Welcome to the Masonic Poets Society and the MPS Newsletter. You have
been invited to join this Society because you have expressed an
appreciation for the finer things in life -- the loftiness of Masonic
ideals, and the beauty of poetic forms. Here, we will attempt to meld
these two quests towards perfection, twining them into something even
greater than the sum of their parts. And we ask you to be a bit of that
process.
What You Can Do?
Many people will be needed. Most numerous of all will need to be simply an audience to read our poems and ooh and ahh appreciatively at the appropriate measures. Without an audience and applause, any performer is dead. So please, be profuse with your praise. And if you're on any other Masonic mailing lists, make an announcement about the Society for anyone else who might be interested.
But also needed are contemporary poets, to write the new songs of Masonry today, for tomorrow.
And archivists, to ferret out yesterday's poems that have been lost, and bring them back into light.
Editors and web artists, to organize and produce the poems.
Reviewers (dast I utter the horrid word, "critics"?), to analyze works, and inform us of works in dead-tree editions or on other websites than our own.
And finally, a few bureaucrats to coordinate it all.
A Society isn't just a website or a newsletter. A Society is people. A
Society is participation. A Society isn't me. A Society isn't you. A
Society is me and you and them together.
The Minstrel
A man stumbled into the emergency room dressed in a medieval bard's
outfit, clutching his stomach with one hand and moaning in agony. With
his free hand he was grasping a lute, which he dropped on the floor in
front of the nurse's station. He then collapsed in a heap on the floor,
rolled himself into a fetal position, and began to moan much louder.
Fearing serious food poisoning, doctors quickly brought a stretcher out
and rolled him into the bowels of the ER. Half an hour later, the man
walked past the nurse and out the door, whistling happily to himself.
Noticing that the man looked much healthier, the nurse asked one of the
doctors what was ailing the man. The doctor shrugged and said, "nothing
big,... just minstrel cramps."
Websites
We have three websites. http://snurl.com/MPoets is a snipped URL that points to the most recent one.
The original one is by Founder Jerry Leighton, but was last updated July
5, 2004. You can view it at http://home.midmaine.com/~gleighton/
A mirror site was set up by Brother Sandy Smith at http://www.masonic-poets-society.com/ but it hasn't been updated since March 14, 2004, so it lacks a few poems that are on the original site. But it does have a nicer URL, and will be designated the Primary website (not to be confused with the Maine website) once all are coordinated on updating.
Brother Owen Lorion came aboard as webmaster in November of 2004 and
added a temporary third site. The snipped URL currently points to his
work-in-progress at http://okl-ward.pop3.ru/MPShome.htm but once all the
bugs are out, the main sites will be updated with the redecorated
versions and the snipped URL will be redirected there. It has several
new poems added since the last update on Jerry's site, but also a lot of
added archival matter.
Decisions
To start, we need to make a lot of decisions. Decisions that will affect our Society for years to come. So we may be using the polling facility of this newsletter frequently. Do please participate, even if some of the questions may seem trivial.
For many of these decisions, there will need to be two parts. First, asking for suggestions, and then voting on them. Fortunately, we should be a more-than-average creative group, so I expect suggestions to flow even though our numbers may be few.
To get the ball rolling with a fairly inconsequential one while we're
still in our early recruiting stage, what title should we bestow upon
our high grand poobah? Keep in mind that we expect one day to be on a
level with the Blue Friars (Grand Abbot), The Philalethes Society
(President), The Shrine (Imperial Potentate), and other such bodies.
Send your suggestions to me (I think you can do that by replying to this
message, if not, send an e-mail to owenkl@nmmasons.org
For example, our Founder and First CEO is Gerald "Jerry" Leighton, so I
suppose we could honor him by making the title the "First Light On". I
like the romantic title of "Cavalier," though the Cavalier movement in
English poetry was in the early-mid 1600s, over a century before Robert
Burns. Perhaps "Cavalier Laureate" for the top office, and lower grades
for the others. "Cavalier Acaciate," and "Cavalier Ivyate." Or before
the office of poet laureate was established, the British king's poet was
know casually as his "minstrel" or "versifier," and before that Richard
the Lion-Hearted did pay an allowance to his "Versificator Regis." Maybe
something could be done with that?
We can't have a poetry 'zine without some poetry, so here is my latest
poem. I'm sorry, it has nothing to do with Masonry, but at least it is
about Poetry.
by Owen Lorion, 4/5/05
If you'd rather not have your poems torn apart, please skip this. But as
the poet, I do want to take the opportunity to point out a few little
quirks I'm proud of. Foremost is the way the framing verse is split --
the last half at the start of the poem, and the rhyming first half at
the end. And then there are the puns at the ends of the squirrel and
airplane stanzas. The gliders waft through the leaves of trees like
poems waft through the leaves of books; and airplanes have shiny lines,
but poems have lines that can shine, too.
Jerry Leighton is Founder and CEO of the MPS, but as Deputy Grand Master
of the Grand Lodge of Maine, he has little time or energy these days to
devote to the Society, and has delegated most of it to me, Brother Owen
Lorion (Cerrillos Lodge #19, Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA), as Webmaster.
And I'd like to spread it around even more, which is why I'm organizing
a more complete Societal structure. This issue of the MPS newsletter was
entirely written by y'r humble servant (except the joke, which I lifted
off the Net). I hope one of you will volunteer to take over and do the
next issue, and another will offer to submit a review of a book of
Masonic poetry, and two of you will come up with better jokes, and 4 of
you will have poems for the website that we can first put in the
newsletter. You now have your assignments. Pick which one you want, and
write me back as soon as you have it ready, so I can get back to
concentrating on the website. Which, by the way, I could use a
co-webmaster with.
So far, nothing. Our expenses have been essentially nil. Websites and
email lists are donated or paid for by small ads. I personally am a
reclusive sort, so I don't intend to propose any conventions or
get-togethers. No plans are afoot for any print magazines, and the Rob
Morris CD we may be co-sponsoring would be a break-even burn-on-demand
deal as I understand it. So for now, no dues, and all one has to do to
"join" our Society is subscribe to this Newsletter, which can be done by
sending a blank e-mail to If you're still reading to here, you are indeed devoted. But in fact, we
do have some projects going. A lot of these are obvious.
Perhaps one of the brothers involved with the Rob Morris project will
have an article on that for next issue, and I should have one on the
website restoration project then, too. But most pressing is the people
location, and it's one you may be able to help with.
Although we are spread all over the world, our online community is very
interconnected, and so I'm hoping that most of these missing persons
will be known to at least one of you. The following people have actively
contributed to the collection so far, although not all may be aware of
it! Unless indicated as just a (contrib.) who sent in someone else's
poem, they have at least one poem in the collection. Between crashes,
upgrades, second-party submissions, and old ISP eddresses bouncing,
Jerry and I don't have eddresses for any of these people. I suspect
several may have demitted to the Great Lodge on High. At least one
person I originally had on this list, whose poem had been sent in
third-hand, turned out to have died in the 1920s! I don't think he ever
did have an e-mail box.
Poetry
A Poem Has Wings So Limber
A poem has wings so limber
that they can cover all of Creation.
It may have wings like an eagle
to soar to the loftiest heights
Where we can feel it expanding
our lungs, our spirits, our sights.
They're the wings of the frivolous flutterby
in neons and day-glow so bright;
Enhancing, entrancing, enchanting,
with words that amaze and delight.
Some poems have wings of dragons,
musty scales, part leather, part stone.
>From the depths, they are Eld, they are scary,
and yet we can't leave them alone.
Poems have the wings of gnats
pestiferous no-see-ums that drive us insane!
Some lyrics get into your mind -- wrap around --
and you _can't get them out of your brain!
Sweet poems have the wings of songbirds
twittering airs so melodic,
Serenading all who can hear them,
inviting lovers to frolic.
Fun poems have the wings of squirrels
and sugar gliders, skimming from trees.
Parasails spread for surfing excitement
as they waft with the wind through the leaves.
Airplanes lend wings to poems
fixed by aerodynamic designs;
As rigid as Iambic Pentameter,
shiny as Titanium lines.
Iridescent are the wings of the dragonfly
there are poems in their delicate bracts
They are clear -- any color -- whatever you like!
(Only dragonfly _knows the true hue tracks.)
Poems have the wings of a bat,
night flier, cave sleeper by day.
Bound in leather, in libraries dusty
as if hidden: deep... dark... and away.
A poem has wings like you, dear child,
for the best wings of all are imagination.
Analysis
Who Did This?
What Does This Cost?
mpoets-subscribe@smartgroups.com. We should
perhaps better be called the Masonic Poets Society OnLine, since we
don't have any print publications (yet), but it certainly does keep our
budget down!
What Else Are We Doing?
Some not so obvious, but you are probably aware of:
And projects you may not have thought of: