Culture

  To write of love, or speak of other things Like life or death, or such philosophy As might stir up an eager mind, which brings It to a bold, enriched reality: Oh, perfect, lovely forms! With such delight The poet and the reader can obtain A revelation of new...

…anulbaṇáṃ vayata jóguvām ápaḥ. Weave ye the singers’ work without a knot. —Rigveda 10.53.6 Those pale cream swaths of handmade linen, brought From Sicily around 1905 Lay in our rag drawer over sixty years. We kept them for whatever simple needs Arose from time to time in household tasks: A...

  Ethics Lesson 101 by Caud Sewer Bile Kenosha, Portland, Oakland. Minneapolis, New York: Don’t blame their Democratic mayors; they don’t have a cork. Chicago and Seattle, Albuquerque, Denver too: Don’t blame their Democratic mayors for their points of view. Don’t blame Antifa for the riots, nor blame BLM. Don’t...

In the first World War, taking and holding the high ground was everything. The battle of Messines Ridge, in Belgium, took place June 7-17 1917. It took 81 years until the Irish Peace Park was unveiled there to acknowledge the sacrifice of combatants from the whole island of Ireland during...

  Stealth Warfare in the voice of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Admire. Our virus circulates. __Our muddy money’s hand washed. Our fingers whisk jobs from your plates. __Our clenched fists keep you kiboshed. Our narratives are globalised, __our brief affairs beguiling. Old Sun Tzu’s art is systemised, __we always...

The Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as the Moon Festival and corresponding to the Harvest Moon in the West, falls this year on October 1.    Lanterns in the Autumn Dark Mid-Autumn's guests head homeward, in the night, Beneath the sphere that mirrors daytime's glow. In silver hues of air, distinct...

  Postponement I disappoint some folks of whom I’m fond, But I, in turn, am irritated by The nebulous assurance that beyond This life, in mansions somewhere in the sky, I’ll have another chance to tell them why I found myself unable to respond To constant pleas. A rain gauge...

Our Worthy Sons dedicated to Samuel Our worthy sons should never be ashamed Of who they are and who they’re meant to be. For far too long men’s gender has been blamed In wars that weaponize identity. To hell with toxic masculinity--- That noxious term indelibly ingrained In minds so...

  Odyssey of Theodicy It is a strange fact, clearly biblical— In this case God’s will is most puzzling: At times, He moves mountains with miracles, But may not remove the cup of suffering. A daughter wrecks her car—climbs out unscathed; A son, stroke-struck, breathes out—and then is dead. Our...

  The winds of time will cease to blow, The shining moon will cease to glow, As history comes to an end; Eternity waits 'round the bend. The books and minds of all mankind Will over time, be left behind. What we find important today Will soon not matter anyway....

On Troublemakers: Two Translations* from the Latin Poet Phaedrus, Freedman of Augustus (first century A.D.) Translator’s Prologue These little tales from ancient Rome Concern those who would foment strife. See how the first from her scheme gains But how the second forfeits life.   The Eagle, the Cat, and the...

  A Lesson Learned from Trump “We are all equal in the presence of death.” ---Publilius Syrus (100 BC) Today I learned a lesson from the one Whose acid tongue has beaten down the best; A man whose biting slights can’t be outdone Laid every cutting quip and barb to...

Supreme Farewell As every king and peasant must, A justice stands before the Just. We bid farewell to Sister Ruth, Who trembles now before the Truth.     Joe Tessitore is a retired New York City resident and poet.

  “In the Midst of Life We are in Death.” --Book of Common Prayer, The Burial of the Dead In sure and certain hope, we toss The soil in, and bless the dead. The final sentences; that pause Of awkward length, when all our breath, Suspended, makes a short-lived sheath...

. . At the Supper Table of a Progressive They understood riots and death and what's more, "Adore them all really," and down to the core, So dropping my napkin to grant them the same, I upset their table and rose with my frame, A fine crystal pitcher of water...

  Feeding Time Chickens feed on chicken feed. Birds on birdseed, yes-indeed! Cattle feed on cattle feed, Twitters feed on Twitter feed. People feed on many things, Avocados, onion rings, Water drawn from soda springs, Brussel sprouts and chicken wings. Gen-X, Buster, Baby Boomer, Feed on gossip, news, and rumor....

  There’s no age bar on titivating hair, Apart from putting rouge on wrinkled cheek. A Speaker has the right to looking fair, And prune her brunette hair once in a week. Pandemics come and go, but beauty stays. At eighty, beauty makes a second wave When handsome youngsters leer...

  The Church is Locked on Easter Day a rondeau The Church is locked on Easter Day Despite the stone being rolled away. The Christ awakes to greet the poor But they cannot get through the door To go to holy Mass and pray. Lay folk are told, at home...

  Lucrative On the Laundering of Drug Money As commodities go, you are harmless enough Whether tendered in coin or in crinkly stuff. But without you it seems that the world will not turn Men consort with the devil your favour to earn. They will cheat and deceive, yes, and...

Weave a circle round him thrice, __And close your eyes with holy dread, __For he on honey-dew hath fed, And drunk the milk of Paradise. —Coleridge, “Kubla Khan” Sam Coleridge smoked opium. Ho hum. If that’s what fueled the fire in his pupils I think Sam would have been a...

  When Logos lived within the heart of man, Then beauty bloomed and flowered forth at will--- And every house was built upon a plan; Order’s essence, captured and distilled. Then Lucifer, in all his hate and pride On gazing at the beauty of the saints--- To numb the pain...

  July 4, 2020 A monument falls Rioters have no remorse What happened this fourth?     Summer 2020 Sunny days are here! The beach is ideal and near. It’s Fall already?     Day Dreaming A warm summer day That should be spent at the bay. Not at work...

  London’s Docklands, Pre-Gentrification from a sonnet by Wordsworth Earth has not anything to show more foul Unless it be the same neath fog and rain; But no, for like Rasputin’s reechy mane This horror craves occulting in a cowl: Abandoned buildings, cheek by scabrous jowl, Eyes boarded shut or...

  Losing It He staggered round his living room in stunning disbelief As for the very umpteenth time, he’d gone and lost his teeth. He cried, “They’re in here somewhere, I must search and search” but then He couldn’t find his spectacles so he had to think again. He sat...

  They tried and failed. They’re trying still To steal our freedom; break our will--- The terrorists who torment days With ire and fire and Hades’ blaze. Our bones burn with their evil chill. Their deeds are scribed with Satan’s quill--- Twin Towers Felled! They aimed to kill The Western...

  Misdirection Some dictionaries and encyclopedias still define “fascism” as a far-right system of rule. They need to look again. The Party of self-righteousness, Imbued with far-left chatter. Deeds implemented and condoned, Rungs on the fascist ladder.     Speech Liberty, Guaranteed, Everywhere. Beware of those Who do not care....

For Nantes Cathedral Ravaged by Arson in July 2020, a Tribute  This holy place, where the enthusiasm of builders was succeeded by doubt following catastrophe, then hope expressed in restoration, is it not the symbol of the Church of Christ, and of our own history? – 2015 cathedral brochure Saint...

. Poet's Note: The Venerable Bede tells us that in the 7th century Caedmon, “having lived in a secular habit till he was well advanced in years, had never learned anything of versifying.” Leaving a celebration because he feared having to sing, he spent the night in a stable where...

  No Longer There I wonder if a change has come about. No longer do I feel that she is there As physical a being in her chair To me as I to her. My words ring out And they receive no answer but they flout The silence of the...

In Response to an Article on the Persecution of Falun Gong Practitioners in China I read the other day about the pain That you endure in some nightmarish place, Removed from sight, where sadists made insane By hatred press a jackboot in your face. Dear neighbor, whose sad face I...

  Before the plague I never knew my hands. The need to purify the human touch has turned my vision inward, but though much is taken; much remains---in human hands, the same, yet not the same. The bleak demands, that we remain impersonal, in such a time, to save the...

  I am a cardboard cutout. I sit here in the stands. I do not think. I do not blink. I do not clap my hands. You are a cardboard cutout. You sit there next to me. You do not cheer. You have no fear Of unreality. We are the...

  'I Shall A Mighty Hunter Be!' “I shall a mighty hunter be, The King of Kills, by God’s decree! Savannahs always guarantee a vantage camouflaging me. I’ll lie in wait with sharpened claws … until her keys unlock our doors! My human’s finished many chores, including patronizing stores for...

  We Siblings Three Attempt to add the hours we have shared: One hundred thousand, maybe thousands more? Our paths conjoined for several years before We struck out on our own and even dared Imagine we would chase our dreams beyond The borders of our joyful, sheltered lives. But now...

  I made her a bed with cushions and throws but she refused and slept in my bones. My skin, too tight for both my sighs and hers so she filled it with rot, making it home. ---Al-Mutanabbi, d. 965 CE She loves me till my body fades away. Kissing-with-fever...

  The Angels’ Share Oh many a peer of England brews Livelier liquor than the Muse, And malt does more than Milton can To justify God’s ways to man. — A.E. Housman When whisky’s aged in oaken casks, some ullage Should be expected, for it’s only fair That higher beings...

rhymes written after reading Simon Barnes’ blog post "Barn Owl in the Snow" Across the marsh, white passing over white, The silent hunter flies then loses height Descending to a favoured perch to stand And view with icy gaze an icy land. Stray snowflakes catch my fancy, frivolous But never...

adapted from Babrius, first century A.D., and Jean de La Fontaine, 1621-1695 __At least twelve thousand years (though likely more) Between the wolves and sheep had raged a war, Until the lupine clan convinced the ewes and rams They’d cease their onslaughts on the helpless lambs. The only stipulation to...

  Editing with the OED for Rita Bornstein __Like a mental abattoir, the OED, With brumous exactitude, looms over me As my blue pen prunes my cachaemic prose, Decorticating glut in orderly rows. Excessive eikonology, they say, May work for those who love facetiae And frilly essays built of guipure...

  Abracadabra The written word is magical And not just something clerical. You scratch some marks into the sand; I see the marks and understand What you are thinking in your head Without a single word being said. Like channeling or ESP The thought goes straight from you to me....