Culture

Unripe Deceived are we by the state of the skin, when overly reliant on our eyes. Of greater concern is what lies within, under the surface we find the true prize. A gentle squeeze applied to test the fruit, we learned the skill at a tender young age. In relationships...

William Shakespeare is believed to have died on April 23, 1616. Post your commemorative poems in the comments section or email to [email protected]. Remembering Shakespeare By Dusty Grein The Bard of Avon gave us many gifts. An actor, true, but he was so much more; A poet of renown and...

Storyteller We sit around the fire. The storyteller drones, until his words expire in silence like the stones. Primeval darkness frames the flower-yellow flames enlightening our faces. Like breeze-blown blossoms, we shift mutely in our places within the ring while he, as yellow flowers fail, resumes again his tale, which...

August 13, 2012 I dreamt last night of singing with Li Po. (Or is he now sleeping, dreaming of me?) How much we drank… The world all vertigo… He brought his ch’in.  It was life’s apogee. Yet thinking back, if he dreamt me before I went to sleep, what would...

Sonnet II The spark which lights my innermost desire,     whose flame burns fierce in Spirit and in vein, your blinding glory makes my heart aspire     to grasp the highest good one can attain. Of all the worthy joys that I could gain     from all the ecstasies of earth’s delights, I’d...

. Dunblane Cathedral On the massacre of sixteen children and their teacher at the Dunblane Primary School near Stirling, Scotland, March 13, 1996 LOVE’s light lost the bleak night breathes a black breeze of loss. The dread dawn dons dusk’s vale. “Is death dead?” the bells Ask across the mourning...

. . Metaphysical Mortar Between the cobalt and the blueGlean gestalt and sum of trueAll and each be more than sixWall and reach be more than bricks .   Photo by A Sclamberg & H Hall . . Tahoe Navy, cobalt, slate of blue,Bright and white and cold of hue,Bold...

  A Fifteen-Year-Old's Response to Frost "This 'pome' don't make NO sense! What junk!" the scowling students muttered. "Two roads in the woods!" one hissed. "Such bunk"-- opinions rudely uttered. I quelled the urge to hurl my book. I said, "Can't you surmise what they might mean? Let's take a...

Horses Tell me what power hits the ground, heard a mile away, ear to mound? Earth’s tympanic membrane resounds; like kettle drums, the hoof beat pounds! Or what, when they run together, frightens every flight from feather? Deer run sideways and leave their young; minnows from shallow creeks are flung....

Apes or Angels Humans, some say, aren’t much more than an ape— A reasoning beast, quintessence of dust. Others believe we’re of angelic shape. Hungry for morsels, we scrabble and scrape, Leaving the tree to indulge termite lust. Humans, some say, aren’t much more than an ape. Yet not all...

The Great The great are often shunned by their own age, While even the noble dead are sometimes mocked, And eras are damned when none who sees is shocked By scads of scorn spat on a sacred page. Today the sneering cynic’s deemed a sage. The door to love and...

Ode to a Soldier’s Wife I can see your tears are streaming, in the lamp light they are gleaming; How I wish that I were dreaming, and that duty hadn’t called. Through the wretched bars we’re kissing, as the steam train begins hissing And of all the things worth missing,...

Counterfeit Martyrdom Evil terrorists 'round the world Reject God's law, "Thou shalt not kill." Minds indoctrinated, furled up in a cold and savage will! Real martyrs are the brave who die adhering to their faith and creed. Suicide is murder high in cowardice, which marks this breed. Vile murders indiscriminate...

  Valentine The name of Spring is ever fresh and fair;     Her sound is ever gentle, ever true; The Spring is like the songbird of the air     Who sweetly choruses the good, the new. And we, my dear, have often seen the Spring     Arrive with promise, blossom, fade and go...

Models for Configuring Friendship A knight for whom the Grail is wholly you; the one who greets you sans your power, might; who never counts the favors that accrue; adheres to you whatever is your plight. An audience for fear, for woe, for laugh; an egger on, abettor of your...

  The lit brush burns oil on the canvas; Ancient word breathes stories of Atlantis; The silent stone speaks more than us all; Mortal mysteries that hold us in thrall. Throughout the ages, man has done and seen Terrible and beautiful—wondrous—things. But who are we to judge the weary hands...

Xerxes My power does lie In hue of the sky In the refined folds of God’s estate My throne I have carved Of sapphire hard And I crowned it with God’s ark of Jade My hosts of legions Number in millions Like a cloak o’er the land are they spread...

Sedona (A Rhupunt) Deep shadows fade Red rock cascade To purpled jade— Sun sparks ignite. Stone sentries stare Sightless through air At treadless stair Spanning the height. No mortals dare Enter the lair Or linger where Spirit meets sprite. This shrine of stone And bleached white bone Hides secrets shown...

The Gathering Upon the 400th anniversary of the founding of the town of Virginia in Ireland Oh town of the Virgin Queen I hear you call me back To your ancient Way of Woods following Vikings track Your castle is long gone But your market house still stands Four hundred...

Father and Son I. The Modern Daedalus I want you to carry yourself with pride: Stand up straight, with your shoulders back; don’t slouch; and yet, also, don’t let hubris deride you. Be humble. Get off that cushy couch I only could afford by working hard, from the ground up....

Updated: April 26, 2024 10 Greatest Poems Ever Written An Ambitious "Best Poems" List Limited to Poems Originally Written in English and of 50 Lines or Less by Evan Mantyk What is poetry? What is great poetry? The poems below answer these questions. From least greatest (10) to greatest greatest...

The band struck up for the comical clowns! They all sported wigs, red noses, and frowns And from painted mouths uttered sad cries. Then the fools threw water and custard pies In riotous ribaldry: mad, bad, and bold! The laughter and fun began to unfold; The children giggled; a vast...

Tender is the night shared in close caress With candied kiss and floral purr, no less. The pristine perfection of unclaimed time Drenches air with an ephemeral chime. Considering not money as pay off, The gift of work may be just a day off; Precious moments of leisure, free to...

Hints from the Moon (Monday) Beginning with zero, hints from the moon Going through phases, ripe in the womb; Time out of nothing, pared in the night, Planet of sorrow tilting to light; Retrograde motion, surf pushed & pulled, Full moon to crescent, new moon to full… Lifting & lowering...

Free me from wars? Make my debut? Oh, Mr. Handsome G.I. Joe— your face and a blanket won’t do. Sift flour from Mama’s ashes, melt glue from Papa’s bones. Knead them into dough— free of wars, rising for my debut. Am I marble pale and girlish thin enough for you—...

The rustic minuet's small step has since been swept away by all the modern pop and pep and fizzle of the day. One of the first to introduce it into music's lair was Frenchman Jean Baptiste Lully of Louis' court and care. That king first danced it at one of...

This poem was inspired by Shen Yun Performing Arts.   Bleak and somber is the flavor du jour; Modernism pervades all spheres of art; Artists lacking virtue make it a bore, People wait for a refreshing restart. A booming strike! The gong that evil fears, Pulses race, while excitement fills...

The White Stag By Bard Eucewelis I saw it long ago; so long ago it seems as if it was a dream, a white stag in the wood. Reality is ever fading through time's seams. It's odd to say so; but its sighting was so good. Although it was at...

Game Over With my friend P. Modernity, We played a game of strategy. Sipping our hot cups of coffee, We spoke over a game of chess. Most of our chat was mere bs, But then the game turned serious When my friend made a move untoward: His bishop straight across...

Confucius Institutes, which advance the agenda of the Chinese Communist Party, are found at universities in the United States and around the world. In colleges and schools, and blocks of universities, academe has rules for bringing in diversities. On dube’us, ethnic grounds there bloom Confucius Institutes * that buy up...

The Backwards Romantic “Most of those once common occasions for poetry seem embarrassingly old fashioned now that piped-in tunes and hand-held devices provide the background music for life’s journey.” -Dana Gioia I’m prone to loathe the radio and television, noise from all angles, laptops, iPads, cell-phones— the gibber-jabber of the...

Poetry, arguably the most powerful form of communication ever devised by mankind, has died. It was thousands of years old. Poetry died yesterday after a prolonged illness. Trapped in a meaningless, vegetative state for some time, feeding tubes were removed, allowing Poetry to die with dignity. Aristotle once wrote, “Poetry...

  Octave By Erisbawdle Cue There's always something going wrong the pessimistic person thinks. One moment one is going strong and then one's on the blink...and blinks. There's always something going right the optimistic person feels. One is alive; one sees the light; one gladly plays the hand fate deals....

Why did lyric poetry die? ‘Cause caterpillars cannot fly And no longer morph to butterflies Pegasus now has lost his wings To logic, not to lyric, clings Concerned solely with words’ meanings Can lyric poetry be restored? Not unless we hear the words They’ll make beauty as they find their...

The Tears of the Gods An ancient fable tells of how the gods rose from the main Of azure deep of Ocean and all Being they surveyed How Sun he warmed the stones, how the vibrant verdure swayed How tawny bees rejoice to homeward wing with pollen’s stain. The gods...

I. Again the darkling moon is new this night, and cold deserted seas in lunar sleep lay fasting and far from the waxing light; as bright Apollo* flails the unknown deep beyond the threshold of our midnight sun, his bending rays hold back from Latmus* glade, where the shepherd waits...

Dharmachakra By Sri Wele Cebuda Around the Dharma Wheel spins, around and round it goes. It never pauses nor begins, it simply travels, o! Though millions fly off from its whirl, and thousands perish too, it draws in love from all the World, the kind, the good and true. And...

. . To a Brother in Paris Like Sun in the woods, or a cold Summer rain, Would trouble make goods, and loss create gain. Then bound to a Lady, and allied to Bro, With the grace of God found, wherever you go. Be wrought and be taught, as you...

  The captain on this night would have no rest A storm rages and moves in from the West And the heathen banshees screech and wail As the waves bring down the mast and sail On a ship that would lose skipper and men In a precipitation at gale force...

Back  I am an atheist. I don’t believe in God ! Argue this with me or leave ! There is no evidence that ‘it’ exists though faith sects say they squeeze it in their fists. Divine Design is spin-doctoring. A human eyeball, flower, clockwork working – like the argument of...