by phillipw | Jun 11, 2020 | AL, ES, GI, LI, SE
Gin as Tonic It moves like hypnotism down the throat, Like fuzzy ecstasies that stroke the tongue Along their way. A beauty soon begins to bloat The brain like sugared peace and mist among The nagging weights, those boring days, the nights Of brownish...
by phillipw | May 27, 2020 | BO, CH, EA, EN, FI, GA, HU, LI, PA, RO
Earl Grey in Old Imari Porcelain He could have stayed behind his desk. He could Have signed stock-trading bonds. He could have stayed Not writing symphonies. Each night he would Have travelled home to comfort. Hubert strayed. He could have travelled home each...
by phillipw | May 22, 2020 | DE, LI, MO
What Matters Really is Only the Text Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem [This is a poem that is as fouled up as modern literary theory. The poem fails to be a sonnet.] What matters really is only THE...
by phillipw | May 17, 2020 | DE, LI, LO, LU, SE
The Cosmos Reduced to Pathetic Nil The cosmos, poor old thing, just falls away. It doesn’t matter anymore than dishrags, sour Beneath the sink. Creation starts to sway To less than nothingness the way a tower Crumbles into heap and dust in earthquake Nausea. Love...
by phillipw | May 15, 2020 | IN, LI, PO
Literary Inspiration from on High “The gods arranged all this, and sent them their misfortunes in order that future generations might have something to sing about.” ~ King Alcinous in the Odyssey at the end of Book VIII The question of our poets’ impulse, long Ago...
by phillipw | May 10, 2020 | LI, RE
Reader Response Literary Theory “Chaucer doesn’t intend that his Pilgrims’ judgments be on the mark; quite the contrary, in most cases. They constantly overpraise and underpraise one another, miss the point, get the moral wrong, pursue unrelated quarrels, introduce...