Culture

. Cherry Blossom Viewing Like someone else, in unaccustomed dress, I choose that silken smoothness graze my skin __As fragile branches effloresce, Revealing vernal consciousness within Of transient white or pink I can caress With fingers titillating opaline Just opened buds exploding as they tease __My sight. They tremble; I...

. We stick to what we know, what we can touch, Hold in our hands; unable to foretell What lies ahead, denying Time with such Abandonment, pretending we are well Aware of the truth, we close our eyes To reason, snapping pictures of the here And now, though, all the...

. Ballade of Prayer to Our Lady (in the voice of the poet’s mother) by François Villon (1431-1463), from French by Joseph S. Salemi Lady of Heaven, who holds earthly sway And reigns as Empress of the hellish deep, Receive me, one poor Christian, as I pray That I may...

. Rededication The sullen days of winter Remain a galling splinter Within my thickened skin, So let the games begin! Though I’m inclined to focus Upon the blooming crocus, The loom of April fills My mind with daffodils. With every spring, an Easter, But will it bring me feast or...

. Life Under the CCP for Amy Yin and her UK family Loud thumps were more than company; __front door as thin as any. Mum walked across the noise to see __each thump enlarge to many. Then clumps of feet clacked on our floors __with yaps demanding logins To access...

. If He came now, God’s only Son, To save a world that’s come undone Would we continue to defy His truth, to stoke the ruthless lie That claims His name is not the One? His Word torments the twisted tongue With light that blazes like the sun; Would we...

. “The strife is o’er, the battle won”—18th c. Hymn As hapless hope and hopelessness collide The mid-day sun looms black above the cross; A dies irae bearing bitter loss Where life and death each breathed their last, and died. With undried, grief-wept tears creation cried As God’s pure gold...

. Easter! by Rosario Previti (1882-1967), from Italian by Joseph S. Salemi Why your bitter torment on the cross, Martyr of Golgotha, if the world on which You poured your blood in agony remains Savage and fierce, and man still steeped in sin? The hand that healed the leprous and...

. Praise Him for the lightning in the gale,For balmy winds, for crystals in the snow.Wonder at the gaudy peacock’s tail,Observe how huge the elephant can grow! The turtledove, the maculate giraffe,The leopard’s feral stealth, the eagle’s wing,The neighing of the horse, the dolphin’s laugh;The joy in God which once...

. Sonnet 181 Jesus had suffered more than we can tell, But when released, His soul at once aspired To save the just, whom their long wait had tired. See Him descend to Limbo’s dreary hell In search of those who early served Him well And, ages since, His coming...

. I’ve had a nightmare! Let that just man go! You’re right that he’s done nothing wrong. They’re wrong To want him dead. No, nothing you could write Above his head could possibly undo Your guilt. He’s innocent, however long You try to wash your hands of him. That rite...

. Behold the Queen of Heaven weeping, seeping __Tears that rend her heart and ours. As one __Who mourns she grasps and clasps the seeming-sleeping, __Pierced, and bloodless body of her son. A body void of God’s expired breath; __A pietà of human flesh and bone __Where heaving, grieving love...

. She burns to bear his burden (take the weight) But he is far beyond her guiding reach. Beyond her soothing arms, he meets his fate. Her heavy heart has nothing left to teach… For these are not his first steps; they’re his last. His skin (once kissed and dressed...

. The Lovely World Behold the frozen, flaxen fields at morn– The tall grass shining on the hills of clay Which sunlit wisps of winter frost adorn In dazzling white, as for a bridal day. An air of holy wantonness imbues The outspread earth which, quiet as a nun, Displays...

. Sue was the star of Central High. In girls’ athletics she excelled. Her competition would just sigh. The best of it she ably quelled. Track, swimming, wrestling, volleyball— No other girl could match her skill. Twenty-five trophies lined her wall And she looked forward to more still. Alas, her...

. A Box of Chocolates is like Life: (That Mrs. Gump she got it right.) You  never know just what you’ll get, so take a chance: Jump in; don’t fret! Life’s Bittersweet---both dark and light--- but with some luck, most bites you’ll like. It helps to read the Contents Card, as some...

. Ode to Hidden Splendor I heard your rolling croon beyond my vision Blooming in the balm of winter’s breeze--- A thrilling spill of crystalline precision Amid the Spanish moss draped on the trees. My heart took flight with each falsetto note, Then fluttered at the height of your refrains--- The dazzle and pizzazz of soaring song Rising from your silken-feathered throat. Your air, beyond compare on coastal plains, Resounded with a twang so sweet and strong. Yet when I looked...

. The candlelight was dim and spare And Claire was there, lost in prayer And slightly swaying to and fro (She dances for Him, this I know) And I do swear that she did glow--- Whence comes this light? He does bestow. . . Joe Tessitore is a retired New...

. The Parting of the Sea Salvation in the parting of the Sea, Its churning waves pierced by a knife of cloud And split in two allowing us to flee Egyptian swords! As one astonished crowd We ran with haste into the wondrous scene! A liquid canyon carved from waterfall...

. “And when I see the blood, I will pass over you.” ---Exodus 12:13 As you have commanded, the blood to The lintel and the doorposts of my heart Has been applied. Because I’ve done this, through Your power, sin and death are kept apart From life. I am protected,...

. The fire roars and spits within the square Blazing angry red. The rabble looks With savage joy; their whooping lards the air. Such glee to see the burning of the books! One man stands apart from the hot flame, His eyes averted, grimly cloaked in shade. Aldous Senex is...

. Don’t you love the Oxford Dictionary?  When I first read it, I thought it was a really really long poem about everything. —David Bowie A dictionary is an indispensable Companion on the journey through the many words Forgot or never learned.  It’s reprehensible How soon they fly away, like...

. A kangaroo visiting from Australia beholds the kangaroo court attempting to impeach President Trump for the second time and, taking the current kangaroo judge’s momentary absence as an opportunity, dresses up as judge and addresses the court. Folk took my name in vain When they joined in the refrain...

. Grain If the future were a famine And tomorrow were a blight, Would we close our eyes today in Light of Future’s tragic sight? If the future were a famine And eternity, disease, Would we leave our fields and flocks to Wither, living lives of ease? If the future...

inspired by the late John Whitworth’s “The Examiners”  Through the burst of youth and giggles in the balm of budding spring, __You are there. Through the seal of something sacred where two souls conjoin to sing, __You are there. Through the cries of pain and sighs of mirth the awe of birth will bring To hands that pave a future for their newborn everything. Through grins and frowns and tears that brim and sting, sting, sting--- __You are there. ...

. A touch of wit is worth its writ in gold. We miss you, John, for being ever bold. You spoke your mind or, rather, wrote it down with learning lightly worn, and played the clown. Your loyal readers understand this truth: Such seriousness requiring a sleuth to figure out...

. “That must have been some cup of coffee!” ---Charles Ellik The coffee spins and I am not the same. The time in which I move is muddy, turns around my breath, and steams. As sunlight came here perfectly, some perfect still returns and carries new reflections of my eyes...

. The night before, old furniture And scrap wood set afire Smoke out the winter’s wickedness— An equinoctial pyre Of habits, sins, misfortunes dark, Succeeded by quick work To level boards and flaunt a feast Of charity superb. A work of art, the table stands (Its carpentry concealed); The baker’s...

. The Second Roman Empire Those were the days, when Julius Caesar Saw a country and would seize her, And the busty Roman matrons Ran the house and bossed the patrons. Christians, at the least suggestion, Gave the lions indigestion; Later, Emperors used perversion Like tennis, as a light diversion,...

. Every one of us makes “To-Do” lists to help us on the way So we won’t forget the many things we plan to do each day. Every country has a “To-Do” list as well, and China, too, Here’s a partial list of things that China’s leaders plan to do....

. This Brave American, Ashli Babbitt “It is the dead, not the living, who make the longest demands.” —Sophocles, “Antigone” by Usa W Celebride The Democrats stole the election—Ashli Babbitt knew; so she went to the Capitol to share her point of view. There she was murdered by a member...

. Lenin It’s late. He walks the lonely corridor in this part of the Kremlin with his cat hammocked in his arm. He stops before the door of every commissariat that’s still aglow and enters into each, although he knows the commissars have gone. Frugality is something he must teach:...

. “Wherever books are burned, human beings are destined to be burned too.” ---Heinrich Heine  There is diction to spurn and there’s fiction to burn ____If the subject is apt to offend Connoisseurs with a nose for the whiff of foul prose--- ____The rank stench only oafs will defend. There’s...

. A little argument and then they hurt; These liberals are so coy and sensitive. They think they know all forms of decent art, And claim consensus gives prerogative. Their poetry requires subjective style That craves an “I,” a “me,” a “my” or “mine.” Their views constrained to left side...

. Borealis Where Ursa Minor spins about its tail The cold-chill, sabled void of arctic nights Bestirs to life as unseen hands unveil The shifting silence of the Northern Lights. Chameleonesque, the colored curtains curl In chromic revelry as frozen thunder Twists the rainbowed polar sky a-twirl With melting flames...

. Lives There the Man after “Breathes There a Man with Soul so Dead” by Sir Walter Scott* by Roy E. Peterson Lives there the man who won’t defendHis hearth and home from whom intendTo quench his fire and steal his goods,And leave him starving in the woods. Who won’t...

. Jelly Guts Rule The book, we’ve been apprised, is most uncool— Young Marco and the farmer by the pool, Wits locked in friendly if serious duel, And Marco sends the farmer off to school. One Dr. Seuss, its author, we’ll allow, Here glorified in clever rhyme (and how!) Imaginative...

. Oh hail the master puppeteer, Controller of the strings. The altruistic engineer, Sagaciousness he brings. With breathtaking dexterity, He moves us all about. From rich and famed celebrity, To every down-and-out. When he feels the time is right He drives our limbs to action. Manipulating day and night Gives...

. Around the rearview mirror of my car There hangs a gonfalon of love divine. My talisman, my bright and guiding star, From which both fortitude and healing shine. What is this mighty banner hanging down? Not cross nor tassel, but the soft damask That forms the flag by which...

. Advice from Dante “If you hear nostrums* in the market cried, Behave like men, and not like witless sheep.” ---Dante, Paradiso, Canto V Behave like men, and not like witless sheep. The CDC has shown no evidence That covering one’s face with cloth will keep The people near us...