Culture

  The Absolute and Relative Argue with repartee: Ultimate One or Ground or Truth, Or relativity? Through the Hubble’s stupendous...

  The Park Northern pintails brushing blue, the crescendo of their wings, weaving windsong into words some say that, “Up...

  Ilaria Del Carretto was the second wife of Paolo Guinigi of Lucca. Her sepulchre lies in Lucca’s Duomo San...

  The Problem with Socialism Upon Reading Charles Murray's Coming Apart Some sit on clouds and moonburn as they dream,...

Li Wenliang (1985 - 2020) by Dr. Weslie Ubeca Li Wenliang, an ophthalmologist, worked in Wuhan; and when he saw...

A Child’s Winter Inventory Winter ‘87-’88 Twittering birds; Chattering teeth; Snow coats the trees In an icy sheath. Glittering snow,...

  While walking through the Grand Bazaar In Istanbul, I came upon A man whose name was Al-Jafar. His friendly...

  Two Mistakes is a drama-length poem in metered verse for which I won second place in the Tom Howard...

Bring On the Leeches A condition called aspergillosis, And a touch of marasmus as well, Was the surgeon’s succinct diagnosis....

Sonnet for a Homecoming Best way of all to be welcomed back at last, Returning home from months of life...

  The autumn sun warming keeps rose bushes forming well into the days of December, but frost without warning one...

Proverbs for Engraving onto Imperial Monuments War is the price of freedom. Depths bewilder. The blow aimed at the beast...

  Within the shadow of the fortress wall, I stand agape; such gross, exquisite scale. My bulging eyes attempt to...

An English Ode That famous field where nodding poppies sway In sunlit grass, where souls of all the good Spend...

  Song of the Rose The rose awakens, ere the sky Has wakened to the sun; And we, my one...

Victus a response to William Ernest Henley’s poem “Invictus,” from which the first two lines of the final stanza are...

  A Letter to Sir Grammar Dear Sir Grammar: With all kindness and courtesy, may I request, A new package...

  Years ago—I still remember: final Thursday in November, I was in my kitchen cooking food to rival feasts of...

  translation by Anna Leader I do not know what it might bode That I should be so sad, A...

Praise for Fall You float in on a late September breeze with still-warm days and mild, cool nights in tow....

Thank You Sonnet This thanking you in sonnet form might seem Somewhat unusual, but I think it best, Simply to...

  Forgotten The grass has overgrown the weathered stone Since they first placed his body in the ground, And visitors...

Mama My mama took two drinks a year; A shot glass down the gullet— Yet hated bars and abhorred beer....

  What song shall I sing for a nation divided By politics, race, economics, and power? By what sweet refrain...

The above photographs were taken and submitted by New York City poet Joe Tessitore. We invite readers to pick one...

Translator's note: The following consists of three poems by Jehan (or Jean) Froissart (c.1335–c.1410), translated not very literally but as...

Song at Sunset The sun sets ‘neath the mountain top: __A golden orb that blinks And just for seconds lights...

Requiem for the U.N. 73 years—countless billions of dollars— And here we are today... Behold the statesmen smartly dressed Assembled...

  To You, My Wife a villanelle To you, my wife, my love I declare, My joy and gain, a...

Grapes Peel me a grape But remove the seed I love the flesh But have no need Of hard encounters...

  Eternity in Our Hearts after Ecclesiastes 3 I contemplated all these matters from beneath the heaven, seeing things the...

  I. Return to Rome Turn, turn, sing Seeger and the Shakers, turn Till one day all comes right—but is...

  My Daughter Sees a Starling on the Lawn I thought to tell you how the bird was called, What...

Who is that smiling cherub whose huge wings, Open, extended, like a swan in flight, Lifts him above the angels...

A Moving Experience We’re the Stooges Three—your moving company. If it ain’t broke before we tote, it soon enough will...

  In Frenchman bay, near Otter Point, the sea Against an ancient rock comes crashing down. This grey-clad cliff protrudes...

Von Sacher-Masoch’s Rebuttal to the Golden Rule If a brutal bash can bring one pleasure, one man’s lash is another...

The New Year The fields stretch out, bare, icy: __Wide, blank, yet-unetched slates, Tabulae rasae, waiting __The chisel of the...

  Moth, Angel of the Night Emerging from a rich cocoon, you shed off your old husk– with legs outstretched...

Surveillance, Twenty Twenty I never thought I'd live to see my TV looking back at me!     One Nation,...