by phillipw | Dec 15, 2022 | AL, AT, HI
Raising Civilization Ten thousand years ago men took to ploughs To train wild grass to flourish tame and fat. Men didn’t know that drilling seeds would rouse The walls of cities, brewing hops in vat, And stewing barley (whisky). Men grew drunk Not just...
by phillipw | Jul 11, 2022 | AT, CA, HI, MA, NA
Dispensation Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem What falls from heavens here upon the earth Brings mornings set with richness and with flux. A fullness settles, once with grief or...
by phillipw | Mar 30, 2021 | AT, IC, LO, NE
Young Hearts upon a Massachusetts Plane More beautiful than ghost-like, they are real, The skaters on the winter pond at night. They swerve around and skim about on steel, On circle (pond), make ovals as in flight, December birds whose wings are skates along The...
by phillipw | Jan 12, 2021 | AE, AT, BE, ES, PE, PO
Tulip Eclipse Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem When peonies erupt, they look like bombs Of lava made of petals, pinks and whites, Hurled up in mid-May air, or more like psalms Performed...
by phillipw | Dec 16, 2020 | AT, FU, LO, RO, SP
That Hot Embrace Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem He cannot ever run or swim without Romance the power in his sinews, sweat, And dreams. He does not let the sunshine doubt His future,...
by phillipw | Aug 29, 2020 | AT, RE, UN
Cleaving Like iron filings you were trapped against My heart. It drew you to its outer flesh And tried to suck you inward. You were fenced: Your dark male filings harshly made a mesh, A metal net to hold off my desire. It turns out softened, hardened...
by phillipw | Jul 28, 2020 | AT, DE, HE, MO, PE, PO, VE
Their Painted Desert Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem They wait. They wait beneath. They wait below Us, we who live. Some wait in mud like Peat Men sacrificed for long lost reasons. Woe Is far...
by phillipw | Jul 19, 2020 | AT, BU, CO, EL, LA, LO, NI, OL, SA, SO, SP, TH, VI
They Loved Sovereignty and Liberty Most “And the Lacedæmonians offer sacrifices to Love before they go to battle, thinking that safety and victory depend on the friendship and those who stand side by side in the battle array. And the Cretans, in their line of battle,...
by phillipw | Jul 5, 2020 | AN, AT, BO, CA, CL, CO, CY, HE, IS, PI, SA
Treasures from the Wreck of the Unrecoverable Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse “Athenaeus quotes more than ten thousand lines of verse in it, many not preserved or attested elsewhere.” ~ Michael Schmidt, The First Poets Ten...
by phillipw | Jul 5, 2020 | AT, DE, NA, YO
Two Men from Two Small Places Save Poetry for the Universe: Athenaeus of Naucratis and C. D. Yonge of the Village of Eton Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem One thousand and six hundred later years...
by phillipw | Jun 13, 2020 | AN, AT, JO
Treasures from the Wreck of the Unrecoverable Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem “Athenaeus quotes more than ten thousand lines of verse in it, many not preserved or attested elsewhere.” ~ Michael...
by phillipw | May 6, 2020 | AT, AU, FA
October Conviction Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem The bird lifts up its wings to soak up fire’s Orange warmth, its orange and yellow heat. The wings Spread wide to soak up more. The black aspires...
by phillipw | Apr 3, 2020 | AT, DE
Love that is Love “Then his folly is Pure madness, but his wisdom a philosopher’s” From the Phaedrus of Alexis, In Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae A giant book about gastronomy And wisdom—if such stuff can be...
by phillipw | Dec 11, 2019 | AT
Obscuring Dust If only Nagasaki had produced A flimsy beauty quite as spirit-like As this released by fatality, loosed By unexpected cataclysm, a spike Of unimaginable death, a blast Like Zeta Ophiuchi’s Siamese Twin. Gorgeousness diaphanous and...
by phillipw | Nov 7, 2019 | AG, AT, SA
Santayana’s Christmas “There is no God and Mary is His Mother.” ~ George Santayana For Linda Pervier The flakes fall white. They form without a creed, . These make the leafless landscape supersede ….The pureness of the monomaniac. ….The cleanness of...
by phillipw | Oct 4, 2019 | AT, DA
Soundless Hymns of Dawkins Hmmm. Even if there is no God, is that A truth that needs a celebration? Should Huzzahs of glee erupt if faith goes splat? Is triumph fitting if eternal good And Love are shown to be a sigh, no more? If godlessness is proved, do humans...
by phillipw | Sep 25, 2019 | AT, MA
Good Works The man two doors along is more a man Than I am. That’s according to clichés. Those normal things I can’t do right, he can. The simplest manual travail dismays Me. He just does it. He has more of bulk Than my slight body does. He has the form,...