Select Page

Deer-tongue

            Deer-tongue   The smell of deer-tongue came to me today From decades past.  I mean the fragrance of The dried out leaves, as dried out as the splay Of decades since my father taught us love, His sons, beneath the Florida sun, leaves That called up beauty...

Philopoiêtai, Poetry Lovers from Time Immemorial

Philopoiêtai, Poetry Lovers from Time Immemorial “Plato’s Symposium shows how Plato deploys dramatic irony to undermine the philopoiêtai’s use of poetry. Elizabeth Belfiore (“Poets and the Symposium”) argues that the dialogue’s first five symposiasts, in their poetic...

Orpheus Sings

          Orpheus Sings Modern poetry  modern verse  contemporary poetry  contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem “he sings to distract his shipmates from the irresistible lure of the Sirens onto the rocks” ~ Michael Schmidt, The First Poets, 32 The Sirens...

Orpheus, Once Torn Limb from Sturdy Limb

Orpheus, Once Torn Limb from Sturdy Limb Modern poetry  modern verse  contemporary poetry  contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem ……….                                                               Orphée by Raoul Dufy Long after he was...

Orpheus like One Crucified

Orpheus like One Crucified Modern poetry  modern verse  contemporary poetry  contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem His music tamed a god and tamed the world Except for human hatreds.  Fiercest birds               Orpheus by Astrid Zydower Rose up to...

Orpheus Died Several Times and Could not Save Himself

Orpheus Died Several Times and Could not Save Himself Modern poetry  modern verse  contemporary poetry  contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Intent is feeble like a hyacinth In rocks along a mountain path where feet Can crush.  Intent is not a marble...

Oracular, or Delphi at its Worst*

Oracular, or Delphi at its Worst* In Homer’s time no word existed for Art.  Praxitiles and Sappho had no term For it. The Greeks had not even the spore Of such a word, so Plato spoke no firm Ideals about that thing which we call art. He had too much, perhaps, to say...