• Submit Poetry
  • Support SCP
  • About Us
  • Members
  • Join
Saturday, September 5, 2026
Society of Classical Poets
  • Poems
    • Beauty
    • Culture
    • Satire
    • Humor
    • Children’s
    • Art
    • Ekphrastic
    • Epic
    • Epigrams and Proverbs
    • Human Rights in China
    • Music
    • Performing Arts
    • Riddles
    • Science
    • Song Lyrics
    • The Environment
    • The Raven
    • Found Poems
    • High School Poets
    • Terrorism
    • Covid-19
  • Poetry Forms
    • Sonnet
    • Haiku
    • Limerick
    • Villanelle
    • Rondeau
    • Pantoum
    • Sestina
    • Triolet
    • Acrostic
    • Alexandroid
    • Alliterative
    • Blank Verse
    • Chant Royal
    • Clerihew
    • Rhupunt
    • Rondeau Redoublé
    • Rondel
    • Rubaiyat
    • Sapphic Verse
    • Shape Poems
    • Terza Rima
  • Great Poets
    • Geoffrey Chaucer
    • Emily Dickinson
    • Homer
    • Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
    • Dante Alighieri
    • John Keats
    • John Milton
    • Edgar Allan Poe
    • William Shakespeare
    • William Wordsworth
    • William Blake
    • Robert Frost
  • Love Poems
  • Contests
  • SCP Academy
    • Educational
    • Teaching Classical Poetry—A Guide for Educators
    • Poetry Forms
    • The SCP Journal
    • Books
No Result
View All Result
Society of Classical Poets
  • Poems
    • Beauty
    • Culture
    • Satire
    • Humor
    • Children’s
    • Art
    • Ekphrastic
    • Epic
    • Epigrams and Proverbs
    • Human Rights in China
    • Music
    • Performing Arts
    • Riddles
    • Science
    • Song Lyrics
    • The Environment
    • The Raven
    • Found Poems
    • High School Poets
    • Terrorism
    • Covid-19
  • Poetry Forms
    • Sonnet
    • Haiku
    • Limerick
    • Villanelle
    • Rondeau
    • Pantoum
    • Sestina
    • Triolet
    • Acrostic
    • Alexandroid
    • Alliterative
    • Blank Verse
    • Chant Royal
    • Clerihew
    • Rhupunt
    • Rondeau Redoublé
    • Rondel
    • Rubaiyat
    • Sapphic Verse
    • Shape Poems
    • Terza Rima
  • Great Poets
    • Geoffrey Chaucer
    • Emily Dickinson
    • Homer
    • Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
    • Dante Alighieri
    • John Keats
    • John Milton
    • Edgar Allan Poe
    • William Shakespeare
    • William Wordsworth
    • William Blake
    • Robert Frost
  • Love Poems
  • Contests
  • SCP Academy
    • Educational
    • Teaching Classical Poetry—A Guide for Educators
    • Poetry Forms
    • The SCP Journal
    • Books
No Result
View All Result
Society of Classical Poets
No Result
View All Result
Home Art

The Red Dragon Slayer

September 23, 2012
in Art, Poetry
A A
0
poems The Red Dragon Slayer

In the picture above, a Chinese citizen writes the words “Tui Dang” (literally “Quit Party”) signifying his resignation from the Chinese Communist Party. Since the publishing of the “Nine Commentaries on the Communist Party” by the Chinese language edition of The Epoch Times in November, 2004, Chinese people have been posting statements proclaiming their resignation from the Chinese Communist Party. (Artwork by Illustrator:Lam)

 

By Evan Mantyk

 

I.

The red dragon dives through the night,
It eats or kills those below,
Seems like sixty years without light,
The scared man approaches slow.

II.

Twilight village, quiet morning,
His statement on a wall hangs,
The first daylight soon adorning,
“I quit your communist gang.”

III.

Police bang hard at his locked door,
A baby begins to cry,
An empty dish breaks on the floor,
No one bothers to ask, “Why?”

IV.

Burning flesh and muffled screams fill
Communist labor camp walls,
Trying in vain to break his will,
Outside, red leaves start to fall.

V.

Looking straight in the dragon’s eyes,
Others all run away fast,
In its mouth a poor victim dies,
The man’s thoughts of death have passed.

VI.

The camp guard looks in the man’s eyes,
Brave blood stuck on his pale face,
The sickened guard tries not to cry,
“Let’s get him out of this place!”

VII.

Half alive on a Beijing street,
Two directions one might go,
Already on his shoeless feet,
What good is a sword that’s slow?

VIII.

Bright village on a bustling day,
Returning like an old soul,
Everyone has something to say,
Twenty statements on the wall.

IX.

How easy it seems to remove
The red dragon’s ugly head,
Looking back now it seems to prove,
The fear was all in his head.

poems The Red Dragon Slayer
(Illustrator:Lam)
ShareTweetPin
The Society of Classical Poets does not endorse any views expressed in individual poems or commentary.
Read Our Comments Policy Here

RandomPoems

‘Circles,’ a Sestina by Jack DesBois
Poetry

Beatrice Departs, St. Bernard Arrives: Canto XXXI of Dante’s Paradise, Translated by Stephen Binns

February 8, 2026

  Beatrice Departs, St. Bernard Arrives: Canto XXXI of Paradise by Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) translated by Stephen Binns It was...

Four Poems for the Fourth of July
Beauty

Four Poems for the Fourth of July

July 4, 2018

Two Lives by Michael Maibach When soldiers die, They give two lives. The one they had, And the one denied....

Next Post

An Abandoned Garden

Refreshing Realism: Shaun Downey

Refreshing Realism: Shaun Downey

Tang Poetry: The Gan Yu

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *


  1. jd on ‘Morning Glory’: A Poem by T.M. MooreSeptember 5, 2026

    I loved this poem when I first read it and I still do. One of the things I like best…

  2. Paul Freeman on ‘Chaucer Announces His Desire to Retire’: A Poem by Paul A. FreemanSeptember 5, 2026

    Thanks, MJ. Appreciated. Able was I ere I saw Elba. Another use for 'ere', in the sentence above that reads…

  3. James A. Tweedie on ‘A Potpourri of Aphoristic Verses’ by C.B. AndersonSeptember 5, 2026

    As a P.S. I prefer to rhyme "potpourri" with "hot glory".

  4. James A. Tweedie on ‘A Potpourri of Aphoristic Verses’ by C.B. AndersonSeptember 5, 2026

    Nobody is as clear and terse As C.B.s aphoristic verse. Like Shakespeare’s poor Polonius Such pithiness inspires us. So borrow…

  5. Alice V. Brock on The Society of Classical Poets 2026 Haiku CompetitionSeptember 5, 2026

    Making corrections in my second entry, Fly Away Hard sticks, soft feathers Busy robin feeding all Wings spread - fly…

Subscribe to Daily Poems

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 1,635 other subscribers

Recent Poems

  • ‘Victory’: A Poem by Jonathan Graver
  • ‘The Cristero Centennial’: A Poem by Margaret Coats
  • ‘A Potpourri of Aphoristic Verses’ by C.B. Anderson
  • ‘The Estuary’: A Poem by Jeff Eardley
  • ‘A World Without the Wednesday Child’: A Poem by Kimberly Fore
  • The 2026 Society of Classical Poets International Poetry Competition
  • The 2026 SCP International High School Poetry Competition
  • ‘Realistic Reflections’ and Other Poetry by Anna J. Arredondo
  • ‘China Made’: A Poem by Theresa Werba
  • ‘The Savage Moon’ and Other Poetry by Brian Yapko
  • Poetry Book Review: Love Found, Yearned For, and Lost by James A. Tweedie
  • ‘When Opportunity Knocks’: A Poem by Roy E. Peterson
  • ‘Legend of the Griffin’: A Poem by Iryna Hall
  • ‘Government Issue’ and Other Poems by Joseph S. Salemi
  • ‘Chaucer Announces His Desire to Retire’: A Poem by Paul A. Freeman
  • ‘Advantages of Restaurants’ and Other Poems by Russel Winick
  • ‘Bone China’: A Poem by Mary Gardner
  • ‘On the Death of One Too Young to Die’: A Poem by Jeffrey Essmann
  • ‘This Too Shall Pass’ and Other Poetry by Justin Dasher
  • ‘Humdrum and Harum-Scarum’: A Lecture on Free Verse, by Robert Bridges (1922)
  • ‘Unrest On the Floodplain’: A Poem by Bhikkhu Nyanasobhano
  • ‘Latitude and Loss’: A Poem by Martin Briggs
  • ‘Act III’ and Other Poetry by C.B. Anderson
  • ‘God’s Funeral’: A Poem by James Sale
  • ‘Star Festival’: A Poem by Margaret Coats
  • ‘Song of the Frog Princess’: A Poem by Scharlie Meeuws
  • ‘The Odyssey: Nolan and Solot Compared’: An Essay by Michael Curtis
  • ‘Solitude’ and Other Poems by Mary Jane Myers
  • ‘The River Not Taken’ and Other Poetry by Brian Yapko
  • ‘Totentanz’: A Poem by James A. Tweedie

Categories

  • Acrostic
  • Alexandroid
  • Alliterative
  • Art
  • Best Poems
  • Blank Verse
  • Chant Royal
  • Classical Poets Live
  • Clerihew
  • Covid-19
  • Deconstructing Communism
  • Educational
  • Epic
  • Epigrams and Proverbs
  • Essays
    • Interviews with Poets
    • Poetry Reviews
  • Featured
  • From the Society
  • Great Poets
    • Dante Alighieri
    • Edgar Allan Poe
    • Emily Dickinson
    • Geoffrey Chaucer
    • Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
    • Homer
    • John Keats
    • John Milton
    • Robert Frost
    • William Blake
    • William Shakespeare
    • William Wordsworth
  • Human Rights in China
  • Limerick
  • Love Poems
  • Music
  • Pantoum
  • Performing Arts
  • Poetry
    • Beauty
    • Children's Poems
    • Culture
    • Ekphrastic
    • Found Poems
    • High School Poets
    • Humor
    • Riddles
  • Poetry Challenge
  • Poetry Contests
  • Poetry Forms
    • Curtal Sonnet
    • Haiku
  • Poetry Readings
  • Rhupunt
  • Rondeau
  • Rondeau Redoublé
  • Rondel
  • Rubaiyat
  • Sapphic Verse
  • Satire
  • Science
  • Sestina
  • Shape Poems
  • Short Stories
  • Song Lyrics
  • Sonnet
  • Symposium
  • Terrorism
  • Terza Rima
  • The Environment
  • Translation
  • Triolet
  • Video
  • Villanelle

Quick Links

  • About Us
  • Submit Poetry
  • Become a Member
  • Members List
  • Support the Society
  • Advertisement Placement
  • Comments Policy
  • Terms of Use

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Poems
    • Beauty
    • Culture
    • Satire
    • Humor
    • Children’s
    • Art
    • Ekphrastic
    • Epic
    • Epigrams and Proverbs
    • Human Rights in China
    • Music
    • Performing Arts
    • Riddles
    • Science
    • Song Lyrics
    • The Environment
    • The Raven
    • Found Poems
    • High School Poets
    • Terrorism
    • Covid-19
  • Poetry Forms
    • Sonnet
    • Haiku
    • Limerick
    • Villanelle
    • Rondeau
    • Pantoum
    • Sestina
    • Triolet
    • Acrostic
    • Alexandroid
    • Alliterative
    • Blank Verse
    • Chant Royal
    • Clerihew
    • Rhupunt
    • Rondeau Redoublé
    • Rondel
    • Rubaiyat
    • Sapphic Verse
    • Shape Poems
    • Terza Rima
  • Great Poets
    • Geoffrey Chaucer
    • Emily Dickinson
    • Homer
    • Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
    • Dante Alighieri
    • John Keats
    • John Milton
    • Edgar Allan Poe
    • William Shakespeare
    • William Wordsworth
    • William Blake
    • Robert Frost
  • Love Poems
  • Contests
  • SCP Academy
    • Educational
    • Teaching Classical Poetry—A Guide for Educators
    • Poetry Forms
    • The SCP Journal
    • Books

© 2025 SCP. WebDesign by CODEC Prime.