by phillipw | Jul 3, 2023 | IL, ME
Adherence to Pain and Truth of Elements Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Such things as small communion cups were notWhat gray medieval monks could use as toolsIn doing gilding on mild vellum. ...
by phillipw | Mar 4, 2021 | IL, KN, SE
Early Wisdom He who knows others has knowledge. He who knows himself is illuminated. ~ Rôshi Some little blue and purple posters on His childhood wall beside his bed gleamed green (A phosphorescent glint) in patches, wan Some parts of their designs, each...
by phillipw | Mar 1, 2021 | GI, IL, ME, MU, PH, SY
lluminated Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem The secret bird refuses to be known. Its color is a flavor still unnamed, More like a smell than scarlet, a tone, An oboe’s voice perhaps. It...
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 10, 2021 | IL, LE, MA, ME, MO, TH
Medieval Razzmatazz in Le Morte d’Arthur Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem “Than he com on so faste that his felyship semed as blak as inde.” ~ Sir Thomas Malory, Le Morte d’Arthur Let’s...
by phillipw | Dec 29, 2020 | CA, CO, IL, ME, PA, PS
Devotion Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem A fictive leaf of ink, or paint, or gilt On vellum is perfection brushed there small But large in love of utterness. The...
by phillipw | Dec 23, 2020 | AC, AN, EP, Ho, IL, ME, MO, PO
Absence Forbidden by Anamnesis Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Pure absence is unknown—as long as mind Retains the memory, absence is denied. An ancient poet, wandering and blind, Can see that fact. ...
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 21, 2020 | AN, EP, HE, Ho, IL, LO, PO, RO
He Lost, was Slaughtered, but Only He and She had Triumphed Prince Paris was the winner. Every day For years he woke up to his perfect love. He knew where perfect love and beauty lay Because she lay beside him. Far above All other beauty and above the race Of women,...
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 | Sep 16, 2020 | AN, CO, Ho, IL, PO, Ta, TR
Taironan Troy See “Mucho más que libros,” Semana, 4 June 2001, Bogatá “At the time of the conquest, the Tairona had different cultural practices than Modern Native American populations. Ethnographic sources highlight freedom to...
by phillipw | Jul 23, 2020 | CA, IL, MO
A Strangely Shaped Medieval Codex His mind is like a sky-shaped border on The upper arc inside a vellum book, A circle-shaped one with a scene of dawn Enclosed within it like a sidereal hook, A scene aurora-like but from a monkish mind Producing manuscripts with hues...
by phillipw | Jul 20, 2020 | AN, BU, FA, IL, LI, OB, SA
Where Cleanest Vaulting Beauty Flies Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem “Youths and maidens all blythe and full of glee, carried the luscious fruit in plaited baskets; and with them there went a boy who...
by phillipw | Jul 7, 2020 | AN, Ho, IL, VI
Homeric Similes “These similes serve to take the reader away from the battlefield for a brief while, into the world of pre-war peace and plenty. Often, they occur at a moment of high action or emotion, especially during a battle. In the words of Peter Jones,...
by phillipw | Jun 19, 2020 | AN, EP, Ho, IL
Homeric Similes “These similes serve to take the reader away from the battlefield for a brief while, into the world of pre-war peace and plenty. Often, they occur at a moment of high action or emotion, especially during a battle. In the words of Peter Jones,...
by phillipw | Apr 14, 2020 | AN, IL, ME
Ancient Greek, Then Church Latin, Symposium, Scriptorium “Readers of Greek poetry constituted an élite, as in the Middle Ages readers of Latin did.” ~ Michael Schmidt, The First Poets, 13 “The symposiasts drank rather too much-watered wine, wore crowns, perfumes and...