by phillipw | Jun 17, 2020 | MI, OR, RE, TR
Invisible Ivory Music Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard are sweeter. ~ John Keats Herus Pamphilius claimed that Orpheus’s drifting soul, destined to be incarnated anew in some other physical form after he had died, elected to be born a swan so that he...
by phillipw | Jun 17, 2020 | AR, IT, OD, PE, TE
Ithaca ( Ἰθάκη), the Dull Town Your wife is there, your two-balled heir, and hound Still true (like bone to brawn) behind his eyes Destroyed with cataracts—but his snout’s bound To ravel your armpit; he’s the surprise That isn’t surprising when you return Among the...
by phillipw | Jun 17, 2020 | Uncategorized
I Have Looked upon the Face of Jolliness The ancient Greeks in poetry were lewd As limericks, playful, silly as a stand Up joker on a comic’s platform, rude And crude, yep, far more rude than Russell Brand. Emitted from these ancient rhythmic throats Were poems...
by phillipw | Jun 16, 2020 | AN, EP
A Sacred Prize Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Gods used to care about men’s singing love And poetry. A victory in song Made up of music and male words above The rest in contests was akin to...
by phillipw | Jun 16, 2020 | AN, CO, Ho
A Second-Century B.C. Homer Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem...
by phillipw | Jun 16, 2020 | AN, OR
Aegean Heat We look at Orpheus, torn on the ground. We try forgiving women and his wife For tearing at his heart and body found Among the barren olives. This one’s life Is deathless in the myth of love and sounds Discarded in eternity. We seek Forever to...
by phillipw | Jun 16, 2020 | AN, ET, MO
Coldblooded Aegean “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” Jeremiah 17:9 “ ‘Why did the whole Greek world exult over the combat scenes in the Iliad?’ asks Friedrich Nietzsche. We modern readers do not even...
by phillipw | Jun 16, 2020 | AN, PH
An Ancient Greek Trinity In Athens Love was placed in honor by Athena. There beside chaste wisdom, love Was set up on a plinth. The Greeks placed high In their gymnasia that god above Their bodies practicing for ideal power. Accompanying love there in that place...
