by phillipw | Jun 13, 2020 | AN, HE, Ho
Aurora Actuality “We can confirm almost nothing about Homer and Hesiod, yet we have no problem, even when we should, believing in them.” ~ Michael Schmidt, The First Poets, 22 Who doubts that Homer, Hesiod, the old And oldest poets ever lived? Why should...
by phillipw | Jun 13, 2020 | AN
Before the Internet in the Ancient World “Hellenistic culture was of necessity a culture of the book . . . : the age of the reader had arrived, and a poet was often a man speaking to a man, not to men.” ~ Michael Schmidt, The First Poets, 13 The audience grew smaller...
by phillipw | Jun 13, 2020 | GO
Before We Brought Them Down Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image ~ Exodus 20:4 When gods become mere figures, they are not Gods anymore. They slip to being oil On canvas, words on pages, poems caught In scrolls and codexes. Gods used to roil Around in...
by phillipw | Jun 13, 2020 | AL, CH, DE, GR, MO, ST
Bitterer than Blue Dreams Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse I sleep with one black perfect curl beneath My pillow. It belongs to love. Below My blond, blond head this curl is like a wreath Of mourning. Blackness almost has a...
by phillipw | Jun 13, 2020 | IN, PH, PO, Uncategorized
Brain Matter or Bone Marrow Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse “Stefan Büttner (‘Inspiration and Inspired Poets in Plato’s Dialogues’) acknowledges the frequency with which Plato accepts the possibility of inspiration and admires its...
by phillipw | Jun 13, 2020 | OX
Buried Fruit Egyptian desert places are the most Productive in our search for classic fruit. The ruins near the Memphis desert coast Were planted with a sowing absolute. There near the Serapeum was a pot Of books, their texts the earliest so far To come to us...
by phillipw | Jun 13, 2020 | MI
But What if I, when Speaking in my Own Voice, Make a False Representation of Myself? Elementary, My Dear Plato It seems that Plato means that if I speak Or write in poetry, but in my own Persona and my voice, that is not weak And dodgy like mimesis. In this clone Of...
by phillipw | Jun 13, 2020 | PA, SA, ST, XE
Centuries and Utterness Separate Them Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse Salonika, where Paul and Xerxes stood, Affords a long Aegean view across To Mount Olympus. One took on his hood Of holiness and one took on a loss Staggering in...
