by phillipw | Mar 15, 2022 | BR, IM, MA, PO, RU
Wince “Hynes succeeds in reducing Brooke to two pitying, scathing lines: ‘Poor Brooke: it is his destiny to live as a supremely poetical figure, shirt open and hair too long and profile perfect – a figure that appeals to that...
by phillipw | Nov 13, 2021 | BR, IM, RU, TR
Him For Us . . . The rooms in School House echoed with the sound Of words he spoke, his steps along the hall, His laughter, even shouts. The outside ground, In, say, the Close, though large, was far too small For such a mind and soul. You...
by phillipw | Sep 7, 2021 | AG, DI, ET, GO, HE, IM, JE, LO
The Immortality of the Trinity’s Adoration of Lost Souls The bliss of all the saints in Heaven is Piss poor when set against the searing pain Of those in Hell. God loves and loves. Gee Whizz, Though, what about the agony, that stain, Eternal filthy stain upon that...
by phillipw | Apr 4, 2021 | BU, CH, IM, RE, RO
He Wore his Royal Robes to Lead Out in Matins and Vespers Some lines of verse by Robert King of France Sing, simply pious, from one thousand years Gone by. We analyze them, though, askance Because his holiness had fatal fears Like flaming coals inside it. He was so...
by phillipw | Dec 28, 2020 | DE, HE, IM, OD, TE, UL
His Beautiful Son Does Not Have the Brains Odysseus decides he will not die. This glares as clear to him as April light On Ithaca. He knows this is awry So he will have to trick the gods. Some sleight Of mental hand will come to him in time. He guesses he will have...
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 | Jul 20, 2020 | AN, AR, DE, DO, IM, JE, MU, OL, OR, PI, PO
Πιερία Pieria Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Pieria was laid with plains and peaks, The highest one Olympus, when the gods Set forth the world. Poseidon’s seashore speaks And gives...
by phillipw | Jul 20, 2020 | AC, AG, DE, IM, PA, SC, TH
To the King of Greece The past attempts to speak. It tries to talk With words and other ruined things like stones That lie in heaps or carved acanthus stalk Of leaves in marble. Sometimes vellum tones Come up from opened scrolls. Occasionally Our history gives...
by phillipw | Jul 19, 2020 | IM, JA, SC
A New Heaven and Undirtied Earth For James Reis Forget the “thought” of Plato (Socrates) That stories, plays, and poetry can cope With only pasts, and now, and futures. Seize The truth instead. Create a newer scope By setting works in time that’s never been, That...
by phillipw | Jul 16, 2020 | AP, ET, IM, OR, SW
Stretching the Eternal Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem “the soul’s survival and residual divinity” ~ Michael Schmidt, The First Poets, 23 The followers of Orpheus, if not The man himself, desired...
by phillipw | Jul 12, 2020 | DE, IM, MO, OR
Orpheus, Once Torn Limb from Sturdy Limb Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem ………. Orphée by Raoul Dufy Long after he was...
by phillipw | Jul 12, 2020 | DE, IM, MO, MY
Orpheus Died Several Times and Could not Save Himself Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Intent is feeble like a hyacinth In rocks along a mountain path where feet Can crush. Intent is not a marble...
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 7, 2020 | AN, EP, IM
Ever Newly Old Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Each time that Homer spoke his epics, they Were new. His improvising made the old A new creation slightly. He could play With ready-made...
by phillipw | Jul 5, 2020 | AN, HE, Ho, IM, PO
Aurora Actuality “We can confirm almost nothing about Homer and Hesiod, yet we have no problem, even when we should, believing in them.” ~ Michael Schmidt, The First Poets, 22 Who doubts that Homer, Hesiod, the old And oldest poets ever lived? Why should We? ...
by phillipw | May 20, 2020 | FO, GR, IM, MO, SE
Vacuum Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem His father died and Tony’s body dried Up, its oases withering to dunes Of numbness. Something shriveled deep inside. Bright pools of sexuality are...
by phillipw | Apr 19, 2020 | IM, MA, TR
Himmortality “In 1999, the futurist Ray Kurzwell published a book entitled The Age of Spiritual Machines. He looked forward to a future in which the ‘human species, along with the computational technology it created, will be able to solve age-old problems . . . and...
by phillipw | Mar 3, 2020 | ET, IM
Perpetual Quietude Why would immortal gods or angels pause In thankfulness for moments, hours — for time? Why would such beings think it needs applause Since after all each day is just a chime To tell them they have years forever. Souls Eternal in their...
by phillipw | Dec 10, 2019 | IM
Theoretical Swan The whiteness of the swan moves on the night- Time blackness of the Thames. It is as though His bill seems orange, as if the darkened light Would actually allow another glow Than white and black. This is an artefact Of data from the hours...
by phillipw | Nov 1, 2019 | CO, IM
African Supremacy If Africa had been the most advanced Of continents, then long before the West And Islam had invaded and entranced The Africans with two religions’ best Presuppositions, Africa just might Have colonized the rest of us. ...