Culture

. Druthers I’ve never warmed to the absurd idea That I should lean toward being what I ain’t. I’m more inclined to move to North Korea Than hanker to become a martyred saint. I want to live an unencumbered life And have some say in making my own rules; I’ll...

. Ovechkin Beats Gretzky He’s the greatest at one task, it’s putting biscuits into baskets. He scores goals from awkward angles after making dekes, and dangles. He’s a hockey fan amazer, wearing blades sharp as a razor, that ensure he skates with style on past each stationary pylon. After picking...

. Cantarella Wine Rome. 1501. Lucrezia Borgia hosts Bishop Giovanni Cavalieri of the Republic of Siena. He is visiting Rome as the leader of a faction of priests intent on pressing the Church to address allegations of materialism and clerical inchastity. Cavalieri’s positions are threatening to Pope Alexander VI---Lucrezia’s father...

. Strange Blindness: A Play in Two Acts . Prologue Joseph and Jesus knew that perfect timing---and not plain, unforeshadowed proclamation---would show the deepest truth about life’s drama.Its plot twists often need a drawn-out commafor characters who need some preparationbefore they can perceive the play’s full meaning. . Act I...

. Hannah Duston She looms there, immortalized, in bronze gone blue, a puritan woman with crude hatchet cocked. Her stare is as cold as the New England dew, the blood of her captors still slick on her frock. Kidnapped and beaten, through the snow she was led, the head of...

. Spring Bloomers ---a triolet A lick of spring has kissed the air Whispering of skimpy knickers--- It’s time to toss thick underwear. A lick of spring has kissed the air. I’ll hurl my hat, let down my hair As chill will thaws and fever flickers. A lick of spring...

. The Tale of the Moon’s Reign ---an elegy Above the skies where reigns the moon _So bright in hours of gloom Lived those whose hearts no longer feel _Nor suffer and yearn to heal. We mortals hailed this sacred realm, _Where bliss must overwhelm. Their princess once found herself...

. Porphyro and Madeline: The Epilogue By Byron "Let us away, my love, with happy speed; There are no ears to hear, or eyes to see..." —John Keats, “The Eve of St. Agnes” _A long, hard gallop brought them to the coast; _They bribed a captain bound for northern Crete...

. Sit in Silence ---a pantoum It's pure stupidity to sit in silence. It's only idiotic to be idle. Unconscientious deeds should be derided. Decisive daily action's very vital. It's only idiotic to be idle. There's nothing worse than watching death's arrival. Decisive daily action's very vital. The opposite's a...

. Challenge: Take a well-known figure from history or literature and insert him or her into a modern-day situation. Choose any form. Choose any mood. I hope you enjoy my example below. I hope you have as much fun creating your poem as I had composing mine. ---Susan Jarvis Bryant...

. A Ceiling Fan's Life (Is Like a Man's) On wintry days, it rarely spins Except when mopped floors need to dry. Its mission, once December's in, Is just to idly hang on high And watch us squabble, cackle, cry In earthy dramas' peace and strife. This is the childhood...

. The Wedding Dress The dress, first cleaned and vacuum-packed, _Was safely stored back then, Remaining perfectly intact _And never seen again. . . The Prestigious Publication’s Poetry The words seem arbitrarily selected, And randomly presented on the page. With any meaning in them undetected, And I’m as smart as...

. Spot the Fool! ---for April Fools’ Day, 2025 . I.  Today’s the day to fox and fool. Today’s the day to flick some fuel On laughter with a cuckoo joke, A wicked lark, a wacko poke So sick Old Nick will think it cool. Today’s the day to warp...

. Worth the Wait? At last! The long-awaited, much belated Recreated digital creations Of ten thousands JFK-related CIA et alia citations. Allegations of assassinations, Congos, Argentinas, (Panamas?) Delete Allende and Lumumba, intimations; Fraudulent elections, coup d’etats. Forgotten, hidden names revealed at last; Subversions now spread out for all to see....

. Ink A lot of people nowadays adorn The spotless skin they had when they were born. While many think it’s smart to gild a lily, Dissenters deem this practice downright silly. As beauty’s in the vision of the gazer, Mistakes can be corrected with a laser. Now, when it...

. The Polish Martyrs Forever faithful to his flock, Good Father Rapacz would not flee. Steadfast he heard the soldiers knock. Devout, the priest was made to bleed. “For God I’ll suffer every loss, For I shall not renounce the Cross.” The Soviets with foul intent Did eye the nuns...

. Burning the Pieta Thoughts After Viewing Public Cremations at the Pashupatinath Temple Complex in Kathmandu, Nepal ---for Alok With tears wash fallen feet which once had stood To face a fated life with wonder and desire. Inhale the smoke and ash of flesh and wood; Breathe in the acrid...

. Dim & Blinding Lights The lights that shine from streets and cities block out all the stars at night. The dim lights of our partial science block out everything that's wise. These lights don't triumph by their brightness, but through sheer proximity. We don't prefer them for their beauty,...

. Blood Moon Eclipse (14 March 2025) The Moon’s blood red this morning as it floats within Earth’s shadow, bathing it in light refracted round our atmosphere, which coats the lunar dust in rust—a wonderous sight! Meantime, on climate change we chew the cud, the Middle East and Europe are...

. What the Wind May Do The wind’s come out to exercise today. It tests itself: how long can it exhale? With steady breath it makes the trees obey: they bend while waiting for the rush to fail. It tires of that pursuit; the steady pace becomes a series of...

. Learning Curves In classrooms smeared with monkey poop__Where questions meet deceit,She heard she came from soupy gloop---__A slab of soulless meat.Her teachers preached from thrones of bones---__They dragged brains to the brinkOf simian survival zones__That missed a vital link. Professors of the hammer tore__The wings from seraphim.They tethered lore...

. Boomerang In the chronicles of hist’ry There we see a vast array Of malicious, scheming tricksters Who themselves became the prey, Thus, confirming what the Psalmist In his wisdom once had said Of the violence of the wicked Boomeranging on his head. Haman tried his best to ruin Mordecai...

. The Unknown God ---Paul’s Address at the Areopagus (Acts 17:22-31) My dear Athenians, this I surveilled While passing by: you’re quite religious men! I scanned what you are worshiping, and then I stopped before an altar that regaled A god herewith: “This to an unknown god.” As to this...

. How Many Homes? ---January 2025 Los Angeles wildfires Twelve thousand lost, from stricken memories more Schools, churches, meeting places, shops and homes Of residents and others moved away, Bereaved of yesterday disastrously. The concrete evidence that life was lived In cool or agonizing passageways Lies toxic waste in space...

. Another Old Myth The Ancient One warned Noah's doom was near. Since men possessed with greed kept spilling blood, That cataclysmic rain would soon appear. So Noah built an ark before the flood. No matter now that temperatures still rise Or icy rivers melt, leave basins bare; That forest...

. Vernal Equinox Germans call this season “frühling.” Spaniards name it “primavera.” Welshmen say the term is “gwanwyn.” Shetland trawlers go with “voar,” so Let’s resolve this with a rüling: It is “springtime” in this era. Let the Anglophonic man win. Some speak Spanish — English more so. __Till that...

. My Backyard  . The Campfire Elisha loves to build a fire; His dog is near, she loves to watch For birds that she will try to catch. They each pursue their own desire--- One by her leaps, one with a match. . The Dog House The dog house over...

. I Failed I failed so dramatically most early days I failed horribly in most critical ways I failed to use schooling at each different age I failed in the waste of my talents each stage I failed with some friendships in whole or in part I failed big time...

. Reflections on a Visit to Saint Augustine With each step up the old Castillo wall I pray The hurricane will detour east past Grand Bahama. If windborne flooding comes, it can’t be held at bay--- St. Augustine has only minimal protection: The remnants of its wall won’t hold off...

. St. Patrick’s Day, 2025 While swathed in swirls of green, some raise a glass Of dark elixir topped with sheeny cream. Some twirl through Derry streets and Kerry grass In dreams ablaze with leprechauns that beam With larks as lilting harps spill silver tunes Of mountain thyme with shivers...

. Simple Simon Responds to Sayings of Captain Obvious English literature tends to be wordy. Many tricks are exceedingly dirty. On a bright sunny day the whole sky appears bluish. All the teachers that pray in Old Hebrew are Jewish. The weather is always mercurial. Some questions are strictly rhetorical....

. A Summer Evening The sky begins to cloak its face, Removing every streak of red. Above, two weary flyers trace The way back to their bough-held bed. A boy, awash with joy, returns Soil-vested from a football field. To celebrate the victory earned, He swaggers with his pride revealed....

. Mussolini's Minions ---Segesta, 2012 Entranced, we wander round the temple site.The hot Sicilian sun beats down. I’m frayed,now seek the parking lot's uncertain shade.My brother John’s nearby, though not in sight.I spot a limestone post, eye-level height.What are these bas-reliefs, chipped and decayed?Focusing on the figures, I’m dismayed.Bound rods,...

. Cherry Tree One summer day not long ago a man planted a tree, With tender love and patience he invested energy. He poured his hope and faith into the little budding leaves, For by this time next year he thought that apples he would eat. But then the year...

. The Core of War a pantoum The trickster charms and arms both sides--- He funds the ally and the foe. His hype unites and it divides. He’s oh so anti… also pro. He funds the ally and the foe. His crimson riches rocket in. He’s oh so anti… also...

. Of Elizabeth Bishop Ms. Bishop is one able–eyed observer;her vision is acute, that’s plain to see.Staring at her, I doubt I could unnerve her,though from the page she sometimes unnerves me.The variations she can ring on linesthat reach their end in (word, not fact!) “disaster,”wherein her art so eminently...

. An Ode to a Hymn “Like aught that for its grace may be Dear, and yet dearer for its mystery” ---Percy Shelley in “Hymn to Intellectual Beauty” Cathedral with its prayer sings homily _About an ancient mystery, _What is this ancient mystery! Oh God, are you in truth my...

. Nishijin Weaving In the tranquil heartThere is no scattering ofBlossoms once gathered. ―Satomura Jōha, master of linked verse The shining fabrics of nobilityDemand the planning of a pattern first.The weaver trusts to instinct in design,And looks ahead to twenty tedious tasks,Each specialized. There is humilityIn knowing all and delegating...

. Craft ---a conversation between Beauty and Productivity "You don't have time for this, you know." "Says who?" "That daily checklist down there in your tool bar, that's who says!" "Calm down. You need to cool your jets and let me think." "Think? That's what you call this? You look...

. A Token of Espousal Sister Elisabetta Dardinelli Speaks Concerning the Token of Espousalof Saint Catherine de’ Ricci (1522-1590) Dixit mihi Dominus meus: Ne timeas, filia: Non rapiet tequisquam de manu mea. My Lord said to me: Be not afraid, daughter; no one willtake you from My hand.  —Carmelite Breviary...