by phillipw | Jul 7, 2020 | BA, CE, TY
Their Final Pathetic Option “It is therefore necessary to give orders, not only to poets, but also to all artists and craftsmen, that they should portray the image of goodness in their works and avoid everything that is ugly and bad…”. ~ Penelope Murray, Plato on...
by phillipw | Jul 7, 2020 | AN, EU, OR
Eurydice behind Orpheus Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem 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? ...
by phillipw | Jul 7, 2020 | ET, HE, OR, ST
Etymology of Orpheus If “of the river bank” is what the name Of Orpheus might mean,* then that might flow From jet slick River Hades and the shame Of failing to recover, to the glow Of life and sunlight, his lost love. Again It might refer to two of his five deaths...
by phillipw | Jul 7, 2020 | AN, ET, LI, MO
Esthetic Wistfulness as Obscenity “The two greatest poems of western man are still, in many eyes, the two oldest. And the grace and sanity of Greece are not so common in the modern world that we can afford to forget them.” ~ F. L. Lucas in Greek Poetry Does ancient...
by phillipw | Jul 7, 2020 | AN, EP, PO, PR
Epicinian: Poetry Is a Victory if We Do Not Bastardize It “The continuous efforts of English poets in every generation to rediscover a ‘language really used by men’ would have been incomprehensible to a[n ancient] Greek.’” ~ Michael Schmidt, The First Poets, 15,...
by phillipw | Jul 6, 2020 | AM, BI
Some readers may find this next sonnet offensive. If you might be offended, do not read it. Double-edged He lies beside a man tonight. It means He looks for love. Another night he lay Beside a woman. His discarded jeans And boxers mean one thing. That...
by phillipw | Jul 6, 2020 | BO, ER, GA, ZE
Some readers may find this next sonnet offensive. If you might be offended, do not read it. Divine = Human Equation Human = Divine Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse “The matchless Ganymede, divinely fair, Whom Heaven, enamour’d...
by phillipw | Jul 6, 2020 | JA, MA, ME, MU, OR
Dissonance in Early Poetry Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse The primal poet sang at Jason’s feast, At Jason’s wedding to Medea. Gods Are vile: the marriage’s allure deceased As Orpheus’s melody, at odds With fate, began to fill...
