by phillipw | Jan 21, 2024 | AB, AE, BE, DE, ES, PH, Uncategorized, YA
Awe of the Heavenly Bodies Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem The moon would kill to have a face the shape And beauty that yours shows, the smoothness, force, The splendor of your dazzle with escape...
by phillipw | Jan 13, 2024 | AE, AR, BE, CH, ES, MO, underarm hair
Microbes’ Excretion in the Priests’ Hair Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem I ask you, what’s the use of beauty if It’s undermined by nuns and monks at prayer, Their hands unknown to you that have a whiff...
by phillipw | Apr 23, 2023 | BE, MA, SC, SI, Uncategorized
The British Broadcasting Corporation’s Prophets among Us on Civilisations and Acting like Hubble and Webb Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Those vaster minds show greater grasp of things, So, so much...
by phillipw | Dec 19, 2022 | BE, IN, PH
Imported Curvaceousness Times Itself from India The pheasant came from Rome, the Normans, or From who knows where? The feathers of its coat Say they were from an Indian king, and ore From Rajasthan. Cock pheasants almost gloat With beauty from the golden copper of...
by phillipw | Sep 18, 2022 | BE, DE, EL, MO, QU
cows two days before a funeral Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Proverbs 26:11 When Queen Elizabeth is dead, brown cows Will, still, be lying in the Windsor fields. The autumn fields will hint...
by phillipw | Aug 8, 2022 | AE, BE, ES, PR
Yearnings White clouds are lovelier or much more bright Than high blue domes. The sky above them both, And clouds and Orthodox cathedral, write A trinity of beauty, God’s own oath. A prayer for monks to chant these three compete. A shape of...
by phillipw | May 23, 2022 | BE, FA, MA, PE, SI
If men desire to find belief, to sing It out through throats works best to make the soul Embrace it. This will make the sought faith zing Behind their hearts and manliness’s whole. The faith will throb straight through the tenor throats, The baritones and basses’...
by phillipw | May 4, 2022 | AE, BE, ES, HE, JU, LI, MA, PH
Junge Männer, a Sonnet Sequence on the photographs in Herbert List’s Junge Männer [Each sonnet is about at least one of the sonnets in List’s book. Before the title of each sonnet is the number of the photograph the poem is about, as in (#1). Often (or...
by phillipw | Apr 24, 2022 | BE, HA, Ho, RE, TR, VE
Truer than Truthem Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Great is Beauty’s grace, Truth is yet as fair as she. ~ Thomas Campion High duty comes in...
by phillipw | Apr 20, 2022 | AS, BE, BR, MA
Dark Star Boy Slight primness there around his mouth, so slight It’s quite unfair to notice it . . . it makes Him look as if the hulking skies of night Have never interested him. The lakes Of stars in space have never caught his eye. He’s never...
by phillipw | Mar 14, 2022 | BE, BR, GA, LA, LO, MA, RO, RU, UN
On the Rubbish Heap of Time . . . The one he loved the most was Charles Lascelles. We have to take Brooke’s word for it that he Was beautiful. As Rugby tower bells Rang out the hours, a passion rhymed with glee Pumped hard inside the future poet, hard...
by phillipw | Mar 13, 2022 | BE, BR, CH, LA, MA, RU
No Need for Mary Magdalene: Robin Lane Fox Reports that One Ancient Source Claimed that Alexander the Great’s Natural Body Odor was Like Perfume The beauty whom we cannot see through years And shrouds of time is one we have no chance Of seeing photos of. Lascelles...
by phillipw | Mar 13, 2022 | BE, BR, MA, RA, RU
Messy Splendor; or, Splendor in the Weeds Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Jacques Raverat said that Rupert Brooke clothed himself “in a dishevelled style that showed off his beauty very...
by phillipw | Mar 7, 2022 | BE, BI, BR, MA, RU, SC, ST
Big Boy Hunk The Big Boy Hunk that isn’t Rupert Brooke On Skyros is just too, too like the false, False images built up around him, like a crook Has pulled a dirty trick but wants to waltz With you, no matter what. The Big Boy Hunk Stands towering...
by phillipw | Mar 6, 2022 | BE, BR, CH, MA
Auburn Love Maleness Maleness Maleness The way a twilight in the autumn turns To unsung colors, so the chapel light Inside the service changes from the burns Of orange to a brown with red so slight It slinks away as suns go down. The red Is almost memory, not real,...
by phillipw | Mar 6, 2022 | BE, BR, MA, PO, RU
Approximating versus Knowing He wasn’t photogenic, no, not quite. Some formal portraits capture beauty, glow Almost with glory, but don’t hold the might To hint enough of what he had to show, Why men and women staggered in their hearts. These pictures made...
by phillipw | Dec 5, 2021 | BE, BR, FL, Ho, OR, TI
Enamel Trees Longing Ago The orange blossoms fill my native place. They fill it every year with white perfume. The scent has piquant yellow at heart’s space, The hearts held out bouquet-like, as a plume On green wing branches where the mockingbird Might...
by phillipw | Nov 23, 2021 | BE, MA
A Poem from Glossolalia: Men and Angels “Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not love, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.” I Corinthians 13:1 Agreeable and thoughtful, is that quite Enough? No, not if he is...
by phillipw | Aug 7, 2021 | AE, BE, ES, PH
Gemmed Jeremiah Vituperating in Japan The pheasant screeches on the village roof. The startled hamlet is transformed, not by The gorgeousness or by his squawk; the proof That transcendental beauty needs the cry Of ugliness to set a splendor far Apart is shown by this...
by phillipw | Aug 1, 2021 | BE, BI
The Skylark Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem The skylark sings in darkness and in light, Away down there just at the edge trees, And then away beyond them, in its flight, And from the...
by phillipw | Jul 29, 2021 | BE, BI, MU
Through a Skylark “Things more true and deep” ~ Percy Bysshe Shelley The skylark rises up, up, up as straight As winds allow. Straight, straight, straight, straight his air As well except that its bright curling spate Is ever changing like all...
by phillipw | Jul 12, 2021 | AE, BE, CH, GO, JE
Abandonment’s Magnificat A beauty gone is never gone. It goes Down deep in memory. It does not turn To boredom and it never turns to prose. True beauty is like branding irons that burn The hips because of him or her but more Like him because of what he did between...
by phillipw | Jul 9, 2021 | AE, BE, CA, ES, SP
Tacit Beauty Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Where mountains aren’t, the world is still the world. There may not be the white of peaks or harsh Escarpments, but the streams of spring...
by phillipw | Jul 6, 2021 | AE, BE, ES, IN, JU
White and White and Blue and Blue Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Some otherwhere the snow is lingering on The ground between the bark of oaks or pines, Perhaps beneath a peak awaiting dawn. Mount...
by phillipw | Jun 4, 2021 | AE, BE, BU, CH, MA, PH, RE, ST
No Hypocrisy or Self-deceiving in Esthetics Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem When Jesus speaks, the monasteries chant And convents count their beads. On Georgia’s roads His words are...
by phillipw | May 31, 2021 | AE, BE, ES
A Water Drop on a Peacock Feather Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Esthetics lacking hair are bound to fade. They last less long than orange sunsets on A tropical horizon. Such are swayed To...
by phillipw | May 9, 2021 | AE, BE, BO, ES
Wisteria Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem The problem with true beauty is that you Lose interest. You can look at it so long But then your mind goes wandering from the view. The truest...
by phillipw | May 1, 2021 | AE, BE, DA, ES, FE, MI, PL, ST
The Data of Beauty Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem I met Miss Universe when I was just A boy of seventeen. I’ve never quite Recovered from that moment. I was thrust By accident to grasp...
by phillipw | Apr 25, 2021 | AN, BA, BE, BO, CH, FI, MI
Michael Barham Antiques at the Top of the Portobello Road The shops are multi-coloured on their fronts, The pink ones and the gold ones and the grey (Lead blue). Yet then a true blue one confronts Your vision. [Other shoppers wander. They Don’t have a clue. ...
by phillipw | Apr 18, 2021 | BE, ID, LO, PE, PU, SI
The Two Domes on the Gurdwara Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem The dome of gold is higher than the white One. Both are perfect. “Innocence,” says one, “Is perfect, flawless, like a rigid rite.” Yet...
by phillipw | Mar 24, 2021 | BE, DE, EN
Off and Off, or On and On Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem So . . . everything will die, disintegrate, Be lost, and atoms will be less than mist. So what? The poets have remarked this fate For...
by phillipw | Mar 17, 2021 | AL, BE, BI, CO, DU, HE, PO, RH, TH
Binfield’s Baddest Bantam Boy Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem When Pope devised heroic couplets, they Were like the weapons of the day men walked With by their thighs. Their rapiers’ display Was...
by phillipw | Mar 14, 2021 | AE, BE, BU, CO, ES, MO, SO, TR
The Sonnet in Its Little Room The sonnet, much too like a tight cocoon, Encased inside its silk-like threads is far Too tiny and too strict but not immune To mystic grandeur. It is not a czar Upon a dais seat raised up and vast Of gold, but more a derringer...
by phillipw | Mar 11, 2021 | AP, BE, SP, WA
Memory of a Tree Surgeon Season Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem One spring he knew stretched on — on and on — like Suns rising as eternity insists They should. It was as if an April dyke...
by phillipw | Mar 9, 2021 | BE, UN
Pierrot and Columbine The beautiful refuses to be seen To care. It lingers everywhere and waits For love’s attentions. In a morning scene It hovers up above us and dictates The terms of our devotion. Beauty does not Concern itself with worship. Every praise...
by phillipw | Mar 6, 2021 | AB, AE, AR, BE, CU, ES, MO
Picasso! Don’t look at nature after art to slight The art. The point of art is not to ape But thinking. Artists target to incite, Not prettify, but cause the mind to gape. To criticize a painting for a lack Of slavishness to facts is silliness Akin to faulting...
by phillipw | Feb 27, 2021 | AE, BE, ES, SW
Above, Beyond The swan does not desire to leave his white On water. Swimming on the surface he Turns neck and head towards his goal with slight Concern for beauty. Serendipity Meanders on the surface. Folded wings Are calmer than the flowing stream he...
by phillipw | Feb 27, 2021 | AE, BE, BU, ES, PH, PL, SW
Solemnity The swan reflects the water. Water’s light Shines off the grace. It moves like moon-drawn flow Up rivers. Streaming feathers claim the white Of foam on ocean waves. The feathers go Where God would go if he were mortal in A world devoid...
by phillipw | Feb 18, 2021 | AE, BE, BO, ES
Bonsai: Big is Not Better Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem …… Who says that small is not as good as large? Would you prefer a splendid sailboat or The heavy, hulking hull plate of a...
by phillipw | Feb 18, 2021 | AE, AU, BE, ES, PH
Sumptuous Fabric with Bl♦ck Di♦monds Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem A copper-breasted pheasant shifts from claw To claw up on the autumn branch. The cold Of evening settles down upon him. ...
by phillipw | Feb 17, 2021 | AE, BE, CL, ES, RO
But Perhaps Keats Understood It at His Best Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem “The Pure Present which so often aroused Goethe’s admiration in every product of the classical life and in sculpture...
by phillipw | Jan 29, 2021 | AE, BE, BU, ES, PE, RE, RO
Peony Piety Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem A proper reverence for petals should Be kept, especially for pink and white Ones, peonies. Perhaps a veil-like hood Should be required for viewing...
by phillipw | Jan 24, 2021 | AE, BE, BU, EN, ES, PE, SA
Circumstantially Separated from Satori Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem The blossoms hidden by the hedge in dark Of mid-May twilight still are seen from where I sit. Their perfect pink is light,...
by phillipw | Jan 21, 2021 | AE, BE, DI, ES, Ho, IL, RE, RO
Gardener, Heal Thyself for the Sake of Devout Worship Recovering from fever, he looks through His window. Roses bloom in glory there But they are powerless to cure. The view Should help at least, perhaps more than a prayer By priests to pagan goddesses of earth. Yet...
by phillipw | Jan 19, 2021 | AE, AN, BE, ES, JE, MO, PE
Red Peony Petals Fallen on a White Windowsill The fallen red lies still as it is weak And strong. The petals lie as still as prayer By Buddha in serenity. A Greek Simplicity is called to mind. An air Of Classicism rules the scene, restrained. Yet scarlet does not...
by phillipw | Jan 18, 2021 | AE, AN, BE, GR, MO, PE, SA
Rectitude and Beauty Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Matthew 6:28 The ant, a Puritan in black, moves right Across the petal’s purity. The black One works, works,...
by phillipw | Jan 17, 2021 | AE, BE, CA, CH, ES, MI, OR, RO
Milele in His Temple Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem The Beijing cat, a silvery chevron on His head, between his ears, in fur as white As whitest peony, the chevron drawn As Chinese artists with...
by phillipw | Jan 17, 2021 | AE, BE, ES, MI, PE, RO
Ten Nine Eight Seven Six Five Four Three Two One Ignition Blast Up Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem The cushion launch pads of the leaves and stems Of bushes’ light up buds...
by phillipw | Jan 17, 2021 | AE, BE, DE, ES, HA, JO, PE
Sheer Vanity Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem It isn’t just a little happy face, This flower, though fat and happy this one is. Because of gorgeousness and grinning grace, It glories in...
by phillipw | Jan 17, 2021 | AE, AN, BE, ES, MA, NA, SE
An Alternative Universe Has No Narcissus Blossoms Lingering by Ponds Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Narcissus climbed down from the edge and stepped In, lowering himself until he saw The water start...
by phillipw | Jan 16, 2021 | AE, BE, DA, EN, ES, MI, PE, SA
Unfathomable in Meditation Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem The peony made Him measure it with his fan, The daimyo’s fan. ~ Issa [A haiku expanded by Phillip Whidden] Some things are large. Some things...
by phillipw | Jan 16, 2021 | AE, BE, ES, EV, IN, PE, PU, SU
White Petals and Yellow Pollen Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem This, then, the open face we wish that we Could see throughout the universe, the pure, The innocence are utter. We would see These...
by phillipw | Jan 15, 2021 | AE, BE, CO, ES, PE
Sotōba’s “bijin” Applied Not to a Perfect Confucian Man Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem The peony adorns the bed, a piece Of heaven settled down in earth. The blooms Themselves are heaven. ...
by phillipw | Jan 15, 2021 | AE, BE, ES, PA, PE
Exquisite Conflation Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem The peony, extravagant in red Vermilion pigment dug from underground, Is so extreme it is as if it bled, This flower, from hell and...
by phillipw | Jan 14, 2021 | AE, BE, DE, ES, PE, PR
Dual Supplication against Death The flower burns its whitest white but not Alone. Beside it in the window glows A candle in the evening air so taut The flame burns on without a flicker. Those Who know the truth can see that light is light In spirit even when the...
by phillipw | Jan 13, 2021 | AE, BE, ES, LO, PE, RA, SE
Virginal In dusk of night the moon begins to rise. Enough of it invades the garden with The light the peony desires. The wise One there succumbs to Oriental myth And spreads white petals even further to Embrace the gift the heavens offer. White Adheres...
by phillipw | Jan 13, 2021 | AE, BE, BU, ES, GE, HI, Ho, IS, JU, TR
Vicars of Esthetics Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Triangular like God the flowers are shown Against a boring green of lawn. Arrayed In righteous revelation now full blown Their holiness of...
by phillipw | Jan 13, 2021 | AE, AR, BE, EN, ES, MO, NA, PE, SA
No Divisions Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Tokonama no Botan no yami ya Hototogisu ~ Shiki The darkness of the alcove Where the peonies are; A hototogisu...
by phillipw | Jan 13, 2021 | AE, BE, BU, ES, PI, TE
Peace that Passeth Understanding Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem So no kuraki yo woshizuka naru botan kana The garden is dark In the night, and quiet The peony. ~ Shirao The garden, dark with...
by phillipw | Jan 13, 2021 | AE, AN, BE, ES, PE
A Calm Antarctic in May Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem The stillness matters. Quietude prevails The way a frozen king upon a frost Throne reigns across a frozen ocean, sails Of icebergs also in his...
by phillipw | Jan 12, 2021 | AE, BE, ES, GE, PA, SE
Peony and Fulfillment Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem No man has ever done a thing as lush As this. The stamens and the pistil of The peony rave out. The yellows gush Among the petals like the...
by phillipw | Jan 12, 2021 | AE, BE, ES, PE
Royalty and Commoners as One When peony perfection is upon Us, strong protection pulses out from them. Their petals send out messages. The dawn Of something quite so beautiful as hem, And skirt, and petticoats of flowers such As these is matched by spirit signals...
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 | Jan 12, 2021 | AE, BE, ES, PE, RE, RO
Peony Piety Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem A proper reverence for petals should Be kept, especially for pink and white Ones, peonies. Perhaps a veil-like hood Should be required for viewing...
by phillipw | Jan 12, 2021 | AE, BE, ES, PE, SA
Bright Pastel Beatitude Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem As darkness deepens in between the hedge And me, the peonies grow dim but do Not disappear. They hang just by the edge Of nothingness. ...
by phillipw | Jan 11, 2021 | AE, BE, BU, EN, ES, PE, SA
Circumstantially Separated from Satori Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem The blossoms hidden by the hedge in dark Of mid-May twilight still are seen from where I sit. Their perfect pink is light,...
by phillipw | Dec 20, 2020 | AR, BE, CO, IM, LU, RO
Hearing Deafly Romantics are like oceans, deep, disturbed, And wide. Unfathomed parts of them require Attention for this art. Their depths, perturbed Like Christ’s Bethesda or by coal mines’ fire, Impact the darkness and are meant to treat Our...
by phillipw | Dec 1, 2020 | AE, BE, DI, ES, EY, GO, IL, JE
Revelations Revelation 21:19 Your eyes arrived as if a sea of blue Is where they came up from, as if they rose From Caribbean waves. If all love blue, Then all adore your look. Your eyes expose In just one glance divinity the way That it would choose...
by phillipw | Oct 13, 2020 | AN, AP, BE, CH, DI, JE, MA, RE
Christ vs. Apollo Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem If true Apollo’s temple has been crushed By buildings of the Vatican, the ground Of Lord Apollo’s prophecies now hushed By singing in the...
by phillipw | Oct 5, 2020 | BE, JE
The Mystery of Color Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem A color’s meaning is not something priests Can understand, especially if they Are Jesuits trained up to gorge a feast Of Roman Catholic thought...
by phillipw | Sep 14, 2020 | AE, BE, CH, ES, LO, MA, ST
Black and White He had black hair in hexing curls, so nth That they caused cursing in the heavens. She Held up a fan, white, silk. These caused a length Of mesmerizing love. These colors, free Of him or her, would register as nought. Because of...
by phillipw | Aug 25, 2020 | BE, Ho, PO
In a Florida Beeyard Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem The lightest, powered gold is carried by The bees. They do not think of it as gold. They do not think of it as light. They fly Through beauty’s...
by phillipw | Aug 4, 2020 | BE, EA, LI, MU, OR, PH, PO, SO, Uncategorized
Initiations “Every word was once a poem” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, Essays, “The Poet” “A single letter was a matter of life and death.” ~ Anne Michaels The alphabets came late, like virgins to A wedding feast. The clauses, words, and grunts Of love were...
by phillipw | Jul 20, 2020 | BE, BR, CH, FR, JE, LO, MO, PH, PL
Presumption Who teaches us what love is, what it means? Who? No one. Many try, but none of them Succeeds. Some say it’s like quick benzedrines Without inhalers needed. Bethlehem Is touted as another meaning of This principle or feeling—whatever....
by phillipw | Jul 20, 2020 | AE, AG, AR, BE, ES, MA, PR, TR
Upon the Face of Agamemnon “and also he [King Priam of Troy] admires Agamemnon for his beauty” ~ Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae, XIII, 906 Forget that Helen for a moment. Think Of gorgeous men. The King of Troy could not Resist men’s beauty. Helen caused a stink That...
by phillipw | Jul 19, 2020 | AP, BE, OR, TO, UG
The Tortoise Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem “Other poems by Apollinaire relate to Orpheus, for example, ‘The Tortoise,’ whose shell—a gift from Apollo—provided the frame of his lyre.” ~...
by phillipw | Jul 14, 2020 | BE, EU, PO, UG
Poets, Poetry, and Women For well thou know’st to my dear doting heart Thou art the fairest and most precious jewel. Yet, in good faith, some say that thee behold, Thy face hath not the power to make love groan ~ Sonnet 131 Who thinks of blank Eurydice? None. Slack...
by phillipw | Jul 13, 2020 | BE, FL, HE, WH, WO
Deer-tongue The smell of deer-tongue came to me today From decades past. I mean the fragrance of The dried out leaves, as dried out as the splay Of decades since my father taught us love, His sons, beneath the Florida sun, leaves That called up beauty...
by phillipw | Jul 13, 2020 | AE, AN, BE, CH, ES, PH, PL
Philopoiêtai, Poetry Lovers from Time Immemorial “Plato’s Symposium shows how Plato deploys dramatic irony to undermine the philopoiêtai’s use of poetry. Elizabeth Belfiore (“Poets and the Symposium”) argues that the dialogue’s first five symposiasts, in their poetic...
by phillipw | Jul 12, 2020 | BE, EY, LI, PI, TH
Pindar on Theoxenus The poet Pindar focuses on love Derived from burning rays from flashing eyes Of young Theoxenus. They are above All others. Love in any other guise Is dimness at its best. The sun can melt The wax of bees, can sting it with its heat....
by phillipw | Jul 12, 2020 | BE, IM, MA
Not for Conquering to Crush and Make a Cruel Empire but for Unforgotten Beauty “Hystaspes had a younger brother whose name was Zariadres: and they were both men of great personal beauty” ~ Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae, XIII, 919 So what if you exist in words alone In...
by phillipw | Jul 12, 2020 | AE, AN, BE, ES, HE, PO
No Room for Unholiness not Cleansed “ ‘What would a man not give,’declares Plato in the Apology, ‘to engage in conversation with Orpheus and Musaeus and Hesiod and Homer?’ Can we do something of the sort? If not to engage in conversation, then at least to glimpse...
by phillipw | Jul 12, 2020 | AE, BE, ES, FR, NI, PH, PL
Nietzsche vs. Plato Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Nietzsche said that Plato was “the greatest enemy of art Europe has yet produced.” This Plato spoke in imagery so far Removed from Heidegger...
by phillipw | May 20, 2020 | BE, Ta, VI
Arctictis binturong Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem By TassiloRau, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=207524 Confusingly Arctictis binturong Is called a bear and also called...
by phillipw | May 20, 2020 | BE, BR, EA, MA, RA, WA
Death Defied in the British Library I sit across from Wayne, but decades on And much improved. Not only young again, But cuter nose, and lips more cushion drawn, More velvet-shaped—too lovely, these, to deign To pray or sing a Sabbath verse. The hair Is lovely,...
by phillipw | May 20, 2020 | BE, DE
The Faintest Stir Caused by a Moth’s Wing Passing Exactly where does beauty’s essence go? It sags beneath the wrinkles and that blotch Distressing tattered skin. The saggings grow As flesh slumps down in gravity. We watch Our children flourish, wilt and die if we...
by phillipw | May 20, 2020 | BE, DE, FO, SH
Death Be Now Proud: A Highly Articulated Shrimp as Gem Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem The lighting strikes, extreme in angle, from Above and glints from it a glory, gold And glowing. It’s as if it is...
by phillipw | May 20, 2020 | BE, BI, CA, KI
Buso No miracles are needed when kittens Abound. Their stripes and spots and blotches say Enough. Mine has all of these and mittens Of white as pure as Baby Jesu’s soul away On ox’s straw, as white as light from eyes Of ass and angels looking lost in...
by phillipw | May 18, 2020 | AR, BE, BR, DE, JE, PH
Jeanette Black and White Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Her eyes cast down as if ashamed of style And beauty, she is captured. She is held Forever in the falseness. All the while This image has...
by phillipw | May 18, 2020 | AE, AN, BE, ES, GO, JE, LO, MA, PO, SC, ST
Utmost Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Perfections are perfection but just one Is perfect. This is it. Yes, even he Is stunned to musing by the thought that none, No other single truth,...
by phillipw | May 18, 2020 | BE, FE, LO, LU, MA, SE, Uncategorized
The Highest of the High Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem I tried to sing of politics and stuff Like that, the serious matters I’m supposed To write about. But that was not enough, No, not enough...
by phillipw | May 18, 2020 | AE, BE, EM, ES, FE, FR, HA, LO, PO, RA, Uncategorized
Haydn Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem A poem does not need to be about Emotions, yours or anyone’s. Instead A sonnet may avoid a tear or shout. Indeed the lines could be about your...
by phillipw | May 18, 2020 | BE, CA, MI, TO, Uncategorized
Milele Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Tranquillity, despite his tiny size, Rests strong in him as if a tiger’s dream Has come to dwell behind his calm blue eyes Because it chose to sleep...
by phillipw | May 14, 2020 | AE, AN, BE, ES, MA
Silenced Pigments Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem The shadows on a marble sculpture mean As much or more than its undarkened white. They have a message, vivid as that seen Upon the surface of a...
by phillipw | May 13, 2020 | BE, CH, PU, ST
Charles Randall Stanfield from a Bergamot Tree Today I thought of him. I poured a cup Of English tea and, as I poured, my mind Did that strange thing that brains will do — filled up With something unexpected. Life aligned With beauty not related to the tea, Its...
by phillipw | May 12, 2020 | BE, CO, ZY
Zyzzyva Ztanding Out “While there are 250,000 described species of plants, 12,000 described species of roundworms, and only 4,000 described species of mammals, there are over 350,000 beetle species described, with many more beetles yet to be discovered!”...
by phillipw | May 12, 2020 | AE, BE, CH, ES, FR, LO, MA, ST
Unforgotten Love Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem If love were like best poems, it would last Forever, or as long as things that are not God Survive. But love is not quite perfect, vast, And...
by phillipw | May 7, 2020 | AE, BE, ES, MA
Playalinda The honey light of Florida I see In you, the orange-blossom nectar turned To amber. Frenzied buzz and frenzied bee Produce a beauty like your own. We yearned For it for decades. Now it comes in you. The gold of hair against the suntanned...
by phillipw | May 7, 2020 | AN, BE, DA, IN, KI, UZ
God Hardened the Heart of Pharaoh Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem The goodness of their God in which He hid The death of men awaits believers. They Will still believe. Their doubt has truly slid To...
by phillipw | May 6, 2020 | AU, BE, CA, DE, DO, ED, FA, RO, WI
A Seal Upon my Heart Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem My lingering rose, the lightish purple one, Has failed to open. It is still a bud In late November. Though the autumn sun Indulges it, the rose will...