Poetry

Króliki (Rabbits) dedicated to Tommy Robinson, who was recently sentenced to more time in prison Króliki they called us (Polish having no word for guinea pig)* and so we were: scared, little white rabbits, huddling in fear, dreading our inevitable turn; sure that no guardian angel was coming to save...

  a modified English Alexandrine An ancient apple tree in my unkempt backyard Has skin pocked like the moon by savage nature’s wrath. The top is bare and broke, curled like a parched mesquite Contorted in hot sand. Some lower limbs are green. These few remember still How coiling teenaged...

Believe It True That you have made my world a wondrous garden Fair with your lips, and glad with your eyes of blue That you have wakened life’s song of gladness Believe it true, dear, believe it true. That I have found within that wondrous garden All passing hours made...

Pablo Neruda on the Passing of Joseph Stalin by Wibele Escudar We must be men. That is the law that Joseph Stalin left. Sincere intensity and concrete clarity are best. He was the noon of man. Let us from this not be bereft. Let's bear these words with pride, all...

  Soaked in silence, sunbeams through the shutters, dust floating softly. Stuffy, flecks of mold and rust sticking here and there, a gentle draft. The glow makes all things appear the same as years ago, time as if dissolved, annulled in space, and space fixed, confined by gauds and heirlooms,...

  As fiddle lilts its rhymed refrain it harkens an angelic past. If only we could now regain that sweet voice that was ne'er surpassed. Med'eval times, when hearts were chaste and men of honor walked this earth, the words they waxed poetic faced no chiding for such simple dearth....

She Walked in Beauty a tribute to Gao Rongrong* after Lord Byron’s “She Walks in Beauty” She walked in Beauty, pure as light— Like sun and moon and starlit skies Illuminate the darkest night… Such was the brightness of her eyes And shining smile of sheer delight That all would...

Sonnet IV. Cleve Backster whose work on plant perception gained wide exposure in the 1973 publication The Secret Life of Plants. While people claim the fetus has no being Worth enough to trump a mother’s rights, There’s something more our human eyes aren’t seeing: Life’s more, not less, when we...

  The taxi driver took us down From great Mohonk, New Paltz and such; And every mile we got to touch We felt the pull of New York town. And chatting in our easy way— He black, me white, what difference then? Only as humans, two grown men, We both...

—from A Gallery of Ethopaths The bookshops that we used to see Were citadels of literacy. Classics of grace and wit and style Greeted your glance in every aisle. Today, those humane texts are fewer— A bookstore is a backed-up sewer Clogged with the bilge the public guzzles: Health-food cookbooks,...

Natura Naturans “Off with their heads,” the Red Queen said. But she was mostly talk. A true decapitator is The little sharp-shin hawk. I saw one once, a blue-bolt shot, To seize a thrush in flight, Then with steel talons pluck the head And calmly take a bite.    ...

The Thoughts of a Dog What really does go on inside the mind Of the domestic dog? To simply say They think of very little else all day But eating what they’re given, what they find To feed on would be callous and unkind. Unique among all species is the...

Good Captains From daring to despair runs common man. A vane to changing winds is his own mind. One hour he may so boldly think, “I can!” The next, poor fool to nagging doubt’s inclined, His confidence, which feathers to his thought, Is faltering as courage ebbs away. The previous...

Her Love for Him My true love laughs, and angel choirs sing; The mountains echo back his tuneful mirth While Nature dances, heav’n in step with earth. ‘Tis music to mine ear; mine heart takes wing! Into my love’s embrace I fly secure, And tenderly he holds me in his...

These Twins These twins came forth in one amniotic sac. They sensed the danger they had come upon And both held hands to keep that danger back: It truly was the best they could have done. Their need for holding hands kept them in place Until the water broke at...

A reading of the below poems by the poet:   The Loan a villanelle This life we hold so dear is but a loan. For good or ill, its balance must be spent, For life is not a thing that we can own. The wasting of our fragile flesh and...

Winners of the contest can be found here. From the riddle posed by King Solomon to the Philistines to the philosophy of riddles put forth by Aristotle to the riddles posed by Gollum to Bilbo Baggins in the Hobbit, riddles have a long and rich history and have often been...

  This interview was conducted by Carol Smallwood with poet Theresa Rodriguez following the release of the first edition of Sonnets by Rodriguez; the second edition is published by Shanti Arts, 2020; the work is 77 pages and retails on Amazon for $12.95. Carol Smallwood: Your latest collection, Sonnets covers many topics among...

One Love In all the world there’s but one Love, just one. A single substance—like the billow lit From overhead by flashes from the sun And tears that rain upon a pillow—it Is all the same, no matter state or form. And even when, like ice, it lies there cold...

    The man who never cries is like the ship That never sailed, or left the sleepy shores, Who’s never felt the waves of peril whip Against his keel far off from peaceful shoals. Afraid of what the sea’s dark depths might hide— Of the treasures beneath the briny...

Stalks of brown and amber and gold, mighty when young, wither when old. Bleached by the sun and watered daily, Length may distinguish if lord or lady.   Post your answer in the comments section below.     Brian Douthit is a full time PhD Student at the Duke University...

  I lift my eyes and pray to God above, deliver me, dear Lord, from Satan's Hell. I come to You with heart brimful of Love, content to drink life's water from Your well. And if, by chance, I do not measure up, perhaps a drop of mercy from Your...

  The sausage on my plate is rubbery and inoffensive A clever likeness made of turkey meat Not your tastiest breakfast fare yet not complete- Ly unsuitable for consumption by the hypertensive. My research on this topic hasn’t been extensive But age and blood pressure require a retreat From foods...

May Old Glory Always Wave by Roy E. Peterson May Old Glory always wave Above the tumult and the fray. Honor heroes who were brave Until the final Judgment Day. Drape the caskets of the dead, For fallen soldiers everywhere. Symbol of the prayers we said, And of the battles...

Translator's Note: "Adiutor Laborantium" is an Irish poem attributed to Colum Cille (521-597), founder of the monastic community on Iona. It is an ABC poem, with the exception of two C-beginning lines in the middle, and a changed triplet at the end, where the rhyme also changes. In the Latin,...

  Side by side, like toy soldiers under the sky, these seedlings all stand in a row. And on this day of independence, the Fourth of July, I stand here and I whisper, “Please grow!” Down the roadway, the rockets burst all about, and the sparklers all spiral and flare....

Judges: Michael Curtis, Amy Foreman, Reid McGrath, Adam Sedia A few words from Judge Michael Curtis: In apology: If you, fair writer, did not win, take heart, This juror read for craft more than for art, And we both know that art can be subjective, So, tend your craft, in...

  It comes as no surprise that “golf” When backward spelled is “flog.” For it’s a sport so hard to solve Leaves many in a fog. On surface it so simple seems – Just hit a little ball. Unhindered by opposing teams, It doesn’t move at all. But if when...

Dead Poet Of what I was, not much remains, but that which does, indeed still strains to craft and pen a poem sweet, as I did when my heart did beat. I’m cold and stiff, yet still I yearn! (It seems as if I’ll never learn!) My best refrains, fraught...

The Society of Classical Poets successfully holds its first symposium in New York City (Press Release)   NEW YORK—A growing movement is calling for the return of meter and rhyme in poetry in a bid to bring the once widely popular art form back to the mainstream. The non-profit Society...

Kingfishers and Kites Each mortal thing does one thing and the same: Deals out that being indoors each one dwells; Selves—goes itself; myself it speaks and spells Crying Whát I dó is me: for that I came. —Gerard Manley Hopkins, "As Kingfishers Catch Fire" Were said bird to burst spontaneously...

Doomsday… or Not? The Green New Deal is out there, and Bernie says it’s true— there’s only twelve more years left for the likes of me and you to curtail carbon footprints and cure the ailing earth by living lives of paucity, deficiency and dearth; shunning all air travel to...

G-Mafia "Let us now praise freedom's twilight..." —Osip Mandelstam by Esca Webuilder We live without the feeling of the country under us. We cannot hear ourselves; nobody listens to our pulse. But when there is a chance for words, the talk turns to High Tech. Immense G-Mafia is mentioned merely...

Foggy Morning Fantasy If heaven, as they say, is in the clouds Then it appears my home and neighborhood Were raptured in the night. If so, I should Expect to see streets paved with gold, and crowds Of saints and martyrs with the heavenly host Outside my window singing in...

Disappointment The waiting's not the hardest part: Much worse is when you finally know That what you craved with all your heart ____Will not arrive. Infatuations come and go, Bad luck upsets your apple cart, The gentle rains no boon bestow, ____But you survive.   Soul Mate an alexandroid My...

  The ambit is the noblest cause, A last vestige of Apollo's love, A pursuit freed from any flaws, As peace aloft borne by a dove. In all we have is finitude, So best that we attempt To bask in lyrical pulchritude Of joy and gaiety sans contempt. Our candle...

  The human body is perpetually pregnant with Trillions of microorganisms that hath colonized Its intestinal lair, and like the gravid woman's pith Heart eats not only for herself, but for her fertilized Womb as well, each man must not only eateth for his health, But for the probiotics of...

  Leaf in Fall I feel hard without my love at my side; she is the part of me that lacks the soft buoyancy that rounds and bears me aloft into the spring sky mirrored in the tide… without her I wear my own prickly hide, itch in it like...

The Hong Kong Protest Hymn by Lu "Reed ABCs" Wei The Christian hymn "Sing Hallelujah to the Lord" emerged as anthem of the Hong Kong protests. It's not yet expurged. The hymn is heard almost nonstop at the main protest site, in front of Hong Kong's Legislative Council day and...

Planned Parenthood's a Euphemism upon reading March for Life's annual report by Roy E. Peterson Planned Parenthood’s a euphemism __Covering up the murder Of babies by abortion-ism— __We must react with fervor. What they call “planning” are abortions, __And not for parenthood. They harvest baby parts and portions __To sell...