by phillipw | Apr 7, 2021 | CH, GE, SH, WI
Shakespeare the Non-dramatist The people in his tragedies I know Are far too rich with metaphors piled on On top of one another, or the flow Of freshet torrents from all winter gone And raging over one rock cliff. Too rich The language for an ordinary man Or woman—or...
by phillipw | Apr 6, 2021 | SE, SH
Far Below in Salt Sea Depths Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Why shells that sound of seas are pink inside So often is a mystery. Why not A Caribbean blue? And why not dyed With whitest foam,...
by phillipw | Apr 5, 2021 | CA, CH, GR, Ho, ME, TO
Not as Certain as Dim Marble in the Nave We pause beside those tombs, the ones with white Carved marble hands in praying firmness there On chest and breast. They look to be contrite And will be ever so. The lordly prayer Is undermined since also there beside Him is...
by phillipw | Apr 4, 2021 | BU, CH, IM, RE, RO
He Wore his Royal Robes to Lead Out in Matins and Vespers Some lines of verse by Robert King of France Sing, simply pious, from one thousand years Gone by. We analyze them, though, askance Because his holiness had fatal fears Like flaming coals inside it. He was so...
by phillipw | Apr 4, 2021 | HY
Black and White Segregation The Sabbath is entirely to itself. We make it stranger to the other days. We place the Sabbath on a sacred shelf And close the cupboard door. Its windows glaze The Sabbath off, though, notionally, it Can look through glass to see unholy...
