by phillipw | Dec 5, 2021 | CH, DA, PL, Uncategorized
Blackness Stained to White and Pink Each dawn will come now From the white plum blossoms on Branches of black trees. ~ December 4 2021 Where dawns derive from has been falsified By scientists. They say it’s from the sun Arising. Is...
by phillipw | Sep 29, 2021 | Ho, LU, PL
A witch in Port au Prince or something like Her hints the spell required. This spell defies Both death and time. It operates its spike, Injecting magic botox near the eyes And in the film star’s forehead by P.R. The actor and executives conspire To cast the...
by phillipw | May 1, 2021 | AE, BE, DA, ES, FE, MI, PL, ST
The Data of Beauty Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem I met Miss Universe when I was just A boy of seventeen. I’ve never quite Recovered from that moment. I was thrust By accident to grasp...
by phillipw | Apr 30, 2021 | AE, ES, PH, PL, SE
Escapism = Carnevale Claptrap Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Religion, fantasy, pornography And science fiction, even pink, pink verse Are merely magic. Hearts’ geography Is what they master. They...
by phillipw | Mar 7, 2021 | AM, BO, BR, CH, EN, FL, MA, PL, RU, SM
International Geographic The tawny boys run through the woods and streets Wherever they are raised, in rural realms Of citrus Florida, where sunshine meets Them under orange grove trees or under elms In England—everywhere. They build their dykes Or dams, their...
by phillipw | Feb 27, 2021 | AE, BE, BU, ES, PH, PL, SW
Solemnity The swan reflects the water. Water’s light Shines off the grace. It moves like moon-drawn flow Up rivers. Streaming feathers claim the white Of foam on ocean waves. The feathers go Where God would go if he were mortal in A world devoid...
by phillipw | Jan 3, 2021 | MI, NO, PA, PL
Viral Riddance Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Who says that emptiness is wrong? Not those Who hate humanity, the women, men, And screaming brats. Di Chirico may pose The eeriness of...
by phillipw | Dec 5, 2020 | BO, BR, KU, PL, RA, SM, TI
Titusville Spelled KKK “There’s no place like home.” If I were given Judy Garland’s shoes, I wouldn’t click their ruby heels to go To childhood Titusville. I wouldn’t choose The 1950s there where time was slow As Playalinda tides that inched up on The palest...
by phillipw | Nov 29, 2020 | AL, AN, DE, EP, GR, HE, IS, LU, MA, PH, PL, SE
Healthy Hedonism; and, Holy Hedonism, Paired Sonnets Healthy Hedonism Tattoo upon yourself this perfect law— The sacredness of pleasure is above The other, puny principles. The awe That it deserves, like God in love, Confirms that thrills, inviolate and...
by phillipw | Oct 9, 2020 | ID, NE, PL, RE
Gospel Songs and Other Falseness Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem The hollowness of neys is crucial to Their meaning. That is what platonic thought Would say. Their Dervish melodies are true, But...
by phillipw | Oct 5, 2020 | AE, ES, Ho, ID, PH, PL
Plato Alludes to and Quotes from Homer 331 Times Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem A thinker who can’t think attempts to be Philosophy’s Big Name. He blames those who Write poetry since they lead...
by phillipw | Jul 20, 2020 | AE, ES, PA, PL, TH
Widescreen, 3D, Surround Sound, Buttered Popcorn and Icy Coca-Cola® “It follows from the fact that poets do not have knowledge of that about which they speak, but aim to seem as though they do, and some listeners do not realize that poets lack knowledge.” ~...
by phillipw | Jul 20, 2020 | BE, BR, CH, FR, JE, LO, MO, PH, PL
Presumption Who teaches us what love is, what it means? Who? No one. Many try, but none of them Succeeds. Some say it’s like quick benzedrines Without inhalers needed. Bethlehem Is touted as another meaning of This principle or feeling—whatever....
by phillipw | Jul 20, 2020 | PH, PL, PO, SO, WI
What We Drink Who wants thick wisdom first in poems? It Is ours for chewing in the pleasures of The scrolls of Plato, thinkers who permit The thought that pleasure proves the point of love, And stern philosophers with guts to kill All weakness, straight. The...
by phillipw | Jul 20, 2020 | ES, GI, MA, MI, PL, SO, VE
Watered Down Wine and Esthetics “Gretchen Reydams-Shils (“Myth and Poetry in the Timaeus“) deals with Socrates’ puzzling remark that his description of an ideal state was like a painting.” ~ http://ndpr.nd.edu/news/plato-and-the-poets/ Socrates’...
by phillipw | Jul 20, 2020 | CH, DI, JO, KE, PL, PR, SO
True Love For Charles Randall Stanfield Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem “I can never feel certain of any truth but from a clear perception of its Beauty.” ~ John Keats...
by phillipw | Jul 19, 2020 | AR, HE, Ho, NA, PH, PL, PO, XE
The Truth about Ancient History, Plato, and Poetry “Socrates says in the Republic that he and Plato’s brothers might have to inform poetry about the ancient quarrel between it and philosophy. Glenn Most (“What Ancient Quarrel between Philosophy and Poetry?”) argues...
by phillipw | Jul 17, 2020 | LI, PL, SO, XA
The Ion, the Phaedrus, the Republic When someone else is all mixed up, we tend To sneer at what they have to say, so why Not Plato? Must we allow him to bend And contradict his arguments? Is high Philosophy supposed to work like that? He has the voices in two...
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 | PL, SO
Stabbing in the Cave-like Dark before There Were Laboratories or Electron Microscopes, Plato Presumed that There Are Souls and that They Grow. How Very Poetic. “Halliwell claims that Socrates’ remarks about poetry early and late in the Republic differ because the...
by phillipw | Jul 16, 2020 | DI, IN, PH, PL, PO, SO, TI
Spells and the Thoughts of Tiresias “Halliwell’s basic argument is that Socrates admits the Book X arguments to be insecure and open to defeat. He calls them ‘spells’ rather than philosophical knowledge, and he asserts that he must use them [those arguments]...
by phillipw | Jul 16, 2020 | AN, PH, PL, PO
Sovereignty Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem “Is it simply that people who philosophize think that people who produce, consume, or appreciate poetry (the philopoiêtai) have the wrong...
by phillipw | Jul 16, 2020 | IN, JO, KE, PL
Sing in Me, Rational Muse! Plato’s “descriptions of poetic inspiration occur over a long period of time, ranging from his earliest works to his latest, and there is considerable uniformity in what he says. Throughout P.’s work the mental state of the inspired poet is...
by phillipw | Jul 14, 2020 | PL, PO
Poets as Healers The first great poet, Orpheus, was called The Healer. Is there some great truth involved In that? Surely Plato wasn’t enthralled With poets. Plato sneered. He was resolved To say that they were more inclined to ill And that they couldn’t...
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 | AE, AN, BE, CH, ES, PH, PL
Philopoiêtai, Poetry Lovers from Time Immemorial “Plato’s Symposium shows how Plato deploys dramatic irony to undermine the philopoiêtai’s use of poetry. Elizabeth Belfiore (“Poets and the Symposium”) argues that the dialogue’s first five symposiasts, in their poetic...
by phillipw | Jul 12, 2020 | AR, PL, PO
Oracular, or Delphi at its Worst* In Homer’s time no word existed for Art. Praxitiles and Sappho had no term For it. The Greeks had not even the spore Of such a word, so Plato spoke no firm Ideals about that thing which we call art. He had too much, perhaps, to say...
by phillipw | Jul 12, 2020 | AE, BE, ES, FR, NI, PH, PL
Nietzsche vs. Plato Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Nietzsche said that Plato was “the greatest enemy of art Europe has yet produced.” This Plato spoke in imagery so far Removed from Heidegger...
by phillipw | Jul 12, 2020 | DI, MI, PL, PO
Mixed Race Divinity and Humanity Socrates “builds up a picture of the poet as ‘a light, winged, holy creature’, who cannot compose until he is out of his mind and possessed . . . . The god takes away the poet’s senses, and uses him . . . so that the poems he utters...
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 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 3, 2020 | LI, PL, TH
But What if I, when Speaking in my Own Voice, Make a False Representation of Myself? Elementary, My Dear Plato It seems that Plato means that if I speak Or write in poetry, but in my own Persona and my voice, that is not weak And dodgy like mimesis. In this clone Of...
by phillipw | Jun 25, 2020 | AN, NA, PH, PL
Cave versus Agora That Plato thug looms; just pathetic, though, Pretending that he’s thinking straight about Ideals. He doesn’t have a clue. The glow Of solitary thought, that drought, Is all he cares to focus on. Supreme And dictatorial his brain but in A...
by phillipw | May 18, 2020 | CO, FL, LO, LU, PA, PL, RO, SE
The Purpose of the Cosmos Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Dawns come and go. The twilights blaze and fade. The phases of the moon go round and round In slivers and in spheres. Sea days are made...
by phillipw | May 17, 2020 | Ho, NA, PH, PL
Actuality vs. Philosophy without Armpits Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem How troubling that some strangers from our past Are still alive. They keep on grasping throats And minds like zombies. Souls...
by phillipw | May 10, 2020 | CO, DO, PL, ST
Whither Modern Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem n verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem A golden dome has disappeared. A blue One glimmers high with...
by phillipw | May 6, 2020 | EN, PL, VA
Plato was Wrong The world we know is not those shadows. We Are shadows, less than shadows, faded by A darkness. Shadows laid on shadows, free Of any weight or substance, we are shy Of meaning since we die, and since the stars And everything will vanish. ...
by phillipw | May 3, 2020 | HE, PH, PL, PO, SO
What We Drink Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Who wants thick wisdom first in poems? It Is ours for chewing in the pleasures of The scrolls of Plato, thinkers who permit The thought that pleasure...
by phillipw | Apr 30, 2020 | PH, PL, SO
Wisdom or Wonder “…if Homer and the poets…had knowledge of the truth when they wrote, and could defend their words in conversation, they would deserve to be called lovers of wisdom.” ~ Penelope Murray, Plato on Poetry, 11 Put up your hand if you...
by phillipw | Apr 28, 2020 | IN, PL, PO, SO
Mixed Race Divinity and Humanity Go to the link: https://images.app.goo.gl/afEGMDrkc96exuSm7 Socrates “builds up a picture of the poet as ‘a light, winged, holy creature’, who cannot compose until he is out of his mind and possessed . . . . The god takes away the...
by phillipw | Apr 27, 2020 | AE, BE, ES, LI, PL, PO
Plato Pooh-poohs Poets, like Blaming a Leopard for not Being an Antelope Poor Plato misses, glaringly, the point, As eggheads often do. Poets, he “thinks,” Are worse than useless. That’s due to their joint Mistake of using mimesis (which stinks)...
by phillipw | Apr 27, 2020 | IN, PL, PO
Sing in Me, Rational Muse! Plato’s “descriptions of poetic inspiration occur over a long period of time, ranging from his earliest works to his latest, and there is considerable uniformity in what says. Throughout P.’s work the mental state of the inspired poet is...
by phillipw | Apr 26, 2020 | PL
Plato’s Probity Paradox “But in fact he [Socrates] concludes (a) that potential guardians should imitate only good men … and (b) that they should imitate as little as possible.” ~ Penelope Murray, Plato on Poetry, 5 “To thine own self be true” ~ Polonius If...
by phillipw | Apr 26, 2020 | ED, PL, SO
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 | Apr 25, 2020 | MI, PE, PL, PO
But What if I, when Speaking in my Own Voice, Make a False Representation of Myself? Elementary, My Dear Plato It seems that Plato means that if I speak Or write in poetry, but in my own Persona and my voice, that bodes not weak And dodgy like mimesis. In this clone...
by phillipw | Apr 15, 2020 | PH, PL, PO
The Ion, the Phaedrus, the Republic When someone else is all mixed up, we tend To sneer at what they have to say, so why Not Plato? Must we allow him to bend And contradict his arguments? Is high Philosophy supposed to work like that? He has the voices in two...
by phillipw | Apr 15, 2020 | PL, SO
Stabbing in the Cave-like Dark before There Were Laboratories or Electron Microscopes, Plato Presumed that There Are Souls and that They Grow. How Very Poetic. “Halliwell claims that Socrates’ remarks about poetry early and late in the Republic differ because the...
by phillipw | Apr 15, 2020 | PA, PL
Nightmare in Plato’s Cave “Antony Hatzistavrou (‘“Correctness” and Poetic Knowledge: Choric Poetry in the Laws’) defends the claim that ‘a work of art is beautiful if and only if it successfully represents a beautiful original’.” ~...
by phillipw | Apr 15, 2020 | AR, PL, PO
Widescreen, 3D, Surround Sound Buttered Popcorn and Icy Coca-Cola® “It follows from the fact that poets do not have knowledge of that about which they speak, but aim to seem as though they do, and some listeners do not realize that poets lack knowledge.” ~...
by phillipw | Apr 15, 2020 | PH, PL, PO
The Truth about Ancient History, Plato, and Poetry “Socrates says in the Republic that he and Plato’s brothers might have to inform poetry about the ancient quarrel between it and philosophy. Glenn Most (“What Ancient Quarrel between Philosophy and Poetry?”) argues...
by phillipw | Feb 4, 2020 | PH, PL
Plato’s Path to Enlightenment Serene Ideas are the Truth beyond The things our senses show to us. What we see And smell and taste and touch and hear are fond Impressions but are not the Truth. To free Ourselves from mere impressions, we must break Away, dismissing...
by phillipw | Dec 30, 2019 | PL
It Is Hard; and Conract Killers–a Sonnet Biquence It’s hard to say if AIDS or gayness should Be made to go away. If we kill AIDS, The innocent will be protected: good Women and kids could be saved by crusades To wipe it out. Like Hitler we could try To...
by phillipw | Sep 24, 2019 | PH, PL, PO
Corydon and Pastorell: The Poets Paint their Pictures of Unsmelly Shepherds Daydreaming on Perfect Hillsides of Unsmelly Shepherdesses and Tending Unsmelly Sheep Your lies are what we do not want, he said To poets. Plato said imitation Of real things ain’t enough...
by phillipw | Jan 29, 2019 | PL
Actuality vs. Philosophy without Armpits How troubling that some strangers from our past Are still alive. They keep on grasping throats And minds like zombies. Souls like them have gassed Us in a concentration camp. Their quotes Pollute, more toxic than sly stench...