Beauty

. With Boots On Soon after break of day an old man comes Trudging along the thawing roads of Cottage Country (the common land of day and hope) Considering the analects of Spring. At every unploughed drive where frozen slush Prevents all ingress of the motored sort He pauses, then,...

. All Out of Hope I am right here, Lord All out of hope. What of me now, Lord? End of my rope! What shall I do, Lord, What shall I know? Tie now a knot, Lord, Or just let me go? So much of life, Lord, I’m on my...

. Easter Monday Luke 24: 13 – 35 With hearts eclipsed by Friday’s three-day night And eyes still blinded to their master’s face, They hear his sermon, senseless that his light Has thrown the flames of hell to dark disgrace. The evening sun begins to set its fire, Their hearts...

. The Prince of Peace     He braved each gouging lash and bruising blow Till scourged and bludgeoned flesh was raw and torn--- Paraded in a crown of thorns to show This phony King of Jews was ripe for scorn... How could this meek, defeated wimp be born Of Him who...

. Easter 2022 In silence, night retires with a yawn— Its starlit labor blessed by God’s, “Well done.” And as the weary world awakes to dawn, The auric radiance of the risen sun Illumes a garden where an empty tomb Bears witness to the One no longer there— The Son...

. Sunrise at the Hollywood Bowl A sleepy son, a father who mourned still. Their first time greeting Easter since she died. When illness came, Anne said her fondest will Was that their boy know God. John set aside His doubts. He searched for two seats near the side. John...

. Hymn to Aurora  1 Aurora, rise and cast your curls Of daybreak through the vapor swirls To drape my face in scarlet beams— Since you left me I’ve had bad dreams. Like waves, my sheets have tossed and turned, I’ve waxed and waned, I’ve dripped and burned, My patience...

. Via Dolorosa for those who have suffered abuse. Where does one go to forget? Where does one go to erase Memories filled with regret? Nightmares of shame and disgrace? What does one do with the pain Abusers and users inflict? The scabs that again and again Peel off where...

. Sepulcher Jerusalem is built of prayer and quarried stone, From yearning, heartache, sacred scrolls and ancient bone--- The shuls, the mosques, the churches, every ancient room. And as a bride prepares with longing for her groom Believers come with downcast eyes, with hopes unknown, To ponder and to pray---or...

. Annunciation It’s not really an angel but a voice, Less heard than sensed, an urgent undertone That murmurs in the place where I’m alone And all my fears with longing there alloys. It whispers that I have to make a choice: To let the world go scrambling on its...

. Rendering Ruins A barn abandoned, left to drift alone, wind torn and breached upon the reef of time; fields, now dust, where summer wheat was sown, the wagons heaped with grain stood long in line to fill the grange of this once mighty ship, now but a shadow, listing,...

. Tomorrow’s Poets by Enrique González Martínez (1871-1952) translated by Cheryl Corey Tomorrow’s poets will sing beyond all praise In verse that’s out of tune with present day; New stars will bring new destinies that raise A shiver of delight in restless souls. Tomorrow’s poets will tread a path unworn,...

    . https://youtu.be/PguXX2PRzvI . CREDITS Poetry: Emma Lazarus (1849-1887) Voice-Over: Katy Mantyk Photos/Footage: “Unveiling the Statue of Liberty Enlightening the World” by Edward Moran, 1886 (Public Domain) Music: “Slow Walk Into The Sunset” by Alexander Nakarada (www.serpentsoundstudios.com) Licensed under Creative Commons BY Attribution 4.0 License . .  

. The Flowers' Easter Debate Palm Sunday is the Flowers’ Easter, the day when they honored Jesus Christ entering Jerusalem. As they did not need Good Friday’s bloody atonement for sin, the flowers were ready to crown Him. . The Rose Our good Master Comes as Pastor; Our good Master...

. https://youtu.be/LllN9NflfR8 . Lost Song A compass that won’t point the way, And a map of the faraway skies… I once was a child of grace; No matter the country I trod My feet found the path in its place, And they followed the way of the Lord. Lord, I’m...

. A Clamshell in Concrete  I was a child in kindergarten class. My mother held my hand as we trod on The sidewalk leading to the boulevard. This was 1951. The path Was paved in smooth cement, and at the edge The numbers 1 - 9 - 4 - 0...

. Parallel Man As I was going to the fair, I met a man with silver hair. The more I looked how could it be? He looked an awful lot like me, ‘Cept furrowed brow and walking cane. Perhaps my thoughts were just insane. Perhaps it was a twist of...

. Slivered Moon Slivered moon on slippers slides Across the skies on silver tides, Draping cobwebs over trees And coaxing shadows to their knees. No more this day will swallows sweep, Above the ground where creatures creep. Where frog and toad with bulging eye, Sing to the world their lullaby....

. Love’s Seasons In the heat of the night, when conditions are right, __Gentle lovers will cuddle and spoon. It’s a wonderful plan, much more marvelous than __Any other found under the moon. When the weather grows crisper and winter’s a whisper __On the sensitive nerves in your skin, Just...

. Birdbrains a villanelle   “When you control a man’s thinking you do not have to worry  about his actions.” ---Carter G. Woodson If we just parrot newspeak without blinking And push prize poppycock as logic fails, We’re cuckoo and we’ve given up on thinking. Our minds will end up shriveling and shrinking, Our...

. (See an explanation on what Sibyls are here.) . The Tyburtine Sibyl The Tyburtine sibyl has the iconographic attribute of a hand, indicating her foreknowledge of insults suffered by Jesus. Not from my heart's imaginings do I (A Sabine woman of the waterfall Crashing at Tivoli as a crazed...

. Uncle Sam's Tomb after Samuel Coleridge's "The Knight's Tomb" (see below) Where will the grave of that great figurehead be, That leader of free men and symbol of might, That vision of justice in our country so free, Great defender of all that is wholesome and right? Can he...

. Woman For years I’ve known exactly what it means To own the weight and wonder of my sex--- The crimson flow of knowledge in my teens, The curve and swell---my spell---the heady hex That lures love to the precipice of bliss. I know the grit and guts it took to claw Through...

. He Catches When We Fall! Of all life’s mysteries, The deepest of them all--- Not how high we've risen But on what day we fall. Pride’s an untrue friend, And hubris does us in. A loss of faith in God Would lead us now to sin. Pride’s an empty...

. Sleep Now the hour has come to lay me down Upon the waters of the river Lethe, To float into the maelstrom and to drown In swirling waves above me and beneath me. Who can recount those dark, forgotten hours When, having drunk the cup of Morpheus dry, We...

. The Hypodermic For a poet, the pen is merely part Of the apparatus of addiction. He emulates the frozen fly in amber Watching eons come, roll by, and pass. As motionless as veined quartz in a stone, He seeks a waxen perpetuity Bound and shackled in his dreamless cell,...

. Quarantined Against the wind, our candles out, The smoke will rise, we have no doubt, Yet in the dark with all our kin, We’ll strike a match and crack a grin, And once alight, our joy will sprout. All those outside, alone, will pout, “You’ll spread disease,” they’ll scream...

. Where Wonders Remain Snow crowns violet mountains that reign over trees, __Whose forests stand verdant and old; It ends where rich valleys roll down to the seas, __To welcome blue waters with gold. From mire-slicked rocks swift crustaceans crawl, __And offer themselves to the sea. Above, flocks of gray...

. Sold I. Summer Honey Crush  Soft, silken lips shone from her screen last night. She saw them, plump and ripe, as smooth and lush As velvet peaches kissed by Sol’s delight. If her smile blushed in Summer Honey Crush She’d beam a flirty grin to light his eyes--- That...

. The Street Cop's Choice Thanks for coming home to help me choose. I know my kids will always have my back. Today was rough. By now you’ve seen the News--- Such blatant lies! They’ve tied me to the rack. And we still have to see if this guy sues....

. Tribute to a Poet for Leonard Dabydeen, an SCP poet who passed away on March 16, 2022. Read Leonard Dabydeen's poetry here. I gaze for long at star-filled skies __To feel the crumbling fears; I see the world through human eyes __To feel the wrath of tears. I come...

. Dueling Violins Yanni, Karen Briggs and Shardad Rohani live at the Acropolis in 1993 Anticipating each half-note he brings to life, her fingers stretch to find the grooves. Perfection springs, as sound is bounced from strings, then quickly as Baryshnikov, she moves. His chords a hurried sequence, devil's notes, seduce...

. Happy St. Patrick's Day! Share your St. Patrick's Day Poetry in the comments section below. While writing and posting, enjoy an Irish medley of songs, “Chief O Neil’s” followed by “The Red-Haired boy," performed by Jeff Eardley. Also enjoy the image above suggested by Roy E. Peterson. Thank you,...

. Heights of Passion Passion flowers white and purple Bloom where tendrils curl and cling To the overhanging myrtle Sheltering my garden swing. Scents befitting distant tropics Catch the senses unaware, Lingering like sweet narcotics For the swinger, high on air. Rise and fall like waves on ocean Moves the...

. Berenice for my mother, Berenice Stone Cook Indebted to a simple spark of life, You missed your chance at Europe’s wondrous door. A conscientious mother and a wife, You danced your dance upon an inland shore. Your simple fabrics catch my memory. Aprons and cotton stockings made a trail...

. On Sighting a Marsupial "Serve with: Turnip greens" —Joy of Cooking Opossums are so ugly that it isn’t clear Another of their kind would find one good to look At.  Matted fur and hairless tails do not endear Them to Americans.  According to a book I read, their closest...

. Two Poems for White Day On White Day, March 14, men in Japan present white gifts to women, in return for the chocolates they receive from women on Valentine’s Day. White Day began in 1978 as a commercial venture to sell more candy and flowers. It is now observed...

. A White Knight a triolet With fires of hope and spirit bright, who will stand up for what is just thence set our country all alight with fires of hope and spirit bright? A hero true, a great white knight a person worthy of our trust with fires of...

. A North Indian Summer They ask of me to write a sonnet fine In praise of Summer and her pretty dress, But I hail from a place of different clime Where Summer’s heat knows best how to oppress. She raises up the dust from Rajasthan And like a warrior...

. The Arch of Titus The Arch of Titus was constructed in 81 AD by the Emperor Domitian to commemorate the victory of Titus and Vespasian, over the Jewish rebellion in Judea. The arch depicts the triumphal procession celebrated in 71 AD after the Roman victory culminating in the fall...