Member Poems
Illinois State Poetry Society
One of the many benefits of membership is being published on our website. Each quarter, ISPS invites a segment of the membership, designated by last name, to publish one poem and/or haiga on the website.
Quarterly Poems
Poems listed by poet name
Fire Eye
by Michael Escoubas
After the solar eclipse, April 8, 2024
We’re given a taste
of a day
even a lifetime
in the space
of but an hour
first light
when dew is down
frosting grass
nothing is more hushed
than the way
the moon
moves toward the night
it is a slow
encroachment
until the world
is barely lit
shadowed over
ensconced in dark
then
day emerges again
softly . . .
wildflowers
perfume misty air
in one unrepeatable
moment
a day, a lifetime
when Man and Nature
pause
to take a moment
and think.
Primavera
by Goldie Ann Farkonas
As Earth continues on her yearly journey, ’round the golden sun,
She knows, ’tis time, once more, important business, coming, must be done!
She asks her sleeping daughter, Primavera, to awaken, now,
’Tis time, once more, to bring new life and warmth, and beauty – she knows how!
The flowers, insects, leafy trees, new blades of grass, and birds, which sing,
The humming bees around their nests, do fly around, with their sting!
We welcome you, dear Primavera, for your time – on Mother Earth,
For you bring long, awaited warmth and beauty – Springtime – love and birth!
Dear Primavera, maiden of each golden, sunlit day of Spring,
We thank you, so, for giving us – the love you bring!
From year to year, we do await the coming of your precious gifts,
For when you’re near, each heart begins to softly sing, and then, it lifts!
This is a love poem about
1-900 numbers
by Johanna Haas
It’s about staying up late to call you from another state,
because fares were lower at night, and we could talk more.
It’s about how only rich people had cellphones,
and they were as big as shoeboxes and plugged into your car.
My love is as big as a cathode-ray tube inside a wooden television.
My love is as tall as the aerial needed to get a signal.
As sweet as a cake from an EZ Bake oven,
powered by the excess heat from an incandescent light bulb.
More rebellious than a candy cigarette perched on a lower lip,
ready to be eaten if an adult looks on.
You, like a Sears catalog, can fill all my needs.
Like my dearest video rental, I’m taking you home.
Thirty Years War
by Mark Hudson
1: The Windows
On May 22, 1618,
Vilem Slavata could be seen,
hanging by fingers from a windowsill,
with assassins there ready to kill.
Jaroslav Bolita had also been seized,
flung out the window, a castle besieged.
Slavata was cut off by a sword hilt,
he cracked his head, blood was spilt.
Nonetheless, they headed for the hills,
after they fell from the windowsills.
This was where it started in Prague,
by fighting the man who was the top dog.
2: The Empire
In 1618, the Roman Empire,
was too powerful a force to retire.
Natural philosophy began to explain,
the natural world in its terrain.
They began to understand planetary motions,
and all the sea creatures deep in the ocean.
This caused the Catholic Church some stress,
but modern ideas continued to progress.
The peace of Augsburg went across the land,
and it was approved by Emperor Ferdinand.
They tried to reform religion as a whole,
but once again the government took control.
3: The Turkish War
The Turkish war in 1593,
helped spread some peace in Hungary.
Yet, it still provoked anxiety,
for most European societies.
The Hapsburgs were financially bankrupt,
all this change came quite abrupt.
The Turkish war would always result in
disastrous problems for the new sultans.
4: The Spanish Monarchy
Spain’s many dominions,
left history to many opinions.
In 1631, there were four million,
Spaniards who were known as Castilians.
Finding silver was something new;
and they found mercury mines in Peru.
Laborers died, about forty a day,
and the silver turned to rust and decay.
5: The Dutch Republic
The assassination of William the Silent,
told you that the times were violent.
The Spanish became allies with the Dutch,
while the English troops perhaps not much.
Boats collected Venezuelan salt,
so the spice trade was really nobody’s fault.
Most shops in the European trade,
were getting goods already made.
Amsterdam made grenades and gunpowder,
everything to make war much louder.
Dealing with the Dutch in Hague,
was worse than dealing with the Black Plague.
6: Conclusion
Wars, wars! They never quite end!
There always will be countries to defend!
Peace is a dream you can only hope for,
just like the people in the thirty-years war.
I Would Music Make Once More
by Lennart Lundh
When the last son has fallen,
there will be a need for bards
to sing dirges and old lullabies,
to remember lives cut short.
I will set down my useless rifle,
take my guitar in wearied hands,
and play a saints’ procession
to lead them to our hearts.
When the last shell is fired,
there will be silence unknown
during the years of fighting,
and a need to honor it.
I will find a whole piano,
miraculous in the rubble,
and play a gentle melody
so babes may peaceful sleep.
When the last war is over,
there will be no parade
to celebrate the peace,
no dancing in the streets.
I will stand atop my tank
and play the violin,
a requiem for all
that have and has been lost.
Hitchhiker
by Tom Moran
I pierce pin holes
in a piece
of black construction paper,
hold the paper up
to the sunshine
because as a child
I was told
that the stars
at night
is light
shining through from heaven.
I pull away the paper,
smile at
the newness
of love
on my face.
I live
on the cusp of two worlds,
one spiritual,
one Earth bound;
a hitchhiker
in the rain
who can’t run,
can’t hide,
and can’t make it
stop raining.
A soul in a
concrete world,
waiting on the day
I cut loose,
fly free.
Stay The Course
by Susan T. Moss
Don’t do anything—
just stand there.
Let the flies buzz
and petals fall around you
in this perfect moment.
Wait for the signal,
a flash streaked
across an interior landscape
that answers YES!
to the dark side of the soul
and invites you
to pirouette in rhythm
with earth’s
turning and hurling
through places
never traveled before.
published in her chapbook
Keep Moving ‘til the Music Stops