“A Mind's Minotaur - A Soliloquy by Stewart Stafford In a labyrinth’s mental corridors, prisoner of consciousness, Fleeing a Minotaur I fear is me. Achilles' heel, masked by strength hath shown, An arrow cometh from Time's swift flight, For those with bountiful time enow, Find themselves slain in a heroic light. When thou dost gaze upon the world below, And scorn its depths, thou canst not comprehend The truths that pool o'er its shadow, glow. No tears stain that meadow of solace, A phantom limb, tickling in memory's store, Galley slaves in hurricane's heart so lashed. Transient madness and renown, conjoin on pomp’s bridge, Champions of the joust wave paramour's kerchief, Revered statues limp from a pedestal's ridge. The signs of pride and brittle ardour, The hubristic bite of isolation's cur. The death warrant quill must ne'er be stilled, For authority doth stifle beauty's song, Staged chaos through the written word is willed. Phantasy's balm to verity's scourging, A cleansing soak of battle-scarred minds, And in the dark, imagination reigns. He who hath fear of the dark hath vision keen, Whilst those who see but naught are dull and plain. Thus, let us not be swayed by others' lore, But splay in error, heal to prosper once more. Idolatrous moth to lechery's candlelight, In lover's tongues, passion's seared delight. © 2024, Stewart Stafford. All rights reserved.” ImaginationHuman NatureReflectionExistentialismMortalityPsychological FictionPhilosophical PoetryGothic PoetryShakespeareanSoliloquy Author:Stewart Stafford
“Life Looks Lasting by Stewart Stafford Why should evening's last hues Get short shrift by rays of morn? Or contented looks of jaded age Be void by stung slits, newborn? The skull's opalescent orbs shut, A lifetime's sense memories kept, Amnesia's windfall revisited in spirit, In corridors of déjà vu, windswept. Though not the peeled eyes of youth Nor intoxicated with passionate ire, Scarcity unveils beauty in mundanity, Visions consumed by a funeral pyre. © 2026, Stewart Stafford. All rights reserved.” PhilosophyDeathGriefAgingMemoryAgeingLife PoemShakespeareanIntertextualitySonnet 73 Author:Stewart Stafford
“The Seer's Map by Stewart Stafford Howling dog, thou cursèd hound, Plaguest thy master with baleful sound, The cur's yelps taint the air around; A dirge for all that hear thy wound. The rooftop magpie foretells: Herald of guests to visit soon, A noisy speech announceth, Companions of the afternoon. Lucky horseshoe and iron key, Bringeth good fortune to the finder, But spilling salt provokes fate, And draws the evil eye's reminder. A shoe upon the table laid, Tempts the dead to live anon, For this ungracious gesture waketh, Flesh and blood from skeleton. Who crosses the path of hare or priest, A perilous milestone on thy road, Their very presence signifies That gathering trouble doth forebode. A toad on thy merry travels, Brings sweet smiles and kindest charms, Keep one about thy person warm, To shelter safe from danger's harms. Red sky at night delights the eye, Of shepherd that beholds thy light, Thy colour doth betoken dawn Of weather fair and clear and bright. Red sky at morn troubles the heart, Of shepherd that surveys thy shade, Thy hue doth presage day Of stormy blast and tempest made. December's thunder balm, Speaks of harvest's tranquil mind, January's thunder, fierce! Warns of war and gales unkind. An itchy palm hints at gold To come into thy hand ere long, But if thou scratch it, thou dost lose The fair wind that blows so strong. A Sunday Christmas forewarns: Three signs of what the year shall hold; A winter mild, a Lenten wind, And summer dry, to then unfold. Good luck charm on New Year's Day Maketh fortune bloom all year, But to lose it or give it away, Thou dost invite ill-omened fear. © Stewart Stafford, 2023. All rights reserved.” FateLuckSuperstitionsGood LuckSuperstitionBad LuckFolkloreOmensShakespeareanIambic Pentameter Author:Stewart Stafford
“The Sacking of Grief by Stewart Stafford Thou speaketh of grief as a funeral cowl lashed, When 'tis a thorny, haunting cuckoo's nest smashed, I wouldst cast it off, fain if choice be mine, And not necessity's wickedness stretched supine. Peace's changeling to restless beds doth creep, In conjoined prayer to restoreth salvation sleep. To crawleth awake in dawn's incessant weight, Can I tame this sleepless lion and walk it straight? I confesseth sins, but the blemish remains, Call it regret that stalks these guiltless brains, Would a surgeon's blade cut me free of it? And I in luscious orchards, the solaced fruits bit. O, in slumbering dusk the leonine roar doth cease, And the pathway home heralds sweet release. © 2025, Stewart Stafford. All rights reserved.” PainGriefSonnetSleeplessnessShakespeareanEmotional PoetryHealing PoetryHope PoetryShakespearean Sonnet Author:Stewart Stafford
“Shakespearean tragedies do not deal chiefly with the working-class people and focus mostly on the fall of the kings, princes, generals etc. because a beggar has nothing to lose but if a king loses everything suddenly and gets poor, then the readers or audience become so sad and feel like crying in the end!” PoorCryKingsTragedyCryingShakespeareReadersMd Ziaul HaqueTragediesShakespearean Author:Md. Ziaul Haque
“If 't be true thou dost love me, then bare thy breast and runneth upon this bodkin. Nay, I do not require thy life or lethal proof that Narcissus festered in isolation. Man is a blotted parchment of sins and reminiscence his Purgatory.” SinSacrificeSelf LoveLoyaltyPurgatorySeven Deadly SinsNarcissusShakespeareanLay Down One S LifeLove Test Author:Stewart Stafford
“In Greek tragedy, 'Destiny is Character' that means destiny drives or guides the hero. In Shakespearean tragedy, 'Character is Destiny' that means the hero creates his own destiny! But, real life is a mixture of both!” LifeCharacterDestinyHeroTragedyGreek TragedyShakespeareanShakespearean Tragedy Author:Md. Ziaul Haque
“গ্রিক ট্র্যাজেডিতে 'Destiny is Character' মানে ভাগ্য নায়ককে চালিত বা নির্দেশিত করে। শেইকস্পিয়ারিয় ট্র্যাজেডিতে 'Character is Destiny' মানে নায়ক নিজেই নিজের ভাগ্যকে সৃষ্টি করে। কিন্তু বাস্তব জীবন এ দুটোরই সংমিশ্রণ!” LifeCharacterDestinyHeroTragedyGreek TragedyShakespeareanShakespearean Tragedy Author:Md. Ziaul Haque
“The Hamartia of Esteem by Stewart Stafford A clash of Roses has seared these temples grey, The brash cur pack supplanting divinity's place, Nightshade words aimed at codpiece not the face, Inquisition's gauntlet strikes this judgement day. A death warrant marked by slander's inked stain? Scarred by a caricatured actor's grasping fear? In a groundless play for a groundling's sneer? Mannequin tyrant in a jailer playwright's disdain? Time shall be your confessor and guide, A guest casting stones at yourself in haste, Purifying my beloved's fair hand, debased, Redeem her undoing at a vengeful rabble's side. © 2025, Stewart Stafford. All rights reserved.” ReputationRedemptionEnglish HistoryShakespeareanMetafictionWars Of The RosesRichard IiiMeta TextualismLiterary CritiqueShakespeare S Richard Iii Author:Stewart Stafford
“The lady bears a crust of rage as the ground bears hardened frost in the morning. Some days, 't melts with warm persuasion, but on others, 't lingers, and all is hollow ere its cold fury.” MarriagePersuasionFrostMarried LifeAngry WomenShakespeareanHell Hath No FuryWalking On EggshellsFrostyA Winter S Love Author:Stewart Stafford
“Cyclops Hill by Stewart Stafford To the cock-fights, O’er the briny pit, Grimy coin, grubby fist, Lip service i’ foaming fit. Fish or fowl, bestir them on, I’ll ne’er stop mine’s feat, An oracle for all-comers, Frolicsome backing i’ th’ heat. Odds be the usurer’s friend, Victor and vanquished spent, Trudge away in silent mourn, To kindly pay the tavern’s rent. © 2026, Stewart Stafford. All rights reserved.” SexInnuendoDouble EntendreGothic PoetryShakespeareanElizabethan PoetryBawdy ComedyCockfightingAnatomical MetaphorDark Satire Author:Stewart Stafford
“Like a snake sheds its skin, we are capable of getting rid of assembled habits, creating space to call matters into question. Instead of the Shakespearian " To be or not to be " we could favor " to become or not to become". By "becoming", we challenge the range of possibilities in our life and go beyond the merely "being". We can retreat, then, from the imprisonment of a deadly routine, acquire an identity and develop our personality. ( "Man without Qualities" )” LifeSpaceIdentityPersonalityBecomingCapableManRangeAcquireRoutineShedRetreatPossibilitiesFavourBeingHabitsChallengeCreateImprisonmentSkinDevelopBeyondQualitiesSnakeMattersDeadlyShakespeareanTo Be Or Not To BeMerelyGet Rid OfAssembledTo BecomeCall Into QuestionTo Go Author:Erik Pevernagie
“Shakespeare's strengths and there are many include his unique ability to vastly improve pre-existing plots and turn them profoundly dark and tragic or lightly comedic and romantic at will. There is also The Bard's lyrical, complex dialogue encoded with hidden meaning that works both in context and out, his towering, unforgettable characterisations, and the variety and depth of his female characters.” TheaterTheatrePlaywrightShakespeareWilliam ShakespearePlaysBardShakespeareanShakespearean TragedyShakespearean Women Author:Stewart Stafford
“All, right then." Henry raised his hand like a sorcerer. "Oh, Ling Chan, Madame Curie of the dream world," he intoned dramatically, barely keeping a straight face. "Sleep hath released thee! Now is the time thou must waketh!" Ling rolled her eyes. "You're an idiot.” HumorOld EnglishShakespearean Book:Lair of Dreams Source: Lair of Dreams
“Ladybird Heart by Stewart Stafford O darling o' my heart, If 'tis true that is what thou art, Then recognise and see me. Didst I not win thy heart so bold, And giveth thee rings of gold? Anon, honour our precious union. But to interfering teams, Thy loyalty now it seems, Thee grants these canker blossoms o'er me. Recall how they hath tried, To jilt me from mine own bride, And keepest thou lonesome and melancholy. So, returneth, my dove, To this, thy bed of love, And sleep soundly beneath thy lovebird's wing. © Stewart Stafford, 2022. All rights reserved.” LoveLoyaltyLove PoemLove PoetryPower Of LoveShakespeareanMarital ProblemsIambic PentameterOutside InfluenceIambic Poetry Author:Stewart Stafford
“O, gentle Bard, if thou couldst but glimpse our digital age! We set words in light called ‘blogs,’ Which are, alas, neither fens nor afflictions. They are thoughts taken wing for the world to see, Much like thou didst with plays posthumously, Held eternally aloft in iambic pentameter.” PoetrySatireLiterary FictionBlogsDigital AgeWordplayContemporary LiteratureShakespeareanModern ClassicIambic Pentameter Author:Stewart Stafford
“An ancient gate, sealed by the powers of Light and Darkness, barred the way to the Pillars beyond. To depart this place and continue my journey, I would have to find the means to open it.” VampireDefianceVideogamePlaystationWraithShakespeareanRazielLegacy Of KainSoul Reaver Author:Amy Hennig
“To crudely paraphrase a far more elegant apology than ours: Piece out our imperfections with your mind; think - when we speak of whale-boats, whales and oceans, that you see them - for 'tis your thoughts that now must deck our stage; jumping o'er time; turning the accomplishments of many years into an hour-glass...” TheaterTheatreStage PlayMelvilleShakespeareanOrson Welles Book:Moby Dick - Rehearsed Source: Moby Dick - Rehearsed
“A Martian Midsummer Night's Dream by Stewart Stafford On Mars's pristine ruddy hue, we tread, Above, stars as adamantine algae spread. Phobos and Deimos, twin moons fair, Primeval river beds form a spidery lair. Dust storms tower above dried-up seas, A vast red alien desert, shorn of trees. Oberon and Titania's gamesmanship spite, Quarrel deep in the Martian summer night. Puckish antics stir starry lovers' hearts true, As spells and dreams on tangled paths pursue. On Olympus Mons, Vulcan gods watch and scheme, Echoes of old wars fuelling plans extreme; A Wellsian tome of the tripod Martian foe, Of invasive seeds, spread to Earth to sow. In Valles Marineris, where canyons stretch away, Dead of night gives birth to coppery day. A frontier vision, both opaque and diamond clear, Magical flights of fancy on an untamed sphere. © 2024, Stewart Stafford. All rights reserved.” FantasyMagicAdventureScience FictionWar Of The WorldsMarsSpace ExplorationShakespeareanA Midsummer Night S DreamRed Planet Author:Stewart Stafford
“Death is not the only possible outcome.” VampireShakespeareanVideo GameKainLegacy Of Kain Author:Amy Hennig