by phillipw | Oct 5, 2020 | BU, DE, FU, Ho, IL, MA, NE
In Every Culture, that Golden Vanity “I am the cup of Nestor, a joy to drink from” A twelve year old in Magna Graecia lay Inside his tomb. Beside him was a cup Of gold interred there. Wanting to convey Sad hope, his family wanted him to sup From it in afterlife...
by phillipw | Aug 2, 2020 | CO, DE, FU, ME, MO
Rites When undertakers take the body, pimp It up to please its final lover, stretch Its limbs to that position while still limp And use mascara and lipstick to etch A long-time disposition for the lips To welcome death, do hands attempt to call Up...
by phillipw | Jul 1, 2020 | AN, DE, DI, FU, PO
Centuries before Sappho Praised Men and Women Pre-echoes of that verse, ancient Greek In poetry, go back so far that lost Verbs, Indo-European ones, can almost squeak Through Sappho. It is like they are embossed Behind the papyrus and her inked lines Were...
by phillipw | May 16, 2020 | AU, CH, FA, FU, MO, OA, SP
Skywriting Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem The well-shaped maple on the hilltop spreads Its leaves and limbs like rhythmed lines and rhymes. It is a sonnet that in autumn sheds God’s colors...
by phillipw | Apr 15, 2020 | FU, PU
The Luna Moth, the Poet, and Philosopher “Carlotta Capuccino [in her article], ‘Plato’s Ion and the Ethics of Praise,’ takes the . . . view that poetry deploys ‘groundless praise’ and ‘promotes a dogmatic and passive style of life and thought,’ and so is ‘essentially...
by phillipw | Jan 26, 2020 | FU
Pink as Trauma The gardener comes and chops off fuschia flowers We waited months to worship. They were pink, Pale pink and paler white. In shredded showers Their petals fell. He decided to slink Off, leaving us to find the trauma once He’d left. Before...
