by phillipw | Feb 5, 2020 | NI
A Tropical Butterfly in an Evil Nation An asphalt colored butterfly flicks low Across the street, a little bit above The lead-like paving; gray and light gray go Afluttering in flecks as if a dove, A very tiny 2D dove with specks on specks For wings, were on its...
by phillipw | Jan 27, 2020 | NI
African Bottoms Nigeria’s the bottom food-chain place Where factory rejects are deposited, Where Chinese goods considered a disgrace Are dumped, where decent men are closeted Because they’re gay and presidents retain Their power for decades just because...
by phillipw | Dec 27, 2019 | NI
Helen and Cousin David Can you recall when “party” didn’t mean Cocaine and booze and sex? When what it meant Was frilly frocks, and hitting red and green Piñatas with giddy sticks, when kids bent Near double, giggle-screaming, over “pin The tail”? Can you...
by phillipw | Dec 9, 2019 | NI
Nocturnal Resurrection The city had a daytime nightclub’s face, A stolid look like Mussolini’s brow In plaster cast. Who would have guessed this place Perceived itself the figurehead, the prow Of culture in its colonnaded past? Perhaps it thinks so still,...
by phillipw | Oct 6, 2019 | CA, LE, NI
Commencement: May Day At last, the miracle comes round again: Bright blossoms, leaves are born along the bough And May Poles rise—while no one thinks of pain; Commencement, so long striven for, is now! Commencement comes, a miracle for one Among the caps and...
by phillipw | Sep 26, 2019 | DI, FR, NI
“One Soul in Bodies Twain” and Diaghilev’s “one in private life” The ocean of men’s friendships spreads too vast For those who think about it to presume To use taxonomies which tend to cast One sinkered net across love’s waves and spume, One flaring circle that...
