by phillipw | Jan 9, 2024 | CO, ER, HA, Ho, MA, PE, RU, SE
The Haunt of Manly Dreams Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem A tingling in his skin with hairs makes nubs Rise up. They pop up from connections to His heart, nerve wires. His left-hand searches,...
by phillipw | Jan 2, 2024 | EM, SE, WI
Exponential Nuance Z = Z2 + C When meaning’s sense transforms from words like notes Do when they turn to melody with chords, The harmonies with rhyming rhythms, throats And instruments all blending widely towards That certainty which saints and...
by phillipw | Dec 13, 2023 | CH, FO, SE
Deceived Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Long past, when souls were young, yes, even souls And never mind our bodies, packaged truth Was taught to us in Bible class. Controls...
by phillipw | Sep 3, 2023 | AN, DI, GR, RA, RE, SE
The Ancient Gods in Perfect Geometric Shapes Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem The skyward gods (like levitating shapes Of gold) float flawless, utter in the air, The ether, far above their crimes and...
by phillipw | Jul 7, 2023 | RO, SE
There’s Nothing Quite like Love There’s nowt like love. Its sanctimony fills A man as if he never knew a truth As banging as its spurting semen thrills. Its sanctity rings holy and uncouth Like Lucifer when he first understood The shudder of his sin...
by phillipw | Jul 7, 2023 | AB, LO, RO, SA, SE
Sanctity in the Dawn I wake up in the first light, launched to love. I wake up fraught as if the Holy Ghost Filled both my lungs and hovered just above Each vein and artery and bone, engrossed Me everywhere inside my soul. Of course It is not God who rams...
by phillipw | May 21, 2023 | AP, AR, GR, HA, SE
How Humans Came to Know Themselves “Know thyself.” ~ the pronaos of Apollo’s temple at Delphi Jeremiah 17:9 By juxtaposing paradoxes of Crabbed contradictions ancient Greeks called gods, Greeks learned to know themselves, thus taught that love And...
by phillipw | Jan 8, 2023 | IS, RE, SE
Time separates more widely, fatally Than space. The second that just passed goes, gone, Leaps gone forever, plummets weightily, More heavily than gravity’s hard, wan Iron cannonball in vacuum, yanked fast Away where science cannot find it, lost Eternally and...
by phillipw | Aug 7, 2022 | PO, SE
Platonic Sweat Only, Please Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem You thought that poets do not have plain sweat In armpits, or in crotch . . . or on the chest. Admit it. Poets shouldn’t have a wet...
by phillipw | May 2, 2022 | AN, OC, SE
Unchangingly Changing Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem The sea, though always kind and cruel, both, Is never kind or cruel, but the sea. At once both kind and cruel, not, its oath Will be,...
by phillipw | Apr 10, 2022 | CH, FI, LO, SE, ST, UN
April, August, Autumn Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem We both flirt April with each other, you And I, at first. The clouds, if any, rise In white and seem not tinged except with blue, Perhaps...
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 | Apr 4, 2022 | SE
Battle Between the Sexes Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem If we were azure, scarlet, orange as A tangerine, or ugly grayish teal, If we were purple as the smoky jazz In Bourbon Street, would other...
by phillipw | Mar 27, 2022 | MA, PR, SE
Wedding Wings: Hymenoptera The thought of weddings brings a joy to some, The brides and grooms in white and black, perhaps To mothers of the brides. Joys overcome The nagging doubts, but joys tend to lapse. Among the guests the odd one here and there...
by phillipw | Mar 15, 2022 | BR, GE, HE, OK, RU, SE, ST, Ta
Tropical Heat Meets English Poetry Together Taatamata and taut Brooke Spread open her vanilla orchid flower. While it was tropic pink, not white, it took His darker flesh invasion and its power. Its power spread open her Tahiti flesh And spread it, thrust it fleshy,...
by phillipw | Mar 15, 2022 | BR, DE, RU, SE, Ta
There’s Poetry and Then There’s Poetry “There are three good things in this world. One is to read poetry, another is to write poetry, and the best of all is to live poetry.” ~ Rupert Brooke. The schoolboy grown to be a poet found Intensest poetry inside the holes Of...
by phillipw | Mar 15, 2022 | BR, HE, RU, SE, Uncategorized
There’s Lucky and There’s Lucky Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem A girl with eyes involved with awe, and stroll Of goddesses, and heart that angels knew Who sang with Gabriel, would have a soul To...
by phillipw | Mar 15, 2022 | AL, BR, RU, SE, Uncategorized
The War Poet “a rich nature … fighting eagerly towards the truth.” “I have a rendezvous with death At some disputed barricade” ~ Alan Seeger Alan Seeger Not all war poets are the same as Brooke. Not all are like a cabinet display Of Royal Worcester...
by phillipw | Mar 15, 2022 | AM, BI, DE, DO, RU, SE, Ta
Taatamata and Denham Russell-Smith The evidence, it seems, implies that stuff With women caused him greatest grief, except For Taatamata. Mother was enough To force him to desire control. She kept Him on the tightest lead as best she might And love for Ka produced a...
by phillipw | Mar 15, 2022 | AN, BR, DE, GA, RU, SE
Stranger and Not Stranger “Youth is stranger than fiction.” ~ Rupert Brooke The two re-met two nights. Young Brooke was known To be opposed to what they were about To do. The other had been nursing overblown Emotions for the poet, years. A stout...
by phillipw | Mar 14, 2022 | AE, BR, EC, RU, SE
Rupert Wanted Surrender “Love is a breach in the walls, a broken gate. Love sells the proud heart’s citadel to fate.”~ Rupert Brooke Would women be as likely as a man To write such sentiments, to think of love As breaching...
by phillipw | Mar 8, 2022 | BR, DE, GA, LO, RU, SE
Denham and his Thoughts while Being Fucked by the Poet Rupert Brooke–a Threesome of Sonnets Pain While Playing Games We talk at first as though we do not know Why we are there. Of course he knows. I sort Of know and hope, as always. A slow And...
by phillipw | Mar 8, 2022 | AM, BI, BR, DE, GA, LO, RU, SE, Uncategorized
Denham Alone Since He Alone was Not Alone– A Foursome of Sonnets Outside and Finally In “A kiss makes the heart young again and wipes out all the years.” ~Rupert Brooke Each year he finds a new one he can love. The first (and last) was Denham...
by phillipw | Mar 7, 2022 | BR, DE, GA, RU, SE, Ta
Boys, Even the Poets, Become Men When boys at school grow up, they go away And do the stupid things that boy-men do. They go do bed with women, or if gay, The boys make love while using cum as glue With other men, and if they’re young enough, These other males,...
by phillipw | Mar 7, 2022 | BI, BR, CO, KA, RU, SE
Blending Until the centuries come and blur away, Until they come and go like spirits, or Like ghosts, let us, together, come and sway As one, if that be possible. Let each one’s core Become the other’s by a blending of Our souls and...
by phillipw | Mar 6, 2022 | BR, DE, GA, RU, SE
Bad Actor in Two Sonnets (Forever Entangled) Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Bad acting doesn’t cut the mustard for An audience; well, not for most. Brooke posed With trumpet (fake) and chiton. ...
by phillipw | Mar 5, 2022 | BR, JA, NO, OL, SE, ST
A Hovering Sexual Position Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem The poet, Rupert Brooke, felt trouble with Deciding what his sex position was. He listened to his gay friends’ favorite myth...
by phillipw | Feb 24, 2022 | PE, RE, RO, SE
Shunning Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem He could have broken off the rose, its pinks And petals. Hands veered past. Perhaps he saw The curvatures as sacred, or the winks...
by phillipw | Feb 4, 2022 | BR, DE, FI, HA, LO, SE
The Secret Life of Things For the space of a foot, The firefly’s light goes out: Loneliness. ~ Hokushi The firefly floats along in darkness, light, Dark, light. The floating is revealed alone By flashing, though the blinking is so slight That only...
by phillipw | Feb 4, 2022 | DA, DR, FA, HA, HE, PE, SE, VA
Dreaming of the Coming Spring Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem They blossom, and then We gaze, and then the blooms Scatter, and then… ~ Onitsura The tightness of the winter now is...
by phillipw | Feb 2, 2022 | DE, FI, HA, LO, MA, SE
What Comes After Every Beauty How easily it Glows. How easily it goes Out, the firefly’s green. ~ Chine-jo The green is very faint but still is green. The flash is very brief but still a glint. Then after every blink comes dark, between The promise and the living,...
by phillipw | Feb 1, 2022 | FI, HA, LO, SE
Calmest Sex Electrified The firefly Gives light To its pursuer. ~ Ōemaru Enlightenment it might be, no, not Satori. Certainly this winging bug Is only looking coolly for a hot Encounter with a lady fly, to hug Her briefly, hunchingly, and put slick life Inside...
by phillipw | Jan 28, 2022 | FI, HA, MA, SE
Silent Explosions, Please The firefly Gives light To its pursuer. ~ Ōemaru The firefly gives gleams, Green light to its pursuer. Green again, again. ~ A haiku by Ōemaru westernized by Phillip Whidden Its green is life, permission, yes, and go. The green is...
by phillipw | Jan 27, 2022 | LO, RO, SE
Leaving Sentimentality Behind in a Hurricane Eons from Now in a Parallel Cosmos Joshua 10:12-13 Love isn’t possible but there you are Beside me in the morning, lashes, eyes All closed to me and love. Romance is far Away, like galaxies beyond surprise In some...
by phillipw | Dec 6, 2021 | AL, BR, FI, RU, SE, WA, WO
The War Poet “a rich nature … fighting eagerly towards the truth.” “I have a rendezvous with death At some disputed barricade” ~ Alan Seeger Alan Seeger Not all war poets are the same as Brooke. Not all are like a cabinet display Of...
by phillipw | Nov 30, 2021 | BR, HE, RU, SE, ST, Ta
Brown Beauty and Others Left Behind “more tourist still than soldier” ~ Rupert Brooke America and Canada, their spine Of Rocky Mountains, called across the sea, Their men and women waiting, near supine Already. Rupert left behind debris Of men and women who had seen...
by phillipw | Nov 28, 2021 | FR, MO, SE
I Wrote my First Poem about Her When We Were Teens She made her way from seventeen to be At mother’s funeral, a long time on That journey. In between those years debris Of life had separated us. Yvette had gone To black men in her bed, a husband—then The sex god...
by phillipw | Nov 22, 2021 | EV, GA, PH, SE
Early Polling of Intentions Who wouldn’t want it if a giant snake Proposed deep mouthfuls that you thought were out Of reach? The woman’s throat began to shake. The woman’s heart fled fast from fussy doubt. She knew she wanted all he offered up. He...
by phillipw | Nov 22, 2021 | FU, SE
Large Luxuries like a King Cobra in His White Sheets Not yachts or mansions in the Highlands. No. Real luxuries rise best in drowse of dreams Or waking dreams. We move our hands down low To rest them on the manliness. It teams With utterness but wakes...
by phillipw | Nov 6, 2021 | BO, DU, GA, Ho, MU, PA, PH, SE, SI, ST, WH
Jalousie in Natural Light—Avant la Rêve For Mrs. Pat Silver and Bob Stubbs She chose a piece called “Jalousie” for flute And keyboard that was strange to both the boys, But then the both of them were teens. To suit The ceremony “Jalousie” had poise But sounded...
by phillipw | Sep 27, 2021 | AE, ES, PO, RE, SE, TR
What Poetry Should Be and Never Be Too many people think that poetry Should be like this one photo of a dusk. They think that poetry should only be Pink, lavender, and fuzzy clouds. No musk Of malenesss, armpit smell, and not, not, not A waft of crotch sweat from a...
by phillipw | Sep 26, 2021 | AI, IN, PA, SE, SM, TO
Not “Rodrigo de Jerez and Luis de Torres are the first Europeans to observe smoking. It was on Cuba and Jerez becomes a staunch smoker, bringing the habit back with him to Spain. History of Tobacco in...
by phillipw | Sep 14, 2021 | AM, BI, BR, GA, RU, SE
Taatamata and Denham Russell-Smith The evidence, it seems, implies that stuff With women caused him greatest grief, except For Taatamata. Mother was enough To force him to desire control. She kept Him on the tightest lead, as best she might, And love for Ka produced...
by phillipw | Sep 7, 2021 | DR, ME, SE, SH
What Your Shirt Says about You Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Your shirt says that you stink inside its pits. The cut may be as classy as a new Prince undisturbed by later teenage zits, Or whoring round...
by phillipw | Sep 6, 2021 | BU, DR, HU, RO, SE
The Flowers Dream of Hummingbirds Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem When butterflies fan wings while on a stone, They do not dream, or if they do, they fail To dream of us, our sadness when alone Or, more,...
by phillipw | Aug 15, 2021 | BO, CO, MI, SE
And Moaning about How We Can’t Go Get a Sunburn on the Costa Blanca As calm as Eisenhower after war While playing golf with Mamie left behind, We turn ourselves away to things much more Enjoyable. Ignoring earthquake grind Of human flesh and souls in Haiti, we Get on...
by phillipw | Aug 9, 2021 | CH, CO, DO, RE, SE
The Holy Roast “peace on earth, good will toward men” I’m having distant arguments without Connection to the ones I’m fighting with. I write my brutal points because I doubt My brothers will consider them. The myth Of brotherhood is only that, a tale...
by phillipw | Aug 8, 2021 | AN, HE, IS, SE, ST, TR
Iseut of the White Hands Slick She moves her white hands down to find his dark Disgustingness, exactly what her need Is in this darker moment. Long, and stark, And thick it promises disgusting seed If she is brave and desperate enough To take it everywhere...
by phillipw | Aug 4, 2021 | LO, MA, PE, SE
“Men coming and going on the earth” ~ Rupert Brooke Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Men come and go in love and death beside The heart and in our beds: the red-haired ones With that strange skin and with...
by phillipw | Aug 2, 2021 | AS, PA, PE, RE, SE
Singing Sacred Ones When things become invisible, they turn To something like the Holy Ghost. They might Come back like torching tongues of fire to burn Above apostles’ hair, or come at night Like floating space ships filled with promise, hope,...
by phillipw | Jul 22, 2021 | AG, LO, SE
Giving and Forgiving pexels-lion-247502 “I need lions in gilded cages; it’s awful, after human flesh, lions love gold, and no one ever gives it to them.” ~Oscar Wilde Who would put his lion in a cage of Lead rubbed with gilding foil? Not lead...
by phillipw | Jul 22, 2021 | CO, ER, FU, PE, SE
Precious Hardness, Precious Black Wood The leopards love the manly flesh of thighs With hair, the humid meat of men. Fangs love The bone of flesh hard maleness sings and size Of satiation that men give. Above These basics, though, the leopards want a feast Of gold...
by phillipw | Jul 18, 2021 | HI, LO, SE
Avoid Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Avoid his eyes, too beautiful and deep, Or plunge in, from Olympic height, from high Dive love. The risk is higher yet, yes, steep But...
by phillipw | Jul 8, 2021 | AR, HE, HI, MA, SE, SM, TH
An Unsuitable Boy His arms are almost prominent in this Pic taken of him at Baringo. They Are hairy but of course the gorgeous Miss Rejected him. Their bedroom play Revealed his back was even hairier And that was more than she could bear. That hair on shoulders...
by phillipw | Jul 4, 2021 | SE, YE
Eritis Sicut Deus You shall be as God. ~ Genesis 3:5 The second of the two big lies is this. They both are spoken to us daily dressed In slime. The two are spoken with a hiss That tastes of drugs. We swallow both with zest, Slime making each as easy...
by phillipw | Jun 24, 2021 | AD, AM, BI, BR, GA, LO, RO, RU, SE
An Evensong at Rugby School Chapel Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem The service is devoted to Saint John The Baptist. Then when prayer comes, “Lord, now let,” I think of peace and one plain tomb upon...
by phillipw | Jun 17, 2021 | SE
Don’t Be Stupid Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem You know your secret self and I know mine. The wise keep hidden meanings in their minds And hearts. Maintain your secrets in that...
by phillipw | Jun 17, 2021 | SE
Septuagenarian Silliness Our lives are rounded by our follies at The start and end. In infancy and youth We grow from babyhood, to child, to brat, The two year olds and adolescents, truth Be told, the worst, then girls with swelling breasts And boys with...
by phillipw | Jun 15, 2021 | LO, RO, SE
Gone Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem A smouldering in the core of ribcage bones Is what his heart is causing. Blood does not Allow an outbreak, flames of red. The zones Of marrow in...
by phillipw | Jun 14, 2021 | LO, RO, SE, UN
Relief The roses come. He does not think of you. Their pinks are far too delicate, their reds Too overwhelming, and their whites too true. He does not think of you and cuts their heads. The peonies arrived. Their petals are Too perfect, fine, and...
by phillipw | Jun 8, 2021 | FE, HE, MA, SE, TH, TR
It Takes One Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Henry David Thoreau writes of Chaucer, “We are tempted to say that his genius was feminine, not masculine. It was such feminineness,...
by phillipw | Jun 3, 2021 | BL, FE, MA, SE, SU
Mastery The first dream morning brought, on honeymoon To start his life together, he smiled, yawned, And stretched, and then he moved himself to spoon Against that back and hips. It slowly dawned Inside his brain that he could grin and keep This...
by phillipw | Jun 1, 2021 | FI, LI, LO, MA, SE
The Y Chromosome Inside the Tiny Holy Grail All day the firefly Folds in his glow beneath grass Waiting for twilight. ~ a found haiku; original words adjusted by PhillipWhidden; encountered in Henry David Thoreau’s A Week on the Concord...
by phillipw | May 28, 2021 | ES, RI, SE, WA
Thine Own Self This river takes a beam of light straight through Itself, right through it to its lowest part If clear enough. The current is still true To water’s self. The water does not start To break its molecule or try to be Some other element, say...
by phillipw | May 21, 2021 | FO, SE
Painting by Numbers The largest parts are numbered with a plain 1, meaning I should use the color of Your skin in parts without the darker stain Of body hair—or nipples made for love. Much darker areas are shown by 2, Those parts where tufts of nearly...
by phillipw | May 21, 2021 | SE
Dwelling in Thick Darkness Here, deep inside, so deep it’s in my guts A sacred steam begins to build, all this Because I hear a sound. A stallion ruts Inside my soul. I hear your stream of piss One room away, beside our bedroom. Hot And long it sounds like Sinai’s...
by phillipw | May 20, 2021 | LO, LU, SE
Men as Objects of Desire The myths have got it right about the males And females. Males are hunters in each myth. They go out stalking victims in these tales And tragedy results. The females, with A sudden craze, are forced to fall in love With men who love to...
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 | May 17, 2021 | FU, SE
Spelunking You breathe, then bend. The search began with slick Communication of those probing lips And tongue. It gave a fleshy, snake-like flick Between them and you felt it near your hips While warmth was still there in your mouth. Not quite...
by phillipw | May 14, 2021 | FU, LO, RO, SE
Midas Touch He wants to make his lovers glow like gold, Except that gold is tame. He wants to make them Glow, gold eternity, that makes them scold The lesser beauties. He will lift the hem Of death since it is only thin gold rags And find beyond it...
by phillipw | May 12, 2021 | FU, MA, SE
Star Bursts He doesn’t want to shoot down stars or blast At them at all. He doesn’t think that he Can boost the sky with something better, vast As his desire might be. That French marquis Is not at all his pattern. What he wants To shoot is...
by phillipw | May 12, 2021 | RO, SE
Inner Space Exploration Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem A lover has a comet for each hand; Five comets, finger comets with each touch. Each finger gives a hint more like a brand Waved near a part of...
by phillipw | May 4, 2021 | LO, RO, SE
Black Regrets–Sénanque Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem He holds a postcard in his hand. The view Is of an abbey high in chalky hills (Provençe). The abbey there of...
by phillipw | May 4, 2021 | AR, DA, FA, FE, GE, GR, MA, SE, SO, SP, UN
Armpit and Genital Hair on the Masculine Anima Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem The armpit hair of spirits is too dark For women. Females do not like to think Of it or get a glance of it as stark As...
by phillipw | May 3, 2021 | AM, AN, BI, GA, GR, ME, RA, SE, ZE
iOvid Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem What Ovid did two thousand years ago, The World Wide Web has lately caught up with. He did it many, many times. The slow Web has, at last,...
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 | Apr 25, 2021 | DA, EL, HE, RO, SE, SP, ST
Repeat PerforMANce Repeat PerforMANce Repeat PerforMANce Repeat PerfoMANce…. Robert Sparks They danced in discos. That was not the point. The one was just a usual kind of bloke, Not gorgeous and not plain. He had the joint For humping in...
by phillipw | Apr 22, 2021 | FU, IN, LO, SE, UT
Predicted before Midnight We make the world anew at night in bed. I make it in you and you take it in You deeply, and you take it deeper, spread Yourself to take it deeper than the sin That Eve and Adam shared. You take it’s deep And turn it into newness there...
by phillipw | Apr 12, 2021 | ME, PS, SA, SE, TH
Saint Sebastian Sans the Sacred Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Most memories cannot be kept close, not near, Not near enough to scar, unless the scar Is of a tribal kind gouged in by fear Appearing...
by phillipw | Apr 9, 2021 | EG, GO, LO, RO, SE
Golden Tongue Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Ancient mummies with golden tongues unearthed in Egypt – BBC News If I were buried with a tongue of gold, Would I still be a poet, or,...
by phillipw | Apr 6, 2021 | SE, SH
Far Below in Salt Sea Depths Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Why shells that sound of seas are pink inside So often is a mystery. Why not A Caribbean blue? And why not dyed With whitest foam,...
by phillipw | Apr 1, 2021 | CO, FU, PE, SE
Heavenly Bodies Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem The sunlight on the moon is sunlight, not Sad moonlight. Get that straight. If I want you, I want you having me inside you, hot, More...
by phillipw | Mar 29, 2021 | AU, FE, GR, Ho, JO, SA, SE, ST
The Four Evils to be Overcome According to Saint John of the Cross: Joy, Hope, Fear, Grief The springtime brings her yellow joy on top Of green stems flaring. Then come pink and white Along the happy trees. We will not stop, They promise, even in...
by phillipw | Mar 28, 2021 | AD, CO, DO, DR, EL, FA, MA, PA, PR, RE, SE
There to Efface Himself in Ecstasy Religious? There to efface himself in Ecstasy he flailed about. Yes, he tried Cocaine at first and, lolling in that sin, He won election victory as he fried His brain that way. Of course he used plain Ole dope as well but somehow...
by phillipw | Mar 26, 2021 | AU, FA, NO, OC, OX, PA, SE
Perfect Paradoxes, October’s Oxymorons The point of fall is melancholy joy. The oranges, yellows, and the reds are breaths Of autumn but in parallel destroy. Their bright solemnity a trillion deaths Entails. The oranges are calmly rife With gorgeouness of gloom. ...
by phillipw | Mar 24, 2021 | DE, HE, LO, PA, RO, SE
Carving Out the Measure of Devotion Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem You hardly know the truth of passion till You put it in the context of its doom. It seems as hot as sun spots or the spill Of lava...
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 22, 2021 | DO, FU, RA, SE
Subjugation An inch more deeply in, and you will be The emperor. Has no one told you that? More likely you have learned it as the key To living like the spoiled Persian cat Has learned that biting robins with his fangs Trumps petting by a...
by phillipw | Mar 21, 2021 | FU, HE, SE, ST
The Novelist at the Supermarket Till Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem He looks through men and women and he sees Them not just outwardly but sees inside Them like a CT scan. His heart can tweeze Out...
by phillipw | Mar 21, 2021 | AN, CO, DE, DI, FA, FE, FU, HE, KE, PE, SE, SK
Coffin, Bed, Whatever He used to have a black nacrotic ____ But now, because of you, it swells again. It pulses and is desperate to _____ Out words and symphonies so full of pain That laughter is the only option. ____ Is there if you desire it in your throat. If...
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 | Mar 19, 2021 | CR, LO, QU, SE, TH
Queen Mary Had Only a Tumor as her Phantom Pregnancy We all know what the phoenix is about. It glories in the flame like Dido burned Upon that throne. That passion has a clout. It has its flame, it is the flame, flame turned Upon itself, flame causing us to die And...
by phillipw | Mar 16, 2021 | EA, ER, HA, HE, HI, LO, MA, ME, SE, ST
Recollections Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Dawn comes and wakens up inside my core The reminiscences that sleep inside The past, that sleep there, stowed subconscious lore That...
by phillipw | Mar 9, 2021 | EL, ME, SE, SU, Uncategorized
Who Needs the Islamic State? Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem “Severed heads: The green and orange Elysia marginata sea slug is capable of decapitating itself when its body becomes infected with...
by phillipw | Mar 4, 2021 | IL, KN, SE
Early Wisdom He who knows others has knowledge. He who knows himself is illuminated. ~ Rôshi Some little blue and purple posters on His childhood wall beside his bed gleamed green (A phosphorescent glint) in patches, wan Some parts of their designs, each...
by phillipw | Mar 1, 2021 | AP, GA, Ho, RO, SE
Heterodox Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem When first he kissed, his name and family dis appeared, his father and his brothers van ished, and his mother and his aunties mis conceived...
by phillipw | Feb 27, 2021 | LO, RO, SE
Leave it Unnamed It never is created by mere speech And silence cannot penetrate it. Deep It always is. It has a wounded reach Too often with a name, sometimes, in sleep But in the waking hours the names that come To it are shallow, like a shallow pond. No...
by phillipw | Feb 17, 2021 | LO, SE, UN
Deep Love You need some sort of bathysphere to keep Harm walled from overwhelming emotion. You need some sort of diving bell in deep, Steep love to save from harm of devotion. There’s gloom in fathoms and in dooming love. In muddy river water as the...