by phillipw | Mar 18, 2024 | BR, DE, OR, TI
Winged Deer Tongue on a Sunless Tuesday Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Deer tongue leaves The local council mowed the grass along The edge where buses come and go. My scooter drives me past and...
by phillipw | Jul 23, 2023 | ME, OR, PE
The Ghost of Grieg Imagine that you are an instrument Who offers only atmosphere, no flow Of melody, no hint of what you meant In beauty or of brass notes curved to glow Across the universe, beyond the notes That carry concepts that a poet would Convey in...
by phillipw | Apr 10, 2023 | IN, OR, PO, RE
Among the Stench of Abasement, a Sonnet for Good Friday Where poetry is from is far away Or cavern deep, or both, or just a girl Who passes on the sidewalk, hair a-sway, Or even one full man whose hair is curl, And curl and curl persuading in their black, As black as...
by phillipw | Dec 12, 2022 | BR, FL, OR
Marmalade Scent is Missing The orange sunset seen through orange trees Shows Florida as orange, orange, green. The gloss of evergreen these orange tints tease With glints so slight of orange that the scene Defies the eyes to see the orange hints Upon the dark...
by phillipw | Apr 10, 2022 | AR, CR, CU, EJ, MA, OR, PU, SE, SP, UN, underarm hair, ZE
Cobalt and Amber: Prometheus Daydreaming Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem If I could shape the first man, I would make Him cobalt blue, his eyes a Viking blue, His nose a righteous Grecian one to shake...
by phillipw | Dec 5, 2021 | BE, BR, FL, Ho, OR, TI
Enamel Trees Longing Ago The orange blossoms fill my native place. They fill it every year with white perfume. The scent has piquant yellow at heart’s space, The hearts held out bouquet-like, as a plume On green wing branches where the mockingbird Might...
by phillipw | Jul 28, 2021 | CH, JA, OR, PA, PE
Distance is Prophecy Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem The distance is attached to futures or A future. In the watercolour scene The distance and the future both...
by phillipw | May 19, 2021 | CL, GU, OR, SE
Tight before Release The bowstring waits to twang. The tension raves Against the fingers. Then the arrow zings As deeply as it can. The target braves The penetration. Tautest Imai strings Await the plucking of a classical Refinement. They desire release...
by phillipw | Mar 23, 2021 | CL, CU, MA, OR, SE
Past Joy Everything Else is Death Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem “Le petite mort” You probe for joy, and probe for joy, then probe Again, again — more deeply. Joy is there. You know that long...
by phillipw | Mar 20, 2021 | CL, FU, LO, OR, SE
No Separate Peace “. . . it should have been true. So I didn’t argue.” ~ John Knowles, A Separate Peace When we have finished all the passion, sweat, And dripping body fluids; when we reach The pounded climax to that final threat That comes with deep...
by phillipw | Mar 20, 2021 | CL, CU, FU, LO, OR, SE
Spewing in the Depths to Heights, Rule-breaking Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem When I go into you, I know what he Felt up in heaven, Lucifer, in love With liberty, or more love’s anarchy. I know...
by phillipw | Mar 19, 2021 | CL, CO, CU, FU, IN, OR, PE, SE
Priming Your Pump at the Well Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Just one slight push and he slips into you. Unspoken is this love, for who needs love In words when there is love to spew? You want a...
by phillipw | Feb 11, 2021 | FR, OR, PE
Mystic Incense Deployments Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem The esoteric scent of peonies Belongs to aliens, to Czars’ domains, To empires now forgotten, Viennese Commanders with silk helmets on...
by phillipw | Jan 17, 2021 | AE, BE, CA, CH, ES, MI, OR, RO
Milele in His Temple Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem The Beijing cat, a silvery chevron on His head, between his ears, in fur as white As whitest peony, the chevron drawn As Chinese artists with...
by phillipw | Jan 3, 2021 | CL, HE, LO, OR, SE, ST
What Matters Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Orgasm by ahermin on DeviantArt He said he loved. (At least that’s what she thought.) So much was going on inside her head That maybe...
by phillipw | Dec 9, 2020 | BI, CH, EA, GR, IC, OR, TR
Declines and Declining Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem The wood that makes the icons’ boxes lacks The holiness that throbs, still, through these saints And sacred ones. Despite the inner cracks...
by phillipw | Dec 9, 2020 | CO, DE, DI, GH, MA, OR, PE, RE, SO, SP
Reincarnation The spirit wishes it could look back to Its body, not the rotted one, and see The firm young form with hair and holy blue Of Mary’s robe in clear young eyes still free Of intimations of their death. The hair, The blond head...
by phillipw | Dec 9, 2020 | CH, GO, GR, OR, PA, RE
They Never Slumber nor Sleep The reason icons break but still remain At crooked angles over slopes and cracks In eon landscapes is to entertain Their sacred irises. Greek mountains tracks Show off to icons ancient splits pronounced By earthquakes forty thousand times...
by phillipw | Dec 2, 2020 | AN, BA, EU, HA, JA, LY, ME, MU, MY, OR
Lyrical Light and Annihilation The harp is not of heaven alone. Its strings Have been to Hades on the saddest trip. A gilded harp may seem to have the wings Of Hermes. It may ride an Argo ship Which has one eye to see its way to fleece And gold, to beauty’s...
by phillipw | Nov 15, 2020 | DI, GO, ME, OR, RE
Seilênos, Apollo, and Orpheus Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem We want a poet who is satyr, god (As Dionysus), both, and more, combined. We want his beard raised high and want him shod...
by phillipw | Aug 4, 2020 | BE, EA, LI, MU, OR, PH, PO, SO, Uncategorized
Initiations “Every word was once a poem” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson, Essays, “The Poet” “A single letter was a matter of life and death.” ~ Anne Michaels The alphabets came late, like virgins to A wedding feast. The clauses, words, and grunts Of love were...
by phillipw | Jul 26, 2020 | OR, RE, TR, WO
Orpheus and Male Reincarnation When Orpheus decided that he craved Escape from women utterly and so Desired migration of his spirit saved From birth to any of them and to go Instead into the beauty of a cob, The poet did not try to fly away To some escape from further...
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 | AE, OR
Twingeing Faint Orpheus is made of firefly light And phosphorescent footprints in the sand Inside Aegean coves of curving white. He fades and shines like constellations spanned With stars and planets hidden often by The clouds of time. He goes and comes...
by phillipw | Jul 19, 2020 | AP, BE, OR, TO, UG
The Tortoise Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem “Other poems by Apollinaire relate to Orpheus, for example, ‘The Tortoise,’ whose shell—a gift from Apollo—provided the frame of his lyre.” ~...
by phillipw | Jul 16, 2020 | OR, PO, TR
The Creed Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem “One mustn’t accuse Virgil or Ovid of originality, of wilfully making fictions of such importance. By the time of the Roman poets, everything was...
by phillipw | Jul 16, 2020 | CO, EU, FL, HA, HE, OR, PL, RO
That Supreme Nazi, Plato, Sounded Off about Orpheus Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem He takes the poison of his courage and His love. He does not try to dazzle death With poetry: Romeo is not bland...
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 16, 2020 | GR, MI, MY, OR, PR
Some Myths are Far More Real “Orpheus is a hero, not a god, and a hero more valuable than most gods, just as Prometheus was.” ~ Michael Schmidt, The First Poets, 21 The gods are less than Orpheus of Thrace. Gods loomed up large but they were never real. Majestic for a...
by phillipw | Jul 14, 2020 | OR, PL, PO
Poetry and Hateful Plato Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Alone among male populations of The ancient world (and modern) Plato held The poet Orpheus in hatred. Love Of poets and of music had not...
by phillipw | Jul 13, 2020 | NU, OR, ST, WI
Pigs Would Fly if Their Sties Were Noble Poor Socrates. He thought that if the young Were wrapped in images of beauty, they Would take good in and then could climb each rung Of rightness. Lovelinesses would convey Them up and straight to healthiness of soul. Their...
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, OR
Orpheus like One Crucified Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem His music tamed a god and tamed the world Except for human hatreds. Fiercest birds Orpheus by Astrid Zydower Rose up to...
by phillipw | Jul 12, 2020 | AN, OE, OR
Myths of Poetry The early words of poetry arose From darkness in the depths of throat and lungs In caves and mixed with burning air. The bows And arrows in the shadows gave the tongues That sang the blood and flesh which chanting needs. Or else out on a...
by phillipw | Jul 12, 2020 | HE, MI, OR, PL, ST
Misogyny (μισογυνία) is a Greek Word Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem “What would a man not give to engage in conversation with Orpheus?” ~ Plato That marble minded Plato thinks of men, Not women,...
by phillipw | Jul 8, 2020 | HE, JO, OR, PL, TH
Invisible Ivory Music Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard are sweeter. ~ John Keats Herus Pamphilius claimed that Orpheus’s drifting soul, destined to be incarnated anew in some other physical form after he had died, elected to be born a swan so that he...
by phillipw | Jul 8, 2020 | AL, EU, OR
Imperfection as Perfection Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem The eyes are white and wide. They look as spare As Orpheus’s when he lost his wife. Yet Alexander never knew such bare And sand-dune...
by phillipw | Jul 8, 2020 | EU, JA, OR
If Orpheus Had Not Looked Back Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem If Orpheus had not looked round, his wife Would not have fallen back to death. He would Have had her all his unheroic life. The Argosy...
by phillipw | Jul 7, 2020 | AN, EU, OR
Eurydice behind Orpheus Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Do spirits dress in spirit clothes and shoes? Do spirit sandals make a sound when on The road in night or are they too diffuse Of spirit atoms? ...
by phillipw | Jul 7, 2020 | ET, HE, OR, ST
Etymology of Orpheus If “of the river bank” is what the name Of Orpheus might mean,* then that might flow From jet slick River Hades and the shame Of failing to recover, to the glow Of life and sunlight, his lost love. Again It might refer to two of his five deaths...
by phillipw | Jul 6, 2020 | JA, MA, ME, MU, OR
Dissonance in Early Poetry Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse The primal poet sang at Jason’s feast, At Jason’s wedding to Medea. Gods Are vile: the marriage’s allure deceased As Orpheus’s melody, at odds With fate, began to fill...
by phillipw | Jul 6, 2020 | MA, OR, SI
Direction If you were on a ship and needed song To urge you, would you want the Sirens or The voice of Orpheus to make you long? If you were on an ancient ship, what shore Would you desire, a cove with killer rocks Prepared by gorgeous women prodding...
by phillipw | Jul 6, 2020 | EU, HA, OR, PL, RO
That Supreme Nazi, Plato, Sounded Off about Orpheus Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse He takes the poison of his courage and His love. He does not try to dazzle death With poetry: Romeo is not bland Like that. He gulps down. ...
by phillipw | Jul 6, 2020 | DE, DI, OR
Desperate Measure Eurydice, she knew the gods too well. She knew that they would find a way to harm Herself, her lover, and her love. Lost hell Was where that Pluto lived forever. Charm Him? That was possible. The poet had Done just that. She had witnessed...
by phillipw | Jul 6, 2020 | DE, DI, EU, HA, LO, OR
Did We Really Think that They Would Give Her Body to Him? Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse Eurydice was dead. Come on. Just soul Is all she was by then. So why would he Expect some wonder from the deepest hole Of anywhere, that...
by phillipw | Jul 5, 2020 | AN, OR
Aegean Heat We look at Orpheus, torn on the ground. We try forgiving women and his wife For tearing at his heart and body found Among the barren olives. This one’s life Is deathless in the myth of love and sounds Discarded in eternity. We seek Forever to...
by phillipw | Jun 30, 2020 | AN, OR
Crushed Wings of Longing Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse “Some say he was around sixty-three years old when he met his death” ~ Michael Schmidt, The First Poets Much longer than the greatest poet I Have lived. We have no notion...
by phillipw | Jun 17, 2020 | MI, OR, RE, TR
Invisible Ivory Music Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard are sweeter. ~ John Keats Herus Pamphilius claimed that Orpheus’s drifting soul, destined to be incarnated anew in some other physical form after he had died, elected to be born a swan so that he...
by phillipw | Jun 16, 2020 | AN, OR
Aegean Heat We look at Orpheus, torn on the ground. We try forgiving women and his wife For tearing at his heart and body found Among the barren olives. This one’s life Is deathless in the myth of love and sounds Discarded in eternity. We seek Forever to...
by phillipw | Jun 11, 2020 | AN, GR, OR
Crushed Wings of Longing Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse “Some say he was around sixty-three years old when he met his death” ~ Michael Schmidt, The First Poets Much longer than the greatest poet I Have lived. We have no notion...
by phillipw | May 26, 2020 | CH, HU, MU, OR, PA, SC
Greatness Rises On February 22 the grand Fugue rose from all the instrument the first Time. Strength, complexity and subjects fanned Out through the air. The young man’s music burst Out from mere theory and ink when played By Dr Elvey. Augmentation...
by phillipw | May 20, 2020 | CH, LO, OR, RO, ST
Orlando Sanford International Airport Not just the eyes, but lashes too: the young One there behind the check-in desk has hearts- Stopping eyes and lashes, black, highly strung Sublimity of beauty to launch hard parts Of anyone who yearns for grace, launched to...
by phillipw | May 17, 2020 | AN, MU, OR, PO, Uncategorized
The Soaring of the Tenor Voice Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem When Orpheus was on the “Argo,” he Was cox. He beat the rhythm of the oars’ Strokes for the heroes as they sailed the sea Of myth. His...
by phillipw | May 10, 2020 | BU, DI, EM, EZ, JO, KE, KH, OM, OR, PE, PO, RA, RO, SA
The Bones of Orpheus, the Hair of Keats Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem If we collected poets’ body parts And put them in glass cases, would the world Adore them there like saints? Pickled hearts Of...
by phillipw | May 6, 2020 | CO, DA, GE, LE, MA, OR, PE, VI
The Heart is Never Central Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem The heart is never central. It is to The left and far too far above the base. The heart is not positioned for the true. It loves too much the...
by phillipw | May 6, 2020 | CL, OR, SE
Surging If planets spun before it entered you, They faltered, staggered as I thrust inside And upwards. If the oceans once were blue, They changed to blood with foaming lust. The stride Of hardened flesh in yielding slickness changed The universe to...
by phillipw | May 3, 2020 | AP, HU, OR, PI, PO, TO
The Tortoise Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem “Other poems by Apollinaire relate to Orpheus, for example, ‘The Tortoise,’ whose shell—a gift from Apollo—provided the frame of his lyre.” ~...
by phillipw | May 3, 2020 | OR
Wretched Man that I Am Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem A stain that won’t come out is on my jeans, My Levi’s 501s. It’s on the thigh, So sexy’s what it ought to be. It means A different thing: the...
by phillipw | Apr 22, 2020 | ET, GR, OR
Etymology of Orpheus If “of the river bank” is what the name Of Orpheus might mean,* then that might flow From jet slick River Hades and the shame Of failing to recover, to the glow Of life and sunlight, his lost love. Again It might refer to two of his five...
by phillipw | Apr 21, 2020 | OR, SA
Plagiaristic Christianity Saint Francis was derivative of long Lost Orpheus, though Orpheus has not Quite died, not ever. Symbol of the song, His haunting and the myths of him have brought Him through millennia. He caused the beasts To fall in love with lyre and...
by phillipw | Apr 14, 2020 | OR, PO
Aegean Heat We look at Orpheus, torn on the ground. We try forgiving women and his wife For tearing at his heart and body found Among the barren olives. This one’s life Is deathless in the myth of love and sounds Discarded in eternity. We seek Forever to...
by phillipw | Apr 12, 2020 | OR, PO
Victim of Women Perhaps the chest of Orpheus alone, Or half a shoulder, half a curled head Would be enough for man. They might atone Among the rocks and olives where the dead Bereaved lie torn to shreds because of love By women. There a man might pick him...
by phillipw | Apr 11, 2020 | MI, OR
Misogyny (μισογυνία) is a Greek Word “What would a man not give to engage in conversation with Orpheus?” ~ Plato That marble minded Plato thinks of men, Not women, girls, or boys before they grow Their body hair in armpit, crotch, and then The beard. His brain was...
by phillipw | Feb 13, 2020 | OR, RU
Fired Clay, Ardent Metal The Russian dome looms up in blue and gold, The sacred onion shape in gold and blue, A Golden Section shape with thoughts as old As God perhaps or Archimedes’ true Reflections, dome with tiles more blue than skies Of Greece in August,...
by phillipw | Nov 11, 2019 | OR
Giant Midgets Too small for even microscopes to see They do the work of giants larger than Goliath. They are God’s minute decree As wide as life could ever grow. Their span Though small is right across the living world, These enzymes and the DNA that holds...
by phillipw | Oct 26, 2018 | OR
ORPHEUS: Invisible Ivory Music Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard are sweeter. ~ John Keats Herus Pamphilius claimed that Orpheus’s drifting soul, destined to be incarnated anew in some other physical form after he had died, elected to be born a swan so that...