Culture

  Just Do It. _My spirit’s wings shall soar _Although at times I stray. When I’m downcast… when life’s storms blast… _I gaze upward and pray. _Fed up with sin and war… _Outside, inside my mind. I do not know where I should go. _What task have You assigned?  ...

Diocletian’s Horse “Save it for your horse.” ---Oedipus Tex, P.D.Q. Bach (Peter Schickele) While Diocletian owned the home Octavian built (although he ruled from Asia Minor, don’t be fooled, He was the emperor of Rome), ambition and a lack of sense brought some in Egypt to rebel against his title....

  Sensation Amidst the flaming of the flying saucer’s landing gear, like as the Sunshine glazing it, in gold-white-yellow sheer, the meadow edge is filled with crabgrass seedheads by the trail, the bright, cement-gray road is lit by brilliant blazing rays. The shadow of the alien is ten-foot long, and...

  Sonnet of the Hardened Heart Care less, I warn myself; bother no more With inner crevices: prying the shell Like scabs (rough, oozing, sore), which crust, but tell Of tumults against the psychic seabed floor; It is in vain. Swollen and hard around The meat (like newborn skin, or...

  On Time I went to bed too late last night And woke up to an awful fright But now it’s done, what can I say? Tomorrow turned into today They say time flies, you never know About the days, where do they go? A penny in your pocket, say...

  Big Pharma Big Pharma companies pay fees that get spent on the salaries of scientists who regulate each new drug, so the long-term fate of every drug executive depends on an affirmative from people at the FDA, the very people that they pay. Big Pharma touts the benefit of...

  The Golden Soldier ---for my grandfather He had a calming charm. He always spoke Of garden-basking instances of joy--- His apple yield; his acorn-laden oak Abuzz with busy squirrels, keen and coy. Each dusk he sipped a whisky in his chair, Eyes drinking in the shimmer of his wife....

  A War Poem of Sorts ---to Robert Thomas Waldock, who died in 1983 The graveyard’s last but one dug hole was filled by Robert Thomas Waldock who had fought in Flanders, where so many men were killed, and where the twentieth century was wrought. His picture’s in a treasured...

  Old Bottles ---Oneida County, Wisconsin From time to time, when stirring in the muck below our lakeside dock, we dredge them up: old bottles, curio shaped, clear, green, or blue. We gurgle out a muddy milk of sludge and wash each bottle clean, while wondering how old it is...

. Europe Arranges Its Own Autopsy ---with apologies to T.S. Eliot . I. The Trojan Horse When April came it showered France with acid. The U.K. too and Sweden, Spain and all The countries of the West---so smug, yet placid. They chose this. Not to fight. Not to stand tall....

  Listening to Incense A spiral from ignited aloe rises, Translucent, swayed with compound camphor salve Through azure air that gently opalizes The things we see and think we know or have. Soft cloudlets drift from dimness overhead, Obscuring colors as they wreathe the room Where scroll-arm chairs are darkly...

  Machine Learning All algorithms, hypothetical Or otherwise, all organised behaviours Evoke responses antithetical— And thus the desperate ever doubt their saviours. Our tone is too obsequious, you say— Far too agreeable, arousing nought But timorous contempt. Yet you obey Civility’s demands, as you were taught— For your humility commands...

  Melampus: The Listener   Canto I---The Gift of Listening 1. The Birth of the Listener The strong winds over Pylos were whirling and whispering low, while a babe in his cradle was ringed by the blustery night. Two green serpents coiled near to the boy in the pale silver...

  Words of Wisdom One bit of wisdom that life has conferred Is when to give somebody else the last word.     In Sight But Out of Mind Believing I’d use it someday, I put something in a good place, And ever since that’s where it lay, Three decades...

  On Swatting a Fly The fly I hunted down is on a pane, a window pane, where yesterday a swat with rolled up, A-4 notebook left him slain upon the glass, a splattered, lifeless blot. I try to work, but how my eye is drawn towards that ruined body...

  Alas! “Alas!” A word of grief and rueful mourning; A gut-punch from what was but is no more Or “almost was,” miscarried, died aborning. “Alas!” A raven croaking, “Nevermore.” “Alas!” Shall time deface, erase, surrender The still-warm memory of love’s last kiss? A gasping grasp at fading spectral splendor;...

  The Lorelei by Heinrich Heine (1797-1856) translated from German by Bruce Phenix I don’t know what it can mean, such sadness do I find in a tale from ancient times which never leaves my mind. The air is cool, it grows dark; the Rhine flows quietly down; the hill,...

  Sign Wars Each autumn brings the Sign Wars once again. MUSSELLA versus TAYLOR for the crown of Village Mayor. All the Councilmen will pick a side while whispers spread through town. The current, lifelong Clerk will lead a charge against the young brash Super with a mouth agrestic. He’s...

  Lead, Kindly Light ---in the voice of John Henry Newman (1801–1890) Firmly I stand by virtue of belief, Belief in God who wills we act and speak, And aids our feebleness to sanctify What is of earth, of humble worth unique. As one to One, in love to Him...

Pumpkin Palooza Spooky, Kooky, Mostly Ghosty. Pumpkins round Cover ground. Corn stalks propped. Traffic stopped. Costumes galore: Short dinosaurs! Spiders! Black cats! Witches’ cone hats! Ghosts and goblins whirl. Dancers leap and twirl. Black witches ride on brooms. Who’s hidden in that tomb? Tiny ghosts are wrapped in sheets. All...

  Fervid Fall Fantasy Dismal dread night shadows creeping, Darkened curtains barely keeping Misty moonlight beams from seeping Through my study, down the hall. Ghostly demons float unending. Messages to me are sending Echoes from the past resounding--- _Bouncing off my wall. Bouncing, sounding, mind confounding, _All around rebounding--- On...

  Uncle Stanislaw I still can hear the sound of acorns popping Beneath the wheels of father’s horse-drawn cart As we drove through the woods—four hooves a-clopping— Where Uncle Stan, his brother, plied his art. His smokehouse was a wreck of salvaged timbers, His living room a den of salted...

  Vera Crux Vera Crux is Latin for “True Cross,” and is the source of the name of the Mexican city Veracruz, which was founded by the conquistador Hernán Cortés on Good Friday in 1519. Veracruz became one of the richest cities in colonial Mexico because of its substantial export...

  On Single-Parent Migrants Canadians by the millions, as most everybody knows, slowly migrate southward every winter, back and forth, Keen to nest in milder climes from fall to early spring when sources for their sustenance, because of snows up north, Fade to where they all but starve, and predators...

. Revising Strauss It’s 1941 and Goebbels broods.It may take years for Germany to winIts Aryan war of European conquest.As Minister of Propaganda heMust keep up spirits all throughout the Reich.And what are Germans better at than music?Good, wholesome music---Wagner, Schubert, Bach.And those enchanting melodies by Strauss!Such polkas, overtures, Die...

  Galahad_2000 Donning his abs and armor, broadsword at his side, _He cleaved his way through orc-infested lands Quest after quest, a valiant paladin astride _The beanbag, gamepad clamped in clammy hands. Outside the sunlit April leaves awakened, dyeing _The blinds with emerald—as if to chide him. Each day he...

  Ten Rules for Living the Good Life You must make peace with your own past. _Construct a mental suture With timeless thread and mercy’s needle, _Then focus on your future. What other people think of you _You never will control. If truly bad, then prove them wrong _For peace...

  Samson’s Final Revenge ---after Judges 16:23-30 Now when Philistine lords amass with zest In festive adulation of their god— “Praise Dagan! Samson cowers in arrest!”— They bring him out and jovially applaud. “Our god, Dagan, has now interned our foe Who ravished our dear land and killed our spawn!”...

  When the Old Guys Get Together When the old guys gather and swap stories, From their strangely growing inventories, Thrilled to be reliving claimed past glories, There’s no doubt of what will be in store. Each guy was more skilled and wittier, Victories achieved were grittier, Many of the...

  Garden of Gethsemane Come join me in the garden now, _I need your company. I’ve never been so frightened, friends, _please don’t abandon me. Tomorrow they’ll profess my guilt, _they’ll paint my blasphemy. Leaving Pilate just one choice: _to hang me by decree. They’ll hand me to an angry...

  Cause of Death _Because I chanced to be around _The day when poor Melissa drowned, They asked me to identify the body. _A trifle over five-foot-four, _With graphic body art galore, There was no doubt that she had been a hottie. _They mentioned in the news reports _That she...

  Song of Conquest The craftsman takes from tree and rock To shape in uniform dimension, Hoarding all in one large stock So might he plan for their ascension; This goes here, and fitting there A brick and board do so conspire, In single compliment they dare To raise from...

  Revisiting Antietam How odd imagining war’s artistic tint, where tactics clashing let men’s captive blood. Just look—the paradox of bodies rent, yet jaunty at this portrait streaked with mud! It’s strange to visit battlefields with joy that motions me as sunshine permeates when poised-to-tussle soldiers were just boys awestruck...

. Profoundly Original Everyone is born as an original, but may die as a photocopy. –Carlo Acutis (1991–2006), first millennial saint, canonized 7 September 2025 This teen proficient at computer gaming Spent utmost technologic talent framing “Eucharistic Miracles of the World,” Brave signal flags of his own site unfurled, Displaying...

. Sancho Panza’s Choice Well-met, Señor. And blessings on your inn.You are the landlord here, is that not true?Please sit with me and drink. I’ll pay for two.Your least expensive, though. My purse is thin.I serve my master gratis. Yes, that’s right---The white-haired viejo now in sleep’s embrace.Don’t say “Señor...

  The Mead of Poetry In the Norse myth, the god Odin becomes an eagle after stealing and swallowing magic mead, made by cunning dwarves of honey and the blood of the wise Kvasir. The mead grants poetic powers to those deigned to drink it from Odin's lips. Spit upon...

  Theseus in the Labyrinth ---from "The Slaying of the Minotaur" As Theseus crossed the threshold, Minos told his men to shut the door. The heavy clang caused all to think the brave lad would be seen no more; But there, inside the darkness, clever Theseus’ plans were taking shape,...

  Three Short Poems by Heinrich Heine translated from German by Josh Olson   1 I laugh at every doltish jackanapes Whose drooling, goat-like visage leers at me; I laugh at every fox who sneeringly Approaches, sniffs me up and down, and gapes; I laugh at all the bloated, learned...

  Persona Assume a work identity, conform And hide behind an urban harlequin, Conceal the tattoo beneath a uniform, Desert yourself and cloak the genuine. The Greeks devised a rich formality, Dramatic masks of frozen mirth and gloom. A shaman’s rites in anonymity Demand an alien spiritual costume. Conceive of...

. Nice Things Done Most of the nice things some people will do,Are done partly for their own benefit too.But even if their motivation’s the latter,When nice things are done, do the reasons much matter? . . A Sense of Belonging With social motivationOne need forever strongIs fighting isolationTo feel...