Culture

  Let the Music Play Beginner's line dance; step 3 times and kick. They can't keep up yet, but they're...

  Summer’s End “Summer gently fades away,” _Sadly sings the crow, “Verdant Greens and golden scenes, _Have lost their youthful...

  What No Tyrant May Command   I — An Oracular Sign In the palace of King Minos there was...

  Foam We come into this world awash in tears, Mourning our incipient separation— Too soon we age and leave...

  Again Autumnal Today, the garden plants need plucking So as to preclude the cold — And surely yesterday was...

  Life Is Conflictual Life is conflictual. The good and bad unplanned. We absorb opposites To fully understand. To feel...

The Siege on Castle Hill   from the peasants While the fabled fearsome Knight Duke guards the walls of Castle...

  Every New Pantheon I gazed upon some cauliflower clouds Where many morphing faces looked around, And barring the descent...

  The Valley _Why are there valleys? They’re really not my thing. _Mainly it’s because Of all the pain they...

  The Blobfish---‘Mr Blobby’ Pink-skinned and floppy-nosed and from the deep, with downturned mouth and frown he seems depressed –...

  After-Action Report “Bolivians do wet-work well,” Lieutenant-Colonel Shenton said. “They shot that campsite all to hell, And every single...

  The Walking Wounded The bulk of them are on their phones, of course, Their eyes amused at times, at...

  Their Words, My Fault Folks rage at me and vent, For having in my head, Instead of what they...

  Lazarus I ---for Jason Peter Smith (1963 - 2025) I closed my eyes and you were gone. I wasn’t...

  One Night in Bangkok   6:00 p.m. One night in Bangkok---and this searching man From Georgia must explore its...

  Invocation Lift up these leaden eyes that slumber still, Cocooned within undreaming restless dark. Celestial Sun, burn through the...

  Enjoy the Peace, Prepare for War “Why can’t we all just get along?” _I see most every day. And...

  What Is the Measure of My Days? —after Psalm 39:4 When I was young, I saw the old: _The...

  Polar Coordinates Take an angle labeled theta and a radius called r: They teach not only trigonometry. (I know,...

  The Martyrdom of Saint Cassian St. Cassian of Imola (Forum Cornelii) was a schoolteacher killed by his own pupils...

  Mind versus Beauty by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) translated from German by Eric v.d. Luft Now Mister Mind,...

  Aquarius A black cross in my memory, Upon a tangled silver chain, Against his skin of ivory, Glows fire-branded...

  Now? How can I keep this now as Now? Past and Future take a bow, Then crunch each Now...

  From California to Louisiana No more the mountains rising blue and gray, nor oceans crashing near to shore on...

  A Pot of Tea __A pot of tea Stirs the mind this winter morning. __A pot of tea Shared...

  Swallowtails Every year we till and sow our kitchen garden, parsnips in a six-foot line, to catch the glow...

  All Flesh Is Grass “When the ungodly are green as the grass, and when all the workers of wickedness...

  Flexibility This morning when I was pursuing Just one of my many routines, My son asked why I wasn’t...

  Sabin Howard ---who created A Soldier's Journey at the National World War I Memorial in Washington, D.C. He steps...

  Hobby Horse Not like the winged stallion of Greek fame with Olympic wings aloft from sky to sky. Here,...

  Island of Poets Settlers came from Thessaly, eastward sailing Far as Lesbos, loveliest isle regaling Grateful hearts with poetry...

  Military Quatrains, or the Modern Archilochus εἰμὶ δ’ἐγὼ θεράπων μὲν Ἐνυαλίοιο ἄνακτος, καὶ Μουσέων ἐρατὸν δῶρον ἐπιστάμενος. "I am...

  The Secret Rose Somewhere unknown there grows A multifoliate rose Whose petals are arranged In symmetries unchanged By vagaries...

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

  Who are the Villains? I hate to be a Hollywood belittler, And yet, you ever notice how The stock...

  Professional Mourner Good morning, friend. I didn’t catch your name. Ah. Tod. So you’re the new kid on the...

How the Mighty Fell! ---King David’s dirge for the previous King of Israel and his son: King Saul and Jonathan...

  The One Lone Juror ---for the very brave man who refused to acquit Lindsay Clancy of the crime of...

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

  Nelson and George ’Twas Providence granting old Nelson to George, Like how he survived at the Valley of Forge....