Culture

. on “Pope Francis’ Plans will ‘destroy’ contemplative life: Franciscan friar” Here’s a question: What’s it to the pope how cloistered nuns hear Mass? Is there no hope, for those who love the Church’s ancient rite?— it disagrees so with the man in white. His attitude reminds us of a...

. A Pantoum of Wager God said to Satan: Have you seen my servant Job, a man who fears God and shuns evil. Satan replied: You’ve bought him with blessings. Take them away and he’ll spit in your eye. God said to Satan: OK, I’ll take that bet. He’s yours. Have...

. The Shepherd Who Remained in the Fields I had to stay behind to watch the flocks,a sentry against lions, bears, wolves, thieves,and other dangers slouching through the rocksand hills.  No matter how much one believesthe promises of angels, work goes on—and on and on: sometimes life seems to beone...

. August 31, 2021 Humpty Dumpty looked at the wallHumpty Dumpty said “This must fall.”Mexican cartels, yes rapists and thugs,Cross now with ease and sold Humpty his drugs. Humpty Dumpty left a long war.Humpty Dumpty said, “What’s this for?”Sitting all cozy in his leather chairLeaving Americans screwed over there. Humpty...

. SAT Tips Leave nothing blank, your chances are __As good as one in four; So when the end is not too far __Fill in! to raise your score. Jot notes down on the booklet page __or circle a key word. This helps your thinking to engage, __ignore that sneeze...

. from Legends of Liberty Volume 1 . The Battle of Concord By that rude bridge men formed up double file,The company from Acton in the van.Their bayonets cast beams—reverse sundialsDissecting the empire’s diurnal spanThat cast so many shadows on the globe.Their cartridge boxes rattled with black toxin.Then steel unsheathed...

. . The Cost of Infrastructure Our property association has Three rich folks down the street. Their houses are Much bigger than the rest, with more pizzazz, More rooms, more gadgets, and more space by far. The other eight homeowners didn’t think That this was fair, for our homes only...

. for DKE We know each guy, and each knows us, No big deal and no big fuss, Tabernacling through this life, Share the joy and bear the strife. So what, amid this toxic day, If one might jaunt into the fray? We stick together thick and thin, And should...

. It’s Fall, Y’all!   Autumn is here and I’m swathed in a sweater, A snug fluffy scarf and warm mittens. My Ugg-cuddled feet have never felt better; These boots are as cute as soft kittens. Autumn is here and it’s chocolate I’m sipping With melted marshmallows galore. Pumpkin-spice candles are glowing and flickering,...

. City of Holy Faith The time to weep is over. Turn away From somber matters of this sordid age And turn your pilgrim gaze to Santa Fe--- Garbed in aspen gold and desert sage. The sky’s an ever-burnished turquoise blue, And amber sunlight sanctifies the hills. At night she...

. Sonnet of September Two thousand one eleven September, terrorists hijacked four planes in the sky. The crew, the passengers, did surrender, to those Bin Laden had sent to die. Two thousand one eleven September, the Pentagon and Twin Towers were hit. Buildings collapsed into ash and ember, and bodies...

. I don't know why I think things will get better. I'm always holding on to flimsy hope. I've held it since I was a young go-getter before the downward slope. Is wishful thinking printed on our genes? Before we crawl, has nature made it so? To want things right...

. Leave Our Kids Alone!  “Fauci: Officials Will Decide on COVID-19 Vaccine Recommendation for Children Aged 5 to 11 Soon” ---Epoch Times Headline 9/20/2021 The mask is off.   Come see the twisted face Of devilry beneath each wily lie. The truth has been erased without a trace To coax the mild and make the wild comply. Potions in perpetual...

. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhNIScHrUOM&t=4s . Biden Blues When I was just a kid,I’d shout and I’d refuse.My mama taught me, be polite,Taught me the words to use:No thank you, Joe; no thank you, Joe.I’d rather sing these no thank you blues. (Refrain:)No thank you, Joe; no thank you, Joe.I learned my manners...

. California Wildfires to the tune of “California Dreamin’” All her landscape bronzed, Her breezes ashen gray, What can Cali dream on, Despoiled and rechauffée? Never safe, too sultry In her disarray . . . California wildfires Have scorched her prime cachet. Tresses blazing gold Her forest wealth display, Woods...

. Cancel Madame Butterfly today! Such racist music cannot soothe the soul. Let’s never show another hate-filled play. The King and I must also cause dismay Since white composers can’t know ethnic dole. Cancel Madame Butterfly today! We also need to cancel the ballet. Swan Lake promotes a privileged white...

. The Lyme Brain’s Refrain, or At the Cupboard What am I doing? What am I doing? What am I, what am I, what am I doing? I’m doing something—something I’m doing— But what am I, what am I, what am I doing? What am I doing? Where am I...

This challenge comes from New York poet Joe Tessitore. He asks you to use the following couplet in a poem. Post your version in the comments section below: . How very much do I despise The tyranny of fear and lies? . . . .

. "The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary."  ---H.L. Mencken In days of yore, like maybe fifty years ago,We scorned all those who claimed...

. Regrets and Repercussions Inconsequential are the things we do Sometimes, or things we don’t, we don’t know why. So will we wonder far too late and sigh To think that if we knew we could undo The past before it starts, begin anew. How many of us would instead...

. “Of all the tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive.” ---C.S. Lewis, God in the Dock: Essays on Theology  It’s said that life’s a bitch and then you die. Cold-shouldered super-scolders make it worse. Smug, mega finger-waggers sell the lie That...

. Where meagre rains are tinted red From dust the Western winds have borne, The publican to stranger said: “We’re fortunate that here is shorn A class of wool unique in hue— The pre-dyed fleece of Station View. “And as for boundary fence and post That creeping sand is wont...

. Twenty years . . . So long ago as that? When fantasy became reality And falling human bodies turned to splat. Death in living color on TV. Maxwell’s silver hammer coming down On our collective metaphoric head; Manhattan’s shredded, bloodied wedding gown, Pentagon’s and Shanksville’s mangled dead. Terror’s Krakatoa...

. Heroes Where are they now---the bold who brave The choke of smoke to ways that pave The path to breath beneath wide skies? Where are the ears that hear the cries Of souls they fight death’s bite to save? Through 9/11’s hellish wave Of terror, angels fought and gave...

. A Summary of Oedipus the King by Sophocles, and Notes This play, no doubt to Sophocles’ surprise, When first performed took only Second Prize. Summary King Oedipus of Thebes, both good and wise— Or such, in pride, he thinks himself to be— Packs Creon off to Delphi to surmise...

. Future Shock Our newfound World is happy, calm and clean The human factor, countered by machine. Where every thought is carefully processed and value to the Groupthink goals assessed. All individuality, deleted. The reboot of the species' aim, completed. It came as no surprise, there were deranged who fought...

. I This crucifixion hides the anguish. Racked With pain, belied by bloodless hands and feet; Intolerable torments, they compete As muscles in that arching back contract. His hanging head forestalls all eye contact; And here we see Him, harrowing complete, As Pilate meted out from judgment seat Beyond this...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pw5AJQgDeQQ&feature=emb_imp_woyt . What can it mean---this swan of black? What cryptic codes must eggheads crack? What will this ebon-feathered thing Of beauty spring? What will it bring To pass in days with ways off track? Scour the Chinese zodiac. Grill a bibliomaniac. A long-necked portent haunts Beijing; __What can it mean? This woeful world wails on the rack As dullards dance for hack and quack, And puppeteers pull taut each string Attached to marionettes that sing...

. Most schoolgirls, street-people, attorneys, and Bachelors of Art are aware that Thomas Jefferson composed what is likely the most widely-known, oft-repeated sentence in American history: . We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable...

. Know How to Mow __You want to raise your rates, you say? __Your crying poor is killing me, __for what it’s worth.  Just yesterday, __when you were blithely billing me __for services you rendered on __a Saturday two weeks ago __—the mowing of my splendid lawn— __you seemed quite...

. With Coffins at the Dover Air Force Base: 29 August 2021 On Sunday, Biden traveled to the Dover Air Force Base to pay respect for thirteen service members who were slain. But grieving parents of the dead were not consoled by him— he kept on looking at his watch—and...

. Allgibberish (I Saw a Man Who Wasn't There) after “Antigonish” (“I Met a Man Who Wasn't There”) by William Hughes Mearns Yesterday in great despair, I saw a man who wasn't there. He's on the news again today, oh how I wish he'd go away. This afternoon at ten...

. The starlit sky is filled with smoke ______and men succumb To dread, while folded hands invoke ______to overcome This awful plight; yet prayers heard ______through fervid faith Are breath for Satan. Death’s preferred ______to blows that scaith And wake the human soul. If eyes ______could only find A route...

. The Peach Garden Oath This oath of fellowship is an iconic moment in the first chapter of the historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms, by Luo Guanzhong (14th century), in which the main heroes of the novel pledge to restore goodness and order to a nation whose government...

. Observations of a Former Victim You may think me insensitive or witless, But more and more it seems the case these days, That victimhood is run up on a flagpole, Including in some overreaching ways. Of course there’s real and rife victimization, But vague or bloated forms are now...

. “Make a decision,” is what me ma said, As she wearily plucked at each feather, ‘Er old gnarled fingers rough and red And clumsily workin’ together. “Yer’ll not get another chance like this, Two offers in less than a week. Great mother of pearl! A decision now girl, This...

. "American pragmatism insists that words are for use, not enjoyment; American puritanism insists that expression is a duty, not a pleasure." —Richard A. Lanham Everyone knows that poems work on different levels. Even if you just believe that a poem implies or suggests a bit more than it says...

. The arrogant are all about these days. How disrespectful are their callous ways! They go about as freely as you please— No mask, no vaccine, carrying disease And likely death wherever they may go (Which is all places, if you want to know!). But why do I speak of...

. a rondel It's funny how a day can go so slow, and yet a year just simply seems to fly. We blink, and then another one goes by. Those winds of change don't ever cease to blow. Time's raging river has an undertow. So quickly does our hourglass run...

. At the Temple of Yue Fei Behind, a lake unstirring sleeps; Ahead, grey fog and budding leaves. A jade-green pool commands the heart, Beneath the clouds and sweeping eaves. A statue beckons; I respond, And past the present then perceives. While traitors kneel by mounded tombs, A land for...