Poetry

. Dante Meets Paolo and Francesca: Canto V of Inferno by Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) translated by Stephen Binns And so from that first circle I went down __into the second, where there is less space __and much more grief, and toward a distant moan. There Minos grinds the teeth within...

. An Appeal I want to be a fiber on your loom, A constant fixture in your living room, A luscious morsel that you save for last. It's time for us to build a solid past, If only to secure a firm foundation Where we can play it loose and...

. Ageless Not in the golden mists of memory Nor in the colder mists of future years Shall I find love as true as yours for me--- A love so fair it banishes all fears. Your eyes, like sunlight, ever faithful gaze On all we’ve built and are. No clouds...

. The Ballad of Mrs. Pam Able Mrs. Pam Able was very unstable, And loved to be tied to her dining-room table. Her friends were appalled, many names she was called, For her fatal attraction for men who were bald. One day after yoga, still wearing her toga, She spotted...

. Could it be Love? a pantoum My wits are kissed. Could it be love? My brain is drained of all but you. I’m cuckoo as a cooing dove. I have an over-rosy view. My brain is drained of all but you. A giggle tickles tipsy lips. I have an...

. Odysseus Begs? He’s leaning on a Pluto niche machine: an ATM, balanced on his good leg— a fresh appearance in an ancient scene— a bandaged hand gropes slowly out to beg. Was he Odysseus, sail raised to breeze, carving current never plied before? Herodotus, or old Diogenes? Or mad...

. The Number 128: The Picnic “Let’s go on a picnic,” the older one said; “We’ll take tins of salmon and slices of bread.” “We’ll set up a table away from the trees” “And sit in the sunshine enjoying the breeze.” The younger disliked the idea and replied That beetles...

. The Signs I saw the signs, They read, This Way. I followed them For half a day, Until my feet grew tired, Whereat… I sat. I sat to rest, The time flew by Till all the birds Had left the sky. A million stars Above me played… I prayed....

. "Instructions Set in Bone" by Peter Lillios was first published by the Society of Classical Poets here. Now songwriter Joseph DeNatale has created a version with adapted lyrics below. . . Instructions Set in Bone (Music Lyrics) With my own knife, by my own hand, I carve these words...

. Extinction Event The sky burned black the day the giants died. A flaming mountain pierced the turquoise bay. When doomsday comes, the clever know to hide. The thunder woke a mammal safe inside the burrow where our pink-skinned forebears lay. The sky burned black the day the giants died....

. Pastoral Calls—Part 1 of 3 . Best Friends Three boys; best friends at school; now men with wives. Between them, seven children called them “Dad.” They drank, they drove too fast and lost their lives. “They were such good boys, too,” folks said. “How sad.” A hunting trip each...

. Morning Glory The morning mist at last has dissipated. The noonday sun is climbing to its height In cloudless skies of blue, where larks, elated, Fly round the day’s bright beaming crown of light. All earthbound creatures bow beneath the rays The sovereign sun on one and all bestows,...

. Sonnet to a Miracle upon reading the recent news story here.  They’ve named her Miracle, that new born child found in the earthquake’s rubble, still attached to she who gave her life though hers was snatched. A neighbour cut the cord and Fortune smiled upon this dusty innocent whose...

. Double Ballade of a Crusader by Conon de Béthune (c.1155–1219) translated by Margaret Coats It would be well to fight this zeal For making songs and penning poetry, Since I should conquer faults I feel, Leave her, best mistress of all gallantry (Through whom I ought to rectify my...

. That's Where the Edge of Darkness Waits Antifascist agitators Sprinkled among demonstrators. Demon leftist fraudulence, Tries to spread the violence. Communistic perpetrators Lowlife scum are your creators. Heard your tired refrain before, Wretched song that we abhor. Chaos is your closest goal So that you can take control. Criminal...

. Today Australia has announced that it will roll out a fifth dose of the Covid shot later this month. . Fat Cats and Lab Rats  The fat cats began with a scam of a plan To shame every pestilent spreader--- Lab rats galore are jabbed sore and then more....

. A Wild Horse Legacy: The Saga Begins is a 14-chapter narrative poem written by Michael Pietrack. In this excerpt, the young and fearful protagonist Abelbee receives guidance from his father, Baldwinbee.  “Imagine both a man and wild horse, a clash of strategy and will and force. The animal refuses...

. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDSWs61Ye0E . Sonnet XVIII of the Sacred Rhymes by Lope de Vega (1562-1635) translated by Martin Rizley What have I, that you’d seek me as a friend? What interest draws you, Jesus, to my door, All drenched with dew, as you have come before, In winter’s dark, the long...

Equilateral Proverbs: A Poetry Challenge by James A. Tweedie Construct a rhyming, rhythmic intelligible proverb or saying where the first and last words in each line rhyme. Twin couplets are preferred but not required. My examples alternate trochaic tetrameters and pentameters, but any form is acceptable so long as it...

. The Villainy of Icicles That sword of Damocles! That glacial Iago! A prism forged of ice, sharp and aloof; An icicle out of Doctor Zhivago Malevolently hanging from our roof... It waited for the perfect moment when I stood beneath it as I shoveled snow. The wind picked up....

. Fear for the Future When I ponder the future I get so distraught For the Leftists control Most production of thought. . . To Better Protect Democracy The WAPO and the New York Times Should move all their reporters, Into the Democratic Party’s National headquarters. . . Loss of...

. Trust My life unfolds as time goes by. Some days I laugh. Some nights I cry. I yearn for peace, as all folks do. When stress prevails, my doubts accrue. Grim darkness lures my peace and hope. From deep inside, I strain to cope. Life’s peaks are tall, its...

. A House Divided Against Itself A rondeau redoublé inspired by Dennis Prager's piece here.  In troubled times this will take place: A war of words, a cruel riposte; Deep truths that bleeding hearts won’t face So they destroy what matters most. The past saw children raise a toast To...

. The City, 1852 by Hans Theodor Woldsen Storm (1817-1888) translated by Dusty Grein Past the gray beach, beside the gray sea, lies a wondrous gray city of old. Heavy fog blankets the roofs all around and in silence, the sea roars quite bold. No rustling of trees in the...

. The Shadow of My Sorrow As soon as day has dawned and night is done, The shadow of my sorrow follows me, Outgrows the shape by which it came to be, Consuming it when night is new begun; And being my likeness, how can I outrun My other self,...

. Church Mice a sonnet corona  There is a tale that’s writ in German history. A church was passed each Sunday by a train. Its death-knell whistle blew as it flew swiftly To Hell as stricken souls shrieked out in vain. These yells were muffled by the lusty singing Of...

. Time Travel I chance upon a sylvan glade, an Orphic place: moon threads, a lace of nightkin shadows. A trill of breeze awakes the guardian trees, live oaks in gowns of moss, tall runes of pine. I hear the soft slow sound of fairy rings, up from the inner...

. Carnivore Picks a Fight and Vegan Responds . CARNIVORE O man vegetarian with lifestyle agrarian, You’ve fallen as prey to a scam! We advise you to eat, every day, ample meat: Fish and beef, pork and chicken and lamb. VEGAN O great busybody, condescending and snotty, Your words are...

. Castile by Miguel de Unamuno (Spain, 1864-1936)translated by Cheryl A. Corey O Castile! You raise me up in the rugged palm of your hand;To the sky that burns, that cools, that holds you under its command. A mother of hearts and arms for a land that’s sinewy, lean, and clear;Who...

. The Snuff Box from a true story told in My Mother by Fr. Bernard Vaughan (1847-1922) When I was just a little boy, My mother served us shepherd’s pie. We thirteen children sniffed with joy, With statue faces, on the sly. But quenching hunger was my goal, So while...

The Best Poems of 2022: Winners of the 11th Annual SCP International Poetry Competition Judges Joseph S. Salemi, James Sale, Evan Mantyk Past First Place Winners James A. Tweedie (2021) Susan Jarvis Bryant (2020) Joseph Charles MacKenzie (2019) Adam Sedia (2018) C.B. Anderson (2017) James Sale (2016) Ron L. Hodges...

. First Place ($200 Prize) Christiana Thomas, homeschooled 12th grade student in Oregon. "Worth Disguised" . Second Place Laurel Aronian, 10th grade student at St. Luke’s School in Connecticut. "The Fluctuations of Modernity and Antiquity" Claire He, 11th grade student at Carmel High School, Indiana. “For the French Revolution” ....

. Disemboguement You woke something deep within me, not at first sight, but the second: When distractions ceased to spin me, my eyes focused; your eyes beckoned--- sheer perfection then I reckoned you to be, and this not idly, but explosively and widely; __doubt and reservation crumbled in a heap....

. So Close By At one point I was told that I Was purposely created by Some perfect being in the sky Who watches as I live and die. If that was true, I wondered why When perched atop His throne up high He’d let creation go awry; I asked...

. Love and Loss: Poems for Viktoria Sokoli . Love I I once loved a girl called Viktoria Sokoli With eyes of the colour of spinach and broccoli. Her skin was as soft and as smooth as a peach; Her breasts left me utterly robbed of all speech. Her thighs...

. Comfort I gaze upon the endless sea against high cliffs, on golden sand— her everlasting majesty. Through ages rolling wild and grand, oblivious to time and space, against high cliffs, on golden sand. Her every mood my cares erase— there’s healing in each surge and flow, oblivious to time...

. Media You told us lies, ignored our cries. __Your platforms you abused. You cancelled truth; you damaged youth, __And we are not amused. You took big bites from human rights, __Dissenting voices choked. With their decree Docs must agree, __Or licences revoked. But you can’t hide the great divide,...

. Canto 8: Covid-Priest from The English Cantos Volume 2: StairWell StairWell is the Poet’s Purgatory, and as in HellWard where we met with contemporary challenges such as Brexit, so here in StairWell the Poet, led on by his guides Dante and Virgil, runs into another---Covid.  …With Dante facing a...

. To an Eager Lover This isn’t an unreasonable demand: you have to learn my story with your hands. As a man, you naturally want to know a woman in the way you know the world: from start to finish, everything in a row. But knowledge isn’t wisdom; in my...

. Practical Philosophy The mind is meant to lead the body, And not the other way around. Permit no workmanship that’s shoddy, And build foundations plumb and sound. The godless, too, exalt their gods, Though often in the guise of science. Like little peas in brittle pods, Their order suffers...