Culture

. March 21st, Saints Cranmer and Bach Archbishop Thomas Cranmer,  burned at the stake March 21, 1556 . Johann Sebastian...

. St. Perpetua Eyewitnesses of the atrocity Report that on that Carthage afternoon, Already scourged and gored repeatedly By savage...

. Words Matter . I. Out of Context Cheats cherry-pick the words that suit their ploy To shame the names...

. To the Passenger Pigeon As once, upon the Great Plains, thundering herds of buffalo, innumerable, held sway, a genocide...

. St. Patrick's Day 2024  for an Ireland suffering terribly under the weight of forced migration Where is the one...

. Watching It hardly matters what I’d read (Another plangent exposé Of something solid in the world That bit by...

. Infernos on the Pages of Literary Journals That one barbaric yawp might just have been All right, but then...

. Native Americans Were Swindled Out of Manhattan in 1634 Knowing Eyes—an aging elder, born in Black Bear County Famed...

. His Stories Were His Legacy Ivan, The Barber, 1882-1963 . Covered in a heavy blanket, __he sat and watched...

. Monica's Consolation for Margaret Coats, who introduced me to St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430) and his mother, St. Monica...

. For Paavo Nurmi who trained against his stop-watch and in medias rez we begin as the runners approach the...

. Samson, Tribe of Dan "Dan is a serpent in the path. He bites the horse's heel and causes the...

. Story Time The father, he sits on the couch with a book, A child in each arm, and one...

. Hatching A gelid mass of wings that seethed and surged— A squeamish sight that caught me by surprise— A...

. Philanthropaths & Puppets Philanthropath: a psychopath masquerading as a philanthropist. ---the Urban Dictionary . I. So Rose the Puppeteer...

. Fed Suffering The True Story of Dai Mingrong . Not merely stale today, her bowl of rice Now tastes...

. Do Your Jobs Live up to the Constitution That contains a plain solution. Guard us from invading mobs. Come...

. Insomnia, My Sometime Muse She comes to me while I’m asleep,Not with strange imaginings of dreamsBut with fragmented thoughts....

. Jane Doe These trembling hands are not the first to jostle away unholy grabs from praying hands; you crossed...

. The Crimson Creed We know the primal aggregate, Self-molded at the start of time, Before the Big Bang uppercut...

. The Marble Angel The marble angel stood upon a tomb Erect and at attention, wings outspread, His blank eyes...

. . Shoveling Out the Blizzard Snow came so thick, the roof makes pops and creaks; downspouts froze solid as...

. Anthony Comstock: An Extended Dactylic Higgledy, piggledy, Anthony Comstock, the Toughest enforcer of morals to date, Couldn’t stand looking...

. The Taxman Cometh Get out your Number Two and calculate Your taxable income; what, if anything, You owe. The...

. Peacemakers Islam is sometimes referred to as the Religion of Peace Go on, won’t you bless the peacemakers— The...

. Captain Francisco Menendez Born a Mandinga, on Africa’s west coast, Where farm and hunting toil supported most, But tribal...

. . Peaches, Plums, and the Sistine Chapel . . I. Pondering Prufrock   a pantoum  . The women come and...

. Authenticity Some skies stark and vivid, But others milky white. Sometimes lovely azure skies, Or pale with fading light....

. . Maura H. Harrison is a writer, photographer, and fiber artist from Fredericksburg, VA. She is currently an MFA candidate...

. You Can't Control Everything You can't control the wind that blows, The destiny of others' souls, Time and tides...

. Ipse Dixit I say Cogito ergo sum To the animal here in the room. So how do I know...

. Last Visit to the Beach a sestina The beach, untouched by Time throughout the years As millions of waves...

. Quilting the News Lots of people still don’t know __that what’s portrayed as “news” is often pieced together to...

. . February 14, 2024 A heart of burning love, an ashen cross Converge today: the marriage of two kinds...

. Ash Wednesday Valentines by Charles d’Orléans (1394-1465), translated by Margaret Coats . I. Who’s there? Who comes so early,...

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

. The Southern Cross The caravels escaped at last The roiling tides of Bojador And entered tropic seas far past...

. . Nocturnal Litany I “From all malevolence the night employs….” ---James Agee, “Epithalamium” . From all malevolence the night...

. Love Sonnet The glint of summer’s evening leaves a glow upon her cheek, so soft and plain and fair—...

. The Austrian Non Placet Comes in Time (Recess at the papal conclave in Rome, August 1903. One cardinal speaks...