Imperative Impossibilities in the Arts

Written on June 7, 2205, Gay Pride Day in Bracknell

Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem 

“Time’s wingèd chariot is hurrying near” ~ Andrew Marvell, “To His Coy Mistress”

“Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May” ~ Shakespeare

To paint or sculpt the spirit of the thing

Inside its form; to be oneself, alone,

But be all things; to hold, hard, but to sing

About renunciation and to hone

Your soul to love and loathe humanity

At once, its evils and its warmth; this task

Is art’s and poetry’s inanity.

To try to say the Whole, but wear a mask

While writing plays like Shakespeare, grasp life’s truth—

These goals are hopes of arts.  To write a line

That capture’s nature’s hatred of our youth,

But still be brave is artistry’s design.

  You love him but you warn him all too well

    That fate is music ringing our death knell.

~ Phillip Whidden