by phillipw | Apr 10, 2020 | RA
Rapping in Ancient Greece If only rappers spoke in ancient Greek, We wouldn’t have abominable rhymes A mile a minute, everything too sleek And slick and sick, full of sexual crimes. If only rappers spoke an ancient tongue In which the notion of rhyme, rhyme, rhyme,...
by phillipw | Jan 24, 2020 | IS, PR, RA
[This is about one of the guards at the entrance to the Rare Books and Music Reading Room.] Besides, I’m the Foreigner I like him for his gentle, almost sly Smile, nearly shy, but, no, not quite. A smile That’s mostly in the lips but in the eye Is boosted on a face...
by phillipw | Jan 2, 2020 | RA
Somnolent Spirituality Schools closed at noon. The libraries have stopped Their service early. Government has shut Its doors. The spiritual who can have lopped The hours they have to work to help with what Has been imposed on them by sacred word. They...
by phillipw | Dec 4, 2019 | CH, FR, LO, RA, ST
Charles Randall Stanfield He made the sound that stars make, rushing through The sky, my sky at least, that one inside My chest. My ribs contain celestial blue, That wounded blue that’s made when stars collide (Just two of them) when crashing there within My...
by phillipw | Nov 4, 2019 | RA
Sin Is Not Thinking If Eve had only thought about the text Surrounding her and meditated on The clear instructions given her, the hexed Catastrophe would not have gone To her destruction. All around her grew The scent of beauty. She saw all the hints Perfection...
by phillipw | Aug 19, 2019 | RA
Emptiness The streets are empty in the morning when The norm is bustling crowds. No one insists On hogging pavement space. The Muslim pen Has seen its gates all closed with Koran fists. There’s no one up, around. Not even school Kids drag their feet along. ...