, quintessence of dust. Others believe we’re of angelic shape. Hungry for morsels, we scrabble and scrape, Leaving the tree to indulge termite lust. Humans, some say, aren’t much more than an ape. Yet not all...

  In China now are shadows forged from fire, a DNA pre-history. They cloud troubled villages, rice fields, goldfish ponds. Stones form, creating outlines with moving corners of such mild movements of peace. Finest threads link, form love that birth-screams, sucks air from smoke. This China has two hues, crimson...

  The journey back to your own true self Is not paved by comfort and untold wealth, But by finding the universe’s Great Law, Looking inside, and clearing what you saw!   Eddie Aitken is a director and trustee of Zhen Shan Ren Arts (UK), a UK registered charity showing the...

The Great The great are often shunned by their own age, While even the noble dead are sometimes mocked, And eras are damned when none who sees is shocked By scads of scorn spat on a sacred page. Today the sneering cynic’s deemed a sage. The door to love and...

Choice Now to change; rise to rearrange; fix buckled tracks; iron out the cracked strange. Time to take off the human make- up, look within and see beyond the fake: catch and count seeds in the air; mount heaven’s stairs; stay aware; stay calm; pipe fount- ains from seas; drop...

Riverside Sun rays glisten Reflect the river I stand and listen Can’t help but shiver Restless fish swim Graceful, majestic Watching sunlight dim Thoughts are monolithic Nature’s beauty endless Never ceases to amaze I stand still, breathless Caught up in a daze   Persecution of the Wiser I believe in...

  Valentine The name of Spring is ever fresh and fair;     Her sound is ever gentle, ever true; The Spring is like the songbird of the air     Who sweetly choruses the good, the new. And we, my dear, have often seen the Spring     Arrive with promise, blossom, fade and go...

Xerxes My power does lie In hue of the sky In the refined folds of God’s estate My throne I have carved Of sapphire hard And I crowned it with God’s ark of Jade My hosts of legions Number in millions Like a cloak o’er the land are they spread...

So many lasers stroked the night, the sky simply purred and burst apart. We held our breaths, but not from fright - the fireworks had launched their start. like mad housewives and activists, the missiles screamed their courses out. And yet we were amazed and pleased when globe-sized dandelions shout...

  We left the Port of Joy so long ago, And ebbed so much the while and knew no flow, But still another strait we headed to. Whatever we did, wherever we steered All things led to one place, to that placed veered, As if forever condemned to be there....

Sedona (A Rhupunt) Deep shadows fade Red rock cascade To purpled jade— Sun sparks ignite. Stone sentries stare Sightless through air At treadless stair Spanning the height. No mortals dare Enter the lair Or linger where Spirit meets sprite. This shrine of stone And bleached white bone Hides secrets shown...

The Gathering Upon the 400th anniversary of the founding of the town of Virginia in Ireland Oh town of the Virgin Queen I hear you call me back To your ancient Way of Woods following Vikings track Your castle is long gone But your market house still stands Four hundred...

Night vision: a process Of the unconscious mind That the poet uses In order to find An acceptable first line Still divested of meaning Wanting only to sing These words forward leaning More words stimulating Which then will define Whether the poet’s craft To make right choices By listening carefully...

Spread twig fingers. Shed your leaves. Those that linger: They may grieve When comes the winter But, come spring New buds splinter, New blooms bring That grow and swell Concentric bands That breathe and dwell Upon this land. Plumb the darkness. Glory light. Show us far less Than you might....

On the Perception of Human Beauty Can there be a myriad of flaws so bold As to boast their cracked imperfections? Could it out do our high expectations? Is there an art form so wrinkled and old From the stress of keeping a tight hold On the skirts of cultures...

. . Blue and Gold Michigan, Michigan: Kings to go forth, Kerothen, Kerothen, songs to the North, Ice scattered pond with a trout flipping high, Geist of beau monde, with a shout to the sky. Out from the frozen of winter and wrought, Stout from the chosen, and rendered and...

When Fairies Stop Hiding It's at the end of the day, but it's not over just yet- It's time for young fairies, to grow wings and get wet. Sneaking out to the sky, while the sun descends down- Creating color for rainbows-before the rains hit ground. Dusk is their favorite...

Hints from the Moon (Monday) Beginning with zero, hints from the moon Going through phases, ripe in the womb; Time out of nothing, pared in the night, Planet of sorrow tilting to light; Retrograde motion, surf pushed & pulled, Full moon to crescent, new moon to full… Lifting & lowering...

Forested deep purity Dusted with a winter's glow; Crystalline perpetuity Takes its place in nature's show. Fresh sunlight plays with diamonds soft That glisten as they sing In silent awe that drifts aloft A peaceful offering. Great ice sheets yield to spring's sweet kiss And snow gives way to rain;...

Laments of the Oppressed My great country, please let me be, What I think and say should be up to me, The world cannot be so controlled, You don't have to block every single road. It isn't something bad we seek, To have good virtues when life is complete, Abandon...

This poem was inspired by Shen Yun Performing Arts.   Bleak and somber is the flavor du jour; Modernism pervades all spheres of art; Artists lacking virtue make it a bore, People wait for a refreshing restart. A booming strike! The gong that evil fears, Pulses race, while excitement fills...