The HyperTexts

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Oxford University called The HyperTexts "dynamic and challenging" with a "different approach" to poetry, on its ARCH resource page for the Arts & Humanities.

November 2024

Post-Part-’Em Election Poems

A fool and his democracy
are soon parted.
—Michael R. Burch

Today they’ll celebrate
this capitulation to hate.
Sometime unremarkably later
they’ll regret their new dictator.
—Michael R. Burch

Aaron Poochigian returns to the Spotlight with our Featured Poem for the month of November, "The New New Amsterdam."

Jared Carter returns to the Spotlight with "Grisaille."

Ranald Barnicot returns to the Spotlight with a translation of "Song of a Foreigner" by Giovanni Quessep.

Robin Helweg-Larsen returns to the Spotlight with two new poems.

Robin Helweg-Larsen has published a collection of poems about Palestine titled The Two-State Dissolution. It has poems by Janet Kenny, Marcus Bales, Michael R. Burch, Robin himself, and others. Highly recommended.

Michael R. Burch has published his translation of Slysascot in Palestine (“Accidental Shooting in Palestine”) by the Icelandic poet Jónas Kristján Einarsson aka Kristján frá Djúpalæk. The translation page begins with an index, so please scroll down a bit to find the poem.

Terese Coe remains in the Spotlight with several new poems and translations you won't want to miss.

Tom Merrill remains in the Spotlight with a new poem "Helplessly Dangling From An Unbaited Hook."

Martin Mc Carthy remains in the Spotlight with a new poem, "Forever," which was our Featured Poem for the month of October.

Bob Zisk remains in the Spotlight with three new poems.

Jim McLean remains in the Spotlight with a new poem, "Welcome Overstayed."

Pindar Translations by Michael R. Burch

Catullus Translations by Michael R. Burch

Ovid Translations by Michael R. Burch

Leonardo da Vinci Translations by Michael R. Burch

Federico Garcia Lorca Translations by Michael R. Burch

Pablo Neruda Translations by Michael R. Burch

Translation Pages by Language:

English Translations of Anglo-Saxon Poems by Michael R. Burch
English Translations of Chinese Poets by Michael R. Burch
English Translations of Female Chinese Poets by Michael R. Burch
English Translations of French Poets by Michael R. Burch
Germane Germans: English Translations by Michael R. Burch
English Translations of German Poets by Michael R. Burch
English Translations of Japanese Poets by Michael R. Burch
English Translations of Japanese Zen Death Poems
English Translations of Ancient Mayan Love Poems
English Translations of Native American Poems, Proverbs and Blessings
English Translations of Roman, Latin and Italian Poets by Michael R. Burch
English Translations of Urdu Poets by Michael R. Burch
English Translations of Uyghur Poets by Michael R. Burch

October 2024

Halloween Poetry features poetic tricks and treats for children and adults of all ages. Vampire Poetry explores the eerie connections between the poet/artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti, the poet Algernon Charles Swinburne, the novelist Bram Stoker, John William Polidori (the writer of the first modern vampire story), the pre-Raphaelite models Jane Morris and Elizabeth Siddal, and the female vampire Lucy Westenra in Stoker's novel Dracula. Dark Poetry has become one of our most popular pages. Horror Poetry can be traced back to the monsters of Beowulf and the eerie Celtic underworld.

Richard Merelman is Professor of Political Science, (Emeritus) University of Wisconsin, Madison. He has published four volumes of poetry, of which the most recent, A Door Opens (Fireweed, 2020), received an Outstanding Achievement Award in 2021 from the Wisconsin Library Association. His poems have appeared in many journals. Two recent poems are forthcoming from the Loch Raven Review. A further poem appears in THINK, Winter/Spring, 2024.

Robin Helweg-Larsen has published a collection of poems about Palestine titled The Two-State Dissolution. It has poems by Janet Kenny, Marcus Bales, Michael R. Burch, Robin himself, and others. Highly recommended.

Dr. Mahnaz Badihian returns to the Spotlight with two poems, one of which is slated to be flown to the moon!

Speaking of moonshots, in an interesting synchronicity, our latest Martin Elster poem is "An Astronaut’s Thoughts During Lift-Off."

Terese Coe returns to the Spotlight with several new poems and translations you won't want to miss.

Martin Mc Carthy returns to the Spotlight with a new poem, "Forever," which is our Featured Poem for the month of October.

Bob Zisk returns to the Spotlight with two new poems.

Jim McLean returns to the Spotlight with a new poem, "Welcome Overstayed."

Tom Merrill remains in the Spotlight with a new poem "How To Extirpate Indoctrinated Fear."

Sulpicia Translations by Michael R. Burch, aided and abetted by Carolyn Clark, who put him up to them.

Ono no Komachi is one of the first great female poets we know by name, along with Enheduanna, Sappho, Erinna and Tzu Yeh.

September 2024

Labor Day Poems and Songs

We are saddened to report that Ann Drysdale died on August 16, 2024. Ann was an accomplished British writer and editor, and one of the best poets published by The HyperTexts over its three decades of existence. If you have poems or other remembrances of Ann, please feel free to share them with our readers by emailing them to Mike Burch at mikerburch@gmail.com.

Gail White returns to the Spotlight with a new poem, "Ophelia Knows Why Hamlet Went Mad," and translations of Catullus and Hadrian. We have also added her amusing villanelle "Partying with the Intelligentsia" to The Best of the HyperTexts.

Tom Merrill remains in the Spotlight with a new poem "Where Capitalism's Headlock Blocks Mutual Support" along with three touching prayer-poems.

William (Bill) T. Boyd remains in the Spotlight with two new poems.

Robin Helweg-Larsen remains in the Spotlight with a slew of new poems, some of them nicely heretical.

Rimbaud!

Visions of Beauty pairs some of the world's most beautiful women with poems.

BLAKEAN POEMS by Michael R. Burch

August 2024

We are saddened to report that Ann Drysdale died on August 16, 2024. Ann was an accomplished British writer and editor, and one of the best poets published by The HyperTexts over its three decades of existence. If you have poems or other remembrances of Ann, please feel free to share them with our readers by emailing them to Mike Burch at mikerburch@gmail.com.

Bob Zisk returns to the Spotlight with two new poems, including his exceptional "Love among the Ruins." Bob has given me no choice but to arrive at the inevitable conclusion that he's one of the best poets writing today. — MRB

"Love among the Ruins" is our Featured Poem for the month of August and has been added to The Best of the HyperTexts.

Robin Helweg-Larsen returns to the Spotlight with a slew of new poems, some of them nicely heretical.

Robert Funderburk is unabashedly a Southerner, as we can tell from his bio. This is his first publication by The HyperTexts, but probably not his last.

Tom Merrill returns to the Spotlight with a new poem "Where Capitalism's Headlock Blocks Mutual Support" and three touching prayer-poems.

Martin Mc Carthy remains in the Spotlight with a new poem, "Entering the River."

Was the first truly great poem of English antiquity written by a female scop and proto-feminist? You can dive into this fascinating poem via seven translations and a word-by-word analysis of the richly ambiguous Anglo-Saxon masterpiece Wulf and Eadwacer.

On a personal note, the award-winning New Zealand composer David Hamilton is setting my original poems "Distances" and "Frail Envelope of Flesh" to music, along with my translation of "Unsaid" by the Ukrainian poet Lina Kostenko. These will be my 59th, 60th and 61st poems set to music by 32 composers, to date. The poems in question can be read here: Poems Set to Music. Ironically, "Sing for the Cool Night" was excerpted from my poem "Chit Chat," which was inspired by my online encounters with grammar- and punctuation-challenged scopian bards! — MRB

F.F. Teague returns to the Spotlight with three new poems in her unique style.

Shamik Banerjee remains in the Spotlight with a new poem, "To an Editor Who Thinks Formal Verse is Not Serious."

We are still accepting Fliss-Flossian Limericks and Fliss herself has contributed four.

We have added "Angry Birds" by Jemshed Khan to our "A little dabble dactyl'll do ya!" page, which is all about having nonsensical fun.

JD Vance Nicknames

July 2024

When I was told by Peter Brokenshire, a professor of stylistic analysis in earlier years at Hang Seng University in Hong Kong, and now at HKU SPACE (Hong Kong University School of Professional and Adult Continuing Education), that The HyperTexts is the preferred source of contemporary poems ("much preferred") by his students, I decided to create this Hang Seng & HKU SPACE Poetry Page and dedicate it to the Hang Seng & HKU SPACE students. — Michael R. Burch, editor, The HyperTexts

Independence Day Poems and Songs

Let Freedom Sing!

Independence Day Thoughts: Blind Faith vs. Independent Thinking

Independence Day Madness

William (Bill) T. Boyd served in USAF, later had career in USG with Navy, USAID, Peace Corps and State Dept. Authored a children's picture book The Pumpkin Fairy 20 years ago. It is on Amazon as "used." He currently lives in Estero, FL.

Eric Beidel has our first featured poem for the month of July, and an appropriate one, "Homecoming."

Amy L. Smith has our second featured poem for July, the clever and amusing "ODE to The OED."

Jared Carter remains in the Spotlight with a new poem, "Pavane."

Anaïs Vionet returns to the Spotlight with a new poem, "Underheld."

Shamik Banerjee returns to the Spotlight with a new poem, "Birthday Monologue."

Martin Mc Carthy remains in the Spotlight with a new poem, "Gasp." We have also added "Gasp" to The Best of the HyperTexts.

Tom Merrill remains in the Spotlight with two new "micro" poems, numbers 1 & 2, and "How Something Came From Nothing."

On a warm summer afternoon in 1867, Digby Mackworth Dolben drowned at age nineteen. The poems he left behind were said by future English poet laureate Robert Bridges to equal "anything that was ever written by any English poet at his age."

David B. Gosselin remains in the Spotlight with his translation of "Cassandra" by Friedrich Schiller.

John Masella remains in the Spotlight with two new poems.

English Translations of German Poets by Michael R. Burch

June 2024

The Best Father's Day Poems

Memorial Day Poems and Songs

War Poems and Anti-War Poems

Afsar Mohammad recently published a collection of poems, Evening with a Sufi, with Red River Press, New Delhi. He also published a book titled Festival of Pirs: Popular Islam and Shared Devotion in South India with Oxford University Press (USA). He teaches at the University Pennsylvania and writes in Teluga and English.

KAJAL AHMAD INTERVIEW takes a look at the trials, tribulations and surprising successes of a female Kurdish poet in a male-dominated society.

Tom Merrill remains in the Spotlight with his latest poem, "Thinking Salvationally."

Martin Mc Carthy remains in the Spotlight with a new poem, "Gasp."

Jared Carter returns to the Spotlight with two new poems: "Defiance" and "Ethel."

John Masella returns to the Spotlight with two new poems.

R.S. returns to the Spotlight with a new poem, "When the Dust Settles."

Shamik Banerjee returns to the Spotlight with a new poem, "To My Father."

Bob Zisk remains in the Spotlight with two new poems.

David B. Gosselin remains in the Spotlight with his translation of "Cassandra" by Friedrich Schiller.

Malcolm Ernest returns to the Spotlight with a new poem, "Mother's Love."

F.F. Teague returns to the Spotlight with a new poem, "Sonnet for Mike."

The HyperTexts is actively soliciting submissions of a nonce nonsense form, the "dabble dactyl," and the guidelines are surprisingly lax. Anything remotely close is likely to be published, as long as the poem is double-dactyl-ish, clever, funny, and the writing is good. Dabble dactyls can be submitted in the body of the email to Mike Burch at mikerburch@gmail.com.

"A little dabble dactyl'll do ya!" introduces a looser form of the double dactyl that is all about having nonsensical fun.

Michael R. Burch has published "Jessamyn's Song" after starting his first longer poem around age 14 and finally finishing it at age 66. Well, no one ever said writing poetry is easy!

Bemused by Muses considers one poet's possible encounters with the Muse, or Muses.

THE GODS: AN UPDATE

Rejection Slips Redux

Drats, Rejected Again! (the continuing bias against formal poetry)

May 2024

Martin Mc Carthy returns to the Spotlight with a new poem, "Gasp."

Bob Zisk returns to the Spotlight with two new poems.

In honor of the SCP's just-announced POE-itry jernel, we have a tribute poem, "The scops have written some po-ems." However, it seems our suspicion that POE (not Edgar, but AI) would be enlisted to help the fifth-grade dropouts was unwarranted, since their verse remains as atrocious as ever. Amusingly, in the introduction to the SCP's latest debacle the scops posit they may have "turned around" the poetry industry with their ungrammatical and slipshoddily edited verse. Not authentic poets with actual achievements like Seamus Heaney and Richard Wilbur, but the scops! Well, they may have careers as professional comedians. We haven't had a laugh this ribsplitting since the scops started nominating each other for Poet Lariat.

Reta Lorraine Bowen Taylor returns to the Spotlight with a new poem, "The Entity."

F.F. Teague returns to the Spotlight with two new poems.

The You and I of Poetry is an essay by David Alpaugh.

Jared Carter remains in the Spotlight with two new poems.

Robert Lavett Smith remains in the Spotlight with seven new poems.

Tom Merrill remains in the Spotlight with his latest poem, "Thinking Salvationally."

David B. Gosselin remains in the Spotlight with his translation of "Hector's Farewell" by Friedrich Schiller.

Victoria Lau is new to THT and remains in the Spotlight.

Anaïs Vionet remains in the Spotlight with a new poem, "fossils."

Michael R. Burch has published "Jessamyn's Song" after starting his first longer poem around age 14 and finally finishing it at age 66.

April 2024

SKIP-SCOP ETHICS

THE SNARES OF THE SIMPLISTIC SALEMI

"Night Labor" is a tribute poem written by Michael R. Burch for the young American peace activist Rachel Corrie, who died under the treads of a weaponized Israeli bulldozer on March 16, 2003 while acting as a human shield in defense of the home of the Palestinian pharmacist Samir Nasrallah. "Night Labor" is also dedicated to the seven World Kitchen volunteers killed on April 1, 2024 by Israeli airstrikes. The victims included three Britons, an Australian, a Palestinian, a Pole, and a dual citizen of the United States and Canada. A shocking and unconscionable 196 humanitarian workers have been killed in Palestinian territories since October 2023, according to the UN humanitarian coordinator in the region. Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu called the World Kitchen deaths a "tragic" accident and said "this happens in war." But what other nation has killed 196 humanitarian workers?

POEMS FOR THE CHILDREN OF GAZA

Anaïs Vionet returns to the Spotlight with a new poem, "fossils."

Robert Lavett Smith returns to the Spotlight with seven new poems, after a long hiatus.

Tom Merrill returns to the Spotlight with his latest poem, "Thinking Salvationally."

David B. Gosselin returns to the Spotlight with his translation of "Hector's Farewell" by Friedrich Schiller.

Jared Carter returns to the Spotlight with two new poems.

The You and I of Poetry is an essay by David Alpaugh.

Victoria Lau is currently working on her MFA degree at Lindenwood University. She was the 3rd place poetry winner for the Random House Creative Writing Competition in 2013. Her poems have been published in Rogue Agent, The Orchards Poetry Journal and The Olivetree Review. She was also the 1st place winner for the Nancy Dean Medieval Prize in 2020. She is a poetry reader for GASHER Journal and one of the marketing coordinators for The Adroit Journal. She has taught poetry at Sadie Nash Summer Institute and is writing assistant at the Borough of Manhattan Community College Writing Center and an English adjunct lecturer at Queens College.

R.S. returns to the Spotlight with a new poem, "Come Let Us Kiss And Part."

Martin Mc Carthy remains in the Spotlight with a new poem, "Emissary of the Angels," which he wrote for Kevin N. Roberts, the founder and first editor of Romantics Quarterly, and widely considered to have been the best of the New Romantics.

Robin Helweg-Larsen remains in the Spotlight with four new poems.

Tweedie-die-die and Tweedie-Dumb: A scop and retired pastor, James A. Tweedie, waxes poetic on the need for human beings to gracefully accept climate change, just as the dinosaurs did, so long ago. But why, then, did Noah build an ark? Did his God not get the message, or is Tweedie trying to trick us on April Fool's Day?

O, Terrible Angel is a collection of love poems written for his wife Beth by THT editor-in-chief Michael R. Burch.

March 2024

St. Patrick's Day Poems is a new page suggested by the Irish poet Martin Mc Carthy, who recently became a THT contributing editor.

A Keystone Scop suffers the Ire of the Irish on St. Patrick's Day.

Conor Kelly's rather gentle criticism of a St. Patrick's Day poem by Susan Jarvis Bryant resulted in her cries of unfairness in over-alliterative unintentional doggerel. We did attempt to link to the alleged "poem" so readers can judge for themselves, but the link was blocked. What are the Keystone Scops afraid of? Free advertising? Or people reading their racist rants for migrant children and their mothers to be annihilated with .50 caliber armor-piercing machine gun shells, proving the hollowness of their "Christianity" and lack of humanity, perhaps? One shudders to think of the Holy Family appearing at the border if Joe Salemi is there with his Gatling Gun and beret.

Ms. Bryant has written a peeve.
Ignore it, she’s out of her league.
—Michael R. Burch

Tweedie-die-die and Tweedie-Dumb: A scop and retired pastor, James A. Tweedie, waxes poetic on the need for human beings to gracefully accept climate change, just as the dinosaurs did, so long ago. But why, then, did Noah build an ark?

On a personal note, the award-winning New Zealand composer David Hamilton has informed me that he will be setting my compositions "Sing for the Cool Night" and "Distances" to music. These will be my 56th and 57th poems set to music by 31 different composers. The poems in question can be read here: Poems Set to Music. Ironically, "Sing for the Cool Night" was excerpted from my poem "Chit Chat," which was inspired by my online encounters with grammar- and punctuation-challenged scopian bards! — MRB

Ethna Carbery is one of the best Irish poets you probably haven't heard of, but definitely should take time to get familiar with.

Seamus Cassidy was the pen name of the Irish-American poet Jim McManmon. Most poets are not saints, but Jim was. He dedicated much of his life to helping children by running the Broman Group Home for boys in Las Vegas for over 30 years and later as a substitute teacher. Jim was described as having a "radiant smile" and "looking like a happy Robert Frost." And he was a fine poet as well.

Martin Mc Carthy remains in the Spotlight with four new poems: "Angel of Mariupol," "Erato," "Revelation" and "Life Task."

Jared Carter returns to the Spotlight with a new poem, "Memory," that seems appropriate to our day.

Robin Helweg-Larsen returns to the Spotlight with four new poems.

"The Folly of Wisdom" by Michael R. Burch questions a lemming-like activity of certain journals and their editors.

David B. Gosselin returns to the Spotlight with three new poems.

Tom Merrill remains in the Spotlight with his latest poem, "Joint Adventures."

R.S. remains in the Spotlight with a new poem you won't want to miss, "If Death Had Passed Us By."

Shamik Banerjee remains in the Spotlight with four new poems, including a sonnet he wrote for THT's editor-in-chief, "To Michael R. Burch."

SICK PUPPY SCOPS are now calling for children and their mothers to be shot to shreds at the southern border with .50 caliber machine guns. It seems the Society of Classical Poets has abandoned not only Christianity, but humanity as well. "Outdoing the Devil" is a poem written by Kim Cherub in response.

Less Heroic Couplets and Dabble Dactyls are nonsensical inventions of Mike Burch.

February 2024

Valentine's Day Poems contains poems you can share with that "special someone," free of charge for noncommercial purposes.

Tom Merrill returns to the Spotlight with his latest poem, "Joint Adventures."

R.S. returns to the Spotlight with a new poem you won't want to miss, "If Death Had Passed Us By."

Shamik Banerjee returns to the Spotlight with three new poems, including a Valentine's poem, "As Spring Recedes."

F.F. Teague returns to the Spotlight with two new poems.

Martin Mc Carthy returns to the Spotlight with four new poems: "Angel of Mariupol," "Erato," "Revelation" and "Life Task." We have also added Martin's poem "Little Thrush" to The Best of the HyperTexts.

Shannon Winestone remains in the Spotlight.

On a personal note, I recently had a new and rather amusing "first" when my poem "Pale Though Her Eyes" was analyzed by Chegg AI. Apparently the analysis is being marketed to high school and college students. Alas, I was unable to benefit from the presumed brilliance of AI literary criticism, as I declined to pay the signup fee. I did some research, however, and discovered that "Pale Though Her Eyes" has become popular on the Internet, appearing on 561 web pages according to Google. I suspect the poem may have gone viral after Pick Me Up Poetry included it, along with my poem "Vampires," on a page of the eight "best vampire poems," where it appears alongside poems by Baudelaire, Dowson and Yeats. Having two of the eight best vampire poems, in someone's opinion, is a nice compliment. Have I finally arrived, having also been endorsed by AI? I also discovered that my poem "Dark Gothic" has been analyzed by Chegg AI. Am I entitled to a Sally Field moment?  — MRB

Kevin Nicholas Roberts (1969-2008) was a poet, fiction writer and professor of English Literature. Kevin spent three years in the English countryside of Suffolk writing Romantic poetry and studying the Romantic Masters beside the North Sea. His poetry has been compared to that of Algernon Charles Swinburne, one of his major influences. Kevin was born on the 4th of April in the United States, which, accounting for the hour of his birth and the time zone difference, just happened to be Swinburne's birthdate, April the 5th, in England. And Kevin claimed to be the reincarnation of Swinburne ...

ROMANTICS QUARTERLY: A Retrospective, Chronology and History

Zyskandar Jaimot was one of my all-time favorite poets of my acquaintance, both as a poet and as a person. Alas, he is no longer with us, but on the brighter side, his poetry is. — MRB

SKIP, SCOP, SKIP TO MY LOO (PART DEUX)

January 2024

New Year Poetry: the Poetry of Endings and New Beginnings

Famous Poems about Drinking

Shannon Winestone is an aspiring poet based in New England. She strives to write poems that are uniformly beautiful, blending ancient with modern and speaking to the human condition. Shannon’s other interests include baking, classical literature, drawing, graphic design, mythology, psychology, and geopolitics.

Zyskandar Jaimot was one of my all-time favorite poets of my acquaintance, both as a poet and as a person. Alas, he is no longer with us, but on the brighter side, his poetry is. — MRB

Adam Sedia remains in the Spotlight with a poem, "Chrysanthemums," that strikes us as one of the best examples of contemporary Romanticism we've seen in years. In fact, we liked the poem so much that we added it to The Best of the HyperTexts without the usual delay.

Bob Zisk returns to the Spotlight with a new poem, "Song in the Falling Snow of Late January."

Shamik Banerjee returns to the Spotlight with a new poem, "To My Body."

GUN POEMS features poems written by various THT poets over the years.

On a personal note, and in a very good start to my New Year, I have just been informed that I will soon have my 55th poem set to music by a composer. In this case Eduard de Boer will be using my lyrics for the fifth movement of Oratorium Toward a Golden Future, which he's writing on commission from the Dutch Fund for Podium Arts. It sounds like a pretty big deal, as Ed tells me he'll have to rush to meet the October 24, 2024 deadline. After I posted this note, Martin Mc Carthy suggested that I put together a page with my Poems Set to Music, so I did. — Michael R. Burch, editor-in-chief, The HyperTexts

THE BEST WORST LINES OF THE KEYSTONE SCOPS

SKIP, SCOP, SKIP TO MY LOO

We wish all our poets and readers a very happy New Year!

December 2023

Adam Sedia returns to the Spotlight with a new poem, "Chrysanthemums," that strikes us as one of the best examples of contemporary Romanticism we've seen in years. In fact, we liked the poem so much that we added it to The Best of the HyperTexts without the usual delay.

We have published the full version of The Perfect Voice, an epic-length tribute poem for Bob Dylan written by Martin Mc Carthy. And I've just been informed that a copy of The Perfect Voice in chapbook form has been placed on permanent display as part of the Bob Dylan Archive at the Bob Dylan Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, thanks to its director, Steve Jenkins. — Michael R. Burch, editor-in-chief, The HyperTexts

THE DANCE OF THE SUGARPLUMMED SCOPS

Merry Christmas to all, and what better way to celebrate the holiday season than with poems and hymns...

The Best Christmas Poems of All Time, in one person's opinion, range from nursery rhymes to Christmas carols to poems written by major poets.

The Best Christmas Songs of All Time

Heretical Christmas Poems

Dark Christmas Poems

Trump Christmas at the White House

Donald Trump's Insults of Women

Patricia Falanga lives in Newcastle, Australia, where she is an aspiring poet, writer, composer and published author of syllabuses for the teaching of Italian to children in primary schools.

David B. Gosselin returns to the Spotlight with two new poems.

F.F. Teague returns to the Spotlight with three new poems.

Tom Merrill remains in the Spotlight with his latest poem, "A Product of Dismal Endurance."

Conor Kelly returns to the Spotlight with several poems about gun control, or the lack of it.

GUN POEMS features poems written by various THT poets over the years.

THE KEYSTONE SCOPS ATTACK ENVIRONMENTALISTS, AWKWARDLY

Martial Translations by Michael R. Burch has been updated with, not one, but four translations of the amusing Coq au vin. Why was Phoebe invited to all those dinner parties?

More Comical Errors by the Scops and The Scops are Whining Again by Michael R. Burch

Laconic Reply to a Scop poses the rhetorical question: "Why do the Keystone Scops react so badly to free advertising?"

November 2023

Ranald Barnicot returns to the Spotlight with three new translations of Julio Flórez Roa (1867-1923), a late Romantic Colombian poet who was perhaps the most popular Colombian poet of his time.

R.S. resides in India and writes poetry to find harmony in life. She graduated with honours in English and loves to read and write poetry. She is fond of music and likes to play the piano. She is greatly influenced and inspired by the poetry of Percy Bysshe Shelley, Lord Byron, Edgar Allan Poe, Robert Frost, Pablo Neruda, W.H. Auden and William Butler Yeats, to name a few. She loves going out for nature walks and rises early to feel inspired with the morning star and create new rhymes.

Shamik Banerjee is a poet from India.

Tom Merrill returns to the Spotlight with his latest poem, "A Product of Dismal Endurance."

More Comical Errors by the Scops

The Scops are Whining Again by Michael R. Burch

Laconic Reply to a Scop poses the rhetorical question: "Why do the Keystone Scops react so badly to free advertising?"

THICK AS THIEVES: THE CONTINUING PLOT TO MAKE TRUMP THE FIRST AMERICAN DICTATOR

After a long hiatus, we have revived the Glob Blog with a new article, MUST WE LIVE WITH THE UNTHINKABLE, YET AGAIN?

F.F. Teague returns to the Spotlight with two new poems.

Martin Mc Carthy remains in the Spotlight with an excerpt from his tribute to Bob Dylan, "The Perfect Voice." Martin's performance of the poem on YouTube passed 1,000 views very quickly and seems to be gathering steam.

Viral Poems by Michael R. Burch

Why I Am Not A Christian by Michael R. Burch

October 2023

Halloween Poetry was meant to be a seasonal page, but it has remained popular with readers year-round and continues to receive tens of thousands of page views per year. Our Halloween Poetry page features tricks and treats for children and adults of all ages.

Vampire Poetry explores the eerie connections between the poet/artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti, the poet Algernon Charles Swinburne, Bram Stoker, John William Polidori (the writer of the first modern vampire story), the pre-Raphaelite models Jane Morris and Elizabeth Siddal, and the female vampire Lucy Westenra in Stoker's novel Dracula.

Dark Poetry has become one of our most popular pages.

Horror Poetry can be traced back to the monsters of Beowulf and the eerie Celtic underworld.

POEMS FOR THE CHILDREN OF GAZA

While the current situation in Israel/Palestine seems hopeless, THT editor Michael R. Burch is the author of a peace plan, the Burch-Elberry Peace Initiative, also known as the Fair Courts Resolution (FCR), which creates a way out of the impasse. It will only take five minutes to read the peace plan, so please consider doing so. Several years ago a group of peace activists considered this plan the best solution to the ongoing conflict, but the idea never gained traction. We need to get the peace plan to people with the ability to advance it. The lives of countless children on both sides are at stake.

If you aren't sure "who did what," it may interest you to know that great humanitarians like Mahatma Gandhi, Albert Einstein, Sigmund Freud, Noam Chomsky, Nelson Mandela, Desmond Tutu and Jimmy Carter were in basic agreement about the root cause. Understanding the root cause helps us identify the path to peace. You can read what these outstanding humanitarians, and others, have said on the subject in our Nakba Index.

The Scops are Whining Again by Michael R. Burch

Laconic Reply to a Scop poses the rhetorical question: "Why do the Keystone Scops react so badly to free advertising?"

THICK AS THIEVES: THE CONTINUING PLOT TO MAKE TRUMP THE FIRST AMERICAN DICTATOR

After a long hiatus, we have revived the Glob Blog with a new article, MUST WE LIVE WITH THE UNTHINKABLE, YET AGAIN?

Ranald Barnicot returns to the Spotlight with three new translations of Julio Flórez Roa (1867-1923), a late Romantic Colombian poet who was perhaps the most popular Colombian poet of his time.

F.F. Teague returns to the Spotlight with two new poems.

R.S. resides in India and writes poetry to find harmony in life. She graduated with honours in English and loves to read and write poetry. She is fond of music and likes to play the piano. She is greatly influenced and inspired by the poetry of Percy Bysshe Shelley, Lord Byron, Edgar Allan Poe, Robert Frost, Pablo Neruda, W.H. Auden and William Butler Yeats, to name a few. She loves going out for nature walks and rises early to feel inspired with the morning star and create new rhymes.

Shamik Banerjee is a poet from India.

Martin Mc Carthy remains in the Spotlight with an excerpt from his tribute to Bob Dylan, "The Perfect Voice."

Reta Lorraine Bowen Taylor returns to the Spotlight with two new poems.

Tom Merrill remains in the Spotlight with his latest poem, "It was Always Derided in Others."

Michael R. Burch has added a number of new poems to his Chinese Poetry Translation page.

Gordon Ramel returns to our Spotlight with a number of  new poems on the subject of various poetic forms. The new poems are in a special section at the bottom of his page, per Gordon's request.

Anaïs Vionet remains in the Spotlight with a poem of longing, "foolish things," and a warning for an ex-president, "don't mess with georgia."

The Best Occasional Poems of All Time

Donald Trump 'Diaper Don' Nicknames

Cowboy Poems by Michael R. Burch

September 2023

Labor Day Poems and Songs

Anaïs Vionet returns to the Spotlight with a poem of longing, "foolish things," and a warning for an ex-president, "don't mess with georgia."

Tom Merrill returns to the Spotlight with a new poem, "It was Always Derided in Others."

F.F. Teague returns to the Spotlight with a cute and cuddly new poem, "A Toy Story."

SORRY MOM! — HOW I ACCIDENTALLY BECAME A PORN POET by Michael R. Burch

John Masella remains in the Spotlight with poems you won't want to miss.

Jared Carter remains in the Spotlight with two new poems: "Dying" and "Cats."

Gail Kaye-Naegele remains in the Spotlight with three new poems.

Martin Mc Carthy remains in the Spotlight with two new poems: "Sappho's Prayer" and "Sappho's Desire."

Malcolm Ernest enters the Spotlight with two poems.

Michael R. Burch is working on a timeline of his early poems: Michael R. Burch Early Poems Timeline. Several poems Burch wrote in his teens have been translated into other languages and/or set to music by composers, and 38 have been published by literary journals.

August 2023

John Masella is our first featured poet this month and his name inspired my penchant for doggerel:

John Masella
’s an engaging fella;
if he writes a book,
it’ll be a bestsella;
and he’s got lotsa things
he’ll be happy to tell ya.
—Michael R. Burch

Jared Carter returns to the Spotlight with two new poems: "Dying" and "Cats."

Tom Merrill returns to the Spotlight with a new poem, "Footnote to a Thinker's Theory of Aesthetics."

F.F. Teague returns to the Spotlight with two new poems.

Martin Mc Carthy remains in the Spotlight with two new poems: "Sappho's Prayer" and "Sappho's Desire."

Gail Kaye-Naegele returns to the Spotlight with three new poems.

The Society of Classical Poets: A Misologist’s Report on a Cult by Conor Kelly

"Gnashional Anthem of the Keystone Scops" by Michael R. Burch

MANTYK'S ANTIC LOVE POETRY! Yes, the Keystone Scops are still writing agrammatical anti-LGBTQ "poems," metronomic odes in praise of white supremacists, and badly-worded attacks on more rational poets. But every now and then one of the scops tunes his/her lyre to the more delicate notes of love. Alas, modern science has yet to find a cure for tone deafness! The results are like fingernails scritching a blackboard.

On a personal note, my translation of Minamoto no Shitago’s “autumn fields” haiku is slated not only to be published, but to play a somewhat pivotal role, in Fourteen Days, a collaborative work of fiction by famous authors like Margaret Atwood (also a co-editor), Diana Gabaldon, John Grisham, Erica Jong, Mary Pope Osborne, R.L. Stine and Scott Turow. Fourteen Days is being published by The Authors Guild Foundation, America's oldest and largest professional organization that advocates for the rights of authors, and Harper Collins. The haiku in question compares our world to a darkening field briefly lit by lightning flashes. Author’s Guild CEO Mary Rasenberger described the plot of one of the episodes as follows: “The story in the book takes place in a building on New York City's lower East Side at the beginning of the pandemic when the tenants meet nightly on the roof to share stories. The book weaves the stories together while reporting on the various goings-on among the tenants. Our just-past president, author Doug Preston, wrote the frame narrative that provides the background of the characters and introduces the stories each evening. One evening the residents come up to the roof to find a poem written on the wall – in Japanese and with your translation.” The proceeds from Fourteen Days will go towards furthering the Guild's mission of “educating, supporting, advocating and protecting American writers to ensure that a rich, diverse body of literature can flourish.” How cool! — MRB

July 2023

Independence Day Poems and Songs

Let Freedom Sing!

Independence Day Thoughts: Blind Faith vs. Independent Thinking

Independence Day Madness

Leslie Bergner graduated from Trinity College, where she studied English literature and creative writing. She went on to write for Yale University and several corporations and to teach high school English. She is particularly enamored with the sestina and sonnet. Her poem “Apple Picking” won a prize from the Connecticut Poetry Society.

Conor Kelly remains in our Spotlight with a poem in defense of the word "azure" and a number of dictionary definition poems.

Robin Helweg-Larsen returns to the Spotlight with four new poems.

Anaïs Vionet remains in the Spotlight with a new poem, "veneer."

Janice Canerdy remains in the Spotlight.

Martin Mc Carthy remains in the Spotlight with his first haiku sequence and several other new poems.

Tom Merrill remains in the Spotlight with a new poem, "Ode to an Opportunist."

Uyghur Poetry Translations by Michael R. Burch include "Elegy" by Perhat Tursun, a poet who has been "disappeared" into a Chinese "reeducation" concentration camp. According to John Bolton, such concentration camps were praised by Donald Trump as "exactly the right thing to do" while he negotiated a trade deal with China that Trump saw as critical to his reelection chances. Two of Burch's translations of Uyghur poets are scheduled to appear in Uyghur Poems, an anthology edited by Aziz Isa Elkun (Everyman’s Library, Penguin Books/Random House). The translations in question are “My Feelings” by Dolqun Yasin and “Traces” by Abdurehim Otkur.

Of Men, Mice and Mincemeat (Me) by Michael R. Burch

My Influences by Michael R. Burch

How many times is "hell" mentioned in the Bible?

June 2023

Conor Kelly returns to our Spotlight with a poem in defense of the word "azure" and a number of dictionary definition poems.

Anaïs Vionet returns to the Spotlight with a new poem, "veneer."

Martin Elster returns to the Spotlight with a new poem, "One Summer Day."

Martin Mc Carthy remains in the Spotlight with a new poem, "Unlocking Me."

Tom Merrill remains in the Spotlight with a new poem, "Ode to an Opportunist."

F.F. Teague returns to the Spotlight with two new poems.

Paul Buchheit is an author of books, poems, progressive essays, and scientific journal articles. He recently completed his first historical novel, 1871: Rivers on Fire.

Janice Canerdy is a retired high-school English teacher from Potts Camp, Mississippi. She has been writing for decades. Her poems have appeared in numerous publications, including Light, The Road Not Taken, The Lyric, Parody, Bitterroot, Westward Quarterly, Lighten Up Online, Saturday Evening Post, and the contest journals of the Mississippi Society and the National Federation of State Poetry Societies. Her first book, Expressions of Faith (Christian Faith Publishing), was published in December 2016.

Michael R. Burch Timeline of Early Poems with Grades

Our page of Rabindranath Tagore translations by Michael R. Burch has been updated with an original poem, "Only Let Me Love You," that was inspired by Tagore's poem "Come As You Are."

May 2023

Poems for the victims and survivors of the Nashville Covenant school shootings

We liked the poetry of Martin Mc Carthy so much that we invited him to become a contributing editor and he accepted. Martin lives in Cork City, Ireland, and spent several years working for the Defence Forces, before studying English at UCC. He has published two collections: Lockdown Diary (2020) and Lockdown (2021). His most recent poems appear in the pandemic anthology, Poems from My 5k, and in the journals Drawn to the Light, Seventh Quarry Poetry, Poetry Salzburg, The Lyric, The Road Not Taken, The Orchards, WestWard Quarterly, Better Than Starbucks, Blue Unicorn, Lighten Up Online, The Chained Muse, London & Newcastle, The Madrigal, Taj Mahal Review, New Lyre and Southword. He was shortlisted for the Red Line Poetry Prize and was a nominee for the 2022 Pushcart Prize. His latest book is a collection of love poems titled Book of Desire. He has a website at mccarthypoet.com.

Tom Merrill remains in the Spotlight with a new poem, "Thus We Talk To Ourselves."

Paul Buchheit is an author of books, poems, progressive essays, and scientific journal articles. He recently completed his first historical novel, 1871: Rivers on Fire.

Poems by Michael R. Burch about Shakespeare.

April 2023

Tom o' Bedlam's Song

Leo Aylen was born in KwaZulu, South Africa, the son of Charles Aylen, whom the Zulus elected Bishop of Zululand. Leo is a poet, playwright, actor, director and musician.

Tom Merrill remains in the Spotlight with three new poems: "A Loose Translation," "Why Truth is Unpopular" and "Will Is Never Learned."

Bob Zisk remains in the Spotlight with a sobering Holocaust poem.

Paul Buchheit is an author of books, poems, progressive essays, and scientific journal articles. He recently completed his first historical novel, 1871: Rivers on Fire.

F.F. Teague returns to the Spotlight with a new poem, "Soon."

Christina Pacosz remains in the Spotlight with three poems written during the early stages of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

March 2023

Christina Pacosz returns to the Spotlight after a long absence and we are happy to have her and her poems. These three poems were written during the early stages of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Bob Zisk returns to the Spotlight with a sobering Holocaust poem.

Edison Jennings lives in the southwestern corner of Virginia and works as a Head Start bus driver. He served thirteen years active duty in the Navy, and after separation he completed his education and began teaching and writing. His poetry has appeared in several journals and anthologies. He is also the author of three chapbooks: Reckoning, Small Measures and A Letter to Greta.

Tom Merrill returns to the Spotlight with three new poems: "A Loose Translation," "Why Truth is Unpopular" and "Will Is Never Learned."

F.F. Teague returns to the Spotlight with a new poem, "Scarborough Thor."

THE SOCIETY OF CLASSICAL POETS — A CIRCLE JERK by Conor Kelly has been updated with two postscripts.

Bringing Sappho to Life is a review by Martin Mc Carthy of Sappho translations by THT editor Michael R. Burch.

Martin Mc Carthy lives in Cork City, Ireland, and spent several years working for the Defence Forces, before studying English at UCC. He has published two collections: Lockdown Diary (2020) and Lockdown (2021). His most recent poems appear in the pandemic anthology, Poems from My 5k, and in numerous journals. He was shortlisted for the Red Line Poetry Prize and was a nominee for the 2022 Pushcart Prize. At present he is working on a long sequence of love poems, titled Book of Desire, and the poems included here are excerpted from that sequence.

AARGH, Uncredited Again! by Michael R. Burch

Veronica Franco translations by Michael R. Burch

Rumi translations by Michael R. Burch

Hafez translations by Michael R. Burch

Eihei Dogen Kigen translations by Michael R. Burch

The "ur" poems of Michael R. Burch

February 2023

Valentine's Day Poems contains poems you can share with that "special someone," free of charge for noncommercial purposes.

Bringing Sappho to Life is a review by Martin Mc Carthy of Sappho translations by THT editor Michael R. Burch.

Martin Mc Carthy lives in Cork City, Ireland, and spent several years working for the Defence Forces, before studying English at UCC. He has published two collections: Lockdown Diary (2020) and Lockdown (2021). His most recent poems appear in the pandemic anthology, Poems from My 5k, and in numerous journals. He was shortlisted for the Red Line Poetry Prize and was a nominee for the 2022 Pushcart Prize. At present he is working on a long sequence of love poems, titled Book of Desire, and the poems included here are excerpted from that sequence.

The Best Ancient Erotic Poems

THE SOCIETY OF CLASSICAL POETS — A CIRCLE JERK by Conor Kelly

Martin Elster returns to the Spotlight with a new poem, "City Golf Course, Late Winter."

Reta Lorraine Bowen Taylor returns to the Spotlight with a new poem, "Watermelon Guts."

F.F. Teague remains in the Spotlight with a new poem, "Lost at sea."

Famous Comebacks and Rejoinders

The Erratics: These are poems I have written for poets I think of (unfondly) as the Erratics. The Erratics fall into two main camps: one camp believes poetry should always be metrical and/or rhyme, while the other camp thinks it should never be metrical and/or rhyme. The first camp has no answer for the excellence of Walt Whitman, while the second camp has no answer for the excellence of Shakespeare. They are both mad as March hares, but not so entertaining. — MRB

Anglo-Saxon Poems

January 2023

Julien Vocance was the pseudonym of Joseph Seguin, a French poet and art collector who was fascinated by Japan. A graduate of the École des Chartes and École du Louvre with degrees in law and letters, he wrote haiku in the tradition of the Japanese masters Basho and Buson. During World War I his collection of haiku The Hundred Visions of War was composed at the front, in the mud of the trenches, where the poet lost his left eye.

Bringing Sappho to Life is a review by Martin Mc Carthy of Sappho translations by THT editor Michael R. Burch.

Kiriti Sengupta is a poet, editor, translator, and publisher from Calcutta. A widely published poet, he was awarded the Rabindranath Tagore Literary prize in 2018.

Satyananda Sarangi remains in the Spotlight.

F.F. Teague remains in the Spotlight with two new poems.

Translations of Roman, Latin and Italian Poets by Michael R. Burch

the GAUD poems of michael r. burch

December 2022

The Best Christmas Poems of All Time, in one person's opinion, range from nursery rhymes to Christmas carols to poems written by major poets.

The Best Christmas Songs of All Time is a collection based one fan's opinions.

The Ballad of the Christmas Donkey and a Message of Hope is the Christmas wish and encouragement of Beth Burch, the wife of THT editor Mike Burch, for anyone who may be struggling with depression, bullying or a feeling of being "different" in a negative way. Beth's message is that being different is good, so "take back the power" from people who say otherwise.

We are also re-featuring our page of Heretical Christmas Poems, with contributions by Ann Drysdale, Tom Merrill and other poets published by THT.

Julien Vocance was the pseudonym of Joseph Seguin, a French poet and art collector who was fascinated by Japan. A graduate of the École des Chartes and École du Louvre with degrees in law and letters, he wrote haiku in the tradition of the Japanese masters Basho and Buson. During World War I his collection of haiku The Hundred Visions of War was composed at the front, in the mud of the trenches, where the poet lost his left eye.

Mary Cresswell returns to the Spotlight with a new poem, "NIGHT CROSSING," which was written after a famous William Dunbar poem about the fear of death.

Tom Merrill remains in the Spotlight with a new poem, "Pro Forma."

Kiriti Sengupta is a poet, editor, translator, and publisher from Calcutta. A widely published poet, he was awarded the Rabindranath Tagore Literary prize in 2018.

F.F. Teague returns to the Spotlight with two new poems.

Satyananda Sarangi remains in the Spotlight.

Bob Zisk remains in the Spotlight with several new poems.

November 2022

Julien Vocance was the pseudonym of Joseph Seguin, a French poet and art collector who was fascinated by Japan. A graduate of the École des Chartes and École du Louvre with degrees in law and letters, he wrote haiku in the tradition of the Japanese masters Basho and Buson. During World War I his collection of haiku The Hundred Visions of War was composed at the front, in the mud of the trenches, where the poet lost his left eye.

Tom Merrill returns to the Spotlight with a new poem, "Pro Forma."

F.F. Teague returns to the Spotlight with three new poems.

Bob Zisk returns to the Spotlight with several new poems.

Satyananda Sarangi remains in the Spotlight.

October 2022

Julien Vocance was the pseudonym of Joseph Seguin, a French poet and art collector who was fascinated by Japan. A graduate of the École des Chartes and École du Louvre with degrees in law and letters, he wrote haiku in the tradition of the Japanese masters Basho and Buson. During World War I his collection of haiku The Hundred Visions of War was composed at the front, in the mud of the trenches, where the poet lost his left eye.

Satyananda Sarangi is a young civil servant by profession. A graduate in electrical engineering from IGIT Sarang, he enjoys reading Longfellow, Shelley, Coleridge, Yeats, Blake and many others. His works have been featured in Shot Glass Journal, Snakeskin, WestWard Quarterly, Sparks of Calliope, The Society of Classical Poets, Page & Spine, Glass: Facets of Poetry, The GreenSilk Journal and elsewhere. He currently resides in Odisha, India.

Mitali Chakravarty returns to the Spotlight with several new poems.

Halloween Poetry was meant to be a seasonal page, but it has remained popular with readers year-round and continues to receive tens of thousands of page views per year. Our Halloween Poetry page features tricks and treats for children and adults of all ages.

Vampire Poetry explores the eerie connections between the poet/artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti, the poet Algernon Charles Swinburne, Bram Stoker, John William Polidori (the writer of the first modern vampire story), the pre-Raphaelite models Jane Morris and Elizabeth Siddal, and the female vampire Lucy Westenra in Stoker's novel Dracula.

Dark Poetry has become one of our most popular pages.

Horror Poetry can be traced back to the monsters of Beowulf and the eerie Celtic underworld.

September 2022

Labor Day Poems and Songs

This is my re-butt-al of Susan Jarvis Bryant's rebuttal of my criticism of her poem "A Prayer for Sanity."

An'ya writes poetry in Japanese short forms like haiku and tanka.

Susan Jarvis Bryant is the pride and joy of the Keystone Scops. Well, perhaps not exactly the joy, if one has any sympathy for transgender children.

Nina Parmenter returns to the Spotlight with three new poems.

Bob Zisk returns to the Spotlight with several new poems.

Martin Elster returns to the Spotlight with a new poem, "Ballade of Urban Wildlife."

Tom Merrill remains in the Spotlight with several new poems.

Robin Ouzman Hislop remains in the Spotlight with a new poem, "Damn You All."

Reta Lorraine Bowen Taylor returns to the Spotlight with a new poem.

August 2022

Tom Merrill remains in the Spotlight with several new poems.

Reta Lorraine Bowen Taylor returns to the Spotlight with four new poems.

F.F. Teague returns to the Spotlight with two new poems.

Robin Ouzman Hislop remains in the Spotlight with several new poems.

Mary Cresswell remains in the Spotlight with several new poems after a long absence.

July 2022

Independence Day Poems and Songs

Let Freedom Sing!

Independence Day Thoughts: Blind Faith vs. Independent Thinking

Independence Day Madness

Poems for Ukraine

Robin Ouzman Hislop returns to the Spotlight with several new poems.

F.F. Teague returns to the Spotlight with two new poems.

Martin Elster returns to the Spotlight with a new poem, "Fact or Fraud."

Tom Merrill remains in the Spotlight with several new poems.

Mary Cresswell remains in the Spotlight with several new poems after a long absence.

June 2022

Poems for Ukraine

Tom Merrill remains in the Spotlight with a new poem, "Hope Against Hope."

Bob Zisk returns to the Spotlight with two new poems about Ukraine and seven sonnets.

Sunil Sharma remains in the Spotlight with three new poems.

Jim McLean remains in the Spotlight.

Mary Cresswell remains in the Spotlight with several new poems after a long absence.

May 2022

Poems for Ukraine

Mother's Day Poems

Jim McLean is new to our Spotlight and our first featured poet this month.

Mary Cresswell returns to the Spotlight after a long absence with several new poems.

Tom Merrill returns to the Spotlight with a new poem, "variations on a theme."

Martin Elster returns to the Spotlight with a new poem, "The Heart of Hell."

Sunil Sharma remains in the Spotlight with three new poems.

F.F. Teague remains in the Spotlight with three new poems.

Peggy Landsman remains in the Spotlight with three poems from her new poetry chapbook, Our Words, Our Worlds (Kelsay Books).

Wedding Poems

Of Men, Mice and Mincemeat (Me) by Michael R. Burch

April 2022

Poems for Ukraine

Tom Merrill returns to the Spotlight with a new poem, "Veritas Odium Parit."

Sunil Sharma remains in the Spotlight with three new poems.

F.F. Teague remains in the Spotlight with three new poems.

Peggy Landsman remains in the Spotlight with three poems from her new poetry chapbook, Our Words, Our Worlds (Kelsay Books).

March 2022

Poems for Ukraine, and for Ukrainian Children and their Mothers

Sunil Sharma returns to the Spotlight with three new poems.

F.F. Teague returns to the Spotlight with three new poems.

Peggy Landsman returns to the Spotlight with three poems from her new poetry chapbook, Our Words, Our Worlds (Kelsay Books).

Jim Levy remains in the Spotlight.

February 2022

We recently reached and passed 15 million page views, so thanks to all our poets and readers!

Valentine's Day Poems contains poems you can share with that "special someone," free of charge for noncommercial purposes.

F.F. Teague remains in the Spotlight with her naughty poem "The Penis Tree."

Bob Zisk remains in the Spotlight with his even naughtier translation of "Catullus LIX." He also has English adaptations of lines from François Villon and Alain Chartier.

Jim Levy grew up in Taos and Los Angeles, the son of a Freudian psychoanalyst. He worked in executive positions for nonprofit organizations for forty years while writing a variety of books. He was married for eight years to the woman who became Pema Chodron, the Buddhist teacher and author. Jim has published memoirs, essays, poetry, travel journals and a book about two dogs. His most recent books are Those Were the Days, Life and Love in 1970s New Mexico, written with his partner Phaedra Greenwood; Chekhov’s Mistress, literary essays; and Of All the Stars, the Evening Star, real and fictional Roman women poets. He lives in the village of Arroyo Hondo, New Mexico.

January 2022

We recently reached and passed 15 million page views, so thanks to all our poets and readers!

New Year Poetry: the Poetry of Endings and New Beginnings

Famous Poems about Drinking

Sunil Sharma is a Principal at Bharat College (affiliated with the University of Mumbai, Mumbai) at Badlapur, Mumbai Metropolitan Region, India.

Tom Merrill remains in the Spotlight with "A Redundant Advocate Of The Inevitable."

F.F. Teague returns to the Spotlight with a naughty new poem, "The Penis Tree."

Bob Zisk returns to the Spotlight with an even naughtier translation of "Catullus LIX."

Martin Elster returns to the Spotlight with a new poem, "Where is Winter."

David B. Gosselin returns to the Spotlight with two new poems.

Fukuda Chiyo-ni (1703-1775), also known as Kaga no Chiyo, was a Japanese poet, painter and calligrapher of the Edo period. She began writing haiku at age seven and by age seventeen was popular throughout Japan. At age 52 she became a Buddhist nun, shaved her head, adopted the name Soen (“Escape”), and took up residence in a temple.

December 2021

The Best Christmas Poems of All Time, in one person's opinion, range from nursery rhymes to Christmas carols to poems written by major poets.

The Best Christmas Songs of All Time is a collection based one fan's opinions.

The Ballad of the Christmas Donkey and a Message of Hope is the Christmas wish and encouragement of Beth Burch, the wife of THT editor Mike Burch, for anyone who may be struggling with depression, bullying or a feeling of being "different" in a negative way. Beth's message is that being different is good, so "take back the power" from people who say otherwise.

We are also re-featuring our page of Heretical Christmas Poems, with contributions by Ann Drysdale, Tom Merrill and other poets.

Bob Zisk returns to the Spotlight with six touching poems written for his cousin Patsy who died with terminal cancer at age twelve.

John Claiborne Isbell is a poet, a professor in the Languages department at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, and the author of The Birth of European Romanticism: Truth and Propaganda in Staël's 'De l'Allemagne' and Slavery in the Caribbean Francophone World.

Mitali Chakravarty returns to the Spotlight with a new poem, "Ageing."

Martin Elster returns to the Spotlight with a new poem, "Your Abstract Body."

F.F. Teague remains in the Spotlight with a new poem, "Ode on Bird Island, Seychelles."

Tom Merrill remains in the Spotlight with "A Redundant Advocate Of The Inevitable."

November 2021

Martin Elster returns to the Spotlight with two new poems.

Richard A. Finburg is an attorney and writer based in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania.

Tom Merrill remains in the Spotlight with a new poem, "A Redundant Advocate Of The Inevitable."

F.F. Teague remains in the Spotlight with two new poems.

Bob Zisk returns to the Spotlight with his "Anachronistic, Archaic and Hybridized Version of a Rondeau by Villon, from Le Grant Testament."

October 2021

Halloween Poetry was meant to be a seasonal page, but it has remained popular with readers year-round and continues to receive tens of thousands of page views per year. Our Halloween Poetry page features tricks and treats for children and adults of all ages.

Vampire Poetry explores the eerie connections between the poet/artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti, the poet Algernon Charles Swinburne, Bram Stoker, John William Polidori (the writer of the first modern vampire story), the pre-Raphaelite models Jane Morris and Elizabeth Siddal, and the female vampire Lucy Westenra in Stoker's novel Dracula.

Dark Poetry has become one of our most popular pages.

Horror Poetry can be traced back to the monsters of Beowulf and the eerie Celtic underworld.

Takaha Shugyo is a modern master of haiku and tanka.

Mitali Chakravarty returns to the Spotlight with three new poems.

Peggy Landsman returns to the Spotlight with two new poems.

Eric Mellen returns to the Spotlight with a new poem, "My first memory."

Tom Merrill remains in the Spotlight with a new poem, "From The Observation Tower."

Charles (Charlie) Southerland remains in the Spotlight with two new poems.

F.F. Teague remains in the Spotlight with two new poems: "Moppet’s Meteorite" and "The African jacana; or, Rhapsody in bluebeak."

Best Sports Poems by Michael R. Burch

September 2021

Aints, Saints, Formalist Plaints by Michael R. Burch

Labor Day Poems and Songs

Rhina P. Espaillat reminds us why it's called "Labor Day" with her poem "Find Work."

Jerome Betts returns to our Spotlight with a new poem, "Thought For Food."

Mark Blaeuer returns to the Spotlight with a new poem, "Metamorphosis."

Jared Carter remains in the Spotlight with six new poems.

Ann Drysdale remains in the Spotlight with her poem "Shearing Day."

Martin Elster remains in the Spotlight with "Photograph of the Last Ili Pika on Earth."

Tom Merrill remains in the Spotlight with his provocative new poem, "Food For The Hungry."

Charles (Charlie) Southerland returns to the Spotlight with two new poems.

F.F. Teague remains in our Spotlight with an utterly charming new poem, "Busy Bumblebee."

Gail White remains in our Spotlight after an extended vacation with a new poem, "Ballade of Vanishing Species."

August 2021

We invite everyone to visit our INSECTAGEDDON page. We have invited experts on the plight of earth's insects to contribute their opinions and one of them called the presentation of poetry and images "absolutely beautiful." Poets are welcome to submit poems in the Comments. The poems we like best will be published here as well, over time. INSECTAGEDDON is a movement of poets, artists and nature lovers to increase global awareness of the dangers currently being faced by bees, butterflies and other insects — many of whom we depend on to pollinate our crops. What happens to us, without them?

Tom Merrill returns to the Spotlight with a provocative new poem, "Food For The Hungry."

Martin Elster, who never misses a beat, was for many years a percussionist with the Hartford Symphony Orchestra (now retired). Aside from playing and composing music, he finds contentment in long walks in the woods or the city and, most of all, writing poetry, often alluding to the creatures and plants he encounters. His career in music has influenced his fondness for writing metrical verse, which has appeared in numerous literary journals and anthologies in the US and abroad. His honors include Rhymezone’s poetry contest (2016) co-winner, the Thomas Gray Anniversary Poetry Competition (2014) winner, the Science Fiction Poetry Association’s poetry contest (2015) third place, and four Pushcart nominations. A full-length collection, Celestial Euphony, was published by Plum White Press in 2019.

Gail White is back in our Spotlight after an extended vacation with a new poem, "Ballade of Vanishing Species."

F.F. Teague remains in our Spotlight with a new poem, "King of the Lakes."

Ann Drysdale remains in the Spotlight with a new poem, "Shearing Day."

Jared Carter remains in the Spotlight with six new poems.

Mitali Chakravarty returns to the Spotlight with three new poems.

Peggy Landsman remains in the Spotlight with a new poem, "FALLING."

Dante Translations by Michael R. Burch

July 2021

Robert Lavett Smith returns to our Spotlight with a relevant poem: "The Fourth of July, 2020."

F.F. Teague (Fliss) is a copyeditor/copywriter by day and a poet by night. She lives in Pittville, a suburb of Cheltenham (UK), with various characters including a colombine companion. From 2014 to 2016, Fliss was Poet-in-Residence for Happenstance Border Morris; and she has enjoyed some success at The Mighty, an online community for chronically ill persons. Fliss has severe arthritis yet is able to work from home while sporting supportive gloves. To date, her favourite project has been co-creating a children’s section for a safari company website. While at work, Fliss listens to a range of music – Franck, Fats, Faithless – and occasionally takes time out to compose lyrics (featured here).

Ann Drysdale returns to the Spotlight with a new poem, "Shearing Day."

Jared Carter returns to the Spotlight with six new poems.

Michael Spangenberg, aka smilingStocks, is an American investment banker and a poet-philosopher who reads the daily newspapers with the New Testament (the gospel of love) and Machiavelli's The Prince (the gospel of reality) in mind. Aside from his PhD thesis on Finance & Economics (1989), he wrote a play for the BBC, two novels (with Bradford Gilmore MD), and 10,000 poems online. As a literary critic, he reviewed 7,500 pieces from poets all over the world, whilst hosting 375 contests. When it comes to Truth and Justice, he believes that form follows substance. Dr. Michael doesn't suffer fools gladly so that he can enjoy the simple pleasures of life such as smoking cheap cigars and writing poetry.

Peggy Landsman returns to the Spotlight with a new poem, "FALLING."

Independence Day Poems and Songs

Let Freedom Sing!

Independence Day Thoughts: Blind Faith vs. Independent Thinking

Independence Day Madness

June 2021

Memorial Day Poems and Songs

War Poems and Anti-War Poems

Renée Vivien, born Pauline Mary Tarn (1877-1909), was a British poet and high-profile lesbian of the Belle Époque who wrote French poems in the style of the Symbolistes and Parnassiens.

Fadwa Tuqan (1917-2003), the Grande Dame of Palestinian letters, is also known as "the Poet of Palestine." She is generally considered to be one of the very best contemporary Arab poets. The sister of the poet Ibrahim Tuqan, she was born in Nablus in 1917. She began writing in traditional forms, but became one of the leaders of the use of the free verse in Arabic poetry. Her work often deals with feminine explorations of love and social protest, particularly of Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories.

Mahmoud Darwish is also generally considered to be one of the very best contemporary Arab poets, and many consider him to be the very best.

Antinatalist Poetry

May 2021

Armen Davoudian is the author of Swan Song, which won the 2020 Frost Place Chapbook Competition. His poems and translations from Persian have appeared in AGNI, The Sewanee Review, The Yale Review, and elsewhere. He grew up in Isfahan, Iran and is currently a PhD candidate in English at Stanford University.

Freddy Niagara Fonseca hails from South America and currently lives in Iowa. He has absorbed the histories and cultures of Greece, France, Spain, England, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, and the United States through his travels; worked in graphic design and banking in Amsterdam; studied voice and Italian; and worked in films in Rome. He has read extensively in six languages, including well over 10,000 poems by authors native to Germany, the Netherlands, Great Britain, France, Italy, Spanish-speaking countries, and America, and feels a particular resonance with, and a link to, American poetry. As a young adult, he actually disliked poetry. However, while visiting Rome he was moved by a pedestal inscription on a statue of Lord Byron in Villa Borghese Park, and wrote his first poem the next day.

Eric Mellen remains in the Spotlight with a new poem, "Out of body dick."

Adam Sedia remains in the Spotlight with several new poems.

Reta Lorraine Bowen Taylor returns to our Spotlight with a new poem, "Waiting for Dr. Kumar."

Bob Zisk remains in the Spotlight with two new poems.

Bible False Prophecies

Translations of Anglo-Saxon/Old English poems: The Ruin, Wulf and Eadwacer, The Wife's Lament, The Husband's Message, Deor's Lament, Caedmon's Hymn, Bede's Death Song, The Seafarer, Anglo-Saxon Riddles and Kennings, The Rhyming Poem, The Rhyming Poems of Saint Godric of Finchale

The Best Poems of Michael R. Burch (in his own opinion)

April 2021

Armen Davoudian is the author of Swan Song, which won the 2020 Frost Place Chapbook Competition. His poems and translations from Persian have appeared in AGNI, The Sewanee Review, The Yale Review, and elsewhere. He grew up in Isfahan, Iran and is currently a PhD candidate in English at Stanford University.

Bob Zisk returns to the Spotlight with two new poems.

Eric Mellen remains in the Spotlight with a new poem, "Out of body dick."

Adam Sedia remains in the Spotlight with several poems published newly in March.

The Rhyming Poem is aptly named, since it appears to be the oldest rhyming poem in the English language. The only rhyming poem in the oldest English poetry anthology, the Exeter Book (circa 950 AD), this 87-line original may have been experimental verse in its day, but it did catch on in a big way!

Timeline of Rhyme

Romantic Poetry Timeline

Free Verse Timeline

MICHELANGELO Translations by Michael R. Burch

Ancient Egyptian Harper's Songs

The Longer Poems of Sappho of Lesbos

The Roses of Pieria

Translations of the ancient Anglo-Saxon poems The Wife's Lament and The Husband's Message

March 2021

The Keystone Scops are at it again. In their unassailable wisdom they have explained why the enslavement and enserfment of darker-skinned people is actually good and beneficial for them! The real victim is, ta-da!, the White Master! Thankful to have been enlightened by the Key Stoners, THT editor Michael R. Burch has written a new poem, "Sonnet to White Supremacism #666," which you can read here: The Society of Classical Poets: The Keystone Scops.

Robin Helweg-Larsen returns to the Spotlight with two new poems — new to us but not to him, since they're his two oldest surviving poems, written at age 17 and 20.

Eric Mellen returns to the Spotlight with a new poem, "Out of body dick."

Adam Sedia is a poet, author, essayist and composer. His poems, essays, and stories have appeared in The Chained Muse Review, Indiana Voice Journal, Tulip Tree Review, and other publications, and he has published three volumes of poetry: The Spring's Autumn (2013), Inquietude (2016), and Visions Beyond (2018). His music can be heard on his YouTube channel. He lives in his native Northwest Indiana with his wife, Ivana, and their children, where he practices law as a civil litigator and municipal attorney.

Bob Zisk returns to the Spotlight with a poem about capital punishment gone hellishly awry, "May 2, 1960."

Bob Zisk's poem reminded us of Clarence Darrow and his remarkable VOLTAIRE essay. Darrow of course defended teenage "thrill killers" Leopold and Leob in their sensational "trial of the century."

Literary Devices

Poems about EROS and CUPID

Antipater of Sidon

Anglo-Saxon/Old English poems: The Ruin, Wulf and Eadwacer, The Wife's Lament, Deor's Lament, Caedmon's Hymn, Bede's Death Song, The Seafarer, Anglo-Saxon Riddles and Kennings

February 2021

Valentine's Day Poems contains poems you can share with that "special someone," free of charge for noncommercial purposes.

ALL SHOOK UP: We have another episode in the continuing saga of the Keystone Scops. Don Shook recently shook the literary world to its very foundations, by crying out for God Almighty to replace free verse with excruciatingly bad formal verse. But shouldn't addresses to the LORD be properly punctuated? THT editor Michael R. Burch is not convinced that Shook's shaky prayer will be answered affirmatively: The Society of Classical Poets: The Keystone Scops.

This bio of the Holocaust poet Ber Horvitz or Ber Horowitz comes from the aptly-named website Poetry in Hell: Born to village people in the woods of Maidan in the West Carpathians, Ber Horowitz (1895-1942) showed artistic talent early on. He went to gymnazie in Stanislavov, and then served in the Austrian army during WWI, where he was a medic to Italian prisoners of war. He studied medicine in Vienna and was published in many Yiddish newspapers. Fluent in several languages, he translated Polish and Ukrainian into Yiddish. He also wrote poetry in Yiddish. There are two different versions of his murder in 1942: He was either killed by Nazis with nine thousand other Jews in Stanislavov, or he was killed by peasants in his home village and birthplace of Maidan.

Here is a podcast in which New Lyre editor David Gosselin and Adam Sedia discuss the poetry of Kevin Roberts and recite a number of his poems.

Ranald Barnicot returns to the Spotlight with a new translation of a Diotimus epigram.

Mitali Chakravarty is an Indian poet and the editor-in-chief of the literary journal Borderless Journal.

Catherine Chandler is a poet, translator, editor and an unapologetic formalista. She was born in New York City and raised in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. She holds a Master of Arts from McGill, where she has lectured in Spanish in its Department of Languages and Translation. Her new formalist poems and Spanish and French translations have been published in numerous print and online journals and anthologies in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia, including Measure, The Raintown Review, Orbis, The Barefoot Muse, Mezzo Cammin, Blue Unicorn, The Lyric, Candelabrum, Umbrella, Chimaera, The Centrifugal Eye, Möbius, Modern Haiku, First Things, Iambs and Trochees, Texas Poetry Journal, Alabama Literary Review, Soundzine and others. She won the 2016 Richard Wilbur award for her book The Frangible Hour, which was selected by Dick Davis and published by the University of Evansville Press.

Amanda Gorman (1998-) is an American poet and activist. She became the youngest poet, at age 22, to recite a poem at an American presidential inauguration when she performed her original poem "The Hill We Climb" during the ceremonies as Joe Biden was sworn in. Gorman followed in the footsteps of previous inaugural poets such as Robert Frost (the first) and Maya Angelou.

Peggy Landsman is back in the Spotlight with a new poem, "MEMORY."

Tom Merrill, our most published-poet, remains in the Spotlight with a new poem, "To A Secret Friend."

Robert Lavett Smith returns to the Spotlight with a new poem, "A CHILD'S GARDEN OF VERSES."

Charles (Charlie) Southerland returns to the Spotlight with two new poems.

Anaïs Vionet returns to the Spotlight with three new poems.

Understatement Examples from Shakespeare and Elsewhere

Matsuo Basho's Famous Frog Poem

The Love Song of Shu-Sin: The Earth's Oldest Love Poem?

The Best Celebrity Poets and the Worst

Prose Poems by Michael R. Burch

Experimental Poems by Michael R. Burch

January 2021

New Year Poetry: the Poetry of Endings and New Beginnings

Famous Poems about Drinking

Tom Merrill, our most published-poet, returns to the Spotlight with three new poems.

Leslie Mellichamp was the longtime editor of The Lyric, the oldest magazine in North America devoted to traditional poetry. He was also the author of scores of poems, essays, and short stories that appeared in major publications such as the Atlantic, New York Times, Saturday Review, Ladies' Home Journal and the Georgia Review. Believing with the gifted contributors who have kept The Lyric alive since 1921 that the roots of a living poetry lie in music and the common life, rather than in the fragmented bizarre, and that rhyme, structure, and lucidity are timeless attributes of enduring poetry, he offered his own lyrics as tributes to life's ancient ironies, the earth's patient resilience, the impudence of lovers, the wondrous eyes of children, and the cunning of that soft-shoed thief, Time. Although he died in 2001, Leslie Mellichamp's poems continue to speak to us. And let me add that The Lyric is still in publication, now edited by Leslie's daughter, Jean Mellichamp Milliken. We encourage all THT visitors to consider a subscription to The Lyric, and we support The Lyric in its many worthwhile endeavors. — Michael R. Burch, editor of The HyperTexts

Anne Whitehouse has four published poetry collections. She is also the author of a novel and her fiction has appeared widely in literary magazines. Her long poem, Surrealist Muse, about Leonora Carrington, has been published as a chapbook and online. She has also published an essay, The Imp of the Perverse, about Edgar Allan Poe.

Bob Zisk once had thoughts (bordering on plans) to become a medievalist, then came late to poetry late because his Muse was "not a good girl" in his youth.

Richard Craven is an Anglo-Canadian former academic philosopher who writes high-burlesque literary fiction and formal verse, primarily iambic pentameter in its two dominant forms, the sonnet and the heroic couplet. His writing satirises the sociocultural deracination and degeneracy, of his adoptive Bristol specifically, and of contemporary Western civilisation by extension. He is the author of the novels Bile (written as Mark Brand), Amoeba Dick, Pretty Poli, Odour Issues, and the forthcoming Helix Folt the Conservative, and has also written a full-length Jacobean revenge tragedy, The Senseless Counterfeit.

Joseph Andros describes himself as an Unprofessional Songwriter, a Freelance Insultant (Undeliberate), a Professional Debtor, a Chief Neologian and Synonym Differentiator, a Social Justice Worrier and Unrepentant Unregenerate Privilege Apologist, and an Online Poet of Note (at least one).

Jemshed Khan returns to our Spotlight with a new poem he describes as an oddity: a sestina written in authentic period 1600's English language and narrating the Mayflower journey and introduction of pox into the native population. According to the author it is historically accurate in all details, and the language, syntax, and spelling are based on the period writings of Wm Bradford.

Edward Nudelman returns to our Spotlight with three new poems.

There is a podcast review by David B. Gosselin, editor of New Lyre, and Adam Sedia: The Poetry of Michael R. Burch, with nine poems recited and discussed.

The Top Hundred Athletes of All Time

December 2020

Leslie Mellichamp was the longtime editor of The Lyric, the oldest magazine in North America devoted to traditional poetry. He was also the author of scores of poems, essays, and short stories that appeared in major publications such as the Atlantic, New York Times, Saturday Review, Ladies' Home Journal and the Georgia Review. Believing with the gifted contributors who have kept The Lyric alive since 1921 that the roots of a living poetry lie in music and the common life, rather than in the fragmented bizarre, and that rhyme, structure, and lucidity are timeless attributes of enduring poetry, he offered his own lyrics as tributes to life's ancient ironies, the earth's patient resilience, the impudence of lovers, the wondrous eyes of children, and the cunning of that soft-shoed thief, Time. Although he died in 2001, Leslie Mellichamp's poems continue to speak to us. And let me add that The Lyric is still in publication, now edited by Leslie's daughter, Jean Mellichamp Milliken. We encourage all THT visitors to consider a subscription to The Lyric, and we support The Lyric in its many worthwhile endeavors. — Michael R. Burch, editor of The HyperTexts

Mark Blaeuer grew up in Illinois but has also resided in Pennsylvania, Colorado, Utah, and Arkansas. He was employed for many years as a park ranger and an archeologist but now researches, writes about, and presents programs on Hot Springs, Arkansas, baseball history. His poems (as well as a few translations) have appeared in several dozen literary journals, including Able Muse, Antiphon, The Centrifugal Eye, Chrysanthemum, The Edge City Review, The Ekphrastic Review, El Portal, The Lyric, Measure, The Plains Poetry Journal, Pudding, The Raintown Review, Slant, SPSM&H, Westview, and The Windsor Review. Kelsay Books published a collection of his work in 2014.

David B. Gosselin returns to the Spotlight with three new poems in his "Modern Dreams" series.

Robin Helweg-Larsen returns to the Spotlight with three new poems.

Charles (Charlie) Southerland returns to the Spotlight with two new poems.

Reta Lorraine Bowen Taylor returns to our Spotlight with a new poem, "Rope."

Anaïs Vionet returns to the Spotlight with two new poems: "Alarm!!!" and "the agent."

Anne Whitehouse has four published poetry collections. She is also the author of a novel and her fiction has appeared widely in literary magazines. Her long poem, Surrealist Muse, about Leonora Carrington, has been published as a chapbook and online. She has also published an essay, The Imp of the Perverse, about Edgar Allan Poe.

November 2020

Vera Pavlova (1963-) is a contemporary Russian poet, born in Moscow. She is a graduate of the Schnittke College of Music and the Gnessin Academy of Music, where she specialized in music history. She has worked as a guide at the Shaliapin Museum in Moscow and has published several essays on music. She began writing poetry at age twenty, after the birth of her first daughter, while she was still at the maternity ward.

Line Gauthier describes herself as "A late babyboomer Canadian born in the beautiful Eastern Townships of Quebec and raised in Northern Ontario" who "fell in love with Ottawa, where she received her B.A. with a major in French literature." In her oncoming golden years she writes mostly free verse and micro poetry. She has published several photography/poetry books and has other works in progress. A member of Haiku Canada, her haiku has been published in various anthologies.

Ranald Barnicot returns to the Spotlight with three new translations of Catullus, to go with one previous one.

Peggy Landsman is back in the Spotlight with a new poem, "WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW."

Max Rifkin returns to the Spotlight with a new poem, "Leaves So Lifeless," that he wrote about Anne Sexton at age thirteen.

Mike Alexander remains in the Spotlight with three new poems.

Nina Parmenter lives in Wiltshire, UK. She squeezes her writing into the tiny spaces between work and motherhood. Her poems have been published or are forthcoming in Lighten Up Online, Snakeskin, Light, The Lyric, The New Verse News and Ink, Sweat & Tears.

Richa Sharma has been published in haiku journals. She hopes to continuously develop a quality of natural writing that will be uniquely her own.

Muhammad Ali, Poet?

October 2020

Halloween Poetry was meant to be a seasonal page, but it has remained popular with readers year-round and continues to get tens of thousands of views per year. It features tricks and treats for children and adults alike.

Vampire Poetry explores the eerie connections between the poet/artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti, the poet Algernon Charles Swinburne, Bram Stoker, John William Polidori (the writer of the first modern vampire story), the pre-Raphaelite models Jane Morris and Elizabeth Siddal, and the female vampire Lucy Westenra in Stoker's novel Dracula.

Dark Poetry has become one of our most popular pages.

Horror Poetry can be traced back to the monsters of Beowulf and the eerie Celtic underworld.

Mike Alexander returns to the Spotlight with three new poems.

Nina Parmenter lives in Wiltshire, UK. She squeezes her writing into the tiny spaces between work and motherhood. Her poems have been published or are forthcoming in Lighten Up Online, Snakeskin, Light, The Lyric, The New Verse News and Ink, Sweat & Tears.

Charles (Charlie) Southerland remains in our Spotlight with a new poem, "My Pompeii."

David B. Gosselin returns to the Spotlight with two new poems in his "Modern Dreams" series.

Reta Lorraine Bowen Taylor returns to our Spotlight with a new poem, "Writer Guy Next Door..."

Anaïs Vionet remains in the Spotlight with a new poem, "Breathlessly..."

Japanese Zen Death Poems

September 2020

Labor Day Poems and Songs

Nina Parmenter lives in Wiltshire, UK. She squeezes her writing into the tiny spaces between work and motherhood. Her poems have been published or are forthcoming in Lighten Up Online, Snakeskin, Light, The Lyric, The New Verse News and Ink, Sweat & Tears.

Peggy Landsman is back in the Spotlight with a new poem, "TALKING IT OVER WITH MYSELF."

Robert Lavett Smith remains in the Spotlight with a new poem, "ELEGY WITH EVENING FOG."

Charles (Charlie) Southerland remains in our Spotlight with a new poem, "A Cordial Undertow."

Anaïs Vionet returns to the Spotlight with a new poem, "Unwise Advances."

Kevin N. Robert's Fatal Women book review by David Gosselin

Randal A. Burd's Memoirs of a Witness Tree book review by Michael R. Burch

Poems about Icarus, Flying and Flights of Fancy by Michael R. Burch

August 2020

Al-Qassim Abdulsalam is a Nigerian poet, born in 1992 in Dekina, a local government area of Kogi State, Nigeria. He is a graduate of Kogi State University and currently lives in Abuja, Nigeria, in the western part of Africa. He calls himself the "Bloody Poet" and has written many poems yet to be published.

Ms. dONNA m. dAVIS-pRUSIK started writing creatively instead of practicing during Typing Class in High School. Hence flunking typing, eventually turning the accumulated error-ridden nonsense into poetry and some short stories.

Gordon Ramel, an eco-poetry pioneer, returns to our Spotlight with a new poem, "In the Time of the Masks."

Ed Shacklee is a public defender who lives on a boat in the Potomac River. His first collection, The Blind Loon: A Bestiary, was published in 2017 by Able Muse Press.

Robert Lavett Smith remains in the Spotlight with four new poems.

Charles (Charlie) Southerland returns to our Spotlight with a new poem, "Responding to the Howl."

Uyghur Poetry Translations by Michael R. Burch including "Elegy" by Perhat Tursun, a poet who has been "disappeared" into a Chinese "reeducation" concentration camp. According to John Bolton, such concentration camps were praised by Trump as "exactly the right thing to do" as he negotiated a trade deal he saw as critical to his reelection chances prior to the coronavirus pandemic.

July 2020

Independence Day Poems and Songs

Robert Lavett Smith remains in our Spotlight with his highly relevant poem "The Fourth of July, 2020."

Let Freedom Sing!

Independence Day Thoughts: Blind Faith vs. Independent Thinking

Independence Day Madness

Lance Jencks has been writing poetry for fifty years. In the 1970s he earned an MFA in playwriting and a PhD in Contemporary Theatre. In the 1980s he published his verse-based roman á clef, The Wisdom of Southern California, then toured that region with a one-man show of the same name. Lance has been an advertising copywriter, a stock-and-bond broker, and the guy who hooks your car to the chain at the car wash. He lives today in Newport Beach, California, where he was recently featured in the epic bodysurfing movie Dirty Old Wedge, streaming on Amazon Prime.

Robin Helweg-Larsen returns to the Spotlight with a new poem, "Sly Reality."

Max Rifkin began writing poems at age twelve. Now eighteen, he has a poetry book in the works. This is Max's first publication by a literary journal, but surely not his last.

Tina Sequeira is an Indian author, poet and marketer. Winner of the Rashtriya Gaurav Award in association with the Government of Telangana for ‘Author of the Year’ (2019), the Orange Flower Award (2017) by Women’s Web, the Literoma Nari Samman Award (2020), and GrandQueens Leadership Award (2020) by Lions Club International, Tina has published over twenty short stories and poems in anthologies and literary journals since 2017. Tina is the author of two books–both fiction and non-fiction. Soul Sojourn, a melange of real-life stories, experiences, and learnings, tops the ‘Best Ebooks Ever 2017’ on Goodreads. Bhumi (2019), a collection of sixteen stories of the contemporary Indian woman, fetched her awards and ‘by invite’ an Amazon Prime Reading deal. She is also the founder of ‘Write Away’, where she mentors her students on the subtle nuances of creative writing. Find her at www.thetinaedit.com and @thetinaedit.

Anaïs Vionet remains in the Spotlight with four new poems.

June 2020

Archbishop Michael Seneco has published THT editor Michael R. Burch's Holocaust poem "Pfennig Postcard, Wrong Address" on his Facebook page and personal website — on around twenty pages in all.

Poems for the Victims and Survivors of the Coronavirus

Tom Merrill remains in our Spotlight with a new poem, "LIFE AS AN OBSTRUCTION."

Max Rifkin began writing poems at age twelve. Now eighteen, he has a poetry book in the works. This is Max's first publication by a literary journal, but surely not his last.

Anaïs Vionet is a sixteen-year-old high school student with a very promising future as a poet and writer. This is also her first publication by a literary journal.

David B. Gosselin returns to the Spotlight with two new poems.

Robert Lavett Smith remains in the Spotlight with two new poems.

May 2020

Memorial Day Poems and Songs

Poems for the Victims and Survivors of the Coronavirus

Mother's Day Poems

Tom Merrill remains in our Spotlight with a new poem, "LIFE AS AN OBSTRUCTION."

Gail Kaye-Naegele remains in our Spotlight. This is her first publication by a literary journal.

Claire Brew is a poet and actress who lives in Sydney, Australia. She describes herself as "a passionate and expressive woman who has a great love for telling stories." This is her first publication by a literary journal, but we suspect it won't be the last.

Anne Hurlebaus lives in the Greater Boston area and is a single mother of a rambunctious three-year-old boy. A “retired” bartender, she is currently a Quality Assurance Manager/Food Safety Specialist for a national brand. She started writing poetry at the age of 14 and is “world renowned” ... among her family and friends, at least! After dozens of notebooks filled and many online posts, this is her first publication by a literary journal.

Anaïs Vionet is a sixteen-year-old high school student with a very promising future as a poet and writer. This is also her first publication by a literary journal.

Robert Lavett Smith remains in the Spotlight with two new poems. He has been widely published, breaking the string.

Ancient Mayan Love Poems

Gulzar

April 2020

Poems for the Victims and Survivors of the Coronavirus

Gail Kaye-Naegele is a retired nurse, a former book indexer, a lifelong lover of the arts, a poet, and a visual artist. She has published her poems online as Gaill Naegele, using a variation of her maiden name, g.EveKaye, and as Loretta Young. We are glad to solve the mystery and confirm that these three talented poets are actually one! This is her first publication by a literary journal.

Bruce Bennett co-founded and served as an editor of FIELD: Contemporary Poetry and Poetics. He then co-founded and served as an editor of Ploughshares. Bruce is also the author of ten books of poetry, more than thirty poetry chapbooks, and has won a Pushcart Prize for his villanelle "The Thing's Impossible."

David Sklar lives in a cliffside cottage in northern New Jersey, and almost supports his family as a freelance writer, editor, and drug pusher. A Rhysling nominee and past winner of the Julia Moore Award for Bad Verse, he has more than 100 published works. He’s also the creator of the Poetry Crisis Line, which features new verse-related cartoons every Monday and Thursday.

Gilda J. Math, the former Gilda Castillo, lives in sunny Florida where she writes poems in English, French, Spanish and Italian. She has worked as a translator, tutor, portrait artist and financial counselor, and is currently retired.

Jake Cosmos Aller is a novelist, poet, and former Foreign Service officer who served 27 years with the U.S. State Department in ten countries. He has completed four SF novels and his work has appeared in numerous literary magazines online.

Tom Merrill remains in our Spotlight with a new poem, "LIFE AS AN OBSTRUCTION."

Jared Carter remains in the Spotlight with five new poems.

Reviewed: Jared Carter's The Land Itself.

Peggy Landsman is back in the Spotlight with four new poems.

Robert Lavett Smith remains in the Spotlight with two new poems pertinent to the coronavirus pandemic.

David B. Gosselin remains in the Spotlight with four new translations.

Reta Lorraine Bowen Taylor returns to our Spotlight with a four-part poem, "Saving You."

Robin Helweg-Larsen returns to the Spotlight with three new poems.

Ranald Barnicot returns to the Spotlight with three translations of Horace.

Nasir Kazmi

Song Lyrics by Michael R. Burch, who has had poems set to music by seven composers.

March 2020

Tom Merrill returns to our Spotlight with a new poem, "LIFE AS AN OBSTRUCTION."

Jared Carter remains in the Spotlight with five new poems.

Reviewed: Jared Carter's The Land Itself.

Robert Lavett Smith remains in the Spotlight with three new poems.

David B. Gosselin remains in the Spotlight with four new translations.

Reta Lorraine Bowen Taylor is an American poet, storyteller, painter and artist.

Ranald Barnicot remains in the Spotlight with translations of Catullus, Rimbaud and Verlaine.

Rahat Indori

Doggerel and Nonsense Verse by Michael R. Burch

Erotic Poems by Michael R. Burch

February 2020

Reta Lorraine Bowen Taylor is an American poet, storyteller, painter and artist.

jacob erin-cilberto, originally from Bronx, NY, now resides in Carbondale, Illinois. erin-cilberto has been writing and publishing poetry since 1970. erin-cilberto has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize in Poetry in 2006-2007-2008 and again in 2010. He has taught poetry workshops for Heartland Writers Guild, Southern Illinois Writers Guild and Union County Writers Guild.

Robert Lavett Smith returns to our Spotlight with three new poems.

David B. Gosselin is back in our Spotlight with four new translations.

Ranald Barnicot returns to the Spotlight with translations of Catullus, Rimbaud and Verlaine.

Matsuo Basho

Yosa Buson

Kobayashi Issa

Ono no Komachi

Yamaguchi Seishi

Jaun Elia

January 2020

The title of Jemshed Khan's poem "#48689" refers to the tattooed numbers on the arm of Sonia Warshawski, a survivor of the Holocaust who is Khan's tailor and the subject of the movie Big Sonia.

Jared Carter returns to our Spotlight with five new poems you won't want to miss.

Reviewed: Jared Carter's Darkened Rooms of Summer.

Mandakini Bhattacherya returns to the Spotlight with five new poems.

Ranald Barnicot returns to the Spotlight with two translations of the Portuguese poet António Ferreira (1528-1569).

Robin Helweg-Larsen returns to the Spotlight with two heretical poems: "Religions" and "Four God Limericks."

Lem Ibbotson in his own words: "At 20 I had a degree in Physics and Math, followed later by a diploma (degree equivalent) in electrical engineering. I taught electrical and electronic subjects in Polytechnics and Universities, being what you would call a professor, although in the UK that appellation is reserved for the most senior. From that background I have written two text books and collaborated in a third. At the end of my career I took an arts degree and a masters in education. I have always been regarded as a competent writer, and have written poetry as a hobby most if my life — much more since I retired (I am 87 years old)."

Jane Morris is a free-spirited Cornish woman who loves nothing more than to wander by the sea and watch the waves ebb and flow. She is passionate about everything to do with marine life and is a member of Seaquest Southwest, an organisation which aims to track and protect ocean wildlife. She and her husband welcome all kinds of birds and wildlife to their village garden.

Michael R. Burch Free Verse

Geoffrey Chaucer translations

Charles d'Orleans translations

Amir Khusrow

December 2019

The Best Christmas Poems of All Time, in one person's opinion, range from nursery rhymes to Christmas carols to poems written by major poets.

The Best Christmas Songs of All Time is a collection based one fan's opinions.

Christmas 1956: Angel from Heaven by Sándor Márai is an inspirational poem about human courage and bravery in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds.

The Ballad of the Christmas Donkey and a Message of Hope is the Christmas wish and encouragement of Beth Burch, the wife of THT editor Mike Burch, for anyone who may be struggling with depression, bullying or a feeling of being "different" in a negative way. Beth's message is that being different is good, so "take back the power" from people who say otherwise.

We are also re-featuring our page of Heretical Christmas Poems, with contributions by Ann Drysdale, Tom Merrill and other poets.

Did Lord Bryon inspire Mary Shelley's novel Frankenstein? is a speculative essay by Michael R. Burch.

Sonnets by Michael R. Burch

Charles Baudelaire translations by Michael R. Burch

Paul Verlaine translations by Michael R. Burch

Rabindranath Tagore translations by Michael R. Burch

November 2019

The Best Thanksgiving Poems and Poems of Gratitude and Hope

Tom Merrill remains in the Spotlight with two new poems, "How Possibility Breeds Religion" and "Just Asking."

Robert Lavett Smith, raised in New Jersey, has lived since 1987 in San Francisco, where for the past fifteen years he has worked as a Special Education Paraprofessional. He has studied with Charles Simic and Galway Kinnell. He is the author of several chapbooks and two full-length poetry collections, the most recent of which is Smoke In Cold Weather: A Gathering of Sonnets (Full Court Press, 2013).

Al-Qassim Abdulsalam has been nominated for a Best of the Net by Better Than Starbucks for his poem "Papa" (which now appears at the top of his poetry page).

Keith G. Balser is a retired copy editor and freelance writer, originally from Long Island, currently residing in Northeast Florida. His preferred poetic forms are the sonnet and villanelle. His poetry book, Girl of My Autumn Dreams, is a collection of 250 traditional rhyme-and-meter verse form poems. It is available on Amazon.

Jerome Betts remains in our Spotlight.

Randal A. Burd, Jr. remains in our Spotlight.

This World's Joy is a modern English translation of an ancient classic.

The Common Thread is an essay about the common characteristics of poetry through the ages, going back to the first written poetry of ancient Sumer and Egypt.

The Cosmological Constant: Limericks by Michael R. Burch

The HyperTexts and Commaful recently sponsored a free poetry contest for mostly younger writers and the contest results are here.

October 2019

Halloween Poetry was meant to be a seasonal page, but it has remained popular with readers year-round and continues to get tens of thousands of views per year. It features tricks and treats for children and adults alike.

Vampire Poetry explores the eerie connections between the poet/artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti, the poet Algernon Charles Swinburne, Bram Stoker, John William Polidori (the writer of the first modern vampire story), the pre-Raphaelite models Jane Morris and Elizabeth Siddal, and the female vampire Lucy Westenra in Stoker's novel Dracula.

Dark Poetry has become one of our most popular pages.

Horror Poetry can be traced back to the monsters of Beowulf and the eerie Celtic underworld.

Al-Qassim Abdulsalam has been nominated for a Best of the Net by Better Than Starbucks for his poem "Papa" (which now appears at the top of his poetry page).

Tom Merrill remains in the Spotlight with two new poems, "How Possibility Breeds Religion" and "Just Asking."

Jerome Betts remains in our Spotlight.

Randal A. Burd, Jr. remains in our Spotlight.

Charles d'Orleans was born into an aristocratic family: his grandfather was Charles V of France and his uncle was Charles VI. His father was a patron of poets and artists, and the poet Christine de Pizan dedicated poems to his mother, Valentina Visconti. He became the Duke of Orleans at age 13 after his father was murdered by John the Fearless, Duke of Burgundy. He was captured at age 21 in the battle of Agincourt and taken to England, where he remained a prisoner for the next quarter century. While imprisoned he learned English and wrote poetry of a high order in his second language. A master of poetic forms, he wrote primarily ballades, chansons and rondels. He has also been credited with writing the first Valentine’s Day poem.

Is Jimmy Carter a good poet? Much depends on what one means by “good.” Jimmy Carter is certainly a capable writer. Some of his poems do little for me personally, but I have read a few that seem pretty good. For instance:

I Wanted to Share My Father's World
by Jimmy Carter

This is a pain I mostly hide,
but ties of blood, or seed endure,
and even now I feel inside
the hunger for his outstretched hand,
a man's embrace to take me in,
the need for just a word of praise.

The internal rhymes of “ties” with “hide” and “inside,” of “man” with “hand,” of “endure” with “hunger,” and of “need” with “seed” make this a sonically dense little poem. I think this is good poetry, and I like the poem. — Michael R. Burch

Poems for Children by Michael R. Burch

September 2019

Tom Merrill returns to the Spotlight with a new poem, "Just Asking."

Jerome Betts lives in Devon, England and edits the quarterly Lighten Up Online. His verse has appeared in a wide variety of British magazines and anthologies as well as UK, European, and North American web venues such as Amsterdam Quarterly, Angle, Light, The Asses of Parnassus, The New Verse News, Per Contra, The Rotary Dial, and Snakeskin.

Randal A. Burd, Jr. is a married father of two and an educator who works with the disadvantaged in rural Missouri. He holds a master's degree in English Curriculum & Instruction from the University of Missouri. Randal is currently the Editor-in-Chief of Sparks of Calliope magazine. His latest collection of poems, Memoirs of a Witness Tree, is forthcoming from Kelsay Books in Summer 2020.

This poem is a somber reminder of man's inhumanity to man ...

Speechless
by Ko Un
translation by Michael R. Burch

At Auschwitz
piles of glasses
mountains of shoes
returning, we stared out different windows.

Alexander Pushkin's tender, touching poem "I Love You" has been translated into English by Michael R. Burch.

Adi Wolfson is an eco-poetry pioneer. In addition to being a poet, he is also an environmental activist, an expert on sustainability, and a professor of chemical engineering. Adi has published four poetry books and has won several awards, including Israel's prestigious Levi Eshkol Prize for Literature, in 2017. He also writes a regular column on environmental issues at YNET and in 2014 was awarded a "Green Globe" by Life and Environment, an umbrella organization that works with more than a hundred Israeli "green" groups. But recently Adi has written an entirely different kind of book, a compelling collection of poems called I Am Your Father. THT editor Michael R. Burch helped translate the Hebrew poems into English. Adi explains the book's genesis as follows: "Recently, I have accompanied my daughter on her long and complex journey to find herself. She eventually figured out that she wants to be a boy, and we began the new, challenging path of transgenderism. During this time, I wrote poems as a way of thinking, processing, and speaking with myself." THT is honored to publish an Interview with Adi Woodson about his latest book.

Gordon Ramel, another eco-poetry pioneer, returns to our Spotlight with a number of new poems.

Sonny Kerr is a translator of the poems of Robert Burns.

José Eustacio Rivera, born in 1888 in the Huila department, is one of the most important figures in Colombia’s literary history.

Native American Poetry Translations

Mirza Ghalib Translations by Michael R. Burch

Ahmad Faraz Translations by Michael R. Burch

Faiz Ahmed Faiz Translations by Michael R. Burch

Allama Iqbal Translations by Michael R. Burch

The Best Poems about Mothers

August 2019

Curses, Foiled Again! by Michael R. Burch is a short piece about the blessings and curses of poems going viral.

Kevin Roberts remains in our Spotlight.

ROMANTICS QUARTERLY: A Retrospective, Chronology and History

Michael R. Burch Romantic Poems

Meleager was a Greek poet who lived during the first century BC. Meleager is most famous today for The Garland, an anthology of epigrammatic poems written over the previous two centuries. In its preface Meleager names his contributors and assigns each poet the name of a flower, shrub or herb (hence the title). This work was subsumed into what has become known as The Greek Anthology. In his commentary on The Greek Anthology, editor and translator J. H. Merivale said of Meleager that as a “composer of epigrams he was very far superior” to the authors he included in The Garland.

July 2019

Vera Ignatowitsch returns to our Spotlight with a hard-hitting poem, "I Will Not." We have also published a review of Vera's poetry: Vera Ignatowitsch: A Critical Appreciation by THT editor Michael R. Burch.

Adi Wolfson is an eco-poetry pioneer previously published by The HyperTexts. He has recently written a startling new book of poems, I Am Your Father. Adi explains the book's genesis as follows: "Recently, I have accompanied my daughter on her long and complex journey to find herself. She eventually figured out that she wants to be a boy, and we began the new, challenging path of transgenderism. During this time, I wrote poems as a way of thinking, processing, and speaking with myself. I Am Your Father includes English versions of the poems as translated by THT editor Michael R. Burch. The book is now being published by Finishing Line Press and can be ordered by clicking the hyperlinked book title: I Am Your Father.

Ranald Barnicot remains in our Spotlight with five new translations.

Mandakini Bhattacherya, from Kolkata, lives there with her family. She is a product of Bhavnagar University, Gujarat and Punjabi University and is currently an Assistant Professor of English at Fakir Chand College, affiliated with the University of Calcutta. She has been published by Better Than Starbucks, The Dotism Journal, The HyperTexts and Poetry Nation.

Blake Campbell returns to our Spotlight with three new poems you won't want to miss.

Elizabeth Daryush was much more than Robert Bridges' daughter.

James Joyce is better known for his poetic prose today, but in his day he was a "real" poet highly regarded for his musicality.

Kevin Nicholas Roberts [1969-2008] was a poet, fiction writer and professor of English Literature. Kevin spent three years in the English countryside of Suffolk writing Romantic poetry and studying the Romantic Masters beside the North Sea. His poetry has been compared to that of Algernon Charles Swinburne, one of his major influences. Kevin was born on the 4th of April in the United States, which, accounting for the hour of his birth and the time zone difference, just happened to be Swinburne's birthdate, April the 5th, in England. And Kevin Roberts claimed to be the reincarnation of Swinburne ...

ROMANTICS QUARTERLY: A Retrospective, Chronology and History

Charles (Charlie) Southerland returns to our Spotlight.

Independence Day Poems and Songs

Let Freedom Sing!

Independence Day Thoughts: Blind Faith vs. Independent Thinking

Independence Day Madness

Epitaphs by Michael R. Burch

June 2019

Libelous Blasphemies of the Lord of Hosts (unless they're true) by Michael R. Burch

CHATTERTON (recently updated)

Why did William Wordsworth call Thomas Chatterton the "marvellous Boy," capitalizing the "b"? Why did John Keats called him the "purest writer in the English language" and write "Endymion" in a "feverish attempt" to set Chatterton "among the stars / Of highest heaven"? Why did Samuel Taylor Coleridge work on his first published poem, "Monody on the Death of Chatterton," on-and-off for more than forty years, so that it was also one of his last published poems? Why did Percy Bysshe Shelley name Chatterton among his "inheritors of unfulfilled renown"? One would think great poets would recognize great poetry when they encountered it, and the great Romantics thought Thomas Chatterton was a truly great poet, even though he died at age seventeen.

Charlotte Turner Smith was an early Romantic poet who published in her own name and spoke for women's rights in a male-dominated era. She also helped revive interest in the English sonnet and influenced English romantic poets like William Wordsworth with her poetic landscapes.

Rejection Slips by Michael R. Burch asks the question: did the poet slip up, or was it his editors? Of course the author is perfectly object-ive!

John Whitworth remains in our Spotlight with madcap musical satires that border on the incantatory, such as "The Examiners" and "God Squad."

Conrad Geller, a native Bostonian, now lives in Northern Virginia. His poem "Skaters" is one of the eerier poems we've read recently, and one of the better ones as well.

Michael Ferris remains in our Spotlight with a poem that won The Lyric's quarterly award.

Several poems by THT editor Michael R. Burch have been translated into Hungarian by István Bagi and can be read here.

Michael R. Burch Critical Writings and Miscellanea

May 2019

The Best Memorial Day Poems and Songs

Conrad Geller remains in our Spotlight.

Michael Ferris remains in our Spotlight with a poem that won The Lyric's quarterly award.

Michael R. Burch Animal Poems

April 2019

We deeply regret to inform our readers that John Whitworth died recently. But we are happy to share poems that John shared with us over the years, which you can read by clicking his name. My personal favorites included madcap musical satires that border on the incantatory, such as "The Examiners" and "God Squad." In my opinion, for whatever it's worth, John Whitworth was without peer at that sort of poem.―Michael R. Burch, editor, The HyperTexts

Conrad Geller, a native Bostonian, now lives in Northern Virginia. His poem "Skaters" is one of the eerier poems we've read recently, and one of the better ones as well.

Michael Ferris returns to our Spotlight with a new poem (to us) that won The Lyric's quarterly award.

Seamus Cassidy  remains in our Spotlight.

Blake Campbell remains in our Spotlight.

Lana Hanson returns to our Spotlight with a new poem "ARRHYTHMIMIC" that has won awards elsewhere. Deservedly so, we think.

Tom Merrill remains in the Spotlight with three new poems: "Undelivered Letter," "An Abridged Agrarian History," and "Prayer For Survival."

Lynne Hugo remains in the Spotlight.

Al-Ma'arri: Bits of Unburied Treasure by Tom Merrill

Original Haiku by Michael R. Burch

March 2019

We were saddened to learn that Seamus Cassidy is no longer with us. "Seamus Cassidy" was the pen name of Jim Michael Patrick McManmon. Jim McManmon passed away unexpectedly at age 75 on February 4, 2019. Jim was a native of Chicago, and grew up in Metuchen, New Jersey. From age 14 to 28, he was a Jesuit of the order of The Brothers of the Sacred Heart. From what we understand, Jim left the Jesuits in order to marry and raise a family. He dedicated his life to helping children by running the Broman Group Home for boys in Las Vegas for over 30 years, then by later becoming a substitute teacher. We were very fortunate to receive and publish poems Jim wrote over the years about two of his favorite things: teaching children and helping the homeless. He will be very sorely missed, and never forgotten.

Blake Campbell was born in northeastern Pennsylvania and now lives in Salem, Massachusetts. He is the recipient of the 2015 Academy of American Poets College Poetry Prize for Emerson College, and his poem “Bioluminescence” won the 2015 Aliki Perroti and Seth Frank Most Promising Young Poet Award from the Academy of American Poets. His work has appeared in the Emerson Review, The Road Not Taken: A Journal of Formal Poetry, and Hawk & Whippoorwill. His chapbook Across the Creek is forthcoming from Pen and Anvil Press.

Lana Hanson returns to our Spotlight with a new poem "ARRHYTHMIMIC" that has won awards elsewhere. Deservedly so, we think.

Tom Merrill returns to the Spotlight with three new poems: "Undelivered Letter," "An Abridged Agrarian History," and "Prayer For Survival."

Lynne Hugo remains in our Spotlight.

Al-Ma'arri: Bits of Unburied Treasure by Tom Merrill

VOLTAIRE by Clarence Darrow is an "unabashed tribute" to a champion of free speech, equality and social justice by a literary critic better known for his work as a defense attorney in the Scopes Monkey Trial and for defending teenage "thrill killers" Leopold and Leob in their sensational "trial of the century."

Words That Burn is an online poetry anthology and human rights educational resource for students and teachers created by Amnesty International in partnership with The Poetry Hour. "The Little Boy with His Hands Up" by Holocaust survivor and longtime THT contributor Yala Korwin is included (5 Burn 3), as is "First They Came for the Muslims" by THT founder Michael R. Burch (7 Burn 3), immediately beneath the famous Holocaust poem that inspired it, "First They Came" by Martin Niemöller.

Giovanni Quessep remains in our Spotlight.

Ranald Barnicot remains in our Spotlight.

What is Poetry? An Attempt at a Definition by Michael R. Burch

The Best Books of All Time (in one person's opinion) by Michael R. Burch

The Best Writing in the English Language (in one person's opinion) by Michael R. Burch

The Songs with the Most Cliches

Baseball Timeline

Poetry by Michael R. Burch

February 2019

Valentine's Day Poems contains poems you can share with that "special someone," free of charge for noncommercial purposes.

The Love Song of Shu-Sin: The Earth's Oldest Love Poem?

Urdu Love Poetry: Modern English Translations by Michael R. Burch

Early Poems: The Best Juvenilia has been recently updated.

The Chained Muse attempts to live up to its name by fettering the fairest Muse!

Giovanni Quessep is one of the most important poets in Colombia's history. The son of a Lebanese father and a mother from Bogotá, Giovanni Quessep was born in San Onofre, a small town in the Colombian Caribbean coast, in 1939. In a career that has spanned over 60 years, he has published fourteen books of original poetry. In addition, various publishing houses in Colombia have published several collections of his work and he has been included in many Colombian and Latin American anthologies of poetry. His work has already been translated partially into Portuguese, Arab, German, Italian, French, English and Greek. The four Giovanni Quessep poems published by The HyperTexts were translated by Felipe Botero Quintana and Ranald Barnicot.

Ranald Barnicot has a BA in Classics from Balliol College, Oxford and an MA in Applied Linguistics from Birkbeck College, London. He has published or is due to publish original poems and translations—of Anacreon, Catullus, Horace, Baudelaire, Verlaine, Mallarmé, Lorca, Hernandez, Vallejo, Alfonso X (El Sabio) of Castile, Violante do Céu, D’annunzio and La Compiuta Donzella—in Priapus, Acumen, Poetry Strasbourg Review, Transference, In Translation Brooklyn Rail, Ezra, The Rotary Dial, Meniscus, Sentinel, Poetry Salzburg Review, The French Literary Review, Better Than Starbucks, Orbis, Stand, The Dark Horse and Metamorphoses.

Lynne Hugo is a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship recipient who has also received grants from the Ohio Arts Council and the Kentucky Foundation for Women. Her memoir, Where The Trail Grows Faint, won the Riverteeth Literary Nonfiction Book Prize and her novel, A Matter of Mercy, received the 2015 Independent Publishers Silver Medal for Best North-East Fiction. She has published seven novels, one of which became a Lifetime Original Movie of the Month. Through the Ohio Arts Council’s renowned Arts in Education program, Lynne has taught creative writing to hundreds of schoolchildren. Born and educated in New England, Lynne and her husband live in Ohio with a yellow Lab feared by squirrels in a three state area.

Al-Ma'arri: Bits of Unburied Treasure by Tom Merrill

Sappho was one of the earliest and best love poets; she may also have been the first "make love, not war" poet.

The Best Love Songs: One Fan's Opinion

Sports: All-Time Cincinnati Reds Baseball Team, The Greatest Baseball Infields of All Time, Cincinnati Reds Trivia, Is Mike Trout the GOAT?, Best Baseball Nicknames, Mike Trout Nicknames, Weird Baseball Facts and Trivia, Baseball Hall of Fame: The Best Candidates, Why Pete Rose Should be in the Baseball Hall of Fame, Big Red Machine Chronology, Baseball's All-Time Leaders in WAR per Season, Baseball's All-Time Leaders in WAR7, Baseball's 100 WAR Leaders, Weird Sports Trivia, Who is the NBA GOAT?, NBA All-Time PPG Leaders, NBA Greatest Scorers, The Best All-Time SEC Basketball Players by Position, The Best Tennessee Vols Basketball Teams and Players of All Time

January 2019

New Year Poetry: the Poetry of Endings and New Beginnings

Famous Poems about Drinking

Sentimental Poetry: Is it Invariably Bad and to be Avoided at All Costs? Is it Wrong to Like It? by Michael R. Burch

The Best Sentimental Poems in the English Language

Al-Ma'arri: Bits of Unburied Treasure by Tom Merrill

Heresy Hearsay: Poems Heretical, Blasphemous and Vulgar has been updated with poems by the great heretical and antinatalist Arab poet, Al-Ma'arri.

A. E. Stallings was one of the first poets published by The HyperTexts, over twenty years ago, and she's still going strong.

Charles (Charlie) Southerland remains in our Spotlight.

Donald Trump versus Ronald Reagan: Contrasts and Parallels

Trackdown Trump: Did a 1958 TV Show Predict Trump?

Medieval Poetry Translations

December 2018

Al-Ma'arri: Bits of Unburied Treasure by Tom Merrill

Charles (Charlie) Southerland lives peaceably on his critter-filled 240 acre farm in North-Central Arkansas where he makes walking and hiking sticks to sell and writes poems when he has the time. He has poems published or forthcoming in a few good journals: Measure, The Lyric, The Road Not Taken, Trinacria, The Pennsylvania Review, First Things, Blue Unicorn, The Rotary Dial, and others. Charlie likes to write sonnets, sapphics and villanelles. He enjoys trying other forms, except ghazals.

The Best Christmas Poems of All Time, in one person's opinion, range from nursery rhymes to Christmas carols to poems written by major poets.

Christmas 1956: Angel from Heaven by Sándor Márai is an inspirational poem about human courage and bravery in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds.

The Ballad of the Christmas Donkey and a Message of Hope is the Christmas wish and encouragement of Beth Burch, the wife of THT editor Mike Burch, for anyone who may be struggling with depression, bullying or a feeling of being "different" in a negative way. Beth's message is that being different is good, so "take back the power" from people who say otherwise.

The Night the Veil Thinned by Beth Burch is the story of one person's glimpse at what may lie beyond.

The Best Christmas Songs of All Time, in one person's opinion.

We are also re-featuring our page of Heretical Christmas Poems, with contributions by Ann Drysdale, Tom Merrill and other poets.

Donald Trump Russia Quotes

Donald Trump Hypocrisy

Collectively Speaking: Nouns of Assemblage (Collective Nouns) and Terms of Venery for Animals and Human Beings

November 2018

Pittsburgh Synagogue Poetry: Poems for the Victims and Survivors of the Tree of Life — Or L'Simcha Congregation

Al-Ma'arri: Bits of Unburied Treasure by Tom Merrill

More Good News by Tom Merrill explains how The HyperTexts was used as a resource by student scholars of the EU's Erasmus Programme as they worked on presentations of the horrors and cruelties of the Holocaust. Of course the Holocaust was the worst news imaginable, but it is good that new generations of scholars are keeping its memory alive in order to avoid repetitions. Never again!

Peggy Landsman is back in the Spotlight with a new poem, "The Music of It All."

Gordon Ramel returns to the Spotlight with a number of new poems.

Paschal Amuta lives in Ilorin, Nigeria. He goes by the moniker "Muse Son" on the Internet. He returns to the Spotlight with three new poems.

Tom Merrill remains in the Spotlight with two new poems, "Pronounced and Deep" and "Yet Another Unnecessary Necessity."

The Society of Classical Poets: The Keystone Scops

Poet Laureates 'R' US

Joseph Charles MacKenzie: Poet or Pretender?

Evan Mantyk's Poetic Tic

James Sale's Blue Light Special

October 2018

Halloween Poetry was meant to be a seasonal page, but it has remained popular with readers year-round and continues to get tens of thousands of page views per year. It features tricks and treats for children and adults alike.

Vampire Poetry explores the eerie connections between the poet/artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti, the poet Algernon Charles Swinburne, Bram Stoker, John William Polidori (the writer of the first modern vampire story), the pre-Raphaelite models Jane Morris and Elizabeth Siddal, and the female vampire Lucy Westenra in Stoker's novel Dracula.

Dark Poetry has become one of our most popular pages.

A. E. Housman: Selected Poems

Anita Dorn was born into Estonian nobility on May 25, 1922. In 1945 she and her sister fled their Baltic home in Talinn as the Red Army advanced; they did so by walking and hitching rides on retreating Wehrmacht transports heading back to Germany. Her family lost all their property and money. As a refugee in postwar Germany she became what the American Army called a "DP" or displaced person. She lived in refugee camps and endured much deprivation, which she wrote about extensively in her memorial letters to friends every Christmas. After emigrating to the United States, she lived in Flushing, New York. Her poems were published in Pivot, Poetry Digest and other literary journals. She also wrote a novel based on circus life and a number of short stories, some of which were published in Nassau Review. She was the beloved wife of the American poet Alfred Dorn, and quite a fancier of cats. She died on March 21, 2005 at age 82, and will be sorely missed. After her death, her husband established the Anita Dorn Memorial Award for Poetry in her honor.

Some of the Best Lines from Poems and Songs

The Society of Classical Poets: The Keystone Scops

The Holocaust of the Homeless has been updated with "The Song of the Beggar" by Rainer Maria Rilke, in the form of an excellent translation by Albert Ernest Flemming.

Weird Sports Trivia

Villanelles by Michael R. Burch

September 2018

My Memories of Joe Ruggier by Michael R. Burch

Labor Day Poems and Songs

9-11 Poetry

The Holocaust of the Homeless has been updated with "The Song of the Beggar" by Rainer Maria Rilke, in the form of an excellent translation by Albert Ernest Flemming.

Muhammed E Rafeek graduated from the University of Calicut, Kerala with a BA and B.Ed in English and earned an MA in English Language and Literature from Periyar University, Selam. He now works as an Asst. Professor at a private college.

Paschal Amuta lives in Ilorin, Nigeria. He goes by the moniker "Muse Son" on the Internet.

Robin Helweg-Larsen is a British-born, Bahamian-raised Canadian businessman who has lived in Chapel Hill, NC, for the past 23 years. His poetry has been published in Visions International, Ambit, Candelabrum, The Lyric, LIGHT, Lighten Up Online, Shit Creek Review, The Rotary Dial, Snakeskin, Unsplendid, and elsewhere. He is also the author of a novel, The Gospel According to the Romans―a non-believer's view, available from Amazon.

Tom Merrill remains in the Spotlight with two new poems.

Donald Trump Couplets and Epigrams

Did Sir Walter Raleigh Prophesy Donald Trump?

Famous Super Couples

Famous Love Triangles

A Simple Proof that the Bible is Not "Infallible"

August 2018

My Memories of Joe Ruggier by Michael R. Burch

Pat Falk is an award-winning poet and professor at SUNY's Nassau Community College in Garden City, New York where she teaches writing and literature. She's the author of five books of poetry and prose, including the forthcoming A Common Violence from Finishing Line Press. Her work has appeared in several literary journals including The New York Times Book Review and Creative Nonfiction. American Book Review has called her writing “visionary,” creating “a new language.” She lives in Amityville, New York and maintains a website at patfalk.net.

Paschal Amuta lives in Ilorin, Nigeria. He goes by the moniker "Muse Son" on the Internet.

Glory Sasikala is a poet and writer currently residing in Chennai, Tamilnadu, India. She is the Editor and Publisher of the Monthly Online Prose and Poetry magazine GloMag and is the administrator of the group of the same name on Facebook. She is a language editor and quality analyst by profession.

Tom Merrill remains in the Spotlight with a new poem, "Mirage Magnetism."

Flabby Adjectives: Are Adjectives Bad and to be Avoided?

Famous Comebacks

Famous Flameouts, Burnouts, Meltdowns, Flubs and Failures

Famous Geniuses

Famous Confessionals

Famous Epitaphs

Famous Firsts

Weird Sports Trivia

July 2018

My Memories of Joe Ruggier by Michael R. Burch

We regretfully announce the sudden passing of Joe M. Ruggier at the age of 61 on Sunday July 8, 2018. Joe was born in Malta on July 26, 1956 and emigrated to Canada in 1981. He married Maria Julia Raminhos Lourenco in 1984, with whom he raised their daughter, Sarah Thérèse. Joe attended St. Aloysius' College, then earned a B.A. in English with first class honours from the Royal University of Malta. He then continued his studies in Canada, earning a certificate in Writing and Publishing (SFU) and a Diploma in Typesetting (VCC). Joe wrote and published poetry in both Maltese and English, managed a small press, Multicultural Books of BC, and edited a poetry journal, The Eclectic Muse. His entrepreneurial spirit led him to publish dozens of titles, and he sold over 20,000 books, many of them door-to-door. Joe was committed to the written word, and to elevating the works of his peers and the poets he loved. In his final days he worked fervently, translating work by the Maltese priest, writer and poet, Dun Karm Psaila. Joe was passionate about his faith, his family—most especially his beloved Sarah Thérèse—international sports (soccer), languages, playing classical guitar and listening to his wide-ranging record collection.

Independence Day Poems and Songs

Let Freedom Sing!

Independence Day Thoughts: Blind Faith vs. Independent Thinking

Independence Day Madness

David B. Gosselin is a student of classics and languages in Montreal. He is also the founder and editor of The Chained Muse.

Iqbal Hashimi was born into a rural family in Paktia, Afghanistan, in 1996. When the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, he moved to Pakistan where he lived for five years. When the Taliban regime was felled by American forces in 2001, he returned to Afghanistan. He currently attends the University of Paktia. He loves the English language and English poetry; therefore, he chose to seek a Bachelor's degree in English Literature. He has also attended a private English language center where he obtained first position in his class. He was subsequently asked by the center's director to teach there, which he did for three years. He then decided to create his own English language teaching center. He has also taught English at the Paktia Press Club (PPC), where many journalists and attorneys learn English. His future plan is to obtain a Master's degree in English literature via a Fulbright scholarship in the US. He also hopes to become a professional English author and editor.

Al-Qassim Abdulsalam remains in our Spotlight with his latest poem, "African Child."

Sunil Sharma is a Principal at Bharat College (affiliated with the University of Mumbai, Mumbai) at Badlapur, Mumbai Metropolitan Region, India.

Kyrielle Definition, Examples and History

The Best Book Titles of All Time

June 2018

Al-Qassim Abdulsalam is back in our Spotlight with a compelling new poem, "African Child."

Sunil Sharma is a Principal at Bharat College (affiliated with the University of Mumbai, Mumbai) at Badlapur, Mumbai Metropolitan Region, India. His expertise is in Persian and Indian poetry. He is a bilingual critic, poet, literary interviewer, editor, translator, essayist and fiction writer. His short stories and poems have appeared in journals such as Hudson View (South Africa), The Plebian Rag and Bicycle Review (USA), Creative Saplings, Brown Critique and Kritya (India), the Seva Bharati Journal of English Studies (West Bengal), Labyrinth (Gwalior) and Poets International (Bangalore). Some of his poems and short stories have been anthologized in national and international collections. He is also a freelance journalist and serves on the advisory boards of international literary and online journals.

A Brief Defense of Punctuation by Michael R. Burch

Poetry: The State of the Art (with a Little Horn Tootin') by Michael R. Burch (recently updated after the surprising and encouraging results of NEA research were published)

Human Perfection: Is It Possible?

May 2018

Poems for Santa Fe High School Shooting Victims and Their Families

The Best Memorial Day Poems and Songs

Al-Qassim Abdulsalam remains in our Spotlight.

The Best Mother's Day Poems

The Best Lyrical Poems

The Best Lyric Poetry

Parkland Poems

VOLTAIRE by Clarence Darrow is an "unabashed tribute" to a champion of free speech, equality and social justice by a literary critic better known for his work as a defense attorney in the Scopes Monkey Trial and for defending teenage "thrill killers" Leopold and Leob in their sensational "trial of the century."

Words That Burn is an online poetry anthology and human rights educational resource for students and teachers created by Amnesty International in partnership with The Poetry Hour. We are very pleased to announce that the poem "The Little Boy with His Hands Up" by Holocaust survivor and longtime THT contributor Yala Korwin is now included (5 Burn 3). The poem "First They Came for the Muslims" by THT founder Michael R. Burch is also now online (7 Burn 3), immediately beneath the famous Holocaust poem that inspired it, "First They Came" by Martin Niemöller (also 7 Burn 3). Amnesty International is the world's largest human rights organization with seven million supporters. Its new webpage has been designed to "enable young people to explore human rights through poetry whilst developing their voice and skills as poets." This exemplary resource was inspired by the poetry anthology Words that Burn, curated by Josephine Hart of The Poetry Hour, with a title taken from Thomas Gray's observation that "Poetry is thoughts that breathe and words that burn."

April 2018

Tom Merrill remains in the Spotlight with four new poems: "Highway Litter," "Our Ranking Bamboozler," "Antagonists" and "The Ultimate Con Man."

Al-Qassim Abdulsalam remains in our Spotlight.

Jean L. Kreiling remains in our Spotlight.

Parkland Poems

England's Greatest Artists

The Best Abstract Poetry

March 2018

Tom Merrill returns to the Spotlight with three new poems: "Our Ranking Bamboozler," "Antagonists" and "The Ultimate Con Man."

Al-Qassim Abdulsalam is a Nigerian poet, born in 1992 in Dekina, a local government area of Kogi State, Nigeria. He is a graduate of Kogi State University and currently lives in Abuja, Nigeria, in the western part of Africa. He calls himself the "Bloody Poet" and has written many poems yet to be published. "MY MENTOR AND I" is a poem he has dedicated to his mentor, Professor Wole Soyinka, for whom he has an undying love.

Jean L. Kreiling is the author of two collections of poetry, The Truth in Dissonance (2014) and Arts & Letters & Love (2018). Her work has appeared widely in print and online journals, including American Arts Quarterly, Angle, The Evansville Review, Measure, and Mezzo Cammin, and in several anthologies. Kreiling is a past winner of the Able Muse Write Prize, the Great Lakes Commonwealth of Letters Sonnet Contest, two New England Poetry Club prizes, and the String Poet Prize; she is a six-time finalist for the Howard Nemerov Sonnet Award. Kreiling teaches music history at Bridgewater State University; her interdisciplinary essays on music and poetry have appeared in several academic journals.

We Call BS! is an eloquent, impassioned speech made by Emma Gonzalez, a survivor of the recent Parkland, Florida massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

Parkland Poems

February 2018

We Call BS! is an eloquent, impassioned speech made by Emma Gonzalez, a survivor of the recent Parkland, Florida massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

Child of 9-11 by Michael R. Burch was written for a young victim of another senseless massacre.

Parkland Poems

Barbara Lydecker Crane was a graphic designer and then, for many years, a fabric artist, designing and sewing landscape quilts for wall display. In 1995 she was awarded a New England Foundation for the Arts Regional Fellowship in Visual Arts. She started writing formal poetry in 2005, finding it a refreshing change from fabric art—yet similar in its slow, collage-like process.

Adi Wolfson is an eco-poetry pioneer. In addition to being a poet, he is also an environmental activist, an expert on sustainability, and a professor of chemical engineering. Wolfson has published four poetry books and has won several awards, including Israel's prestigious Levi Eshkol Prize for Literature. Wolfson also writes a regular column on environmental issues at YNET and was awarded a "Green Globe" by Life and Environment, an umbrella organization that works with more than a hundred Israeli "green" groups. Dead Sea—Bureaucracy is a project that asks readers to increase global awareness about the increasingly bad conditions of the Dead Sea, and to be a voice for the Sea. "Bureaucracy" is an eco-poem, a poem that speaks for nature and not just about nature, written originally in Hebrew by Adi Wolfson. By sharing, using, translating and reading the poem, you can make a difference and lead a change. Please help us translate the poem into all languages in the world! To participate in this global project, you can visit Adi Wolfson's Dead Sea—Bureaucracy website or his Facebook page.

Brian Allgar, although immutably English, has lived in Paris since 1982. He started entering Spectator and New Statesman competitions in 1967, but took a 35-year break, finally re-emerging in 2011 as a kind of Rip Van Winkle of the literary competition world. He also drinks malt whisky and writes music, which may explain his fondness for Mendelssohn's “Scottish” Symphony.

The Seafarer: A Modern English Translation by Michael R. Burch

Valentine's Day Poems contains poems you can share with that "special someone," entirely free of charge.

Sappho was one of the earliest and best love poets; she may also have been the first "make love, not war" poet.

The Love Song of Shu-Sin: The Earth's Oldest Love Poem?

Urdu Love Poetry: Modern English Translations by Michael R. Burch

The Best Love Songs: One Man's Opinion

Poetry Definitions and Examples

Donald Trump and Benito Mussolini: Striking Parallels

Poetry: The State of the Art (with a Little Horn Tootin') by Michael R. Burch

Robert Frost's "Directive" — Theme, Summary and Analysis

January 2018

New Year Poetry

Famous Poems about Drinking has been updated with "Song of the Alleycat" by Tom Merrill and several other poems and songs.

The Seafarer: A Modern English Translation by Michael R. Burch

The Most Popular Poems of All Time

Shekhar Aiyar was born in India and educated at Delhi, Oxford and Brown Universities. His work has appeared in Atlanta Review, Able Muse, The Formalist, The New Formalist, Avatar Review, and several journals in England, Sri Lanka and Canada. His first collection of poems, Continental Drift, was published by Writer's Workshop, Calcutta. He lives in Washington, DC.

Michael Seeger is a poet and educator residing in the Coachella Valley near Palm Springs, California. Prior to his life as a middle school English instructor, he worked as a technical writer for a baseball card company and served as a Marine infantry officer during Desert Storm.

Tom Merrill returns to the Spotlight with a new poem, "Soul Brothers," which speaks of a vision shared with Abul 'Ala Al-Ma'aari, the great Arab poet and philosopher.

The HyperTexts recently passed 10 million page views. Our twenty most popular contemporary poets, as of December 31, 2017, were:

Yala Korwin (over 38,000 page views!)
Michael R. Burch
Leonard Nimoy
Richard Moore
Luis Omar Salinas
Nadia Anjuman
Tom Merrill
A. E. Stallings
Richard Blanco
R. S. Gwynn
X. J. Kennedy
Fadwa Tuqan
Robert Mezey
Rhina P. Espaillat
Mahmoud Darwish
Sophie Hannah Jones
Janet Kenny
Iqbal Tamimi
John Whitworth
Julie Kane

Poets in our top forty include Jared Carter, Jack Butler, A. M. Juster, Ann Drysdale, J. Patrick Lewis, Norman R. Shapiro, Bruce Weigl, Judy Jones, Greg Alan Brownderville, Jennifer Reeser, Janet Kenny, Michael McClintock, Quincy R. Lehr, Richard Wakefield, Joseph S. Salemi, Gail White, Jim Barnes, George Held, Ellaraine Lockie and Catherine Chandler. If you'd like to see where your favorite poets ended up in our rankings of the most popular poets and pages, please click the hyperlink. 

Donald Trump Racism and Sexism Timeline/Chronology

Crucial Moments in Music History: A Musical Chronology/Timeline

The Ten Greatest Poems Ever Written (in one man's opinion)

Famous Synchronicities & Eerie Coincidences

December 2017

Tommy Bissonnette is publishing his first two poems with The HyperTexts. He has also worked on stage and screen. And he's looking for gainful employment, if anyone is hiring!

Ambrose Philips was an English poet who had a running feud with Alexander Pope and was mocked in The Dunciad as Namby-Pamby. Apparently Pope didn't appreciate suggestions by other poets that Philips' pastorals were better than his! While I'm not an avid reader of pastorals, Philips caught my eye―and my ear―with his translations of two poems by Sappho that struck me as good indeed. As a matter of fact, his "Hymn to Venus" is the best translation I've found of Sappho's only fully intact longer poem.―MRB

Coming Out Timeline/Chronology

Free Verse Timeline

November 2017

The Children of Gaza: a Song Cycle
by Eduard de Boer and Michael R. Burch
with vocals by Dima Bawab, a Palestinian soprano,
has been performed recently in Hoorn, the Hague
and Amsterdam.

How to Write a Real Good Poem by R. S. Gwano contains his deeply-thought-out reflections on Dr. Joseph Salemi's "The Hard Edges of a Poem." Now, some of us thought the State Pen Review was a bit hard on Gwano and presented his first poem in an unflattering light. But to show that there are no ill feelings on his part, and to demonstrate that he is a quick and willing learner, Gwano sat at the master's feet, soaked up his considerable inspiration, and―we think―really delivered the goods this time. Dr. Salemi will undoubtedly be proud and pleased as punch to have been understood so profoundly!

Coming Out Timeline/Chronology

David Berman (1934-2017)

Rhina P. Espaillat returns to the Spotlight with a new poem, "Cutting Bait."

Peggy Landsman is back in the spotlight with some new "cosmic" poems, which appear on her page after her Holocaust poems. 

Ambrose Philips was an English poet who had a running feud with Alexander Pope and was featured in The Dunciad as Namby-Pamby.

The return of the Glob Blog: "Everything including the Kitchen Sink and sometimes the Garbage Disposal!"

October 2017

The Best Poems of Digby Dolben is a must-read page if you like the idea of uncovering and recovering long-forgotten gems by neglected poets. We had heard the name Digby Dolben as a possible love interest of Gerard Manley Hopkins, but knew nothing else about him. Then, thanks to research by Simon Edge, our advisory editor Tom Merrill became aware that Dolben was not only a poet, but an exceptional poet in our opinion, even though he drowned at age nineteen. Fortunately, the prodigy's poems were collected and published by an English poet laureate, Robert Bridges, who also published the poems of Hopkins. (The literary world owes Bridges two thunderous rounds of applause.) We have also published a Digby Dolben Bio written by Simon Edge.

Puerto Rico Hurricane Poetry

HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW: His Last Poem

My Colorful Bible: Is the Bible the Word of God?

Words That Burn is an online poetry anthology and human rights educational resource for students and teachers created by Amnesty International in partnership with The Poetry Hour. We are very pleased to announce that the poem "The Little Boy with His Hands Up" by Holocaust survivor and longtime THT contributor Yala Korwin is now included (5 Burn 3). The poem "First They Came for the Muslims" by THT founder Michael R. Burch is also now online (7 Burn 3), immediately beneath the famous Holocaust poem that inspired it, "First They Came" by Martin Niemöller (also 7 Burn 3). Amnesty International is the world's largest human rights organization with seven million supporters. Its new webpage has been designed to "enable young people to explore human rights through poetry whilst developing their voice and skills as poets." This exemplary resource was inspired by the poetry anthology Words that Burn, curated by Josephine Hart of The Poetry Hour, which in turn was inspired by Thomas Gray's observation that "Poetry is thoughts that breathe and words that burn."

Richard Wilbur (1921-2017)

Coming Out Timeline/Chronology

Gail White is back in our Spotlight with a new poem―or at least one new to our pages―called "Resemblances." I was so taken with "Resemblances" that I felt compelled to add it to our Best of The HyperTexts page right away.―Michael R. Burch

September 2017

Tom Merrill: Recognizing a Rare Voice by Michael R. Burch

For a brief but very interesting bio of the "boy genius" poet Digby Mackworth Dolben, written by Simon Edge, please click here: Digby Dolben Bio. To read his work, please click here: The Best Poems of Digby Mackworth Dolben.

Early Poems: The Best Juvenilia

VOLTAIRE by Clarence Darrow is an "unabashed tribute" to a champion of free speech, equality and social justice by a literary critic better known for his work as a defense attorney in the Scopes Monkey Trial and for defending teenage "thrill killers" Leopold and Leob in their sensational "trial of the century." Darrow was also a leading member of the American Civil Liberties Union, a founding attorney for the NAACP, an advocate of free love who practiced what he preached, a staunch opponent of the death penalty, and, like Voltaire, a champion of underdogs and their right to a fair shake. During his heyday as a defense attorney in Chicago, Darrow represented more than 100 defendants and only lost one murder case. He was renowned for moving juries (and sometimes judges) to tears with his eloquence.

Peggy Landsman is the author of a poetry chapbook, To-wit To-woo (Foothills Publishing), and an out-of-print romance novel, Passion's Professor (Midnight Showcase), which she wrote under the pen name Samantha Rhodes. Her poetry, short fiction, and creative nonfiction have been published in many online and print literary journals and anthologies, including Bigger Than They Appear: Anthology of Very Short Poems (Accents Publishing), Breathe: 101 Contemporary Odes (C&R Press), The Muse Strikes Back (Story Line Press), and Nasty Women Poets: An Unapologetic Anthology of Subversive Verse (Lost Horse Press). She lives in South Florida, where she swims in the warm Atlantic Ocean every chance she gets.

Miklós Radnóti: Modern English Translations of Holocaust Poems

Langston Hughes was one of the best and most influential American poets. While he is best known today for his innovative "jazz poetry" and as a leading figure of the Harlem Renaissance, Hughes actually spent most of his childhood in Lawrence, Kansas. In his 1940 autobiography The Big Sea he wrote: "I was unhappy for a long time, and very lonesome, living with my grandmother. Then it was that books began to happen to me, and I began to believe in nothing but books and the wonderful world in books — where if people suffered, they suffered in beautiful language, not in monosyllables, as we did in Kansas." The descendent of enslaved African Americans and their white enslavers on his father's side, Hughes spoke both frankly and passionately about the problems of race in America. And he spoke eloquently in a highly original voice that continues to influence American poetry and music to this day.

Jack Arkell is a poet and writer from Birmingham, England. He has performed poetry from underground bars in Seoul to vegan cafes in Manchester, headlining events across the UK. He has been published in Anapest, Inigo Online, Blunderwoman, Under the Fable, Outsider, Better Than Starbucks, Starving Artist and 12 Point Collective. He has CDs entitled Poets Are The Worst Type of People and A Mood I Try to Capture.

Tom Merrill remains in our Spotlight with five new poems: "Huit Clos," "The Suspicion of Being Noticed," "Our Bodies Are Our Sworn Enemies," "The Grand Bequeathal" and "The Misfit's Lot."

August 2017

Words That Burn, an online resource for students and educators created by Amnesty International in partnership with The Poetry Hour, will include "First They Came for the Muslims" by THT founder Michael R. Burch.

Langston Hughes was one of the best and most influential American poets, irrespective of race.

Tom Merrill returns to the Spotlight with four new poems: "The Suspicion of Being Noticed," "Our Bodies Are Our Sworn Enemies," "The Grand Bequeathal" and "The Misfit's Lot."

Louise Bogan has long been one of my favorite poets, and it's a shame (actually, a complete and utter travesty) that she isn't better known today. In my opinion she's a major poet; at least two other critics agree, as she has been called "the most accomplished woman poet of the twentieth century" and "one of the finest lyric poets America has produced." On this page we have published some of her finest poems, including the lovely but hard-to-find "After the Persian," followed by an essay by Jeffrey Woodward on Bogan's poem "The Mark." — Michael R. Burch, editor, The HyperTexts

Usha Chandrasekharan graduated with a degree in Economics, having also taken a short-term course in Journalism and another shorter one in concept selling. She worked with a Kolkata, India information marketing company and later joined Scholastic India as an educational coordinator. Her education for the greater part has been consolidated "on the street." Communicating at all levels is her forte. She has lived life mostly on her own terms, with no regrets. Poetry and short stories are her pastime, although she says, "I am not prolific like most writers."

Eric Mellen is a freelance writer who currently writes poems and short stories. He has been published by Poetry Quarterly, Poetry Life & Times and Nostrovia! Poetry and is currently pursuing multiple publishing opportunities. When he is not writing, he is studying English at Athens State University and hopes to be a technical writer.

July 2017

Independence Day Poems and Songs

Let Freedom Sing!

Independence Day Thoughts: Blind Faith vs. Independent Thinking

Independence Day Madness

We have added a new poem, "Small Child," to the poetry page of Vera Ignatowitsch. Vera loves poetry and has been writing it for decades; however, she has only recently begun to submit poems for publication. Her poetry has appeared in The Lyric, two anthologies, and in online publications. She is also the Formal & Rhyming Poetry Editor for Better Than Starbucks.

June 2017

Vera Ignatowitsch loves poetry and has been writing it for decades; however, she has only recently begun to submit poems for publication. Her poetry has appeared in The Lyric, two anthologies, and in online publications. She is also the Formal & Rhyming Poetry Editor for Better Than Starbucks.

Miklos Radnoti: Modern English Translations of Holocaust Poems

May 2017

S. Sel-yksir, the young Burmese poet who debuted with THT in February, has submitted a new poem, "Ode to O'Reilly," which refers to a poem published by the Pennsylvania Review by one "Ass Elixir."

Conor Kelly was born in Dublin and spent his adult life teaching in a school in the Dublin suburbs. He retired to a small village in the Charente region of France to play boules, sample the local cuisine and run his twitter site, @poemtoday, which is dedicated to the short poem. He has had numerous poems published in Ireland and abroad in such magazines as Poetry Ireland Review, Boyne Berries, The Honest Ulsterman, Revival (Limerick), The Irish Times, Envoi, The
Huffington Post, The Southern Review (Louisiana) and The Ofi Press (Mexico City). He has also been a poetry critic for The Irish Times, The Sunday Tribune (Dublin) and Poetry Review (London). He was once shortlisted for a Hennessy New Irish Writers award. At the ceremony one of the judges, Fay Weldon, asked him, “Where are you in these poems?” He is still asking himself that same question.

Famous Nicknames

April 2017

Edward Nudelman's poetry collections include Out of Time, Running (Harbor Mountain Press, 2014), What Looks Like an Elephant (Lummox Press, 2011), and Night Fires (Pudding House Press, 2009). He has received numerous awards and recognition for his poetry. His poems have appeared in dozens of journals, including: Rattle, Cortland Review, Valparaiso Review, Chiron Review, Evergreen Review, Poets and Artists, Ampersand, Syntax, The Atlanta Review, Mipoesias, Plainsongs, Floating Bridge Press, The Penwood Review. Nudelman founded and operates a notable rare bookshop in Seattle (est. 1980) and has recently retired from a scientific career in cancer biology where his research was published in over 60 papers in top-tier scientific journals.

Vera Pavlova (1963-) is a contemporary Russian poet, born in Moscow. She is a graduate of the Schnittke College of Music and the Gnessin Academy of Music, where she specialized in music history. She has worked as a guide at the Shaliapin Museum in Moscow and has published several essays on music. She began writing poetry at age twenty, after the birth of her first daughter, while she was still at the maternity ward.

March 2017

S. Sel-yksir, the young Burmese poet who debuted with THT in February, has submitted a new poem, "Victory Arch View of a Terrorist Manqué," which he indicated had been written in honor of a much-revered American poetry critic. He later provided us with a second new poem, "Teaching Donald To Hit The High Notes."

"Whitman's Worth" is a response to Sally Cook's recently-published poem "What a Wit is Worth."

Henry George Fischer [1923-2006] is one of our permanently featured poets. In addition to being an accomplished poet, he was the Metropolitan Museum of Art curator emeritus of Egyptology who helped the Temple of Dendur find a new life in New York.

Donald Trump's Inaugural Day Sermon by Michael R. Burch

My Memories of Alfred and Anita Dorn by Michael R. Burch

William Sykes Harris II is a tribute and a poignant plea for Americans not to settle for an ACA replacement that leaves people struggling with mental illness and addictions uncovered.

Seamus Cassidy returns to the Spotlight with a new poem, "Afraid of the Light."

CHATTERTON

Pages of Special Interest (if you want to get back to your English poetic roots)

English Poetry Timeline (Prehistoric, Celtic, Anglo-Roman, Anglo-Saxon/Old English, Anglo-Norman/Middle English, English Renaissance, Elizabethan, Reformation, Restoration, Romantic, etc.)
Robert Graves proposed a date of 1268 BC for the Song of Amergin, but dating such orally-transmitted Prehistoric works may be a highly speculative endeavor.
Caedmon's Hymn, the oldest authenticated English poem (circa 658 AD), marks the beginning of what came to be known as English poetry (although it was Anglo-Saxon and thus heavily Germanic at the time).
Bede's Death Song may have been written on his deathbed in 735 AD by the Venerable Bede, a notable scholar and translator who has been called the "father of English history."
Deor, an Anglo-Saxon scop, wrote Deor's Lament, perhaps during the reign of King Alfred the Great (849-899), the most literate of the Anglo-Saxon kings.
The Exeter Book (circa 950-990 AD) may contain the first extant English poems written by women: Wulf and Eadwacer and The Wife's Lament.
The Exeter Book also contains Anglo-Saxon riddles and kennings and the first known English rhyming poem.
Now skruketh rose and lylie flour is one of the earliest English love poems, circa 1000 AD.
How Long the Night ("Myrie it is while sumer ylast") is one of the great early rhyming poems of the Middle English period (circa 1200 AD); it remains largely understandable to modern English readers.
The terms "ballad" and "ballet" have the same root: dance or "the cadence of consenting feet." Ballads were originally written to accompany community dances: think of two-stepping to a reel at a hoe-down.
Now Goeth Sun Under Wood dates to around 1240 AD and has some very clever punning wordplay.
Sumer is icumen in is a medieval English round, or rota (circa 1260 AD). It came with a musical score and instructions for the singing of rounds, in Latin! It is one of the oldest songs that can still be sung today.
Fowles in the Frith, also circa 1260 AD, expresses deep sympathy for "beasts of bone and blood" in an arresting short lyric. Or is the sorrow expressed for a lover, or Jesus Christ?
Ich am of Irlaunde ("I am of Ireland") has been dated to around the same time.
I Have a Yong Suster ("I Have a Young Sister") is an anonymous Medieval English poem that has been described as a "haunting riddle-chant," circa 1430 AD.
In 1503 William Dunbar's stellar Sweet Rose of Virtue and Lament for the Makaris appeared in the first book of Scottish poems.
In 1620 the Pilgrims set sail for America in the Mayflower; they landed at Cape Cod and founded the New Plymouth colony. Tom O'Bedlam's Song was published the same year.

February 2017

S. Sel-yksir is a young Burmese poet living in Moldova. As a member of his homeland's Rohingya minority he began dreaming of living elsewhere. Since he had no travel allowance, nor in fact any money at all, he conceived a daring plan, and sailed to Europe on a freighter as a stowaway. Stolen cans of ngapi helped keep him alive during the long boatride. In Marseilles he succeeded in safely debarking in a crateful of silks. He slipped out of the box later the same day and cut through some corrugated metal siding with a tool he had brought. A new world lay before him. His English was acquired as a child from an imam who thought he showed promise. He now lives with a Moldovan gentleman, with whom he sips wonderful Moldovan wines and shares a bed. They are planning to get married in Luxembourg soon.

The two poems submitted by S. Sel-ykisr address the current American political crisis.

T. Merrill returns to the Spotlight with a new poem: "Mechanism Will Of Course Prevail."

"Whitman's Worth" is a response to Sally Cook's recently-published poem "What a Wit is Worth."

Valentine's Day Poems contains poems you can share with that "special someone," entirely free of charge.

Sappho was one of the earliest and best love poets; she may also have been the first "make love, not war" poet.

Urdu Love Poetry: Modern English Translations by Michael R. Burch

The Best Love Songs: One Man's Opinion

CHATTERTON

January 2017

New Year Poetry

Famous Poems about Drinking has been updated with "Song of the Alleycat" by T. Merrill.

E. M. Darnell is a floor tech and online tutor in Fremont, Nebraska. He received his MFA from the Iowa Writers' Workshop in 1990, where he studied under Gerald Stern, Marvin Bell, Jorie Graham, and the late James Tate. He has published poems in The Lyric, The Eclectic Muse, Verse (online edition), Quantum Leap, Candelabrum, Aries, Open Minds Quarterly, Skid Row Penthouse, Plainsongs and Ship Of Fools, and has poems forthcoming in Form Quarterly and Shot Glass Journal. He has also been a phlebotomist, hotel supervisor, editorial assistant, farmhand, landscaper, busboy, critic of modern society, devout recluse, and incurable brooder/dreamer―causing near auto collisions but still alive.

Paul Michelsen is active in the Las Vegas poetry scene; he was recommended to us by longtime THT contributor Nick Marco, who moves in the same poetic circles.

Michael R. Burch: Early Poems

December 2016

Raymond Oliver has published hundreds of poems in periodicals, chapbooks, and anthologies, about a dozen essays on poetry and translation, and four books.

Mladen Blažević was born in Rijeka, Croatia, in 1969. In the past he has worked on archaeological field projects and for daily and weekly newspapers as a journalist. A large number of his short stories and poems have been published in various literary journals and websites.

The Best Christmas Poems of All Time range from nursery rhymes to Christmas carols to poems written by major poets.

Christmas 1956: Angel from Heaven by Sándor Márai is an inspirational poem about human courage and bravery in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds.

The Ballad of the Christmas Donkey, and a Message of Hope is the Christmas wish and encouragement of Beth Burch, the wife of THT editor Mike Burch, for anyone who may be struggling with depression, bullying or a feeling of being "different" in a negative way. Beth's message is that being different is good, so "take back the power" from people who say otherwise.

In a somewhat darker spirit of the season, we are re-featuring our page of Heretical Christmas Poems, with contributions by Ann Drysdale, T. Merrill and other poets.

November 2016

During his lifetime, the poems of Wilmer Mills were published in journals (Poetry, The New Republic, The Hudson Review, The Southern Review, The New Criterion, among others), in two anthologies (Penguin/Longman Anthology of Contemporary American Poets, 2004; The Swallow Anthology of New American Poets, 2009) and in two books: a chapbook, Right as Rain (Aralia Press, 1999) and a full-length collection of poems, Light for the Orphans (Story Line Press, 2002). After working as a carpenter, sawmill operator, songwriter, and artisan bread baker, he became the Kenan Fellow at U.N.C. Chapel Hill from 2008-2010. Wil was the Writer-in-Residence at Covenant College when he died in 2011 following a two-month battle with liver cancer. His Selected Poems (May 2013), edited by his wife Kathryn, were published posthumously by the University of Evansville Press in 2013. His last two manuscripts, Arriving on Time and The World That Isn't There, are forthcoming from Measure Press in 2017.

Born in Montréal, Yves L-Thrace was passionate about art at a very young age. As a child, he converted the family shed into an art studio and worked with oil and charcoal. By the age of 16, he discovered the American poet Walt Whitman and a number of French poets including Arthur Rimbaud. Later, he became keenly interested in oriental mysticism as well as in Chinese and Japanese art and poetry.

Olfa Philo is an English teacher, a PhD scholar and a committed poetess from Tunisia. Her poems have appeared in print and online reviews such as The Poet Sanctuary, The Voices Project, The Sirens Call, Taj Mahal Review, The Haiku Journal, S/tick Review, Three Line Review and The Recusant Journal. She is an ex-international volleyball player and is also gifted in design and interior decoration.

The Love Song of Shu-Sin: The Earth's Oldest Love Poem?

Fadwa Tuqan (1917-2003), the Grande Dame of Palestinian letters, is also known as "the Poet of Palestine." She is generally considered to be one of the very best contemporary Arab poets. The sister of the poet Ibrahim Tuqan, she was born in Nablus in 1917. She began writing in traditional forms, but became one of the leaders of the use of the free verse in Arabic poetry. Her work often deals with feminine explorations of love and social protest, particularly of Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories. We have recently updated her poetry page with three new translations by THT editor Michael R. Burch.

We have added two new poems to the poetry page of John Beaton.

Famous Poems about Drinking

Famous Songs about Drinking

THT editor Michael R. Burch has an article published online by Elephant Journal that asks whether what Donald Trump proposes would create an American Holocaust, by considering things that went wrong with Hitler's plan to deport Germany's "undesirables":

http://www.elephantjournal.com/2016/10/are-we-headed-for-an-american-holocaust/

October 2016

Halloween Poetry was meant to be a seasonal page, but it has remained popular with readers year-round, and is now getting tens of thousands of page views per year.

Olivia Byard was born in South Wales, and grew up on the Cotswolds and in Montreal, Canada, where she subsequently studied at Queens University and the University of Alberta. She returned to Britain as a young adult. She started to write and publish poems both at home and abroad in the late eighties.

September 2016

THT editor Michael R. Burch has an article about Gabby Giffords and the shooting massacres of children published online by Elephant Journal at the following hyperlink:

http://www.elephantjournal.com/2016/09/shooting-victim-demands-an-end-to-the-massacre-of-children/

The article concludes with Burch's poem "Child of 9-11." If you like the article and/or the poem, please feel free to share the link via email, on social media, or however you prefer.

David Alpaugh's essay “The Professionalization of Poetry” was serialized in two issues of Poets & Writers Magazine in 2003. It drew over two hundred letters and emails and was widely discussed on the internet. Alpaugh's poetry, fiction, drama and criticism have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies, including Exquisite Corpse, The Formalist, Modern Drama, Poetry, Twentieth Century Literature, The Literature of Work, and California Poetry from the Gold Rush to the Present.

T. Merrill remains in the Spotlight with a new poem: "Epitaph."

August 2016

Norman R. Shapiro is professor of Romance languages and literatures and a much-published translator. Among his many translations are Four Farces by Georges Feydeau, which was nominated for a National Book Award; The Fabulists French: Verse Fables of Nine Centuries, named Distinguished Book of the Year by the American Literary Translator's Association; One Hundred and One Poems by Paul Verlaine, which won the Modern Language Association of America's Scaglione Prize in 2001; and Charles Baudelaire: Selected Poems from "Les Fleurs du mal."

T. Merrill remains in the Spotlight with a new poem: "Lost in the Crowd."

July 2016

Independence Day Poems and Songs

Independence Day Thoughts: Blind Faith vs. Independent Thinking

Independence Day Madness

Let Freedom Sing!

June 2016

Aaron Poochigian earned a PhD in Classics from the University of Minnesota in 2006 and an MFA in Poetry from Columbia University in 2016. His book of translations from Sappho, Stung With Love, was published by Penguin Classics in 2009, and his translation of Apollonius' Jason and the Argonauts was released October 2014. For his work in translation he was awarded a 2010-2011 Grant by the National Endowment for the Arts. His first book of original poetry, The Cosmic Purr (Able Muse Press) was published in 2012, and several of the poems in it collectively won the New England Poetry Club's Daniel Varoujan Prize. His work has appeared in such journals as The Guardian, Poems Out Loud and POETRY.

T. Merrill remains in the Spotlight with a new poem: "Lost in the Crowd."

The Best Quatrains Ever

May 2016

Jared Carter's first collection of poems, Work, for the Night Is Coming, won the Walt Whitman Award for 1980. His second poetry collection, After the Rain, received the Poets' Prize for 1995. His third collection, Les Barricades Mystérieuses, was published in 1999. His latest book, Darkened Rooms of Summer, was published in 2014 by the University of Nebraska Press, with an intro by Ted Kooser. We have added four new poems to Carter's poetry page: "December," "Omega," "Transient" and "Veteran."

Michael R. Burch's review of Darkened Rooms of Summer by Jared Carter.

Jared Carter Interview with Michael R. Burch

Muhammad Ali Poetry

April 2016

Siham Karami's poetry has been or will be published in The Comstock Review, Measure, Right Hand Pointing, The Rotary Dial, The Ghazal Page, Unsplendid, Möbius, Mezzo Cammin,  Raintown Review, Amsterdam Quarterly, Innisfree Journal, The Lavender Review, The Centrifugal Eye, and other venues and anthologies. She is a Pushcart Prize nominee and a winner of the Laureates' Prize in the Maria W. Faust Sonnet Competition.

Famous Women

The Greatest Movies of All Time

March 2016

Rhina P. Espaillat returns to the Spotlight with a new poem, "Snow."

Catherine Chandler returns to the Spotlight with a new poem, "The Deep Season." She recently won the Richard Wilbur award for her book, The Frangible Hour, which was selected by Dick Davis and will be published later this year by the University of Evansville Press.

A. E. Stallings was one of the first poets we published; now she's back in the Spotlight with a new poem, "The Catch."

February 2016

Kate Bernadette Benedict's first poetry collection, Here From Away, came out in 2003. Her second, In Company, appeared eight years later. Earthly Use: New and Selected Poems was published in 2015 and includes poems from both volumes, along with others heretofore uncollected. Kate has edited and published a number of online poetry journals: Umbrella: A Journal of Poetry and Kindred Prose; Bumbershoot (Umbrella's lighter offshoot); and Tilt-a-Whirl, a poetry “sporadical” of repeating forms.

Leland James is the author of three books of poetry. He has been published in over fifty journals and magazines worldwide, including Form Quarterly, The South Carolina Review, The Spoon River Poetry Review, New Millennium Writings, The London Magazine, Vallum, Orbis, Magma, Osprey, Scotland's international journal of literature, Arc, HQ, and The Haiku Quarterly.

Not much is known about Marcus Bales except that he lives and works in Cleveland, Ohio, and that his work has not been published in Poetry or The New Yorker.

T. Merrill remains in the Spotlight with four new poems.

January 2016

New Year Poetry: the Poetry of Endings and New Beginnings

T. Merrill remains in the Spotlight with two new poems.

The Best Humorous Poems of All Time

Prior Issues of The HyperTexts

For issues from November 2001 to December 2008, please click here

For issues from January 2009 to December 2012, please click here

For issues from January 2013 to December 2015, please click here

Prior to November 2001: Our first featured poet was Richard Moore, in the November 2001 issue, which you can find by clicking the preceding hyperlink. Prior to November 2001, THT didn't have issues, per se, and was not updated on a monthly basis, but merely upon the caprice of its founder and editor (i.e. me, Mike Burch). When did THT start? I don't rightly remember! But I was able to use the Wayback Machine to find the earliest extant version of THT, circa March 2001. At that time we had separate pages for the Masters; they included Matthew Arnold, William Blake, Ernest Dowson, Robert Frost, A. E. Housman, Ben Jonson, Edgar Allan Poe, Wilfred Owen, E. A. Robinson, Dylan Thomas, Walt Whitman, and W. B. Yeats. Our first cadre of contemporary poets included Harvey Stanbrough, Annie Finch, A. E. Stallings (the first "big fish" we landed), Dr. Joseph S. Salemi, William F. Carlson, Jennifer Reeser, Kevin N. Roberts, Michael Pendragon, and Michael R. Burch. From April to October 2001 we added the following contemporary poets: Roger Hecht, Louise Jaffe, Esther Cameron, Jack Granath, Carmen Willcox, Dr. Alfred Dorn, Wade Newman, Patrick Kanouse, Joyce Wilson, Mary Rae (the winner of our first and only poetry contest), Ric Masten and Ursula T. Gibson. In the early days, Bill Carlson was a godsend, as he put us in touch, either directly or indirectly through his website and its links to Expansive Poetry & Music Online, with roughly half the poets we published in our formative days: himself, Dorn, Salemi, Cameron, Newman, Hecht (via Newman, his literary executor), Jaffe, Granath, Reeser and Richard Moore. The second largest "pool" of poets came from to us from the ranks of the New Romantics: Kevin N. Roberts, Michael Pendragon, Carmen Willcox and Mary Rae. We found Harvey Stanbrough through The Raintown Review, which he founded and was still editing at the time. Some poets we found through the "grapevine" and the Internet: Stallings, Finch, Wilson, Masten, Gibson. We found Kanouse either through Carlson or Stanbrough.

Just when was The HyperTexts originally created? I'm not sure. Probably between 1998 and 2000, since the site already had considerable content in early 2001, with a total of 21 poets in its Masters and Contemporary Poets indexes, not to mention fairly extensive Esoterica and Rock Jukebox pages. In July 2004 we recorded our hit counter for the first time: 16,787. But I don't remember when I added it, so any number of early hits were probably not recorded. In four months of 2008 alone, THT had around 30,000 hits on its main page. So our readership has obviously grown dramatically. We seem to get as many hits in four months as we once did in four years.

Why did I start The HyperTexts? Again, I really don't remember. I know I bought a copy of Microsoft Frontpage, the program I used to create THT, probably just before the turn of century, in order to edit the website of the software company I own, Alpha Omega Consulting Group, Inc. At the time Alpha Omega had a programmer, Steve Harris, who had experience designing websites, so I imagine I bought the program on his recommendation. Steve left Alpha Omega toward the end of 2000, so I suppose around that time I had to take over editing the company website. So perhaps I created THT in order to learn the basics of HTML. It would have been natural for me to create a literary website, as a way of learning my way around HTML, because whenever I needed to learn a new programming language, I always started with something functional that I had the expertise to design and critique. I doubt that I had any real intention of being an editor and publisher of poetry at the time. I do remember getting in contact with A. E. (Alicia) Stallings and asking if I could publish a few of her poems. Her graciousness no doubt encouraged me to "go after" other poets. Annie Finch and Harvey Stanbrough were other poets I admired who gave me permission to publish their poems. Through my connection with Michael Pendragon, who published my poems in the literary journals Penny Dreadful and Songs of Innocence and the poetry anthology The Bible of Hell, I met Kevin N. Roberts, the founder and editor of Romantics Quarterly. As I helped Kevin get Romantics Quarterly off the ground, with financial assistance and suggestions, I began to see something of a larger role for myself, in the grand scheme of things, and THT soon became a launching pad of sorts for literary journals on tight budgets that didn't have their own websites. Those were the days before every man and his dog had a blog.

In 2002 I published Rhina Espaillat, and over the years she has helped THT publish the work of a number of her fellow Powow River Poets, including Michael Cantor, Deborah Warren, Len Krisak, Mike Juster and Midge Goldberg.

In 2002 I published Jack Butler, the first poet in an "Arkansas connection" that now includes Jack, Greg Alan Brownderville, Jim Barnes, and R. S. (Sam) Gwynn.

In early 2003 I ran free advertisements for Joe Ruggier's literary journal, The Eclectic Muse, and for his collection of books on CD, which my software company helped Joe create. My relationship with Joe soon led THT to join forces with Joe's Multicultural Books (MBooks) imprint, and before long we had published books by Emery Campbell, Zyskandar Jaimot, T. Merrill and V. Ulea, with hopefully more to come.

Also in 2003 I published Yala Korwin, a Holocaust survivor, and soon with the help of Yala and Esther Cameron, THT was able to bring a number of poems by Jewish ghetto poets and other Holocaust poets that had never appeared in English before. Our early Holocaust pages included those of Janusz Korczak and Elie Wiesel, which were published in 2004.

In 2005, I published the work of T. (Tom) Merrill, and this was the beginning of yet another fruitful relationship. Tom has devoted much time to THT, and he is now our Poet in Residuum. In addition to gracing our pages with his poems, essays and poet intros, Tom is a proofreader par excellence. And he has directed us to a number of poets we wouldn't have known about otherwise, including Agnes Wathall, Eunice de Chazeau and Mary Malone.

In 2006, I published the poetry of Jeffery Woodward, and he has gone on to contribute a number of pages to our "Blasts from the Past" series, earning a honorable mention on our masthead. And so THT's editors and associates now consist of me, Tom, Joe and Jeffrey.

As I pen this retrospective (written on December 12, 2008), THT ranks in the top ten with Google for a number of our primary search terms: the hypertexts (#1), hypertexts (#2), formal poetry (#2), contemporary formal poetry (#3), "the Masters" poetry (#2), Darfur poetry (#1), Holocaust poetry (#10), ghetto poets (#2), Nelson Mandela poetry (#1), Elie Wiesel poetry (#1), Leonard Nimoy poetry (#1), Ronald Reagan poetry (#1), Pope John Paul II poetry (#1), Karol Wojtyla poetry (#1), Nadia Anjuman poetry (#1 and #2), Miklós Radnóti poetry (#1), Formalist poetry (#5). And we're ranked extremely high by Google for searches for many of the poets we've published: X. J. Kennedy poetry (#1), Richard Moore poetry (#1 and #2), Esther Cameron poetry (#1 and #2), George Held poetry (#1), Jack Butler poetry (#3 and #4), Ethna Carbery poetry (#3), etc.

In a few cases, such as Richard Moore's and Esther Cameron's, we even rank above the poets' personal and/or literary websites. And in many cases, we rank number one with Google in searches for our poets' names, sans modifiers, as with Eunice de Chazeau, Alfred Dorn, Rhina P. Espaillat, Roger Hecht, George Held, T. S. Kerrigan, Yala Korwin, Leslie Mellichamp, Robert Mezey, Joseph S. Salemi, and Agnes Wathall, just to drop a few names. These are men and women with serious accomplishments, so it's interesting to see THT ranking number one, even above Wikipedia, as we sometimes do.

Where will THT go from here? Perhaps as high and far as Google can help us fly . . .

Mike Burch
December 12, 2008

The HyperTexts