by phillipw | Sep 18, 2019 | Ta
“I Shall Surround You” 0 Mirabeau, Wikipedia “I shall surround you with a vicious ring The likes of which you’ve never seen,” his friend, Mirabeau, yelled at Talleyrand. The sting Was bent and turned around, though, in the...
by phillipw | Sep 18, 2019 | SE
Self-examination: a sonnet trilogy If you should meditate upon yourself To know more clearly who and what you are, You might discover that you are an elf, A ukelele, not a bass guitar; That when your core becomes a fire, its fizz, Is like those birthday...
by phillipw | Sep 18, 2019 | Ta
Talleyrand & Gouverneur Morris 0 “Your character is such that you undo Unhappiness much faster than can fate Create its sadnesses,” said Monstesquiou To Adelaïde, who had the lovely trait Of being charming Countess de Flahaut— Which meant that she...
by phillipw | Sep 18, 2019 | BU
Highs and Lows 0 What if the Buddha got it wrong and deaths Don’t take us to Nirvana but instead Produce a consciousness too much like meths, Or LSD? Or if that final bed, The one for each immortal soul, is full Of nightmares (weedy paranoia), Because...
by phillipw | Sep 18, 2019 | SE
My Skeleton is not a Cage 0 My skeleton is not a cage, or, if It is, a curious one. Important parts Are held outside the bars, though some are stiff As cartilage or bones. This fact imparts A certain freedom to my meaning, to What I define by my existence. I Am not...