by phillipw | Nov 15, 2019 | SI
Mute Choruses and Chanting Some silent kings in silent eras long Before the thought of history arose Have left lacunae like some torn lost song Or tuneless chants of silence. Joys and woes Of royalty lie deep in neutered times Among unwritten blanknesses. We guess...
by phillipw | Oct 13, 2019 | AU, CO, PA, SI, SY
Burdens of Light The silences of country life are more Like shades than sounds. So quiet that they seem Like pastel tints in watercolors or The light beneath acanthus leaves we dream. Those silences are more like mist at dawn Above a pond than like a lack...
by phillipw | Sep 24, 2019 | DA, JO, SI
Yawn No messages (or meaninglessly brief Ones) make romantic oceans dry to salt. The tree that first proclaimed a heart-shaped leaf Withers. The swift-hoofed race comes to a halt, The red stallion stumbling, breaking a leg. The killing isn’t murder,...
by phillipw | Sep 21, 2019 | Ho, SI
The Torn Shirt Morning 0 Your stream of frank sincerity has talked Him out of love—of loving you, I mean— Attempts at sentiment too often blocked By honesty from you. The desperate, keen, Pathetic fire he fanned inside his heart Was doused and doused and doused...
by phillipw | Aug 18, 2019 | LO, NI, SI, WI
Aunt Wilma Forces Me ..to Plant a Gardenia on Lorena’s Grave Aunt Wilma is second from the left What happens to a voice when it is dead? The vocal cords will rot, of course, the lungs Will shrivel, wither. In a coffin bed The voice will evanesce like...
