Poetry

English poetry has been in existence for at least 1,400 years. This tradition continues alive and well at The Society of Classical Poets like nowhere else. Today, poetry is everywhere. It is in the songs on the radio, in our national anthems, and in the fight songs of our favorite...

The Dream I dreamed a dream of two parades so different, yet the same, And I could not place the meaning of the first parade that came. Along a road lined with many leafless and grey, dying trees A black parade moved slowly forward trailing grief and unease. Soft silence...

Feathers of Disenchantment Pastors preached of birds as models of love, so sweet, so proper. Then parbleu, we heard sad news about the cheating of the dove, promiscuity of the humming-bird, scandalous divorce among flamingos, sparrows’ shacking in ménages à trois. For swingers on the wing any fling goes, the...

Review By Christopher Nield / Image by Liza Voronin/The Epoch Times The Riddles of Merlin As I was walking Alone by the sea, “What is that whisper?” Said Merlin to me. “Only,” I answered, “The sigh of the wave”— “Oh, no,” replied Merlin, “’Tis the grass on your grave.” As...

In Praise of Formal Poetry Whether it’s ridiculous or sublime, we need the reassurance of meter, the familiar recurrence of rhyme. We yearn for verse that’s fixed in place and time, lines that march to a regular beat, or words, whether ridiculous or sublime, that echo each other like bells...

The roses clamored wildly. I confessed it, smiled mildly. Profusely rambling everywhere, The crimson blooms were sweetness rare. Entwined with random opulence Around the old white picket fence, 'Twas glorious disobedience, Quite like the charm of innocence. While I walked the path one day, Two passers-by did stop and say:...

Bless with Children Sent, Amen! to fill the world with wonder they come in trust, brim-full of possibility, a soul (or spark from God, once split asunder) harbored in each.  Our responsibility: to do our best, to cherish and provide at least the abc’s that foster health for every body,...

To the Skeptic Who Denies God You want me to prove to you my God exists. “The burden of proof is on you,” you insist; But when my lips open, you only resist. You try to use logic to tear me apart; You pull out your jargon to get a...

There is no battle like the break of light And yet the world still sleeps, still unaware, And day has yet to break the silent air While lamplight dimly wrestles with the night. The cold still lurks and clings to dampened grass The leaves still shiver where the night winds...

Birth Yes, I recall that January night when, ushered from your room into the hall, and restless for the nurse’s slightest call, I reread dated news by night-dimmed light, and listened for your voice into the night, and traced the jagged lines that marred the wall, and knew for once...

Sunset Daylight shines with the glow of the first morn Glittering rays of laughter soft and warm There's no end to this heaven you've known Until the day you find shadows have grown You're forced to face the facts and realize That even the sun sets in paradise Daylight trembles,...

Ars Poetica for Shaky Times       (Apologies to Auden and Horace) This little poem is in sonnet form; a poet will need support from the past: the best way to find it will be at last to compose within a poetic norm – limited available words will swarm to...

Structured Verse Is structured verse so surely dead? Has it nothing left to say? Have the rhyme and rhythm petered out Somewhere along the way? Have feet marched off to glory's end? Have the syllables this day Been recounted for the one last time And then been packed away? The...

Up in the inky, velvet sky on this cold winter night the sky is lit with diamond chips that glow with spirit light. Not far away from twinkling stars a full moon brightly shines sending down its silvery rays that light up snowy pines. Sleeping trees wear ermine robes provided...

. Goblin Market by Christina Rossetti        Morning and eveningMaids heard the goblins cry:'Come buy our orchard fruits,Come buy, come buy:Apples and quinces,Lemons and oranges,Plump unpecked cherries,Melons and raspberries,Bloom-down-cheeked peaches,Swart-headed mulberries, Wild free-born cranberries,Crab-apples, dewberries,Pine-apples, blackberries,Apricots, strawberries;—All ripe togetherIn summer weather,—Morns that pass by,Fair eves that fly;Come buy, come buy:Our grapes fresh from...

This poem shows three Achaean perspectives on three characters from Homer's Iliad, each from an individual point of view.  That individuality is one of most important bequests of classical Greece.   I. Achilles in the Tent I am just so infuriated that I cannot stand it. Such ineptitude. Old Agamemnon's...

Burn the want out of every moment, Live the life of every chorus line, Run the race of countless ancient athletes, In them, fortitude breeds counter decline. Stream the smoke throughout every fire, Glide beyond every deterrence, Sew binding thoughts as reasons to aspire, Years of struggle shed light on...

To the Caged Barn Owl, II I had thought you clean and blameless, Blindly cast you as the shameless Victim of baseless derision, Gaped at in your iron prison, Left unromantic and nameless. I assumed your capture aimless. Cruelly kept, they watched you regress, Innocence made heavy laden, I had...

Oh Beautiful glorious day, Let your sunlight shine on me! Let your many clouds of gray Fade above the lovely sea. Let the mountains in the distance Shine such vibrant purple glows. Let all beauty show existence, While your streams give steady flows. Let the trees stand proud and tall...

  I This is the month, and this the happy morn, Wherein the Son of Heaven’s eternal King, Of wedded maid and Virgin Mother born, Our great redemption from above did bring; For so the holy sages once did sing, That he our deadly forfeit should release, And with his...

The seasons go a'marching by In all their different ways. I never do appreciate The way they change my days. The Spring goes dancing by this year With life and beauty grand. But off she goes away from me To other spacious lands. The Summer came with pomp this year...

The plaintive wail of a child through the night Is a beastly howl, proclaiming its plight. The song of the wind through fractured grasses Echoes my tread on edge of disasters. This may be one fine way of singing it Life, death, love is the blood of the poet. We...

Rituals of Shade Drowsy hang the blooms of light, descending slowly to a night That wanders in and out of me, the shadowed truths of what will be Forever painted in its shade, each velvet promise that was made Beneath cobalt and crimson skies, without regrets or compromise When arms...

This poem is meant to raise awareness about the atrocity of organ harvesting from Falun Gong practitioners in China today. Please click here to sign a petition to the White House. (Featured image above is "Organ Crimes" by Xiqiang Dong, 2007) I. A new form of evil unknown to man...

Current Events 2012   I.  The Dark Knight Rises in Colorado A silhouette is forming in the door. From reel to real, the armor comes alive! As bullets rain, we cower on the floor. How can we hide from this attack?  Survive? Staccato gunshots punctuate our air. The desperate screams...

To Be a Bird To foil the grab of gravity, To sail across the spaces Engendered by the cavity Between the mountain faces. To laugh at man’s ineptitude, His crawling, earthbound gait. To wing in silent solitude And at the summit wait While human snail ascends in pain. To flee...

Adrift I spy your pain vast as the briny blue. I smell the creosote that seals your hold, but don’t let enmity be what you rue in logging a life’s voyage when you’re old. S.S. Resentment is a mutinous ship of blaggards bent on vengeance, lust and greed since first...

My Grandfather-mining it made him blind and mystery of music almost gave him sight he would play by candle light and demand rapture as eloquent as an owl in flight from himself and the flame survives the wick lighting up a reverie as he dreams about his fruit tree and...

Learning to Flourish for Dan DeNicola Are we humans half empty or half full? A race of oxymorons, we’re wise fools Or doltish sages, subject to the pull Of appetite and passion, flouting rules Of reason and decorum on a whim, The urgings of perverse or selfish drives That make...

Imagine a childhood as tragic premiere. Unwashed, bruised, soiled clothing, still she’s a star. The cops and the guy passed out in the chair, minor roles; mom’s off-stage, but won’t be far. The stage: her home, the scene dirty and dark; with props like beer cans and needles, please look...

The village school is cold and still. Its entrance gate is rusted shut, the playground overwhelmed by sounds of loaded lorries, hissing past, no noise but theirs to fill a school where only shadows come to play. A figure joins the shadow play. It was a life ago, but still...

The Painter Transfixed, I bow before art’s magic splendour, enraptured by the glory of such hues, enchanted, charmed beyond all human measure, possessed by master’s clarity of muse - transported to a scene of worldly wonder, the light expressed within, a living thing - colors bold to capture mood asunder,...

There are so many different ways to behave And yet we often behave in just one. There are so many different types of “depraved” but the most dangerous is simply just “fun”. People uphold certain lies that they tell and will stick with those beliefs until death, even if it...

A Squinting gaze through the fog and the haze A glimpse at a shimmer while in a daze Brief yet bright, its beauty light is luring Something has gotten the spirit stirring Awaken you, my forgotten real goal Time to return to the home of my soul Finding a path,...

Mycenae Passing through the lion-headed gate, years fall from her shoulders like heaps of old rags. Even in the innocent daylight, she clearly hears gory echoes reflected in time's murky mirrors and, like courageous Cassandra, she, too, fears the scent of centuries-old blood which still gags. Passing through the lion-headed...

Argument from Design God’s antelopes have eyes placed far to side And horizontal pupils, features they Employ to see wide spans and speed away From lurking predators they’ve easily spied. But carnivores, with eyes in front of face And pupils vertical, see straight ahead, Are sharply focused on the beast...

Sonnet If I could choose to quietly slip away and make my exit while your backs are turned I'd do it now, why waste another day, after my time is up and all my books are burned? And yet the sun beats bright, and life is sweet and there are...

The purple snail (Purpura patula pansa) is found in the Mixtec villages of the Oaxacan Coast in Mexico. The inhabitants carefully bleed the snails and then return them to the rocks. But due to illegal dyeing and the consumption of snails, the purple snail is now threatened with extinction.  ...

The Playground The playground stands beside itself In grey, and waits upon the hill. The books are stones upon the shelf, Their spines are sealed against the chill. Still, the forgotten souls might try To steal away, when light of day Recedes, and float upon a sigh, To climb the...

Ballade for Trains They are no more, the whistles’ longing wails, Retreating like a stately, mournful queen. Where are the smokestacks that left fading trails, The blackened engine with its oiled sheen, Imposing in its tons, unfazed, serene, The ties in creosote, the polished rails? I hear their bell, and...