Poetry

. Paperbark Maples The leaves grow bright with dew; the trunks grow dark. A contrapuntal autumn morning stirs. The smoothest trees are wrapped with crumpled bark and up above, the play of breezes spurs a brimming sparkle in the air. A dash of pepper accents smells of fresh-cut grass. Bouquets...

. Winter’s Bed Ere the sun should spread its beams We sleep and pray for candied dreams. An angel to the bedpost flits As hours pass beneath our lids. Should baby cry, then mother’s kindness Gracefully restores the silence Whilst we wait for half past eight And day to come...

. Dublin Swans “Wholly serene and sure, with regal composure, allows himself to glide.” ---Rainer Maria Rilke, “The Swan” I stop to watch the swans swim by, __Through lily pads they pass. Mounds of rubbish clog the water __That winds through clumps of grass. The birds float by so leisurely,...

. Free Verse as Nightmare Surrealism “I thirst for new songs without moons or irises, and without loves that have died.”  ---Lorca, New Songs (Cantos Nuevos) Who doesn’t?  But the problem is the songs Aren’t songs.  Once irises and moons are gone, We  suffer dreck.  Where poetry belongs, We get...

. Prodigious Dreams Let not these Autumn notes lead you amiss. Autumn, indeed, is come (the signs are all around). This aging empire wanes, its fall accelerates: decay effects abyss. Our Winter now approaches, precipice we didn’t foresee. Our legacy? A squall that confiscates our children’s wherewithal! Still, as we...

. Knock, Knock! ---free speech in the UK is dead Three more children stabbed---a country mourning The murdering of minors by the score. Opine online---ignore the hate-speech warning--- And fascist fuzz will knock upon your door With fists of iron balled in churlish horror. What gall the masses have to...

. Dante Enters Hell: Canto III of Dante's Inferno by Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) translated by Stephen Binns THROUGH ME YOU REACH THE CITY OF LAMENT. __THROUGH ME YOU PASS TO EVERLASTING PAIN. __THROUGH ME YOU GO WHERE ALL LOST SOULS ARE SENT. HIGH JUSTICE MOVED MY MAKER. THIS DOMAIN __WAS...

. Washington Assumes Command at Cambridge from Legends of Liberty, Volume 3 Devoted Billy Lee, a stalking fox, Observed his master’s swaying ponytail. The ribbon coming loose, he stopped to fix It, leaning sideways on the narrow trail As Washington, colossal, sat astraddle. On reaching Cambridge to assume command, This...

. But Who Am I? “But Moses said to God, ‘Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?’” ---Exodus 3: 11 God, did I hear you right?  Did you tell me (But who am I?) to lead...

. Sicilian Samurai circa 1700 He made a startling, militant request To journey to Japan—strange land long closed To foreign influence. The Pope’s behest Asked that authorities be unopposed— But how to know, if not to make the test? Giovanni Battista Sidotti, thirty-five, Saw Africa and India in a year,...

. Regime Change Banana republics are known for how they Take power from rulers and give it away To those who the country’s Deep State might prefer— Regardless of whether the people concur. Regime-change transitions can sometimes seem deft, While behind the scenes it’s more rightly called theft. And like...

. The Outdoor Concert ---Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra at Wilton House, 2004 The long thick winding snake must stretch two hundred paces, Of early birds in haste to grab the nicest places, Buy programmes, chat. Their eager smiles creased wide on faces, With open gates, they rush to bag their favoured...

. Beltane Dream Did I pass that way in dreams or waking? For truthfully, it seems to me a dream: Fields of yellow through the green hills breaking, The Hawthorn blowing incandescent steam Through the greenwood, ghostly in the hedges. Across the glassy river running green, Willows reach from muddy...

. Chasing Time  "But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not...

. Postmodernism and Poetry: Final Disintegration and Hope for Renewal “The only way forward from Postmodernism is as a reaction against it—not a reaction in the sense of destruction (what could be more Postmodernist than destruction of destruction?), but reaction as 'backing away from the edge.' Postmodernism is the abyss...

. Cold Blooded Murder It is a hot and muggy Sort of Texas day. Time to do my stalking And hunting down my prey. I’m armed and dangerous. My weapon I half-hide. When killing I am cautious And patiently abide. The blood flows to my eyes. I sharply squint to...

. The Loons of Colby Lake a true story As thawing white gave way to budding green, two loons upon the lake would mark the Spring, and they would build their nest, then teach their young how life was lived and how a song was sung. The male was velvet...

. The Faltering In time the sharpest mind begrimes with rust and memories are flaked from softened steel. Beliefs once clutched and voiced in utter trust now falter and befog in weakened zeal. The brilliance once displayed now cracks like crust and any efforts to reheal unseal. The process always...

. Like Him "But we all, with unveiled faces, looking as in a mirror at the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit." ---2 Corinthians 3.18 ___The soul yearns forSo many things which are so...

. The Lighthouse In honor of the Thridrangar Lighthouse and the intrepid men who built it. Alone it stands, perched high atop a rock That rises from a tossing, troubled sea. It crowns that lofty tower which, round the clock, Is thrashed by crashing waves relentlessly. Resisting wind and rain...

. Boycott the Bullies ---a pantoum for the real women boxers at the Paris Olympics Don’t let a slappy chap punch out your lights. Refuse the bruise of hairy rounds with guys. It’s time to block woke blokes from female fights Before they’re holding every golden prize. Refuse the bruise...

. Back-Door Pastoral Apologies to all you urbanites, To decent people who prefer to live Amidst the noise with far too many lights, Who find it much too easy to forgive The traffic and the mendicants who claim They have no home.  I’m saddened to announce That swamps and urban...

. . Patton on the Lipizzaner Horses  I’m certain that I’ve done all this before: I’ve hid old frescoes, ordered statues buried, Helped salvage idols for some ancient nation, Saved remnants of a lost civilization: The works of Hannibal, crusader-lore, Old icons that I rescued and then carried To safety...

. The 2024 Olympics . I. Excusez-moi, s’il vous plait, But having seen your lewd display, I’ve chosen not to watch your Games; Despite too late, half-hearted claims Attempting to equivocate, As if to merely celebrate The gluttony of Dionysus; And thereby hide your true blasphemous Effrontery. I draw the...

. Ephemeral Our lives are like a summer’s day So swift, so swift, it flies away. A butterfly that’s newly born The brief blush of an early dawn. That’s all it is and all ‘twill be A mere blink in eternity. And yet we try so hard to leave An...

. Beauty Flowers are the faded stars that fall from silver skies, Raindrops are the sacred tears that leak from angel eyes. The wind is but a melody the gods bestow to earth, The sunrise is an ember that has dropped from heaven’s hearth. Beauty has a language; if you...

. In the Shade There Meekly Grows a Plant urushiol (yoo-roo-shee-awl) is the name of the compound in poison ivy that causes allergic reactions. In the shade there meekly grows a plant With roots that hold on gently to loose soil. In spring it rises up because it can’t Contain...

. When I Have Penned My Final Thoughts _When Ihave penned my final thoughts and left to meet_the sky,don't organize my table; let the sheet,the thumbtacks, and the cartridge pen lie there;let them assume I've gone to get some air. _Don't switchthe desk lamp off. Its glow will reach me...

. Cracks in the Ground Today the mourning parish bells have pealed. Men broke the dirt with family gathered round, And sang the songs of Heaven while we kneeled. __Now we make these cracks in the ground. I stand atop that hill of graven stones. Before me sits the aging...

. Three Small Tabs Upon the men’s room wall at church, A flyer’s there for men who search For healing after an abortion Served to them, their awful portion. I glanced and saw in that display That three small tabs were ripped away. Three grieving fathers, pain untold For children...

. The Winner and Runner-ups are listed HERE. WHO Anyone in the world, of any age or background, may participate (SCP Membership not required). Among members of the Society of Classical Poets, everyone including Advisory Board members may participate, if not involved in judging the contest. The winner, if not...

. Centaury The clear night sky spreads wide a tapestry of beauty in the stars that shimmer all throughout the cosmic exhibition hall. In every age mankind has looked to see and wonder at the might  and mystery to be discovered there. Wrapped in the thrall of such majestic beauty,...

. The Psychopath Addresses the Ladies Auxiliary of the Mental Ward "When an inner situation is not made conscious, it appears outside as fate."  —C.G. Jung "Physician, heal thyself."  —Luke 4:23 1. Ladies, cease your mindless chatter Lest I take a club and shatter Your thick skulls and leave you...

. Cat Contentment The cat begins his yawn by curling out His pinkest tongue tip as his lips begin To part.  His faith in comfort is devout. Disturbing his furred sleepiness is sin. At least that seems to be the message of His silent tongue which furls up towards God....

. Evensong “It’s your Church, Lord, I’m going to bed.” ---Evening Prayer of Pope St. John XXIII I know you’re there, so don’t pretend You’re off somewhere, removed, remote, Preoccupied with greater needs And folks who’ve done far greater deeds Than I might ever hope to float Your way as...

. . If You Want to Get Someone’s Attention If you want to get someone's attention, then whisperor commit a mistake that continues the momentfor a little bit longer---a smudge on the glisteris the proof that the moment was golden; you know,__if you want to get someone's attention... be resourceful,...

. Questions of Legacy First the things we remember—Grandma’s laugh shaking a tablecloth, fixing blue eyes __on children next to steaming pies, or Grandpa’s smothering hug, his rumbling cough before a solemn speech, his ripsaw snore; or lengthening hall light flooding the bedspread as a door widened, a stooped shadow’s...

. Washington Departs from Mount Vernon from Legends of Liberty, Volume 3 “Wouldn’t you rather stay?” Watching her doveOf sixteen summers, Martha’s hazels, tearingAway from patriarchal pupils, doveBelow to scan the roses. Turning, tearingUp, she observed the clear Potomac wind.Pale bluish grays, so often hard as lead,Had softened, tracking her...

. A Heroic Crown of Sonnets in Honor of the Ever Virgin . ---1st Mystery: The Prophecy of Isaiah . The Timeless Song The timeless song of her virginity, Intoned by holy angels, signifies The consecration to the Trinity Of her who godly grandeur glorifies. As font of Christian being...

. Festal Flourish ---on a country festival, by Roman poet Tibullus (55-19 BC), translated by Margaret Coats All here may help to cleanse these fruits and fields! The rite transmits our wise grandparents’ lore. Sweet Bacchus, dangle grapes from horns and hills; Dear Ceres, gird your brows and plains with...