Poetry

  Record the past and gift-wrap the future Explain the rules of classical culture Listen to the stories plaintively wrought In candlelit taverns for the heroes that fought In wars long-forgotten except by the brave And mothers that weep and pray at the grave - Of each and every valiant...

"Orange Persimmons" is a Haiku. "Released" is an American Cinquain, and "Forever Wearing White" is a Tanka about how the Falun Dafa are being tortured and buried in snow at re-education facilities in China.   Orange Persimmons orange persimmons red apples and pumpkin spice snow is coming soon   Released...

Originally Featured in Woodland Poems Near a ridge where far recedes the frozen Forest into valleys wide, Scoouwa’s chin In despondence fell.  Faint and overcome With brow perplexed, he searched the wood for crumb Of hickory-nut, or the fleeting track Of roaming herds, until his slumping back Could take no...

As I was flying high and looking down    the lonely regent of my tiny crown in one-dimension’s cold and breath-thin air    anxiously intent on prey down there I’d had enough of limit’s lonely plains    the flat dimensions where my kingdom reigns the mumbled tastes and smells I’d feel and ‘see’...

  The Goddess I. Black breeze On white foam hands Held high, lifting freedom: Shinning fast Her people’s torch in His eyes. II. Thunder Rolling on dawn-- Tanks over Her hands break; Her people shattered in the square Long gone.   When Man First Looked Through a Telescope A pin-burst...

In support of the national youth bike ride, Ride 2 Freedom. Ride to Freedom Riding, riding, riding fast, There can be no time to spare When the present becomes the past All that’s left is the heart that dares! Flying, flying, flying wheels That soar across seas and world To...

I dreamt I saw him in the queue, A friend I thought had long since died; But we embraced so warmly then; It seemed a dream we’d been apart. And looking at him, then I knew Some different spirit was his guide; Before, as living, false as men, He’d never...

  Salazar Sneed Salazar Sneed was a man of great need Who traded holey shoes for a pocket of beads. With the beads he then went to the market and bought A pancake pan that was cast iron wrought. The pan he then gave with a wink and a smile...

Wanderer's Retreat I Across the dive bar floor strode a figure, Tall but slightly slouching, wearing a cloak. His facial features, save nose and chin, were Submerged in hooded shadow as he spoke,    “Bartender, Olympus Ale, please.” He plopped    On a stool like a lifeless body dropped. Most strange the...

  One Summer Day An allusion to Beethoven While walking through the woods one summer day, he glanced along a river, clear and bright, saw bubbling notes like dappled fish at play, and dashed them off that night by candlelight. Meandering down coniferous-scented trails where chickadees and tree frogs made...

Chinese Cameo 13 Exacting Nazis whittled down The Jew – full name, gender, skill type, stamp, tattoo; segued ringlets, noses, black felt hats, with wriggling germs and cancer cells and rats; and boiled them down to soap; and took their scalps; and piled belongings up in mini Alps; some escaped;...

We are proud to announce the publication of The Society of Classical Poets’ 2015 Poetry Journal! The best poetry of the last year has culminated in this publication.  Poets include competition winners Reid McGrath, James Sale, Mike Ruskovich, Bruce Dale Wise, Darlene Wolenski, and Abigail Zhong, as well as many...

  The River Wye Your stroll beside the stream has stayed with me, Has left me in my loneliness with strength Enough to face the world, to somehow see Within its depth and width and wandering length The Truth that Keats and Coleridge saw with eyes Romantic yet as real...

Goodbye, sweet fetal child— for you shall die, Because a mother’s love is also dead: The hallowed place of nurture where you lie Shall soon become the ground where blood is shed. The battle to reject the womanly, Or motherly, for ‘me, myself and I’ Shall forfeit noble care of...

  Hunger "Power grows out of the barrel of a gun" -Mao Zedong Power grows out of the plight of the poor Peasants broken-backed, burdened by hunger The blood stained earth screams of endless toiling A red flag flies for all those still dying Power cries out for all the...

Thoughts after Samuel Palmer (1805-1881) By Bud "Weasel" Rice Everywhere curious, articulate, perfect and inimitable ... nature does ... leave a space for the soul to climb above her steepest summits. As, in her own dominion, she swells from herring to leviathan, from the shelly hodmandod to th' elephant, to...

  Fog in the Valley The fog flows down like a flock of pale gulls and the valley of my home disappears. In seconds, stuff engulfs us. Each sense dulls; cold soggy cotton fills our eyes and ears. And where now is Man’s brilliance and pride? Nature in a moment...

  Winter Storm Watch The sky is still; no flakes appear and yet we know that they will come. Held hostage by our doubts and fears we beat out warnings on our drums. We know, for sure, the flakes will come; we may be buried to our ears or slip...

Observations both Literal and Inferred on The Course of Empire, 1833-36, by Thomas Cole   The Savage State THE foreground is dark, sublime, and savage. Storm-clouds roll up towards the right. The ledge reflects the setting or the rising sun. The turquoise waters crash; the storm's not done. One bounding...

O Thou Fount of Joy, I Praise Thee In my dark night He brought His joy    by an ancient melody. I was young then, did not know that    what He taught me by degree was a way to remain with Him    when the storms of each new year gathered o’erhead...

  Sonnet on the Death of a Friend Throughout our lives we have the love of some Our family, our friends , the special ones Who help us deal with problems as they come And share our joys and sorrow as life runs But one by one they leave, the...

They gathered softly in a field for many miles around to taste in haste the flowers before showers tumbled down upon the clover blooms, the goldenrod, thistles and grasses; never in one place too long as hungry blackbird passes. An undulating wave of black and orange fills the skies. Silent...

A mysterious substance is ruling our lives. It flows through our oceans and floats in our skies. “It’s good for you,” cries four docs out of five. It will keep your skin young for the rest of your life. It will grow your corn tall and make your kids bright....

  For a girl with rosy cheeks I didn’t know when Valentine’s Day was, and didn’t need to. That day came and went like any other. Now I know it cause you’re perfect, dear; you don’t know what you’ve meant to me, my life, completely ignorant to Love which waters...

I saw a grand palace as sculpted by the Genie of the Lamp, adorned with lights so golden, as if it came from within. I saw great achievements under the sky of glass, soared to extraordinary heights: a modern Tower of Babel, raised again! I saw a celebrated elm, stood...

for E.E. Club Saw Reid   I. Priam, Returning to the Ramparts He’d never say it to my face and yet I sense that Hector senses I’m washed up: too old, too soft. Not that he is the pup that sees for the first time his dad beset with something...

  I Saw a Giant Train by Red Was Iceblue I saw a giant train come out of blue and purple light, the colours of its cars, red, yellow, orange, black and white. It seemed gargantuan and powerful, a forceful shape, about to take the World on in one horrendous...

Chinese Cameo 5 A glinty dental check-up’s made my day – some skiffs of plaque, no ominous decay … A shiny, multi-jointed arm in white displayed a tray of steely tools laid tight. These instruments were danced before my eyes by latex’d fingers coloured like blue skies. I’d lain back...

  First Prize ($500): Reid McGrath Winning Poems: “Tares in the Wheat” “A Recurring Dream, Vanquished” “Retreating Snow” “Lamenting Our Complicity in the Installation of Suicide Nets” “Three Trojan Perspectives”   Second Prize ($100): James Sale Winning Poems: “Apollo Builds Troy with His Lyre” “The Commissars Oppose Falun Gong” “Noah...

  The Shore Forever lost in the ocean the water seeps into my chest I’ve lost myself in the motion let the fish swim beneath my breast And yet each time I’m pulled under the sun too far to touch my face never does my body sunder and crumple in...

Though tear gas spiraled through receding light and wrung out tears and mangled up clear sight; and though the bitter gas was spiked with hate, the thin-clad crowd did not retaliate. The death of freedom’s wrapped in "legal" care not the “Open fire!” on Tiananmen Square where peaceful rules faced...

Rose Window Firs at sunset cast golden geometries As myriad needles swarm like bees And burst into sun-kindled flame – A rose window without its frame.   Falun Dafa Fingers curved like willow stems, Dancers bow before killers’ blows, Soldiers whose helmets bear red stars Soldiers whose eyes rage red...

  Where Can I Find You? A girl, with hair the colour of honey, giggled while she chased a little bunny through fields of golden hay and black cherries. Suddenly she stopped and asked a fairy, “Beauty, you only appear to a few. When you’re not with me, where can...

  Vessel No one can insure candlelight; its flame Precisely burns in flickering waves of gas, Ingesting oxygen while fibers pass Through burning into soot, and feel no shame. A stroke of pen or brush behaves the same When we regard them steadily: the mass Remains inert like painted prairie...

The nightingale flutters on its wings And lighting on a branch he sings Voices the song of his spirit Brings joy to all that hear it With pen and paper in my hand I listen to my heart’s command I hope that someday I can be Like the nightingale flying...

Life's Golden Key Like the sparrow, robin and crow sharing in a concrete birdbath, mortals require kindness to grow, pleasantly exploring life's path. Each gifted day, time is borrowed to search and find life's golden key. Somewhere, in dark depths of sorrow, glows kindness for eager hearts to see. On...

  I. The people of China in ancient times, Knew good was blessed and evil was punished, By Gods who observed all of their actions, When they were virtuous their country flourished. For five thousand years they led their lives, Their history replete with much glory, But when the last...

In the Shadow of a Mountain In the shadow of a mountain lies a valley, lies my home swaddled by the earth’s embrace in sweet repose – a state of grace in the shadow of a mountain in a valley, in my home where I am blind to turquoise skies...

  Shadow of the Laogai In the Laogai’s shadow, the ghosts of China stir, Unseen by dreaming eyes as golden currents blow Across the sea. Our compassion seems to falter In the Laogai’s shadow. As the Red rope tightens, prices fall like Harbin snow Upon the Western coast. What need...

Shakespeare Wrote Shakespeare Some say that Shakespeare didn’t write The many works that bear his name; But surely if that were the case, A rival would have blown his game...   Inner Beauty My wife was born without her eyes; She cannot love her pretty face, Yet knows her inner...