Dante Gabriel Rosetti immortalized his lovers:
the strong, graceful and voluptuous gentlewomen
who could have been countesses and baronesses.
Indeed, their beauty would stand the test of time.
He shared their innate glamour with the world
but kept for himself the spell of their smile.
One by one voluptuous enchantress with eyes like daggers
warned onlookers that beauty was hardly an open invitation.
AP: 1st place 2025
Categories:
rosetti, art, beauty, muse, smile,
Form: Free verse
after Christina Rosetti
Pour leaves into a gossamer bag, the kettle boils
in the bleak midwinter
the orange-brown water steams your mug and glasses
watching snow fall in the bleak midwinter
the cinnamon scent of your mothers touch
fills your nose in the bleak midwinter
the teardrop shed at her absence joins your mug—
your mother passed this bleak midwinter
one rotation round the earth, the first and last snow falls
without her here, the coming end of the bleak midwinter
Categories:
rosetti, loss,
Form: Ghazal
Rosetti forename Dante Gabriel
knew the tenets of PRB so well
His interest though was short-lived
love of his models never did
Categories:
rosetti, art, people,
Form: Clerihew
Zephyrs
‘I cannot tell you how it was
But this I know it came to pass.’
Beneath the broad and spreading oak,
Warm zephyrs sighed through meadow grass.
They danced among oak tree’s leaves
And sang a vibrant summer song
Of how we would love and love again
And to each other would belong
They sang among the budding flowers
And told in the ringing chimes
Of how thinkers while away the hours
And of how lovers write in rhymes.
But then they spoke of Autumn’s chill,
When secret mists would hide our way.
How playful spirits toss the leaves
When warm summer fades away.
Then ancient zephyrs breathed a sigh
And left that pleasant summer land.
Now blust’ry winds of Autumn came
And took us by the hand.
Our love was lost in hidden ways
As drifting mists obscured our view
And Autumn spirits tossed our dreams
And left nothing but the dew..
1st two lines are opening lines from
'May' by Christina Rosetti
Barry Stebbings
July 2022
Categories:
rosetti, autumn, love, seasons, summer,
Form: Quatrain
Do not sin anymore
so that nothing worse may happen to you John 5:14
This past year
People have been rightly focused
Most obsessed
About COVID-19
It has dominated news cycles
Been the focus of discussions everywhere
Precausions shuttered businesses world-wide for months
All this is understandable given the overwhelming number
Deaths
In today’s gospel
Jesus healed a man who had been incapacitated for 18 years
After the man was healed
Jesus admonished him to stop sinning, …so that nothing worse may happen to you”
Much worse than physicall illness is sin
The resulting is death of one’s soul
If we believe the warning of Jesus
Wouldn’t it make sense to be even more concerned about our spiritual health than COVID-19?
We wear masks
Practice social distancing to protect ourselves from the virus
We should do even more to foster the health of our souls
Stephen J. Rosetti
Turned to Poetry: Jac R. M.
Poetry Form: Free Verse
Categories:
rosetti, christian, devotion, god, jesus,
Form: Free verse