by phillipw | Dec 30, 2023 | SO, SP
Parament Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem The spirit world is not as spectral in It colors, in its mauves and oranges, pinks And greens as veils, so halo-like and thin Spread...
by phillipw | Apr 10, 2023 | AU, DE, EN, SP
Changing Changelessly Will Meet Its Fate Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Mountain cherry blooms Fall. Petals scatter over Water-wheel and brook. ~ Chigetsu (Englished by Phillip Whidden The water wheel...
by phillipw | Sep 4, 2022 | CO, DE, JO, KE, PO, RO, SP, TU
Autumn and the Spanish Steps Though waiting for the wind so long, the leaves Know patience, or at least they know no dread. The autumn wind is patient, too, perceives Their stoicism wearing orange and red, October yellow even, brighter in Their bravery. ...
by phillipw | Jul 6, 2022 | CR, SP, TR
I Saw Boys Playing Cricket . . . . . . in white upon a cricket ground today In Oxfordshire as if long centuries passed And made no difference. There I saw the sway Of bat. Tradition in a woollen cast, A cast, though supple as the hips and thighs Contained in...
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 1, 2022 | SP
“Tarry,” is Spring’s Command Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Yet if we grieve, the spring that blossoms will Not come as wishes quick or slow will leap. The grief of spring will hasten just...
by phillipw | Jul 9, 2021 | AE, BE, CA, ES, SP
Tacit Beauty Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Where mountains aren’t, the world is still the world. There may not be the white of peaks or harsh Escarpments, but the streams of spring...
by phillipw | Jun 9, 2021 | GO, MY, RE, SP
“the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy” Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem ... We live with those bright beings long ago And far away inside our bones and mind....
by phillipw | Jun 4, 2021 | AP, GR, MA, SP, SY
Accordingly The spirit of the peony is spring. The summer finds itself inside a rose. In May the petals, red and pink, both sing A colored fugue in fragrant ratios. The garden wings have gathered. Great tits leap As through the grandest canyon. Swooped...
by phillipw | May 21, 2021 | CH, FR, LO, MA, RE, RO, SP, ST, UN
Tightly Closed in Open April during the Cherry Blossom Time Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Remembering sapphire air, I think of you. We shared a cut gem spring which lasted long And long because the...
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 | 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 | Mar 22, 2021 | DA, DR, PO, SP
Whack Humor Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem When he is at his gayest, you can know That he hulks earnest in designs. To take Him at his surface meaning is to go Awry the way a moth in...
by phillipw | Mar 19, 2021 | AU, MA, SP, VI
March Meets October The violets are deepest purple in The lane. This purple laughs as darkness there Beneath the hedge. Such purple is the twin Of brighter colors matching autumn’s blare Of orange, but the double of them just In beauty. Blooms so much...
by phillipw | Mar 11, 2021 | AP, BE, SP, WA
Memory of a Tree Surgeon Season Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem One spring he knew stretched on — on and on — like Suns rising as eternity insists They should. It was as if an April dyke...
by phillipw | Feb 23, 2021 | DE, ET, SP, SY, TY, WA, WI
Wind and Water Cleave and Cleave Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem .. We know that wind is spirit life. The wind Is God in symbol, and the angels, too, And demons, angels with God’s demons twinned....
by phillipw | Jan 2, 2021 | AP, Ho, RE, SP
The Daffodils Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Another year the daffodils will rise, For centuries, millennia again, Perhaps for eons. Yellow trumpets’ cries Though silent...
by phillipw | Dec 27, 2020 | CH, DI, FR, GA, Ho, LO, MA, SP, WA
When Washington Created Lasting Love on M Street, Georgetown Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem You sum up everything I lost, An April made unending since we shared The cherry blossoms as in Pentecost,...
by phillipw | Dec 16, 2020 | AT, FU, LO, RO, SP
That Hot Embrace Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem He cannot ever run or swim without Romance the power in his sinews, sweat, And dreams. He does not let the sunshine doubt His future,...
by phillipw | Dec 15, 2020 | CH, EP, FL, FR, JO, OT, PH, RO, SP
Epiphany not Abruptness A mamba crosses paths with you. A shark Fin heaves to view in nearby waves. A plague Ramps out across the world. A winging lark Explodes from cover at your feet. No vague, Uncertain certainty like fate explains The threat, the...
by phillipw | Dec 9, 2020 | CO, DE, DI, GH, MA, OR, PE, RE, SO, SP
Reincarnation The spirit wishes it could look back to Its body, not the rotted one, and see The firm young form with hair and holy blue Of Mary’s robe in clear young eyes still free Of intimations of their death. The hair, The blond head...
by phillipw | Nov 28, 2020 | CR, DO, GO, ME, MU, PH, SP, SU
Still God Amphibole Tremolite-121232. By Rob Lavinsky, iRocks.com – CC-BY-SA-3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10140515 Suppose that God could resurrect you whole, By quarks and hadrons, nth particle by Nth...
by phillipw | Jul 19, 2020 | AT, BU, CO, EL, LA, LO, NI, OL, SA, SO, SP, TH, VI
They Loved Sovereignty and Liberty Most “And the Lacedæmonians offer sacrifices to Love before they go to battle, thinking that safety and victory depend on the friendship and those who stand side by side in the battle array. And the Cretans, in their line of battle,...
by phillipw | Jul 17, 2020 | BR, CO, GA, Ho, LO, SP, TH
The Night before Thermopylae— “The Hot Gates” “Phaedrus’s praise for erôs (love) as a precondition for courage employs poetic quotations from poems that in fact state that wisdom is the true precondition, and that erotic passion without thoughtfulness leads to...
by phillipw | May 26, 2020 | CH, ED, HU, PA, SC, SP
Edmund Spenser’s Complicated Sonnet Causes a Simple Composition ‘Songs are not neglected. There are two; one, “When stars are in the quiet skies” (written August 13, 1865, and another, “Fair is my love,” (“written for Primrose, Eton, ’64-5 copied ad fin., July 3,...
by phillipw | May 21, 2020 | AL, CE, GE, SP, TH
String (Strung Out) Theory Stop! Not so fast, guys! Einstein’s shocked white head Apparently opined not that the rate Of light was swiftest, but nowt could be sped Up quicker than light, could accelerate To be more fleet than it. His crucial thought, That...
by phillipw | May 20, 2020 | SP, SU
A Sheen of Strength A sheen of strength more powerful than gold Shines svelte on outer surfaces of glass, A beauty far more powerful and old Than gilding. Spreading out across the grass This April morning is an hour that brings Its joy to beast and plant alike. A...
by phillipw | May 18, 2020 | SP
A Tabernacle Open ……. …“the splendour in the grass” The green begins to rise through richness of The sunrise-reddish brown across the fields In Windsor. Princely spikes peak up above The corduroy earth. This vista yields A...
by phillipw | May 17, 2020 | CH, FO, RH, SP
2451 Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem I re-arranged my china. England failed While I was doing that. The team was young As we’d been told ad nauseam. They paled To losers, though. I...
by phillipw | May 16, 2020 | AU, CH, FA, FU, MO, OA, SP
Skywriting Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem The well-shaped maple on the hilltop spreads Its leaves and limbs like rhythmed lines and rhymes. It is a sonnet that in autumn sheds God’s colors...
by phillipw | May 16, 2020 | AU, CO, FA, FI, LA, OX, RE, SP
The Knighthood of the Countryside Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Genteel, the hills of Oxfordshire are clothed With farm fields at their feet, brocades of trees On shoulders and their chests. The...
by phillipw | May 15, 2020 | GU, SI, SP
Edict How dull the gilded dome seems under clouds Of London gray. The perfect, swerving shape Looks saddened as if wearing mourning shrouds, Or dirtiness, or veils of thinnest crepe. Such beauty should not be degraded thus. But London,...
by phillipw | May 12, 2020 | DA, Ho, OP, SP, Uncategorized
Benison Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem The first of our own daffodils spread out Today and maybe that bright yellow will Reach wider since the sun is now about And shining on the...
by phillipw | May 10, 2020 | RA, SP
Like Brancusi’s “Bird in Space”: Think McLaren P1, Ferrari 458, Lamboghini Countach, Maserati MC12, Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Super Sport, Ferrari F40, and Koenigsegg Agera R It’s more like on the pedestal of art, Smooth knife glissando cutting through the night Of motor...
by phillipw | May 6, 2020 | IS, MO, RE, SP
God Spoke Today I stumbled down the hill to buy some food For Prospero. He does not know that I Had been knocked flat by an extremely rude Disease. In fact he doesn’t know I buy His salmon flakes. He only knows that they Are spooned for him by me. Their...
by phillipw | May 6, 2020 | IG, MI, SP, Ta
Pathetic Skin, Flesh, “Brain” Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Today already, twice, I’ve seen two pics Of tattoos with dickhead spelling mistakes. One says . . . “Musle Healing.” The dopy dicks Who...
by phillipw | Apr 23, 2020 | GH, SP
Eurydice behind Orpheus Do spirits dress in spirit clothes and shoes? Do spirit sandals make a sound when on The road in night or are they too diffuse Of spirit atoms? Spirits walk in dawn When desperate. Pale clothes do not make sound, No swishing in the sunrise. ...
by phillipw | Apr 15, 2020 | BI, SP, TR
He Might As Well Have Written Obscure Poetry So Socrates believes not just that Soul exists But is bipartite and tripartite, both. He postulates a mixed up nature. He twists And turns, an ancient Greek as mental sloth, Since this is contradictory at worst And badly...
by phillipw | Apr 14, 2020 | CR, FR, MA, SP
They Loved Sovereignty and Liberty Most “And the Lacedæmonians offer sacrifices to Love before they go to battle, thinking that safety and victory depend on the friendship and those who stand side by side in the battle array. And the Cretans, in their line of battle,...
by phillipw | Apr 14, 2020 | GO, IN, SP
The Voice We all are waiting for the voice to speak, But how will it be spoken? Will we hear It when it whispers in an ancient Greek The severity of stone-hard Doric fear? Perhaps still, small hoarseness in a fire Will echo in the deserts of our soul When...
by phillipw | Apr 14, 2020 | SP, TI, ZA
Zantedeschia, Spathe, Spadix, Anthurium, Philodendron, Tillandsia Cyanea, Etc. Those flowers, those ones that are not flowers, have weird Words given for the blooms that are not blooms. For scientists plain English disappeared When naming parts like these. In lab-like...
by phillipw | Apr 10, 2020 | SP, SU
The Good Side of Death: Oracular Pre-echoing The Delphic good to come from spring buds’ deaths Is roses’ resurrection from their stems. The early summer flowers take their breaths In May’s bright air. Their petticoats and hems Begin to spread for the summer heat. They...
by phillipw | Mar 12, 2020 | PE, SP, TE
…Hard to Protect Softness Don’t let opponents get too close to your Important jewels. Don’t let them grab your shorts And pull on them if you want to be sure Too hide your treasure chest. Nothing distorts Your dignity on playing fields as much As being...
by phillipw | Jan 3, 2020 | SO, SP
The Address of the Soul Inside the skull is spirit’s home. Soul Inhabits brain. Protected by thick bone, The insubstantial essence floats. A scroll Of hardened jellylike gray is its lone Account, its empire. Spirit is a monk, The head its hermitage. Soul has...
by phillipw | Dec 27, 2019 | SP
Spenser’s Red Cross Knight The Red Cross Knight was far too much. The dark Spell-casters, monsters, faeries—wotever— He kept avoiding, meeting in the park Of that ridiculous poem, never Found him interesting enough to defeat. The bad guys and bewitchers were the...
by phillipw | Dec 16, 2019 | AU, FA, SP, TR
Tree Fates When trees begin to pale with hints of bling The first effect seems like a gauze-glove haar, A tailored fitting from the hidden spring Which spins this morning mist, distinct and far Removed from gloom. It corresponds with dawn. Yet...
by phillipw | Dec 13, 2019 | MA, SP
Sun Christened Springtime Buds ………… Camellias on Chepstow Crescent, London, March 2, 2019 Sun christened springtime buds of blooms and leaves Come out and hum a melody. The chill Air shouts, “Not yet,” so each new shoot aggrieves...
by phillipw | Dec 4, 2019 | SP
Speeding along the Motorway Towards the Russian Orthodox Church, Decades after Our Evening in Northwest D.C. The distance hauled a beauty over all The autumn leaves, converted them to haze Almost, especially one tree in thrall To oranges and yellows with...
by phillipw | Nov 22, 2019 | SP
I Reject the Perpetual Lie of Noon The night attenuates the springtime limbs. The light, such as it is, depletes their blooms That in the sun were more than April whims But now seem waiting for harsh showers, dooms. But not this evening. No. The gentle light...
by phillipw | Oct 16, 2019 | SP
Magic and Magic, Spring and Spring Trees eveanesce once they have bloomed each spring. They disappear in humdrum hues and we Ride past them unaware. A magic ring Is cut in bark. Invisibility Results. As if they were not ever there In puffed...
by phillipw | Oct 2, 2019 | AN, RE, SP
Love Stripped Naked and Transcending Guatama leaves his palace and wanders From his wealth across the plains, sits beneath A tree in calmness made of mind, ponders The cosmos, blasting pleasures, lasting pains, And settles on the center of a flower. It grows...
by phillipw | Sep 23, 2019 | CO, DE, MA, SP
Breathing Death The pink magnolias creased, bruise-brown, well nigh Immediately in springtime air. The breeze Came blustering and wrinkled in the dye Of death on unsuspecting trees. Of course they will not die, not yet, nor yet These fleshy blossoms opened...
by phillipw | Sep 18, 2019 | FA, SP
Spenser’s Red Cross Knight Edmund Spenser, Wikipedia The Red Cross Knight was far too much. The dark Spell-casters, monsters, faeries–whatever– He kept avoiding, meeting in the park Of that ridiculous poem, never Found him interesting...