by phillipw | May 13, 2020 | AN, OL, PO, Uncategorized, WA
Poetry is Not the Lever and Fulcrum of Archimedes Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem “The full-flowering Scottish tradition of Henryson, Dunbar and Douglas was defeated when Scotland was defeated.” ~...
by phillipw | May 13, 2020 | AN, MA, OL
Zero Truth from Ancient India or the Olmecs It wasn’t an Islamic scholar who First formulated arithmetic’s zero. No matter how much Muslims might want to Deny that fact, the actual hero, An ancient not even slightly linked with The Arab world, did it. The simple fact...
by phillipw | Apr 30, 2020 | AN, OL
He and His Old English is so foreign to us now That most of us are lost if we attempt To read it. Modern words do not allow The old ones to come through. New words pre-empt The alphabet and sense of older terms. Some letters are too strange. Those...
by phillipw | Apr 30, 2020 | AN, OL
We Have to be More Sensitive than Bloodhounds in Oblivion “Apart from ‘Cædmon’s Hymn’, we cannot date any Old English poem.” ~ Michael Schmidt, The Story of Poetry, 11 The poets are completely lost. Those scops Have disappeared completely like a fog Told in a tale,...
by phillipw | Apr 4, 2020 | OL
Ancient Youthful Masculinity Eight hundred years before the Christ was born, Oympic games rose up in glory, sweat, And blood. On hairy bodies (that were shorn Of clothing) manly arms and torsos met And grappled, struggles complicated by The slickness on the skin of...
by phillipw | Apr 4, 2020 | OL
The Olympics From distant parts, as far as the Black Sea, Far flung as eastern Spain and all around The Greek dispersion’s width, divinity Called men to try themselves on summer ground. The hottest time of year was chosen for The Games. Why Zeus picked...
