Poetry

. Victim Shaming Nancy Mace, a U.S. Congresswoman for South Carolina, was interviewed by George Stephanopoulos, former Communications Director for President Bill Clinton, on ABC News on March 10, 2024  Clinton often acted grossly long before we listened closely to each victim’s tale of terror, thinking they’d just made an...

. Change Scrub the rock with glacial ice until the granite’s smooth and bare. Let the river cut through earth until it leaves a canyon there. Let volcanic lava flows raise islands from the trackless sea. Let the wind carve window rocks through which the world’s eyes can see. Earthquakes,...

. March 21st, Saints Cranmer and Bach Archbishop Thomas Cranmer,  burned at the stake March 21, 1556 . Johann Sebastian Bach, born March 21, 1685 . “Upon them hath the light shined.”  ---Isaiah 9: 2 . The shadows of two saints come to my mind As smoke from two extinguished...

. St. Perpetua Eyewitnesses of the atrocity Report that on that Carthage afternoon, Already scourged and gored repeatedly By savage bulls, she fell into a swoon (Of Spirit, so they said), then rose immune To further horror and quite calmly lent Her hand to guide the bloodied sword that soon...

. Words Matter . I. Out of Context Cheats cherry-pick the words that suit their ploy To shame the names of those who disagree With all they say. If counter claims destroy Their idiotic ideology They’ll tangle terms. They’ll mangle mood and meaning. They’ll lift a line from here, a...

. Sanderling What saffron stylus could but trace the rusty scallop of the dancing wing, what sculptor’s chisel sharpened to the quick could cleave the charcoal pencil of the beak that stitches grievance in the frigid spume, a thousand flashing furrows every yard? In greed it snouts along the sandbar’s...

. To the Passenger Pigeon As once, upon the Great Plains, thundering herds of buffalo, innumerable, held sway, a genocide befell these dull-plumed birds whose flocks eclipsed the sunlight, day on day, Up from the Gulf of Mexico they flew each springtime, through the gauntlet of the gun, to Great...

. St. Patrick's Day 2024  for an Ireland suffering terribly under the weight of forced migration Where is the one who rid the Emerald Isle Of snakes? Nostalgia hears the hell-bent tread Of gallant feet that trekked the extra mile To free Éire‘s bogs and cobbled streets from dread. As...

. Coffee Limericks . I love to have coffee each morning, Including the act of the pouring: __I smell the aroma, __Come out of my coma, And wonder why you still are snoring. . I start with a coffee each day— A creamy and sugared latte. __I open my eyes,...

. Watching It hardly matters what I’d read (Another plangent exposé Of something solid in the world That bit by horrid bit unfurled Into a source of pending dread), It brought to mind an image grey With time, a moment hid away So long and lost I’d thought it dead:...

. Musician and SCP poet Jeff Eardley performs the traditional Irish tunes "The Tenpenny Bit" and "Kesh Jig" in honor of St. Patrick's Day. Enjoy! . . Jeff Eardley lives in the heart of England near to the Peak District National Park and is a local musician playing guitar, mandolin and...

. Infernos on the Pages of Literary Journals That one barbaric yawp might just have been All right, but then it ricocheted right down The later centuries.  Literature’s new bin Was made for poetry because the frown From modernism and free verse soon smeared Normality that people thought was sure. The...

. Choices Some lovers only give the rose, __Some only choose to take, Although the florist keeps a bunch __For every partner's sake. The sun has risen for our town __And also for your city. While you say it's a scalding morn, __We say it's warm and pretty. The Lord...

. Serenade Down dash the splashlets of rain to the ground; Streams from the eaves full and fluent resound. Guests gaily chatter, and clatter their chairs, Readying notes for melodious airs. Whistling hot water for brisk blended tea Promises canticles coming to be. Porcelain cups clink and clang tuneful scales,...

. Native Americans Were Swindled Out of Manhattan in 1634 Knowing Eyes—an aging elder, born in Black Bear County Famed for being fearless and the wisest of his tribe— Met with “Diamond-Jim” Van Dyne in 1634, When Jim—a well-rehearsed negotiator—conjured up a bribe! Figuring he could all-but-steal 11,000 acres For...

. For Dorothy I have at times sat silent in this chair And furtively cast looks about the room Admiring, or to jot a mental note Of someone’s beauty—eyes or shape or hair. But you were silent also, and my stare Evoked from you no comment or a glance. There...

. His Stories Were His Legacy Ivan, The Barber, 1882-1963 . Covered in a heavy blanket, __he sat and watched the rain; it had been more than thirty years, __damp weather made him lame. He turned his old pipe upside down __against the blowing gale, for Sunday was his day...

. . Homophonophobic (This poem is so vain and humorous you’ll burst a vein or break your humerus) My editor returned my latest piece, but all my comrades lay in pools of red revisions. Storms of mourning blew my peace away on that blue morning, as I read. My angry...

. The Alleged Bulldozer My wife told me, shortly after we got married, that I “bulldozed” her into the marriage. Bulldozed you into marriage? A most preposterous claim. Such silly thoughts disparage the kindling of our flame. Bulldozed you to the wedding? Oh, please!  I’m too refined. I merely hoped...

. DoorWay Canto 5: Waters of the Crab From Canto 4 in the constellation of Taurus, the Bull, the poet has been led by Michael, the Seraph, to the sign of Cancer, the Crab, a water sign and ruled by the Moon. Water is a sign of emotion and new...

. Monica's Consolation for Margaret Coats, who introduced me to St. Augustine of Hippo (354-430) and his mother, St. Monica (332-387) Caritas, enter! I’m so glad you’re here. It seems that sleep eludes us both this night. I see your need, dear friend. Please have no fear. We’ll talk until...

. For Paavo Nurmi who trained against his stop-watch and in medias rez we begin as the runners approach the penultimate turn. Though their torsos are heaving, the sweat isn't beading—the storm of their pace won't permit it. The coach isn't screaming, he's merely observing: the race is a bet...

. Good Intentions “One of the painful things about our time is that those who feel certainty are stupid, and those with any imagination and understanding are filled with doubt and indecision.” ---Bertrand Russell The highway to our current hell was paved by those who all meant well. They sit...

. Bowing to Power Although they might Not do what’s right, The very strong Are never wrong. If you complain, You’ll feel the pain That’s coming to A town near you. . . Domestic Finances Awash in situations less than stable, We struggle on as best as we are able,...

. Samson, Tribe of Dan "Dan is a serpent in the path. He bites the horse's heel and causes the rider to fall backward." ---Jacob, Genesis 49 My father, from the tribe of Dan, Taught me, far too well, we can Force the hairpin, serpent curve, Making horse and rider...

. The Stoat and the Old Goat This tale concerns a little stoat, With eyes of black and velvet coat, Who frolicked in the virgin snow, Above the village down below. This little chap, so short and lean, He liked to keep his burrow clean, Whilst watching with his beady...

. Stop All The Clocks after W.H. Auden Stop all the clocks, stop all humdrum, Silence the warblers, their constant hum; Bid the sun to pause, just stand by And the moon to remain in the starless sky. He was my dusk, he was my dawn, Stop all the clocks,...

. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGLFPOccCAI https://www.youtube.com/shorts/7NwnsyJD044?feature=share . . Andrew Benson Brown has had poems and reviews published in a few journals. His epic-in-progress, Legends of Liberty, will chronicle the major events of the American Revolution if he lives to complete it. Though he writes history articles for American Essence magazine, he lists his primary...

. Story Time The father, he sits on the couch with a book, A child in each arm, and one more on his knees; The mother, the same.  All the other ones look Content on the floor; he recites like a breeze. He changes his voice for each character’s lines,...

. Hatching A gelid mass of wings that seethed and surged— A squeamish sight that caught me by surprise— A swarming hatch of termites had emerged A host of queens to mount and fertilize. They sprang from cracks where wood and concrete meet, Where my garage door and my driveway...

. Sunday Morning Flock of Starlings He saw, while driving down the roadway, off 288, a flock of starlings at the electrical substation gate. It was on Sunday morning, and with serious intent, they dropped down from a murmuration, in precise descent. In҇ a dazzling swirl of undulations—unambiguous— with closing wings,...

. Philanthropaths & Puppets Philanthropath: a psychopath masquerading as a philanthropist. ---the Urban Dictionary . I. So Rose the Puppeteer He pulls the strings of those his treasures bless--- They grovel in the grip of this foul fiend. He’s conjured chaos, stirred up strife and schemed To ruin all the...

. Original Smile Fossil remains show nothing of the first Facial flourish dimpling a human cheek. Was it some reflex as a female nursed Her young one, charmed by its whimpering squeak? (Or her initial invite to the male?) Whatever the details of the episode, The impact must have been...

. Fed Suffering The True Story of Dai Mingrong . Not merely stale today, her bowl of rice Now tastes like bitter dust. Then, all’s ablur. Her grip grows shaky while her fingers curl... Condemned to suffer, paying virtue’s price: Bad roll! On Mao’s pernicious, weighted dice. The floor receives...

. To Catch The Wind after Tennessee Williams "We Have Not Long To Love" I want to catch the wind __this windy day, as all encompassing __it comes my way. It blows beyond me to __a hill?  a tree? then up into the sky __away from me. Though there’s another...

. Do Your Jobs Live up to the Constitution That contains a plain solution. Guard us from invading mobs. Come on Congress, do your jobs. It’s really simple. Build a wall Along the border for us all. Illegal gangs keep causing fear. We need to know who’s coming here. Americans...

. Insomnia, My Sometime Muse She comes to me while I’m asleep,Not with strange imaginings of dreamsBut with fragmented thoughts. It seemsShe thinks they cannot keepBut must be worked upon, upon this hour.While I from Hypnos try to wrestSome morsel of his healing power,Sleep becomes a useless questAnd this vivid...

. I Am with You You are with me, this day, and I’m with you; in spirit and in memory we meet to celebrate and joyfully to rue my span, which in the bounds of Time was fleet. Although I’m gone from places I was known, I will remain an...

. Jane Doe These trembling hands are not the first to jostle away unholy grabs from praying hands; you crossed the lines Christ drew in coastal sands before the crowd gathering their stones. __You blamed me for it all. Possessed with fierce rapacity, you blurred the lines—ransacking my temple, breaking...

. The Crimson Creed We know the primal aggregate, Self-molded at the start of time, Before the Big Bang uppercut Made all the cosmic flotsam rhyme. We know that two plus two is five. The world’s alive because of chance… That flash when slime and time arrive And Science blesses...