by phillipw | Dec 19, 2019 | SE
Principalities and Powers Jaws open in the night and fluids pass From mouth to mouth. The spit is tame enough, But who will reckon up that power, that mass Of mystery and feral stench—the stuff Of semen? Sacrilege invades the throat Because a god of tails and...
by phillipw | Dec 14, 2019 | SE
How to Keep People from Occupying the Seat Next to You in the Bus or Coach The obvious thing’s to put your luggage on The seat beside you, but there’s a flaw In this maneuver. You’re dumb as a prawn If you don’t know that some are selfish gits And...
by phillipw | Dec 11, 2019 | SE
Friendship with Nature “Nature and you must be greater friends than ever.” Letter from Maria Bicknell to her fiance, John Constable September 9, 1815 I wouldn’t leave till every single tree In Suffolk is stripped bare: an autumn whim (She...
by phillipw | Dec 11, 2019 | SE
Oracles Some trees stand like a trance, so self-possessed It seems a sacrilege to clutter their Immense tranquility with hungry nest Or whispered roots like tangled dreams or hair. These trees, like pregnant women, dazzle facts. These limbs...
by phillipw | Dec 9, 2019 | LO, RO, SE
Men, Date Palms, and Night-time Fires My love for you is like a nomad’s tent, Its ceiling stretched with shared discoveries, Its folds and walls made heavier with the scent, The fragrance of our sweat and memories, And soaked with incense from our lusts and...
by phillipw | Dec 8, 2019 | RE, SE
Blood Vessels Filled with Something like Crucified Hydrogen The tree put up its barren limbs, the church Its barren cross, a duet set in gray— The branches notes, the cross a chord in search Of something certain; well, more certain, say, Than...
