Culture

. The Straight-Fishing, Straight-Talking Jiang Ziya Far off in time and place but still on this small globe, By a river with his beard and stick and robe, A sage thought on a kingdom’s end that war might loot And by the river swung an unbent hook to probe. For...

. Distant Thoughts from Nearby I need to turn my dog-ears up __and harken to the quietude ____ignored for many years, __and contemplate my solitude, ____expressing through my tears Incautious songs that made me up. My oldest friends will never know __the thrall of certain moods I wear, ____the many...

. The Test The second is like it, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' —Jesus (Matthew 22:39, NASB1995) Is every trial just a self-created test? Perhaps we do not grow until we have been stressed. How do we pass the test, so that we may be blessed? Perhaps we...

. The Number 207: The Road to Nowhere Oh once along the Road to Nowhere That used to be the Uxbridge Road You’d board and pay the tuppenny bus fare And go where milk and honey flowed. For this was then a demi-Eden Where gentlefolk would take their ease. With...

. Fracture Mechanics Dams, bridges, tunnels, buildings and the like Are often structurally sound for years If not centuries, whereupon men’s fears Creep up on them abruptly in a spike In degradation followed by collapse. When asked how he went bankrupt, Hemingway Said “gradually, then suddenly” (the way, It seems,...

. The Moselle Tranquil meandering alluvion, From Vosges pink sandstone hills it percolates In rillets past rich vines in echelon To cradle villages of varied traits. Saint Castor limns a linear regime, Both slender arms extended fatherlike; The fields behind rise steeply from the stream. New homes? At either end...

. Fifth Glyph This glyph, in British talk, occurs most oft--- most common, too, writ down within our books. Twixt ‘a’ and ‘z’ it’s fifth, not sat aloft but low and unassuming in its looks. An ‘o’ ajar, in small form, with a rod slid inwards at a horizontal slant; this symbol...

. Commodore Perry Opens Japan On July 8, 1853, on the orders of President Millard Fillmore, Commodore Matthew Perry led four American ships into the harbor at Tokyo Bay, seeking to pierce Japan’s isolation from the western world and establish regular trade and discourse for the first time in over...

. Lord, Give Me Serenity Lord, give me serenity To deal with lunatics, Especially the ones Who are found in politics. Help me to stay calm, And keep me honor bound, But take them to perdition Wherever they are found. Please give me the courage To stay in self-control; Although,...

. All That’s Left Is Yours based on I Kissed Dating Goodbye by Joshua Harris The bride walked the aisle to her husband-to-be, __Who gently took hold of her hand. They started their vows, all to hear and to see, __When a woman there started to stand. She boldly but...

. Beyond the Visible Veil Gravity cannot hold those forms who float __And drift—hiding in air— Though some guard human souls; the others gloat __And sow their bait on snares. These spirit shapes wage constant war unseen. __Shadowy ones stalk near— Whether in daylight bright or moonlight sheen, __Their sly...

. Xanadu Revisited after "Kubla Khan" by Samuel Coleridge __In Washington aristocrats __ordain corruption happily: __here the Potomac River flows __past million dollar homes in rows, ____no common man you’ll see. __Declared a district not a state __where crooks decide our nation's fate in fancy restaurants where they all dine...

. How Strange We Cannot See a Reflection on Indian Boarding Schools and the Continuing Subjugation of Native Peoples God gave the land: the water, earth, and sky. And though we take it all away and try To “Kill the Indian and save the man”— While through our scheming lies...

. The Revised Guide to Selling Adult Beverages  Dismiss the woke approach to advertising--- It’s mad and bad and far from enterprising. Avoid loud, lipsticked lads in soapsud scenes In full and frothy flounce on TV screens. This rainbow-lemming, cliff-top leap to ruin Has bubbled up in Budweiser’s undoing. Ensure...

. Gnome A long-time fixture at our home Is Schnozz, our little garden gnome. This non-complaining happy chap Appears to have a handicap, And looks to me, I must confess, A poor neglected, grubby mess. His hollow body, cheaply cast, Sadly wasn’t made to last. Beaten down by wind and...

. Life and Death This life has so much left in store, We think, a day gone by isn't lost; It's made of hours that bear no cost, A hundred gone, a thousand more While each tomorrow brings its weight, A list of things to be achieved, The joys embraced and...

. An Aging Senator Returns to the Capitol Confused and more than half-way gone to Hell, They wheel her in like some decrepit couch They found beside the road. What ebon spell Or awful drug could fortify that slouch And stir those lips to slur some spoon-fed lines? Perhaps corruption...

. Creation From deep within eternity, the soundOf song burst out! As Perfect Fullness stirred,A melody in wisdom wrought, profound,Complex in form and powerful in wordReverberated… undulated… surged!Celestial sleeves rolled up; the work could start.Then the opaque, void emptiness emerged,As the Almighty Mover set apartA space where being meets with time....

. Contract Murder No one is ever quite sure how it’s planned— What’s clear is that a grievance is expressed By injured parties, who directly make Complaints to the Commission, which in turn Investigates, considers, and decides. There are some instances where no one brings Specific charges—bad blood or distrust...

. Target Gets Targeted A leftist agenda endorsed,Down customers’ throats it was forced.They now find their business is blighted,You could say that they’ve been “Bud Lighted.” . . Newspapers Newspaper costs had tripled.The boss said “read online.”To keep the peace I tried it.It didn't turn out fine. I like to check...

. When Two Elephants Fight---Sudan, 2023 The regular army and the Rapid Support Force (RSF) are at war with each other in Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, Dharfur, and other places, and civilians are paying the price. There’s a saying in Africa: ‘When two elephants fight, it’s the grass that...

. Gaslighted Our friendship limped along for thirty years. I can’t say why. The scornful views you’d share Instilled resentment, anger, even tears. Your condescending words. Your cutting glare. “Why can’t conservatives just come to grips With facts? You stooges of the Right are cruel; Your policies will bring Apocalypse....

. America America, vast land of dreams __From sea to shining sea, Where eagles soar and twilight gleams __On Lady Liberty; America, you lit the way For those who sought a brighter day __In glorious company; America, land of the free, You hold a golden history. America, home of the...

. With Liberty and Justice for All Old Glory may have stripes and stars, But on those stars and stripes are stains— Reminders of a past that’s ours— Where shame, as well as pride, remains. The sweat of slavery is there; The smoke from dim and flaring lamps; The ash...

. The Great War Ever be their memory, Those interred across the sea, Men who, fighting evil, fell, Who endured the martial Hell; Those who to their homes returned, Shot or shell-shocked, broken, burned, Shrapnel fast within the flesh, Wounds and scars forever fresh; Those who coped in stoic silence,...

. For My Grandfather While Sharpton praised low bandits for their grace, And Barack preached self-pity with pure glee, You always taught the simple truth of race. While Black Lives Matter set Pan’s chaos free, Though CRT commands us to erase The common crook’s complete complicity, The polis’s servants will...

. Red Flags a sestina sonnet The national flags of the Westerners’ lands Turn red in the dim, fading light of the sunset, Like Communist red—bloody floors in a prison. All the flags look the same when the light fades away. Distinctions of flags have all faded away; You can’t...

. True Grit My favourite movie? If I must decide, I'd pick a classic western above all, those epic films of frontier macho pride. Enter the hero, riding straight and tall. There'll be some gunplay, and a bar room brawl. The men are men, and say just what they mean,...

. The Odd, Flawed and Awed Inspired by “The Cremation of Sam McGee” by Canadian poet Robert W. Service If you hear from God, though the words sound odd, __you must not ignore that voice. That’s what Jonah did, when he went and hid, __but he found he had no...

. Remorseless Back on 19, returning from the lake, Where she had stowed sling chairs for next week’s meet, Her car broke down. She checked out what she knew, Glad to have parked securely in the grass. She wondered whether to put up the hood, Decided not to stay, but...

. On Second Thought When words fail, __perhaps it’s not the words at all, __but hobbled minds that cannot call __a lucid image to avail ____the powers of description. When love fades, __it might not be true love that’s lost, __but rather that endearments tossed __with shoptalk salad-wise evades ____all...

. Behind the Cathedral Master masons made these bastions their own by blending crafts, attaining structural awe; from Notre Dame, to Salisbury and Cologne they dazzled kings and stupefied the poor. The scale envisaged dwarfed the parish churches; kaleidoscopic windows tamed the light, while gargoyles gurned from on their lofty...

. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILvvmtpOaOg

. Cain’s Daughter I was not in the garden when the veil of beauty tore I heard no serpent beckon to me through the orchard door I weep no tears beholding the angel’s flaming sword For I never breathed the jasmine in the garden of the Lord. I did not...

. A Poetic Heretic’s Poetry Tips a villanelle inspired by Dr. Salemi's essay "Poetry As The Philosophers Stone" Don’t listen to the howl of highbrow spiel From preachy creatures out to flatten flair. Don’t let the sunbeam-zappers sap your zeal. Don’t bow to scoffing boffins. Never kneel Before a do-it-my-way doctrinaire. Don’t listen to the howl of highbrow spiel. Don’t let...

. La Corona A childhood scene recalled by Trump of his mother, Mary MacLeod Trump, in The Art of the Deal, with a parallel to English-Scottish history.   Two popes, two presidents. Two queens. Recall How Mary, Queen adored Elizabeth. “My royal cousin” she wrote with affection In her too-imitable...

. Rhymeless in Manama My UK friend said, “Rhyme is old, you need to venture free and bold.” My Turkish friend said, “Rhyme's a must, a rhymeless bard deserves no trust.” But I found out I needn't choose I better leave it to my Muse: she knows this poem needs...

. Canyon de Chelly Reflections of a Non-Native Visitor . An updraft from the red-rock canyon floor Blows through the mesa’s Piñon pine and sage As ravens, wings outstretched, in freedom soar Between the distant past and present age. At night, Coyote and the owl seek prey Beneath the Milky Way’s broad arching...

. So Much for Legitimate Women's Sports Vladimir Gonzales, a young Italian athlete, With 28 inch biceps and a 68 inch chest, Entered competitions where he knew he wouldn't find Even a tiny---you-know-what---dangling from the rest! Afraid to state the obvious, the girls---who'd turn their eyes When Vladdy'd flaunt the...

. Bach's Amazing Journey In the autumn of 1705, when Johann Sebastian Bach was 20, he set out to travel over 275 miles (each way) on foot from Arnstadt, Thuringia, in the heart of what is now Germany, to Lübeck, near the Baltic coast. He undertook this extraordinary journey in...