Culture

. Introduction This long lyric of short lines has pairs of stanzas linked in rhyme. It is a sequence honoring Gilbert of Sempringham (1083–1189, canonized 1202), founder of the Catholic Church’s only religious order to originate in England. The Gilbertine order included women and men observing strict separation while striving...

. The Song of the Woman Who Bled Mark 5:25-34 When you have no more money you can spend, Then men will tell you, “You cannot be cured.” Though Jesus makes it better in the end, First tribulation has to be endured. The disappointment, when you’ve been assured That medicine...

. . Massacre of the Innocents Matt. 2:18, 10:28, 18:10; Psalm 116:15; 2 Mac. 7:29 Why are the fish and fruit stands closed today— Too many soldiers, stationed all around. My God, they’re pulling out their swords! I hear A shriek from Rachel’s mouth, and thud upon The ground. I...

. The Idealist Who Became an Ideologue a rondeau redoublé To heal the world he treasured this ideal: Unite the many into one great whole. He preached the view that truth is what you feel, Convinced he played a messianic role. He’d speak of virtue. Then he would extol World...

. Writers of the Purple Sage What happened to the music? The writers of the West? The legends of the cowboys? The songs I loved the best? The outlaws and the posse? Please tell me where they went? The ones who shared their stories of their will and testament. I...

. Wood a pantoum It’s only furniture. But that’s both truth and lie. To find Mom’s treasured things a loving new address is near impossible, no matter what I try. Her home’s impending sale exacerbates the stress of finding treasured things a loving new address. The size and weight of...

. Labyrinthine Bag My wife, bless her heart, went and bought me a bag with tons of compartments, and pouches, and pockets. But searching for stuff is a chore and a drag it takes me forever to locate my dockets. I don't mean to whine, and I do hate to...

. Abortion Notes Please bury babies ripped to parts, Especially their tiny hearts. They’re slain in hiding from our sight. And even scheduled in the night. We never hear the babies’ cries. We cannot see them with our eyes. We do not hear when hauled away In backs of trucks....

. In Eve’s Footsteps based on “Genesis 2: Teaching its Truth to Women” by Kimberly Hartke “And the Lord God said: It is not good for man to be alone: let us make him a help like unto himself. ... And the Lord God built the rib which he took...

. Out of Purgatory There I went blind. I could no longer speak, but as I died, I murmured Mary’s name, And there I fell and left my empty flesh.   Now hear the truth. Tell it to living men: God’s angel took me up, and Hell’s fiend cried: ‘O...

. A Draft of Death Did Flavius not inform us How a fart fetched fates enormous? After Flavius Josephus’s account of a Jewish Passover (ca 50 AD), when Ventidius Cumanus was procurator of Judea. While in Jerusalem a throng of Jews, __Each present as a Paschal guest Two decades after...

. The Battle of Athelstaneford King Angus clapperclawed NorthumbriansIn combat close enough to hammer faces;His Pictish troops enacted brutal plansTo break the bones of foes with metal macesAnd throttle dumbstruck throats with hempen laces.The savage screams of naked Picts rammed fearThrough adversaries, leaving gutless traces;Their kinglet fell, pierced by a...

. The Sum of All Fears “Oppressive government is fiercer than a tiger.” ---Confucius Psst. Be careful what you post online.The slightest threat, even made in jest,And alphabet men will don the armored vest.Your life’s a dossier to data-mine. Your guilt’s a given, and they don’t have to proveIt. Modus operandi—strike at...

. On Being “Chopped” On TV, watching the show “Chopped,” I see Three losing chefs go home each episode; And one who celebrates a victory For a dessert they called, “Shrimp a la Mode.” Imagine being a top-notch chef gourmet And hear your Crab Creole described as “bland.” Beneath Ted...

. The Golden Calf a rondeau The golden calf draws shouts of awe From wanton men who bray and caw. The fevered crowd ignites a fire Then cheers as flame on flame grows higher And fuels the lusts of groin and jaw. Some dress to kill, some words are raw;...

. Under Which Altar Eros, at last, has left the field. The flowers on the bushes yield __to coming winter. See Lyssa, Mania, Ares, Furor, older gods (and often purer), __who now reenter. Together with Hermes and Apollo, they serve the eldritch gods who follow. __They chant the names of...

. Meditation on the Myth of Sisyphus Like Sisyphus, whose fate it is to bear A boulder on his back, and up the mound, Only to watch it roll towards the ground, As if it mocks his strain to climb the stair; So I, long burdened by the weight of...

. . Freedom high school algebra class; May 12, 1993 . A breeze blows in; it wisps my hair, And flutters papers in the air; It carries, with the scent of rose, A dream---and takes one as it goes. . Upon its wings the gentle breeze Transports sweet memories with...

. Losing Battles It seems when we declare a war, we rarely win them anymore. So, though much money will be spent by our corrupted government, the thing on which war’s been declared is very likely to be spared. A recent war was Poverty. A worthy target certainly. With trillion...

. The Tale of Wanton Ange . The Number 53: Unholy Thoughts Wanton Ange makes her appearance That’s Ange there on the 53 at Plumstead; She’s thinking once again about the vicar. “’E’s even older than yer dad!” Siobhan said; That didn’t stop her heart from beating quicker. She’s wondering...

. But What of Us? They have it all,The richest men on earth.No calculator can compute their worth.Yet doomed to fall.And it’s no secret why.For rich men, just like you and me, will die. Their wealth immense.With vast, tax-free amountsSecured in stocks and offshore bank accounts.It makes no sense,For them to...

. Younger Selves I have you leaning up against my side, Our boys and girls around us on the couch. Below the window, watching from outside, Our younger selves, age twelve, crawl up and crouch. The boy and girl each took a time machine, The dial set to travel here...

. Earthquake in Morocco---8 September, 2023 My flight to Casablanca landed late, and through an ill-chanced vagary of Fate I found myself---soon Mauritania bound--- Inside a gangway, meters off the ground, Queuing, hot and sweaty, as our plane Stood ready to accept a weighty gain. At first my bones and...

. Not Forgetting 9.11 in 2023 New York, the City that I've only seen In flashes, glimpses, footage, faraway, New York I've read about, you filter in To every cranny of America. We are your suburbs, everywhere we go. If it happens at all, it happens here. What's done to...

. . Wings of Desire: Canto I of Paradise by Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) translated by Stephen Binns . God’s glory, which moves all, sends beams to bless __each thing in space, reflected just as bright __as that thing’s worth is deemed, here more, there less. Now to that Heaven that...

. Perchance to Dream __The sky is wide, __The sea is deep, And when we’ve woken into sleep __A place to hide __Cannot be found, For probing eyes are all around. __The day is bright __And notes are sharp When chubby cherubs play the harp. __Much like the night, __The...

. Nine: A Song for a Granddaughter for a girl, M___, raised in my household, though not a blood relative 1 She is the girl who cheers my heart: “Come, Jeff. Let’s play!” she voices smart And innocent as we depart. We go outside beneath the azure skies--- She advocates...

. . A Curveball of Blackbirds “Thousands of blackbirds fell out of the sky….” —The New York Times    . Five thousand blackbirds from the sky. ____I don’t know why. Neither do they, the EPA, State U…. . Nearby and far, nobody has a clue. ____No way, no why. Not...

. Pilgrimage The strong will long to go on pilgrimage, Assembling to reclaim their heritage Of sanctity and stable permanence Embezzled by debased belligerence, For life is war, as Job so aptly said; We battle even when we are misled, But gaining ground in stout strategic march We take unrivaled...

. Hymn to the Night Every thinking creature adores the light __Where twinkling stones and stars and flowers stun Senseless matter into a sense of sight __And all behold the splendors of the sun. First masterpiece of the created world, __God fashioned you but not like Adam’s wife, ____Spun from...

. Fallen The Universe was perfect, Heaven and Earth, Upon Almighty God’s Creation’s birth! He made the spirit-beings, Angels, free; And later, Man with physicality. Most-favored Lucifer the Fair grew proud, Ungrateful for the gifts he’d been endowed, Called for an armed rebellion; one-third followed And rose against the Master,...

. Tough Love and Hugs “Where the heck do they learn this crap?” one father asked another. __When we were kids---we never talked like that. “Almost every kid I knew at least went out for sports… __No wonder half the kids today are fat!” Every boy that could would mow...

. The Pietà or Mickey Mouse? A book I’ve read depicts a boy Who’s searching for creative joy. His mind can’t focus on a vision, So he’s weighed down by indecision: To carve the rock behind his house— The Pietà or Mickey Mouse? To chip away each chunk of rock...

. A Deeper Scaly Screed "'Rich Men North of Richmond' is a passionate screed against the state of the country sung by Oliver Anthony, who identifies as a farmer living off the grid with his three dogs in Farmville, Virginia." ---Joseph Hudak, “Right-Wing Influencers Just Found Their Favorite New Country...

. Modern Times . I. The Cutting-Edge Misogynist He slams the bland and damned old-fashioned type--- Those tiresome dinosaurs born with a womb--- The sexless species of the XX stripe--- The sort he states must bow and give more room To fakes who ache to take the world by storm--- Those...

. Henry IV, Part I In Henry IV Part 1 the king’s possessed By fears that Harry Hotspur wants him dead. While Henry’s son Prince Harry is obsessed With drinking with his friends at the Boar’s Head. The Hotspur Percys form a coalition That stirs the country into civil war....

. Overheard in a Mexico City Cantina A downpour started. The cantina beckoned. I sat and heard two men debating change; How Mexico’s divisions should be reckoned. These words are what I heard in that exchange: “You radicals are dull. You bear this chip Of weighty social anger on your...

. . Poetics the Ginger Cat —Ποιητική: ‘poi-EIGH-tee-keigh’ By a caged fire I read. Around me walls of ancient lore, of poetry and war….           Prometheus bound, flames behind glass doors:  . I pause, plying the sage, musing upon a well worn Mediterranean page. Poetics now plays...

. Something Higher the brown scapular of Elijah Departures and arrivals. Passengers. The life of one old man describes an arc: A sudden collapse from sitting. Messengers, Come lift my weight, grown lighter than a lark, The height we rise to not the length I fell But something higher. Seated...

. A Discussion on Long Poems by Julian Woodruff  In her second comment to the thread trailing my recent poem “The Heavy Launch of the Siegfried Idyll” (July 29), Margaret Coats suggested I “begin a conversation on LONG POEMS,” since, while responding to Joseph Salemi’s marvelous “Jeweler’s Deposition” (July 23),...