Poetry

. Six Great Dramatic Monologues by Robert Browning by Brian Yapko The dramatic monologue is a unique type of poem: the poet enters the mind of a specific character---usually historic or literary---and then crafts the poem to be entirely in that character’s voice. This allows for many types of monologues,...

  In Advent Stillness In Advent stillness and its purpled nightsWe turn within and with a solemn gazeConsider well our soul’s more reconditeAnd sundry impulses: the many waysBy which we hamper grace’s sweet releaseAnd godly intuitions misappraise.Within that holy mood we sense the ceaseOf wayward thoughts, the birth of something...

. Motherly Motives ---of the 5% of American women with 5 or more children The greater good is motherhood. Let wealth be vast and health ideal, These blessings are not understood To be too much. The dear appeal Of children overfills the heart With precious pearls of joy that seal...

. Telepathy Your reticence to speak is no deterrent To my delight to be in your vicinity--- Presence and chatter need not be concurrent; Lack of the latter won’t change my affinity For your dark liquid eyes: I’d rather plumb Their depths at leisure, while your lips are dumb. ....

. In a Twenty-minute Tuk-tuk Ride That day, the river of our luck had dried. No taxis. Air-conditioned buses crammed with half the town. Just when I said, "We're dammed," a tuk-tuk by the roundabout defied my words. Its backseat, partly occupied by an old couple, still contained enough capacity...

. The Bar ---after Lord Alfred Tennyson's "Crossing the Bar" The sail is set, the breeze is strong. I pray the crossing won’t take long. My Pilot knows these waters well. But time and tide no man can tell. The time ashore has been fulfilled. Frenetic searching soon be stilled....

. Dragons Lost at Sea In salty seas green dragons fly the waves, With plastic scales—a man-made guard from rot. Submerged to sleep in rocky water caves; Bereft of flames they blow and bubble not. A cargo ship of Lego spilt the lot, And tiny bricks are drifting round the...

. I No Longer See It on Mulberry Street I used to walk home from school each day, then report back to Pop, what I saw on my way. I'd imagine all sorts of things wondrous and neat, in my mind, with my brain, on old Mulberry Street. But now...

. Galileo Under Confinement Scene: Florence, 1636 AD. In the third year of his life imprisonment (as sentenced by the Holy Inquisition) Galileo Galilei---now 71---poses at his prison-home for the Flemish painter Justus Sustermans. Signore Artist, may we stop and rest? Remember, I’m not young. Give me your hand. Some...

. Notre Dame Re-Opens To touch this holiness we have no right, Nor did we earn the privilege to restore Its grandeur. Bringing anguished hearts to soar, We purge remembrance of one fiery night. No lives were lost—these living aisles of light May shock our visitors as we adore God’s...

. Variation on a Poem by Blok How hard it is to walk among the living And make like you are not already dead, And speak up apropos of life’s misgiving To generations shrouded out ahead. And, looking straight into your own bad dreams, How hard to find peace in...

. Offerings of the Heart A Symbolic Poem . The songs of Yamato From seeds of healing sprout As offerings of our hearts, And if ever hurt we feel, Swiftly songs arise; Heard by hearts, we heal. For one need not to heal, From voices heard that hurt, Could we...

. Fake Sales “Fifty Percent Off”The store signs all say,But I have to scoff---There is simply no wayThat the clothes I picked outFrom the “sale” in that store,Were---on this there’s no doubt---Ever one penny more. . . Didn’t Look There I looked everywhere,But it was no place,Except for right there---In...

. Meditation on Herbert’s “Church Monuments” "…Mark, here below, How tame these ashes are, how free from lust, That thou mayst fit thyself against thy fall." —George Herbert, “Church Monuments” In the Sinai death is mummified— A corpse is a brittle puppet in the sand. Men remember dust, and ash...

. After the Snow The snow fell through the night, night-long, The deepest snowfall of the year. By dawn it covered everything, Pearl gray unfolding everywhere As light leaked inward from beyond Through curtained distances of gauze. Since there was hardly any wind Snow-feathers fell straight down in bars, White,...

. On the Death of a Child To lose a child is tragic, yet those winks to tenderness, to bonding, still exist as memories, creating lasting links twixt parent and the prematurely missed. The day of birth; the constant nightly bawl; the downy smell of innocence; the cry for mother’s...

. Meditation 1 “Grace has drawn nigh to mouths, once blasphemous, and has made them harps; sounding praise.” ---Homily on Our Lord, (1) "Let your speech always be with grace." ---Colossians 4.6 Grace wields transforming power. Not even speech is free from its effects. Diffusing from a sin-cleansed soul, renewing...

. Roofless Church The stone-hewn walls, No window sash. No pews, no halls. Burnt logs, damp ash. The roof, vanished. No organ flues. Shaped block, granite, And endless view. Above, hawks soar. No bells to chime. No wooden floors. The rasp of time. No stained-glass panes. A Celtic cross. Stony...

. American Espionage and the Soviet Target I was assigned to Russia as an Army attaché— A legal spy who operated every single day. The era of the Soviets was run by KGB. Just one uncareful step and then they'd get ahold of me. Our target was in Rovno, where...

. "It Just So Happens" Dark creatures prowl the islands of the mind On silent paw, as panthers in the night; Two em'rald eyes, and shadow intertwine To weave a myst'ry with the curved moon's light. We sail our craft across this vast expanse Of island-speckled seas, in search of...

. When Poems Are Lyrics and Vice Versa by James A. Tweedie Lyrics are poems written to join with music to form a unity in the hope that the two together will transcend what either the words or music can achieve by themselves, alone. Sometimes, the music is composed first...

. When Fervid Female Stoops to Folly after Goldsmith’s “When lovely woman stoops to folly” When fervid female stoops to folly and starts insisting she is male, proclaiming that she’s Paul, not Polly, she’s bought a lie beyond the pale. Can happiness stem from such a fable? No. Bodies are...

. Speak Loud God's Praise ---to the tune of Ellacombe ("I Sing the Mighty Power of God") Speak loud the praise of God most high!__Give thanks for He is good!Let those who know His power to save__Be first to speak the word.God’s power is seen in ocean depths.__The surging waters...

. Lamb and Lion God spoke and caused a great commotion, putting time and space in motion. Nothing is now, or was ever not a part of His endeavor. That’s why He’s the Great I Am. The stars proclaim His boundless glory, but instead, it’s our small story that’s the...

. Black Friday Before Christmas Many of the stories are real ones from the Internet. ‘Twas the month before Christmas right after Thanksgiving.I ate lots of turkey. I really was living.I decided to go to the big shopping mallTo buy gifts in advance that would this year enthrall.The parking was...

. Fair Game on Thanksgiving Day Please tell me if you think I’ve crossed a line by unremittingly abusing you with strings of salty words not rightly mine but borrowed from a wicked man I knew who’d done some time in prison. If it seems the treatment you’ve received is...

. The Greatest Gift of All To wake and find I still can see and feel And know deep down what is and isn’t real. To weep when all I’ve planned is ground to sand Yet somehow find once more the strength to stand. To hold my tongue despite a...

. Celestial Potatoes Thanksgiving morning, poised I stand: near cutting board, honed knife in hand. My self-taught method must suffice: ten pounds of tubers, peel and dice, pot-boil, purée with whipping cream. They grace the table, reign supreme, snow-white, and soft as forest-moss, upstaging bird and cranberry sauce. If Heaven’s...

. Book Reviewed: Uttering the Unutterable: Aristotle, Religion, and Literature by Louis Groarke, McGill-Queen's University Press, 2023 by Margaret Coats Literature is shortchanged in the modernist and postmodern sphere of professors and critics. Traditional literary forms, including formal verse, tend to be ignored or devalued. The idea of a literary...

. https://youtu.be/ayfBdVJxeKk . . Andrew Benson Brown's epic-in-progress, Legends of Liberty, chronicles the major events of the American Revolution. He writes history articles for American Essence magazine and resides in Missouri. Watch his Classical Poets Live videos here.

. Election Correction Newsome, Whitmer, Pritzker, Hockel, Murphy Have a strange idea of how things should be. Then, of course, there’s Minnesota’s Walz Simply watching folks destroy their malls. This is not the country that I knew, Only one that I had come to rue. Not the land or home...

. Ode to the Dogs Puppy to playmate they bring us much joy whether sleeping or hunting for favorite toys. Mischief abounds while they teethe and make noise as we patiently groom their behavioral ploys. Rapid maturity seven-to-one amidst training and gaining of loyalty won with sincere admiration and mutual...

. Samhain Behind the turning leaves a red-breast peeks,In light dim-lit by mists on Samhain dawn;The earth is churned by drumming, grubbing beaks,Before the frosts are hard and food is worn.In orange landscapes washed in autumn rain,Hang soggy gloves that dance on windy lines.Soft bobbing fruits are tricks and treats...

. The Ballad of Mark and P’Nut The lamp is lit, computer’s on, __My coffee has been brewed. I scroll to find the harrowing tale, __The story millions viewed. At twelve o’clock, October’s end, __A rap upon the door, Mark opened it and six armed men __Tackled him to the...

. Madrigal à la Tasso The surface of the lake reflects the flight _Of one and then another swan; _How it would add to my delight __To know where each has gone, _As when, my love, I look upon Those rapid thoughts which pass from left to right _Across the...

. The Lop-Sided House A lop-sided house on the edge of a cliff; A family trying so hard to be nice As their eavesdropping neighbors spy, wondering if They can catch every word said on every device. The father’s been threatened. He can’t speak his mind, And mother’s been ordered...

. Lady Agnew of Lochnaw, Loved by the Viewer and the Baronet The lady wanted prettiness and style. (The artist wanted pounds.) The chintz Gave both her wants. A “quizzical half-smile” Invites a conversation, or it hints At that. Chiffon hides shoulders, who knows why? Her breasts are also secret...

. Underfoot Fescue and clover: A luxuriant carpet Fit for a king’s feet. . . Murder They take noisy flight, Leaving the harvest’s stubble To hungry field mice. The crows will not make a sound When they return for the mice. . . Hunger _Silent and stately, The prince of...

. Montana High School Reunion The big fella who grew up in Butte, Claimed his high school sweetheart was so cute, __Going back would be grand __A reunion was planned So he went out and bought costly boots. He came thinking about his old lover, But as soon as he...

. Contemplative Days A sky of dim and pale display __Brings forth late autumn calm. "A restful peace," it seems to say; __My soul receives the balm. The faded leaves of golden tint __Which cover thick the ground Disguise a path with subtle hint __Of hibernation mound. A tepid sun...