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Wretchedness is a sacred thing. ~ Seneca

Wretchedness is a sacred thing. ~ Seneca We miss the point unless we see that pain Is holy to the Odyssey and to The Iliad.  The deepest holy vein That runs right through them is the shouting clue As loud as shrieking over loveless death. Too late to yell when...

Christ vs. Apollo

          Christ vs. Apollo Modern poetry  modern verse  contemporary poetry  contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem If true Apollo’s temple has been crushed By buildings of the Vatican, the ground Of Lord Apollo’s prophecies  now hushed By singing in the...

Rulers without Culture and Without a Blind Poet

Rulers without Culture and Without a Blind Poet “When a Prince lacks a Homer, it means that he is not worthy of having one.” ~ François de Salignac de la Mothe-Fénelon “He knows the application of the book But not who wrote it; shuts it like a shot. Rather than read...

Reeking Champ; and, Raving for the Ravers—Paired Sonnets

         Reeking Champ Modern poetry  modern verse  contemporary poetry  contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem “Achilles exists only through Homer.” ~ François-René de Chateaubriand in his preface to Les Natchez, 1826 “Achilles was a heel.”  ~ Lapel badge...

Mercy Tempts, Too Late

   Mercy Tempts, Too Late Redemption of a tragedy by facts Is not enough.  To gather them and write Them out slinks, paltry.  Call up pulsing acts But they are lost if they are in the plight Of scholarship.  Recording them is not Enough.  To put them in the rites of...

A History of Upswelling Poisons Unintended

A History of Upswelling Poisons Unintended Modern poetry  modern verse  contemporary poetry  contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem  e plants some seeds, some sentences and words In rows.  What might become of clauses, verbs, And paragraphs he cannot know. ...

Forget the Graveyard’s Darkness and that Urn

Forget the Graveyard’s Darkness and that Urn Modern poetry  modern verse  contemporary poetry  contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Imagining that you are in the sky Above Antarctica or up beyond The Arctic’s ice consoles my heartbeats, high Among excited...

Frozen Heaven and Hot Hues Hell

Frozen Heaven and Hot Hues Hell Modern poetry  modern verse  contemporary poetry  contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem When I am dead, my secrets will be turned To frost up on a pane, up in the New Jerusalem, or maybe will be burned In stained glass down...