Turns out the "rough beast" that was slouching towards Bethlehem was #Zionism

https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Michael_Robartes_and_the_Dancer/The_Second_Coming

THE SECOND COMING

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: a waste of desert sand;
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Wind shadows of the indignant desert birds.
​
The darkness drops again but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

#WilliamButlerYeats #Yeats #poetry #AntiChrist #Christianity #history #Israel #Palestine

#monoku by new contributor, Katherine E Winnick. Katherine is an award winning Japanese short-form poet, published internationally in 18 countries with some works translated into Japanese, Hindi, German, French and Romanian. She is the founding editor of the Shadow Pond Journal and part of the editorial team at The Wee Sparrow Poetry Press. #haiku #poetry #perfume #spring

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Against a plain white background, a #monoku by new contributor, Katherine E Winnick, reads: a dash of perfume cherry blossom notes Katherine is an award winning Japanese short-form poet, published internationally in 18 countries with some works translated into Japanese, Hindi, German, French and Romanian. She is the founding editor of the Shadow Pond Journal and part of the editorial team at The Wee Sparrow Poetry Press. #haiku #poetry #perfume #spring

You gave me
Nothing to
Hold on to.
It should have
Been easier
To let you go.

#poetry

I let the pain
Derange me,
And will remain
Untamed
When healing
Comes.

#poetry

They told us
Our cracks
Made us broken,
But they’re only
More places
The light
Can enter

#poetry

T w a w a r e l f

Z e
R
I
N
M p l
U s 0 n e
T w O
H r
E
E
Y f
0 u r

C o n s c i o u s e l f

Z e r u n (S h e r s e l f) i t m u l t i p l i n t w (h) y 0 n e d u a l (l) h y p o t h e (r) t i c a l m i n u s p o l a r i t y

H y p (o) (t) (h e) (t i c) (a l) (r) a n t i s y n t r i n i t ( w h) y t h r e e (t w o)

A l t (w) o (g e t) (h e) r A ((l t e r) n a t i n g

(E g o) C t (Y 0)

U a l (l)

T h

E

S

I

S

0 n e

F (Y 0) U r

Q u a d r i (y 0) (u) n i t (w h) y

#poem #poetry #individuality #authenticity #sovereignty #tolerance #reconciliation #letterlab #source #zero #writing #letterportals #wordpuzzles #programming #perception #encryption #code #polarity #one #unity #binity #trinity #quadrinity #singularity #duality #ternity #quaternity #p01 #fediverse #exquisitesocial

It is not
Simply rain,
It is a ritual
Calling all
Tears I cried
In vain
Back to me.

#poetry

Some wear
The darkness
Like armor,
Thinking it
Impenetrable,
Until the Sun
Rises.

#poetry

#haiga by returning contributor, Teji Sethi (IG @tejisethi13 ). Teji is a poetry disciple from India who loves concocting blends of chai & haikai. By day, she’s a therapeutic nutritionist; by dusk, she wanders into the nostalgic lanes of her childhood, gathering verses from memory. Teji has dedicated the past 4 years to curating Triya, a bilingual space for haiku, tanka & micro poems. #poetry #haiku #ink #india

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A #haiga by returning contributor, Teji Sethi @tejisethi13 features a design of two eyes staring straight at the viewer, against a background of muted tones of rosy creams and browns, arranged in vertical strips and curves. An optical illusion of shading causes the eye on the viewer’s right to appear larger or closer but they are the same size. A single line verse reads, “ink blot we see what we wish to see”. Teji is a poetry disciple from India who loves concocting blends of chai & haikai. By day, she’s a therapeutic nutritionist; by dusk, she wanders into the nostalgic lanes of her childhood, gathering verses from memory. Teji has dedicated the past 4 years to curating Triya, a bilingual space for haiku, tanka & micro poems. #poetry #haiku #ink #india

#haiku by long time contributor, Marilyn Ward of Lincolnshire, UK. Find more of Marilyn’s work on Blue Sky @haikupoet.bsky.social #poetry #blue #UK #spring

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A #haiku by long time contributor, Marilyn Ward of Lincolnshire, UK, reads: balmy breeze skimming over the rushes blue damselfly wings Find more of Marilyn’s work on Blue Sky @haikupoet.bsky.social #poetry #blue #UK #spring

A stone
Can be warmed
By the sun.
You are not
Beyond redemption,
You just need a
Little light.

#poetry

#haiku by returning contributor, dl mattila, an American poet and writer who takes pleasure in brevity. #micropoetry #poetry #midnight

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Against a black background, a #haiku by returning contributor, dl mattila reads, “the curlew’s cry mere seconds to midnight on the horizon” d l mattila is an American poet and writer who takes pleasure in brevity. #micropoetry #poetry #midnight

#tanka by returning contributor, Nicholas D. Klascanzky (IG: @klacsanzky ), of Seattle, Washington. Nicholas has several #poetry collections published and has won many awards for his #poetry and other work. #plum #spring

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A #tanka by returning contributor, Nicholas D. Klascanzky (IG: @klacsanzky ), of Seattle, Washington, reads: plum blossoms . . . the childhood punishment of facing a blank wall now the stillness I return to for fleeting enlightenment Nicholas has several #poetry collections published and has won many awards for his #poetry and other work. #plum #spring

#monoku by long-time contributor, Alvin B. Cruz (IG: @alvinbcruz)

#poetry #haiku #crocus #spring

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Against a side pink background, a #monoku by long-time contributor, Alvin B. Cruz (IG: @alvinbcruz) reads, in lilac-blue/purple text : where her bruise was first crocus #poetry #haiku #crocus #spring

#haiku by returning contributor, Tony Williams (IG: @famwill2019 ).
Tony Williams has been reading, writing and publishing haiku and senryu since 2020. Every day is a haiku day! #butterfly #poetrylovers #spring #poetry

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A #haiku by returning contributor, Tony Williams (IG: @famwill2019 ), reads: between me and the cliff’s steep edge a dizzy butterfly Tony Williams has been reading, writing and publishing haiku and senryu since 2020. Every day is a haiku day! #butterfly #poetrylovers #spring #poetry

#haiku by Deborah A. Bennett (IG @d.a._bennett) | Deborah draws her inspiration from the teaching of ancient religious philosophers & haiku poets who were also riveted by the purity & beauty of #nature #poetry #poetrylovers #spring

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A #haiku by Deborah A. Bennett @d.a._bennett reads: after the peace march lying in the clover field looking at the moon Deborah draws her inspiration from the teaching of ancient religious philosophers & haiku poets who were also riveted by the purity & beauty of #nature #poetry #poetrylovers #spring

We come from
The stars,
And will return,
And that is
Immortality.

#poetry

I went to a writer's workshop today and the prompt was "write a love letter written to a non-romantic friend". So I wrote a poem Love Letter to an Aromantic Friend

The truth was revealed
As truth is
In the things you didn't do
An unanswered touch
A glance that never met

And yet when we sit
Side by side
Reading our separate books
Playing separate games
I feel your soul with mine

And while you may not
It is true
Long for me as I for you
I can live with that
If you would live with me

And so I ask you
Via text
If you would join my comfort
Spending life with me
Doing separate things

#Poetry #SmallPoems #FlashFiction #Aromantic

We are quantum
Possibilities
With infinite
Potential.
I beg you:
Avert your
Eyes.

#poetry

Do you know so much yourself that you call the meanest ignorant?
[...]
Do you think matter has cohered together from its diffuse float, and the soil is on the surface, and water runs and vegetation sprouts,

For you only, and not for him and her?

~ Walt Whitman, "I Sing the Body Electric," 1855

#quote #quotes #poetry #humility #waltwhitman

I am not
A woman,
I am the
Smoldering
Ruins of
The stars.

#poetry

"'A doorknob is a rock for the hand. It opens a hole in the wall,' Siken writes, and I can feel the rock in my hand. There is no metaphor here, only a search for the meaning that comes before metaphor." —Joseph Osmundson for the Los Angeles Review of Books https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/siken-carson-poets-language-memory-loss-parkinsons-stroke/?src=longreads #writing #craft #poetry #longreads #biology #health #stroke #parkinsons

Robert Frost at Midlife

In his poems for The Yale Review, the poet reckoned with mortality, imperfection, and the limits of form

by Kamran Javadizadeh

https://yalereview.org/article/kamran-javadizadeh-robert-frost?utm_source=Klaviyo&utm_medium=campaign&utm_id=01KNPFNHND5AN53W9YE3E0G0Z2&_kx=3MZUehzXM-41qlWAMPUiuNZadX2p0SByuNf_t0eMLB0.U5D8ER

Robert Frost at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/1091

#books #literature #poetry

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"The Road Not Taken", as featured in Mountain Interval (1916). The title page and opening poem of Mountain Interval by Robert Frost, published by Henry Holt and Company, New York, copyright and first published November 1916. The left page shows the title page with a small decorative woodcut device — an owl motif in a square border — and identifies Frost as "Author of 'North of Boston'", his celebrated 1914 collection. The right page presents "The Road Not Taken" in full — the poem that opens the collection and became one of the most quoted and widely misread poems in the English language. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Frost#/media/File:The_Road_Not_Taken_-_Robert_Frost.png

We are
Each of us
A living
Cosmos.
Maybe
The stars
Wish upon
Us.

#poetry

Into the cathedral
Of night
To be baptized
By ancient
Starlight
And made
Whole.

#poetry

#micropoetry by naomi olivia, a godless Transgender poet from st. louis/florida. her work appears in Smacked Zine, Viridine Literary, Dadakuku, Partially Shy, Pfudalmda, & Subtext Literary Magazine. find naomi on instagram: @moth.carcass.coat (a collaboration with best friend & editor erin vastola). #poetry #spring #insectbites

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Against a white back ground, a micropoem by Naomi Olivia reads: we sprung/before summer wounds. & it’s warm again suddenly. i thaw out. sleeveless show off the bug bites. naomi olivia is a godless Transgender poet from st. louis/florida. her work appears in Smacked Zine, Viridine Literary, Dadakuku, Partially Shy, Pfudalmda, & Subtext Literary Magazine. find naomi on instagram: @moth.carcass.coat (a collaboration with best friend & editor erin vastola). #poetry #spring #insectbites

Rooted to
This rare earth
By wild chance,
We fragile flowers
Reach toward
The sun.

#poetry

#OTD in 1770 English poet William Wordsworth was born.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Wordsworth

Books by Wordsworth at PG:

https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/2879

#books #literature #poetry

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Portrait of William Wordsworth by William Shuter. He has brown hair and his left hand is tucked into his coat. His right hand is over a chair.

#shahai #collaboration by Mark Gilbert (verse) and Eavonka Ettinger (photo). Mark is based in the UK & enjoys writing short prose & #poetry (including hybrid forms). His work regularly appears in on-line & print journals & anthologies. He recently collaborated with Eavonka on Variations on the Planets, an astronomical poetry chapbook (Nun Prophet Press). Eavonka lives in Long Beach, CA. She’s published many haikai forms, but shahai combines her love of #photography and #haiku / senryu.

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A #shahai #collaboration by Mark Gilbert (verse) and Eavonka Ettinger (photo), shows a beach scene at sunset, orange glow filling the sky. Against this glow, in black text, a haiku reads in black text, “at the end of the road / tangerines / will grow on trees. Mark Gilbert is based in the UK and enjoys writing short prose & #poetry (including hybrid forms). His work regularly appears in on-line & print journals & anthologies. He recently collaborated with Eavonka Ettinger on Variations on the Planets, an astronomical poetry chapbook (Nun Prophet Press). Eavonka lives in Long Beach, CA. She’s published many haikai forms, but shahai combines her love of #photography and #haiku / senryu.

You only take.
A black hole
Where light enters
And cannot
Escape.

#poetry

I couldn’t get
Far enough
Away.
All the galaxies
In redshift,
Moving blindly
In the pitch dark
Know what I mean.

#poetry

#monoku by new contributor, thomas david. thomas is from West Sussex in the United Kingdom. His #haiku and #senryū have appeared in Failed Haiku, tsuri-dōrō, Wales Haiku Journal, Cattails, Cold Moon Journal, The Heron’s Nest and now, FreshOut. #poetry #poetrylovers #uk

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#monoku by new contributor, thomas david, reads: “paper kites my dreams unfold” thomas is from West Sussex in the United Kingdom. His #haiku and #senryū have appeared in Failed Haiku, tsuri-dōrō, Wales Haiku Journal, Cattails, Cold Moon Journal, The Heron’s Nest and now, FreshOut. #poetry #poetrylovers #uk

#haiku by Joanna Ashwell, a writer from the UK. Joanna’s #poetry has been featured widely & received many awards & nominations. Some of her books for sale on Amazon include ‘Every Star’ (tanka), ‘Moonset Song’ (Cherita), ‘Love’s Scriptures’ (Cherita) & ‘Book Patronus’ (haiku & tanka). #UK #poetrylovers

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A #haiku by Joanna Ashwell, a writer from the UK, reads: stargazing the first threshold of deepening sky Joanna’s #poetry has been featured widely & received many awards & nominations. Some of her books for sale on Amazon include ‘Every Star’ (tanka), ‘Moonset Song’ (Cherita), ‘Love’s Scriptures’ (Cherita) & ‘Book Patronus’ (haiku & tanka). #UK #poetrylovers

Who Were the Black Women of the Harlem Renaissance?

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Nu83pQl7mgQ

At PG:

Gwendolyn Bennett

https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=Gwendolyn+Bennett

Alice Dunbar Nelson

https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=Alice+Dunbar+Nelson

Anne Spencer

https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=Anne+Spencer

Zora Neale Hurston

https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=Zora+Neale+Hurston

Anne Spencer

#books #literature #poetry

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Anne B. Spencer in her wedding dress - picryl.com She is standing with her right hand on the back of a chair.

I find myself
Alone with
The shimmering
Stars,
And silence
Sounds like
Music
At last.

#poetry

Dressed in
This flesh,
Our bones
Know the
Meaning
Of patience.

#poetry

A Poet of Science Who Shook Faith in God

Biographer Richard Holmes reveals how Tennyson predated Darwin and speaks to us today

By Kevin Berger

https://nautil.us/a-poet-of-science-who-shook-faith-in-god-1279489

Tennyson at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/2987

#books #literature #poetry

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Portrait of Alfred Lord Tennyson by Samuel Laurence, 1840. Tennyson is portrayed with abundant dark chestnut hair swept back from a strong, angular face, gazes slightly to his left. The features are sharply defined — a prominent nose, firm jaw, deep-set eyes — and a loose dark coat with white collar. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Alfred_Lord_Tennyson_1840.jpg

A Reader’s Guide to Poetry for National Poetry Month

By The Editors

Read poems, learn poetic forms, and discover writers in this National Poetry Month roundup.

https://daily.jstor.org/editors-picks-national-poetry-month/?utm_source=mcae&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=jstordaily_04022026

Poetry at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/bookshelf/637

#books #literature #poetry

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Poetry: A Magazine of Verse. A small black and white decorative vignette — a quill pen thrust diagonally through a curling scroll or sheet of paper. https://www.gutenberg.org/files/43224/43224-h/43224-h.htm

We must
Have hope
That something
Beautiful lies
Just beyond
The terror.

#poetry

Everything
Afforded a
Person to
Believe they
Exist was denied
Me, and still
I persist.

#poetry

Never apologize
For setting fire.
It is a consequence
Of bleeding stars.

#poetry

Even your
Bones were
Beautiful,
Shimmering
Against the
Sun like a
Call and
Response.

#poetry

The word
“Desire,”
In the Latin,
Means to be
Far from the
Stars.
Surrounded
By darkness,
There is no
Better word
For being
Without you.

#poetry

I will let joy
Interrupt
My sorrow,
As much
As it aches.

#poetry

Time is so
Shallow,
Oblivion so
Deep.
Do all things
With love
On the surface.

#poetry

Let all
Cruelties die,
And from their
Corpses will
Bloom a new
Kindness.

#poetry

#senryu by Dr. Randy Brooks ( @brooksbookshaiku ), Professor of English Emeritus at Millikin University in Decatur, Illinois, where he teaches courses on #haiku, tanka, and Japanese poetics. He and his wife, Shirley Brooks, are publishers of Brooks Books and co-editors of Mayfly haiku magazine. His most recent publication is HAIKU DECK: A collection of playing cards. #poetry #ghosttown #illinois

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Against a plain white background, a senryu reads: “prairie ghost town a freight train on tiptoes” #senryu by Dr. Randy Brooks ( @brooksbookshaiku ), Professor of English Emeritus at Millikin University in Decatur, Illinois, where he teaches courses on #haiku, tanka, and Japanese poetics. He and his wife, Shirley Brooks, are publishers of Brooks Books and co-editors of Mayfly haiku magazine. His most recent publication is HAIKU DECK: A collection of playing cards. #poetry #ghosttown #illinois