by phillipw | Sep 7, 2023 | AM, AN, CL, ID, PE
The Ideal Refuses Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Greeks never showed the Amazon with one Breast chopped away in marble. Beauty’s shape Flowed lacking flaws. Greek teachings all...
by phillipw | Apr 20, 2022 | AM
Acoustic Shadows Look Like Nothing The universe is filled with baffling things, With paradoxes like a suite of tunes In sound that isn’t heard but still it sings: Acoustic shadows cast by clear balloons, Invisible their shapes, invisible Their shadows if in fact they...
by phillipw | Mar 15, 2022 | AM, BI, DE, DO, RU, SE, Ta
Taatamata and Denham Russell-Smith The evidence, it seems, implies that stuff With women caused him greatest grief, except For Taatamata. Mother was enough To force him to desire control. She kept Him on the tightest lead as best she might And love for Ka produced a...
by phillipw | Mar 13, 2022 | AM, BI, BR, BY, GE, RU
Not Just Fame Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem “Sherril Shell’s Byronesque reproduction of Brooke’s own devising (the one his friends thought revulsive enough to dub ‘Your...
by phillipw | Mar 8, 2022 | AM, BI, BR, DE, GA, LO, RU, SE, Uncategorized
Denham Alone Since He Alone was Not Alone– A Foursome of Sonnets Outside and Finally In “A kiss makes the heart young again and wipes out all the years.” ~Rupert Brooke Each year he finds a new one he can love. The first (and last) was Denham...
by phillipw | Sep 14, 2021 | AM, BI, BR, GA, RU, SE
Taatamata and Denham Russell-Smith The evidence, it seems, implies that stuff With women caused him greatest grief, except For Taatamata. Mother was enough To force him to desire control. She kept Him on the tightest lead, as best she might, And love for Ka produced...
by phillipw | Jun 28, 2021 | AM, CL, EI, HA, JA, KO, PA, VA
Haiku Paradox The Korean boat does Not pause. Sails cause it to pass, But where in this haze? ~ Buson Forking into mist A stream on the moor is vague And clear, both, at once. ~ Shirao An odd boat, foreign in its shape, slips past, Korean in its shape and...
by phillipw | Jun 24, 2021 | AD, AM, BI, BR, GA, LO, RO, RU, SE
An Evensong at Rugby School Chapel Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem The service is devoted to Saint John The Baptist. Then when prayer comes, “Lord, now let,” I think of peace and one plain tomb upon...
by phillipw | Jun 17, 2021 | AM, BI, BL, WI
Black and White Lambs Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Black And White Lambs by Pat Scrap on Pixabay If I were just a little lamb in spring, I think that I would want to be both...
by phillipw | Jun 3, 2021 | AD, AM, BI, BR, CH, DE, FI, GA, Ho, LO, MI, PO, RO, RU, SC, WO
Blue Rugby and Blue Gallipoli Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem We do not think of Rubert Brooke in blue, When we remember him at all. We think of Brooke Between some pages of a volume, true To...
by phillipw | May 3, 2021 | AM, AN, BI, GA, GR, ME, RA, SE, ZE
iOvid Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem What Ovid did two thousand years ago, The World Wide Web has lately caught up with. He did it many, many times. The slow Web has, at last,...
by phillipw | Mar 7, 2021 | AM, BO, BR, CH, EN, FL, MA, PL, RU, SM
International Geographic The tawny boys run through the woods and streets Wherever they are raised, in rural realms Of citrus Florida, where sunshine meets Them under orange grove trees or under elms In England—everywhere. They build their dykes Or dams, their...
by phillipw | Oct 8, 2020 | AM, DO, PO, SU, TR, UN, US
Would-be Dictator, a Reptile-like Surinam Toad The President begins to sip his tea. He holds the cup, not daintily. His firm Two fingers grip the handle. His decree Has just been tweeted. Those who start to squirm Are not considered. Gazing out beyond The roses in the...
by phillipw | Jul 14, 2020 | AM, BI, GA, LE, LO, LU, RO, SE
The next sonnet may offend some readers. If you think you may be offended, please do not read it. Plato Hated Poetry, Poor Thing First Sappho catalogued the symptoms of Tsunami wave emotions. Sickness like This malady has been treated as love By writers ever since. ...
by phillipw | Jul 14, 2020 | AM, PO, TR
Plato and Powerful Enigmas Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem When best, it hums ambiguous like tunes From dead archangels, or like rubbed out lines On palimpsests, or like the muffled runes From mouths...
by phillipw | Jul 12, 2020 | AM, AN, AR, MA, MU, PO, ST
Music, Poetry, and Architecture, All from Mathematics Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem The poet Amphion rebuilt the streets And temples, houses, and the stoa of The ruined Cadmeia. His lyric beats Were...
by phillipw | Jul 11, 2020 | AM, BI, LO, SE
Love as Sung by Alexis “He is not foolish, nor yet is he wise; But he is made up of all kinds of quality, And underneath one form bears many natures.” From the Phaedrus of Alexis, In Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae Alexis steps away most...
by phillipw | Jul 6, 2020 | AM, BI
Some readers may find this next sonnet offensive. If you might be offended, do not read it. Double-edged He lies beside a man tonight. It means He looks for love. Another night he lay Beside a woman. His discarded jeans And boxers mean one thing. That...
by phillipw | May 22, 2020 | AM, BI, DA, GA, SH, TH
Sonnets Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem ……. A friend of Constable said Virgil’s sense He gained from culture drove him to presume That prime boys were “the...
by phillipw | May 6, 2020 | AM, PO, RE, TR
What is Poetry? Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem “something irreducible in poetry” ~ Michael Schmidt, The Story of Poetry, 11 Some love a certain murkiness in lines, With paradox and oxymoron prized....
by phillipw | May 6, 2020 | AM, ME, PE, VA
Shalimar by Guerlain Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem “Nothing is ever quite lost, even though its sense might be.” ~ Michael Schmidt, The Story of Poetry, 11 When time has taken long enough to...
by phillipw | May 3, 2020 | AM, SY
Calculated Haze How modern is the notion that the pen And keyboards on machines should write out clear Communications? Ancients, writing men, Preferred elastic meanings. Like a wier Their words held back their welling meaning, deep, Or dark, or playful,...
by phillipw | Apr 22, 2020 | AM, PO
Ambiguity When poetry resembles life, the best Of lines are rich in ambiguity In ways that life is. Open up the chest Of meanings posed and their congruity With doubleness in masks will show the worth In words. A mystery unveiled is like A sliding...
by phillipw | Apr 15, 2020 | AM, PO
Dim Imprecision: Ambiguity and Clarity “Poetry could reflect on itself, acknowledge its dim imprecision, and know itself to be interpreted and not a window onto pure truth.” ~ http://ndpr.nd.edu/news/plato-and-the-poets/ True poetry is dim and likes a torch Concealed...
by phillipw | Apr 5, 2020 | AM, BA, DI
Slanted Raising Agents When Emily abandoned schoolwork, she Assumed the baking in her family home. She turned away from the formality Of thinking of philosophers. Her dome Became the kitchen ceiling. Still, the view Outside that house took in the graveyard...
by phillipw | Oct 17, 2019 | AM
Uncertainty Uncertainty makes poetry. The true Is not its aim. The bull’s eye isn’t part Of what real poetry desires. Its blue Is not quite blue: it is the blue of heart, More glaucous than an azure sky, more like The powdered bloom which grapes grow on...