Humor

Cumæan  Below, beyond the tiles now cave’d down, Up from the rubbled earth arose a sound Shrieking in a pitch...

One Last Candle The angry storm approaches in the night, Its curdling howl is heard for miles around. The trees...

  It is rare that a bill can succeed on The Hill based on only the skill of a hobbyist....

  Christmas has been canceled—it’s naughty Santa’s fault. His haughty carbon footprint has been a grave assault on melting polar...

  Recalling Christmas in the past: the time I mixed my drink— a cocktail, “Everything we have”… I puked at...

Childhood Conjugation Our mother tongue’s a mile-long smorgasbord where children eat for free. With giggling ease they wolf down words...

  Each poem below describes a phobia. Guess what the person is scared of in each. For extra credit try...

  The Winter of Our Contentment Without the winter there would be no spring, No snowdrops, crocus, scilla, daffodils, Or...

An Aussie Christmas That joyous time has come to pass When summer’s heat warms man and beast, And wheaten fields...

Grimm Reckonings Summary Thoughts on Five Fairy Tales: A Sonnet Cycle   Rapunzel I wish Rapunzel could have saved the...

’Twas the Night Before Christmas ’Twas the night before Christmas and all through the malls there was widespread confusion and...

I think that I shall never see A tree that is invisible. The very thought is risible— Or maybe it's...

Translations by Terry L. Norton. Original Latin by Phaedrus follows each. The Red Kite and the Doves When doves had...

  1. THEATRE Strolling Players Dancers, actors, acrobats! Stripey trousers, floppy hats! They weren’t born to swing a scythe, pay...

The Rime of the Balanced Boxes after Samuel Coleridge's Rime of the Ancient Mariner Part I Now, the training time...

The Tricoteuses The starving market women marched, marched on Versailles with kitchen knives; both marching and not marching meant they...

by Caud Sewer Bile Elitist, social climbing parvenu, reclusive expert in the CIA, in touch with DNC dirt-digging too, caught...

On the Untimely Demise of My Hair In days gone by when life for me looked bright, And I rejoiced...

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

  My husband posed his need to leave; a family vote was cast. The outcome brought me to my knees...

Time Time to time to time—from tock to tick, to wall to window topple, stop, then stop: a tower, wrist,...

Ultimatum  To My Friendly Neighbor Regarding His Overly-friendly Pet* Dear neighbor, do you love your cat? (I'm sure you must,...

This piece is sponsored by KidSecured by Evan Mantyk and Kathy Brellan Lord Byron was born George Gordon Byron in...

Doublespeak Denial Rondeau Redoublé “Gender mattered a whole lot less to Shakespeare than it seems to matter to us.” —John...

  Choosing a pet can be vexing and yet it’s important to vet all the choices you’ve got. If you’re...

Dodgeball "But we have the mind of Christ." 1 Corinthians 2.16 Sometimes my thought-life is a dodgeball game— except that...

  Irrelevant If the room is the tomb then the elephant is irrelevant.   Haiku From my heart was shown...

Helen Keller (1880-1968) Your eyesight and hearing were gone, yet you felt just as blithe as a fawn ___when you...

A ball that’s lost should never cost ____A one-stroke penalty. Where now it dwells finds someone else— ____It’s stolen property!...

In 1937, the renegade Communist Leon Trotsky (real name: Lev Bronstein) came to Mexico with his family and took up...

A Man for Two Seasons by T.M. Moore I’m in a constant state of readiness for fall. For me, the...

  Fright and Flight The sleeping farm was bathed in soft moonlight. A quiet evening, peaceful and subdued; When suddenly...

by Joe Tessitore and James A. Tweedie We are issuing a challenge to all poets to create poems that incorporate...

Faust Money ___________________________I sold my soul for silver. ___________________________In blood I signed my name. I soon enjoyed the benefits of...

(All poetry by Bruce Dale Wise) Haiku by W. "Cured Eel" Sabi I came to the sea. I saw mountains...

  His frame was gaunt, his income was erratic: The crowd ignored the writer high above Who wrote and brooded...

(Anapestic trimeter, in the vein of Edward Lear) On June 19, 2007, an official presentation took place of the document...

Love Song for a Grapefruit Dear Grapefruit, I of late have been untrue, Seduced by sweet confections of all sorts;...

Investment Strategies At work we studied many charts and graphs With due attention to the bottom line, But had we...

I'll never own a leaf blower, I'll never rake with noise, Or drive away God's tiny mole By blasting at...