by phillipw | Jul 5, 2020 | AL, BA, GA, Ho, LO, PO
Bagoas Won Two Prizes, the Great One First and then the Minor One Bagoas, given as a present to The King of Asia, was so stunning in His beauty that he caused a noble, true Benevolence in Alexander. Skin As lovely the younger man’s was more Than equal to the royal...
by phillipw | Jun 30, 2020 | AL, BY, GE, Ho, IS, JO, KE, LO, WA
Crippled Poets Among the earliest of lines to spring And linger utterly till now are long Ones drawn from blinded eyes. The verses sing Like prophets’ spirits which must see. A song Of guts, the gods, and marrow-spills came out From manly depths behind the...
by phillipw | Jun 4, 2020 | LO, LU, SE
The Climax “To be philosophical, then, is to be vigilant – sôphron – about one’s erotic mania.” ~ http://ndpr.nd.edu/news/plato-and-the-poets/ A manly mindfulness is not enough. You have to think as hard as marble cut To temple pillars carved with grooves...
by phillipw | Jun 4, 2020 | LO, RO
Protean Love Predicted A figure from Chagall, I am a curve Of color and of focus, feather-like In shape and sometimes clear. You see a swerve That points us upward. I am weather like A water spout above Aegean blue, Above your depths and waves struck through by...
by phillipw | May 28, 2020 | BY, CH, DU, GE, LO, Ta
[The following sonnet may offend some readers. Do not read it if you think you may be offended.] Talleyrand and duc di Biron These two engaged in a competition With long dead Baron Byron–the French lords T and Duc de Biron . The ambition Was for them to strike...
by phillipw | May 28, 2020 | CH, DI, GA, LO, MA, Ta
July 14, 1790 The rain slopped on le Champ de Mars so hard It was as if the air had disappeared. For this great morn the bishop gave up card- And dicing-table addiction. Revered By no one as a priest, lame Talleyrand Approached the Mass in front of...
