Poetry

Why did lyric poetry die? ‘Cause caterpillars cannot fly And no longer morph to butterflies Pegasus now has lost his wings To logic, not to lyric, clings Concerned solely with words’ meanings Can lyric poetry be restored? Not unless we hear the words They’ll make beauty as they find their...

  The sorrows of many pulls upon heart strings To accomp'ny angelic voices that sing Voices so sweet but pain too intense to soothe Roads traveled so rough only time's sands can smooth No chariot to ride worn feet wear no shoes Seems no choice left to make but still...

The Tears of the Gods An ancient fable tells of how the gods rose from the main Of azure deep of Ocean and all Being they surveyed How Sun he warmed the stones, how the vibrant verdure swayed How tawny bees rejoice to homeward wing with pollen’s stain. The gods...

I. Again the darkling moon is new this night, and cold deserted seas in lunar sleep lay fasting and far from the waxing light; as bright Apollo* flails the unknown deep beyond the threshold of our midnight sun, his bending rays hold back from Latmus* glade, where the shepherd waits...

Do forgive me strange little man If I’d rather remove your hands Than risk a trip to the clinic For laying with one so unhygienic Who must slumber with hounds at night To have contracted such a parasite. Tis not me who should be bested. But surely tis you who...

Dharmachakra By Sri Wele Cebuda Around the Dharma Wheel spins, around and round it goes. It never pauses nor begins, it simply travels, o! Though millions fly off from its whirl, and thousands perish too, it draws in love from all the World, the kind, the good and true. And...

  Heritage, not Hate Today I watched a group of people wait To see an emblem steeped in hate removed From its unmerited, yet hallowed place - Today we traded racist lies for truth. Today I watched the guards of honor tread, In black and white and perfect unison, To...

While we expect for our marines to go into harm's way, and so they do so, and without a hesitation's stay; when they're attacked at home and killed in their community, it is insidious and dreadful to the nth degree; and this is what occurred in Chattanooga, Tennessee, when a...

Dedicated to all Falun Gong practitioners who have been persecuted by the Chinese Communist Party since the peaceful practice, also known as Falun Dafa, was banned on July 20, 1999.   Constellations beaming kindness, Consciences outshining fire, Shatter the red mists of blindness For the lost beneath barbed wire. Walls...

. . To a Brother in Paris Like Sun in the woods, or a cold Summer rain, Would trouble make goods, and loss create gain. Then bound to a Lady, and allied to Bro, With the grace of God found, wherever you go. Be wrought and be taught, as you...

  The captain on this night would have no rest A storm rages and moves in from the West And the heathen banshees screech and wail As the waves bring down the mast and sail On a ship that would lose skipper and men In a precipitation at gale force...

Back  I am an atheist. I don’t believe in God ! Argue this with me or leave ! There is no evidence that ‘it’ exists though faith sects say they squeeze it in their fists. Divine Design is spin-doctoring. A human eyeball, flower, clockwork working – like the argument of...

Upon seeing "Louis XV of France as a Child" painted by Hyacinthe Rigaud at the Metropolitan Museum of Art   O 'tis the beauty of the art of France To reflect regal majesty in paint, To show the famous French-like pomp and prance; Such beauty history could barely taint. In...

Originally written in Chinese and appearing on Minghui.org.   Straight, dignified and unpolluted by the polluted world; They are determined to reach upwards, step by step; Quiet and humble, bamboo forests cover the mountain; A piece of bamboo, turned into a flute, sings Falun Dafa Hao*   Falun Dafa Hao...

Bound verse, ironically, is quite unbound, For writing it you have nothing to say, Since sense comes after you have sought a sound As line by line you pace your measured way. Perhaps a general notion of a theme Sets off your march across the empty page As your mind...

Your steps, unequal, hasten, departing from the race Where dust’s all that’s awarded, where just the fit survive, Pursuing trifles, anguished, forgetful of life’s grace. The farther from this downslide, the more you feel alive. Inside the concert hall now, in dimness calm you dive, The yearning for competing is...

Tanka By Ue "Bird Claws" Ee In dim morning light, attracting mates, warning males, dawn's choir's singing— liquid-silver jingling— nature's alarm clock...ringing.   On a Piece of Johannes Brahms By Ewald E. Eisbruc Hungarian Dance Number 5 in F# Minor was not a traditional folksong, but based on the csárdás,...

Is it ISIS or ISIL? I think it is the latter It really doesn’t matter True, ISIS rhymes with crisis Let’s not lose our heads about this But ISIL rhymes with evil And also with the devil So if reason still prevails The devil’s in the details.   Robert King...

Creativity Requires a Cave (an Apology for Form and Rhyme) IMAGINE Gretzky “trapped” behind the crease; or Pelé, deking, swarmed before the net; Odysseus before he dons the fleece; or Jordan, bodied, ere he stops to set... It’s in tight spaces, when one is constrained, when one is challenged, tangled, forced...

Marseille, France In the year 1720, the last great occurrence of bubonic plague struck the port city of Marseille, France, killing half of its citizens in less than a year.   June 16, 1720 The bells were ringing all throughout the day, Announcing to the inhabitants that The thing in...

Winterberry disrupts the frozen curse. My vision's charmed by tiny blobs of red Between fine-toothed leaves, above a thick bed Of snow that baits low branches to immerse In mounds, but they refute its chill or worse, Cold's inference that matter should be dead Or trapped indoors. This brave bush...

The Inward Light Be proof against the eye and ear And every sense that stultifies The inward light, supreme, austere, The keenly sharp, the keenly clear, That by the lucent beam it darts Illuminates the deepest hearts.   Sonnet on Discernment All varied lengths and waves are there:  The ear...

The Cherry Blooms in Central Park In Central Park the cherries now Are hung with blooms along the slough, And stand around the reservoir, Pink and white Spring avatars. Now of my three-score years and ten I’ve outlived many better men; I’m over-the average hill by five.... I wonder why...

Wow! The wind is blowin’, the rain is rainin’ slant across the windowpane – and in the yard whole oceans storm across the grass and make some parts too full of mud to pass. In hours this windblown slop can dry to land as course and granular as desert sand....

  How Long the Night Anonymous Old English Lyric, circa early 13th century AD Loose translation by Michael R. Burch It is pleasant, indeed, while the summer lasts with the mild pheasants' song ... but now I feel the northern wind's blast— its severe weather strong. Alas! Alas! This night...

Submerged in blinding red and blue at dawn, I climb the barren fields to find between the gentle tides of crying clouds, where spawn the highest peak of world in mist unseen. I leap across the steps where fallen sweat will glide and fill the throat of void abyss. By...

Trajan's Column By Uberdi Ascweli In Rome, amidst the many structures, gray, peach, white and brown, around it, rising, Trajan's Column, does not stand alone. It was a work commemorating Trajan's victory in overwhelming Dacians in the Second Century. The quintessential type of a compression member, it was made to...

. . Bay from Berkeley Slate blue blustered inland sea Water from the rivers be Sea of salt and rain ashore Many waters, oceans roar. Slate green gusted inland sea Berkeley roof, fraternity Rising sun to light and warm Morning of a coming storm. White cap tufted inland sea Windy...

With steady hand,  he takes a scalpel, cutsthe body open.  Liver, spleen, the gutsextracted, packed in ice.  The Party manlooks on.  There's profit to be made.  The plan:eliminate the Falun Gong and stealtheir organs. None will be the wiser.  Zealof anti-revolutionary thoughtdestroyed, the statist foe is rendered naught.   Ms....

One (1979) A policy is still in place Which subjugates each woman’s womb. Spin doctors cannot render grace When pregnancy begets a tomb. Before the mother sees a face, Her green is plucked in fetal bloom. The thefts till now are hard to trace When pregnancy begets a tomb. Girl...

From what I see of life’s disgust; The killings, rampant shooting sprees, I’m sure that no one not agrees There’s nothing ‘bout it free or just To take of life, spray the horror; To taunt and gloat of liberty, Yet do harm to humanity; Break through innocent’s very door, Spill...

  Through sandy, muddy, rocky creek, Silted, crudded, hard to speak, My heart was heavy, worn, and cramped, I needed someplace I could camp. Nature spoke, I took the chance To venture out with shield and lance A trek that took me into night Parched and filthy, sworn to fight...

The First Day of Spring The first day of spring started rainy and cold, But new greens were sprouting, defiant and bold, And daffodils nodded their bright heads of gold, To make the day not quite as dreary. As I, winter-weary, looked out though the glass And wondered if ever...

The Lumberman by Bud "Weasel" Rice I saw him resting up against a giant gray-brown stump, the lumberman was pausing from his haul, hitch, heave and hump. He stood there in the sunlit forest, head turned to the sun, eyes closed, an upright, peaceful dude; his trunk and limbs glowed...

Burrowed down in leaves of brown piled by the garden wall, our Billy cat dreamed of a rat he’d chased down through the hall. Up from the creek came Max the dog, exhausted from his run, but hearing purring at the wall resolved to have some fun. So with a...

  Lines Composed in the Adirondack Mountains THERE’S a little town nestled in the hills, with an old house I call by that town's name; with husks of flies in the chipped window-sills, a metal roof which sheds the snow and rain. I don't even know the address number: Let me pretend that I...

I. Anxiety and excitement, a strange mixture Saturated me as I attempted to picture Two days alone crossing China’s famous Silk Road Aboard a train, the local transportation mode. I envisioned Genghis Khan, the bold conqueror, His hordes creating chaos, dismantling order, The reverse of Marco Polo, who united east...

  Record the past and gift-wrap the future Explain the rules of classical culture Listen to the stories plaintively wrought In candlelit taverns for the heroes that fought In wars long-forgotten except by the brave And mothers that weep and pray at the grave - Of each and every valiant...

"Orange Persimmons" is a Haiku. "Released" is an American Cinquain, and "Forever Wearing White" is a Tanka about how the Falun Dafa are being tortured and buried in snow at re-education facilities in China.   Orange Persimmons orange persimmons red apples and pumpkin spice snow is coming soon   Released...

Originally Featured in Woodland Poems Near a ridge where far recedes the frozen Forest into valleys wide, Scoouwa’s chin In despondence fell.  Faint and overcome With brow perplexed, he searched the wood for crumb Of hickory-nut, or the fleeting track Of roaming herds, until his slumping back Could take no...