Culture

  New York poet Joe Tessitore challenges poets to begin a poem with these words:   My country used to...

I Loved You... I loved you, and I probably still do, and for a while, the feeling may remain, But...

FIRST PLACE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F96xN0VV7JU The Virus and the Cure by Rob Crisell One hundred years of tyranny, One hundred years of...

all poems by Bruce Dale Wise   The Pilot by Air Weelbed Suc I saw him flying overhead, a pilot...

Better Stock Than You after Henry Lawson’s "Prouder Man Than You" by Beverly Stock Your tome of pride be shattered,...

The Argument: The Poet, having escaped the HellWard of European and corrupt politicians, emerges into the penultimate HellWard depth where...

  Tennyson thought it better “to have loved and lost, than…” Well, you know the rest. Of course this begs...

St. Piran (Feast Day: March 5) A rhupunt Irish heathens, Unbelieving, Strapped poor Piran To a stone then Rolled him...

  In the midst of free-verse critics’ Smug, inchoate analytics __Seasoned with self-righteous pedantry, There are poets who are striving...

  Dear Governor, by C.B. Anderson Reopen every workplace, pretty please; Your "cure" has proven worse than the disease. Your...

  Oxford "University"? Its preference now: diversity. The Homers, Ovids, Virgils--- Now peanuts for the squirrels! This "school" now gives...

  Spring Snow Tyrant Winter reaches __Beyond its frozen tomb, Dares cast its icy mantle __On bud and crocus-bloom. Long...

Deep Regrets Dedicated to the memory of the 118 men of the Russian submarine Kursk, which exploded and sank in...

  The Onus of Vernal Duty Surrounding fields and woods unfreeze, The air once more is filled with light, As...

  Donald J. Trump They laugh at him and sneer as if his lack Of faith in modernism’s unholy gods...

  It takes patience to learn patience; It takes courage to be brave. One must first find mental freedom To...

  Vermont in April doesn’t seem to know quite how to dress. She thinks she ought to wear bright, flowery...

We meet Diomedes, the Greek hero of Troy, trapped in a flame with Odysseus in Canto 26 of Dante’s Inferno....

  Winter's Breath The sudden chill of winter's sigh Caresses me when autumn flees. My meager warmth she tries to...

"Winner: Humanitarian Award" Mugabe’s universally adored. He made his people multi-millionaires--- Zim dollars are the answer to their prayers. Champion...

  The Back-to-Work Protesters Limerick by Mark F. Stone Our minders with power and pensions can rob our hopes, while...

  Beyond His Ken based on a true story The plane was in the skies above Beijing When, let us...

  That day a dark, vermillion, winter sky, like a Turner water-colour, was seen reflected in an old pond where,...

  For England & St. George In praise let’s raise our flagons to the conqueror of dragons to the Saint...

  Golf My friends love golf so much But I do not share the allure. There’re many other ways for...

  The statue stands and holds aloft her torch, the Kalahari moon, the Northern Star. A lantern glimmers on a...

  The empty sonnet frame’s a puzzle box into whose elaborate maze ideas are dropped. They press its walls and...

  Sonora: The Desert Harsh sunlight beats upon the thirsty land And glares upon the limestone cliffs and sand, While...

The March of Spring O, hear the bold approach of spring, who marches, stamping, blowing! He startles all the birds...

Mayor Rules Chocolatier "Essential Business" by Mark F. Stone Our craving for chocolate is serious. Deny us and we will...

  So here he lies as he has lain in state These ninety years in this cathedral crypt At Westminster....

  Tongues Spin and Weave Tongues spin and weave their sophistry, a slick and silken tapestry, from golden throne and...

  What If My Time What if my time is limited? if all That I have left is perhaps months,...

Costume Parties by Fiat? by Julian Woodruff ‘Round nearly vacant lots The cars grow fewer still. No traffic tied in...

  As Alexander rose upon a hill, somewhere east of King Darius’s dust, at once a pure, serene and awful...

  Sonnet of the Silent Voice Unbounded power marks a tyrant’s choice: He chains the infants up to keep his...

  The painter and poet Sally Cook has a new exhibition at UB Art Galleries. Because of the current coronavirus...

  Translation by David O'Neil Translator’s note: Piers Plowman is a late medieval allegorical narrative poem, believed to be authored...

  Easter by Joe Tessitore Behind the stone of timeless wait He rose alone despite its weight and strode from...

  Dulcius Ex Asperis by Andrew Ross Invisible and terrible A virus stalks the land. It floats across the atmosphere...