Poetry

. A Formalist Walks into a Bar... “Dear barkeep, give me something most unsweet,I like my drinks with an astringent bite.And please forego the rocks and make it neat,My sorrows this nepenthe soundly smites.” This gentleman was followed by a Greek,Who really loved his rhyming and technique. “Nepenthe? That elixir...

. Upon Learning of Trump's Conviction _America is big;__Does things in style:Like setting up a President__And rigging his trial. _America is small;__Does things with guile:No charge against the President---_Hey, not fair: senile! . . James Sale has had over 50 books published, most recently, “Mapping Motivation for Top Performing Teams” (Routledge,...

. Phone Home I often talk to radio astronomers, The kind of guys who like to stay anonymous, Who chew on reams of stellar data every day From objects, many million, zillion miles away. In England’s fields, we have the famous Jodrell Bank; This mighty dish could hold a thousand...

. God Knows Tomorrow’s torched and trampled on the street. __We hear the battle cry Of demons dancing to the Devil's beat __As truth and faith run dry. The skies are scorched with ever-rising heat __As hope and daylight die--- So where are we supposed to go from here? Our...

. Leopold and Loeb Or, the Consequences of Ideas A Frenchman’s thought-experiments Argued by Englishmen until A German stripped pure thought from sense; A second then conceived the will; And last, a third who said God died, Made will his god and from it sought The superman he prophesied--- Three...

. Out Walking I hear the heath alive to free A heart from hearthside reverie, _And with my rambling feet __Start out in stealth, Intent on sunnyside-up health _And daybreak flurry fleet. Let’s shake suburban dust from skirts, Stride gently when a sore knee hurts, _And circling our domain __Of...

. A Tiny Tabby Beside our garden’s scalloped fence, where English Ivy’s vines are dense, we viewed an unexpected sight; a mini tiger, gold and white! This morning’s new, bewildered guest, abandoned here and quite distressed, kept yowling panic-stricken sounds, surveying unfamiliar grounds. “Investigate!” demanded they who’ve never had to...

. The Devotee She moves from one devotion to the next, From this beloved statue to the text Of some obscure or justly famous saint Who’s good at whatsoever her complaint Parochial or personal may be That holds her in the grip of piety. No claim is made here that...

. I Saw a Naked Wood Nymph I sat down in the forest, a picnic in the shade. I saw a naked wood nymph flitting across the glade. I dropped my sandwich there laying on the ground. I went to chase the wood nymph; whose beauty was profound. I found...

. Rising with the Sap You would not call them blocks, those obscure streets Where people live. Their driftings trace the hem Of Manchester. I drove there once at dusk My windows down, in the sleepy perfume Of gardens and the insects’ dreamy jaw And passed a house whose screen...

. Surviving Caligula Setting: Caligula’s Palace, the Palatine Hill, Rome Date: 23 January 794 Ab urbe condita (41 A.D.) The Matter: A Praetorian Guard contemplates Rome’s future under the Emperor Caligula. This gladius---this dagger of sharp steel--- Has been my closest comrade since the reign Of Emperor Augustus. I can...

. Love and Vipers for Harrison Butker, the football player criticized for supporting traditional views of women in a commencement address How hated you are for proclaiming love---Not just your own, but love as sacrifice,Selfless and fruitful at once, that puts no priceOn what it builds, and draws strength from...

. Memorial Day, 1984 2024 “War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.”  ---George Orwell Today we honor those who gave their all In monstrous conflicts in the name of peace; Those who answered altruism’s call For war to build a world where all wars cease--- A lie that...

. The First and Usually Unspoken Rule of Great Writing The greatest rule of writing is to tell A truth, the truth if possible, within The scope of lines set out, to sound the knell Of honeyed feelings, not commit the sin Of telling things untrue, like showing men As heroes always...

. He Who Was Omnipotence, omniscience __and there’s omnipresence too. If you possess those qualities, __there’s nothing you can’t do. Be here and there, both now and then, __while acing each exam. And when you introduce yourself, __you’d say call me “I Am.” You’d be in tune with everything, __regardless...

. I Never Do a Happy Dance I never do a happy dance, Or look online to find romance, Speak my sentences upended, Or keep saying I’m offended, Check my email every hour, Never seeing tree or flower, Drink my coffee on the run, Keep myself out of the sun....

. Betrayal a villanelle Today she spied the shadow of a snake Slither through the spreading family tree--- A curse her startled heart finds hard to take. She heard this serpent hiss. Though wide awake A nightmare flared with fanged reality. Today she spied the shadow of a snake. She watched the burdened branches bend...

. View from the Beach after Robert Frost’s "A Cliff Dwelling" Here hazy seems the azure sky and azure seems the hazy sea. One lone gull lends an echoed cry somewhere out there, a longing call. A faint mirage that has a sail, a speck of white, a floating plea...

. The SCP has just learned of the passing of Canadian Member poet Lionel Willis on December 28, 2023. He had been contributing his work since 2021, starting after his wife passed away in 2020.  He is survived by his two sons and three grandchildren. The SCP sends its condolences...

. Eulogy to the First Ms. Brown or a Divine Comedy of Educators . To my aunt—the second daughter of three, And first to leave us just two years ago: I picture you once sitting on Grandpa's knee And asking him, where do our spirits go When they leave earth? I'm sure...

. 1. Just off the cuff, I’d cap the alcoholic swill __Before it calls your bluff and saps your will. . 2. The dead, although their tongues are somewhat tied, Might know already all you might confide. . 3. The past, its spoonful bittersweet, doesn’t let things slide; It’s at...

. Newman, Alone Newman, thirty, alone, asleep in bed, Groans, yearning for his mother, years now, dead--- Alive, her vivid female acts above Had served as lodestar for his childish love. The women he’d seduced, while far from God, were back to haunt his dreams, with sneers, eyes hard (He’d...

. Two Times Two Is Four Now Kierkegaard once wrote a book, __Entitled Either/Or, But for myself, I only know, __That two times two is four. For though the oceans brim with blood, __Foretold in ancient lore, The word still stands through bitter scorn, __That two times two is four....

. Unopened Letters Unopened letters strewn across the floor Addressed to me with your name on the back. Left where they fell inside my slotted door. A postal service-aided sneak attack. I step on them with smug indifference, Rejecting your repentance with distain. A callous disregard my best defense From...

. The Cleft There’s danger for the harmless dove; she swoops Into the cleft of the great mountainside. Her heartbeat calms as she keeps still and mute Surrounded by the rock where she abides. If from her hollow she looks to the vast Skies she sees her predator remains, But...

. Dandelions “...all the days of his vain life, which he passes like a shadow....” ---Ecclesiastes 6: 12 . ____As I stepped out one morning, ____I saw across the lawn ____A yellow audience watching ____The spreading light of dawn ____As last night’s black was turning ____To purple-pink.  The sun ____Was...

. Chelsea a true story from I Kissed Dating Goodbye by Joshua Harris “Behold not everybody's beauty: and tarry not among women.” ---Ecclesiasticus (Sirach) 42:12 That long-skirt, apple-pie brunette from Kansas Whose wholesomeness shone bright like Moses’ face… I could go on with praise for forty stanzas About her femininity...

. Miss Crespo’s Halloween Give me the daggers. The sleeping and the dead Are but as pictures; ‘tis the eye of childhood That fears a painted devil. —Shakespeare, Macbeth, Act II, Scene 2 Silhouettes in window panes, The flickering of a bluish light And paper demons in danse macabre: A...

. AI's Promise What is the latest ingenious ability makers have made out as mental agility? Smoothly unveiling the newest utility, __though it effusively services whims, it reveals our fragility __more than conclusively. Digital painting and digital writing and digital telephone management; lighting and quickly delighting on schedule, inviting and...

. King George III Declares War from Legends of Liberty, Volume 2 Note: The British have won a pyrrhic victory at Bunker Hill. King George, who has been showing some erratic personality quirks since being possessed by a roach (the Devil), heads to Parliament. Enlisting the aid of Col. Banastre...

. Dishing Out Advice Why are there always dishes in the sink? So lazy and undisciplined. You’d think they might show just a little more respect and know that household members will object. But there they are, just sitting in the way, with all their dirty pals, as if to...

. He Lied About His Age 'Twas May of nineteen seventeen, our country now at war. Will had decided to enlist, this great world to explore. His lifetime numbered sixteen years, he'd lie about his age, His build appeared near twenty, their questions he'd assuage. He fed and milked the...

. Saturn "When we have shuffled off this mortal coil" —Shakespeare "According to medieval thought, the worst planet was Saturn,  sponsor of death, destruction, darkness, and disaster." —Michael Ward When Saturn and his choking rings complete their toils, Malign, diseased senescence, smirking au revoir, Are we to shortly shuffle off...

. Rwanda, April 1994 Inside Nyamata Church the pews are piledwith clothes, the blood that drenched them dull and dry.What demon turned sane men and women wildwith bloodlust that ten thousand here would die? A long-historic grudge again saw light,a tribal discord fanned by men on airwho cried: “Our foes are...

. An Incomplete Account of How Things Are __From where I drift, One hundred meters from the shore, The elemental thunderous roar __That’s falling swift __Is but a sigh That whispers thoughts into my ear: Who am I, and, Why am I here? __The Lord is nigh, __But I admit,...

. Herman the Cripple A body helpless in deformity Was mine, though loving parents carried me Full seven years in sick infirmity, Then placed me in the monks’ academy. Their island abbey Reichenau became My home to nurture life, surrounded by The beautiful Lake Constance, Nature’s frame For all my...

. Go Woke, Go Broke Sports Illustrated’s prize was doing great. Big bucks each year from the swimsuit edition. But then it seemed keen to alienate Its loyal customers with a new mission--- Put old, or fat, or trans folks on the cover, With no idea that might be a...

. The Dead They’re pretty but the dopamine Has hollowed out their pale blue eyes. They sit there, staring, silent, numb, (They only need to move their thumb…) Intent upon the tiny screen. There’s no enjoyment, no surprise, Nor do they seem to realize They’re dead already at thirteen. ....

. And Yet We Wash Our Hands When Pilate saw that he was getting nowhere, butthat instead an uproar was starting, he took waterand washed his hands in front of the crowd. “I aminnocent of this man’s blood,” he said. “It is yourresponsibility!” ---Matthew 27:24. We Christians must take action.We...

. Music by Jeff Eardley . Look Homeward, Sweet Afton after Robert Burns Look homeward, Sweet Afton, back to thy green braes, Recalling with pride Britain’s glorious days. Then forward flow strongly, I pray thou restore The gallantry needed to fight one more war. This island of Tennyson, Milton and...