by phillipw | Dec 26, 2019 | SL
Come British Bombs and Drop on Slough Big glossy, glassy buildings to the east And south cannot disguise the truth. Dull Slough Is tasty now because of dark brown yeast, And Turkish sausages, and spicy chow From Shalimar and Karachi. The white Kids blight the...
by phillipw | Dec 26, 2019 | PE
One Peony One peony has blossomed late. To hold Her globe of fragrance up in bravery Is what she wants. Those petals would enfold The smiles of other pinks and there would be The others’ laughter, if she had her way. Alone she meets the sunshine,...
by phillipw | Dec 26, 2019 | PO, RI, VE
A Broader Canvas The house guest, Rimbaud, full of polite tact As usual, demanded that a pic Of some poor long-dead person, who now lacked The decency to avoid having sick- Looking mold on her forehead, be removed. If he had only known his lover’s mere,...
by phillipw | Dec 26, 2019 | AE, BE, DE, ES, PE
Easter Peonies Pink peonies are dying. Only those Most hidden in the shades from one near bush Hold on to sturdy hope, to lingering rose Determination not to wilt. These push With frilled resistance, blowse-like guimpes, against That insubstantial...
by phillipw | Dec 26, 2019 | WH
Family Portrait Sonnet–a Sequence An Ideal Shape and the 1950s He lined us up in no conceivable Arrangement, except a pyramidal One, which is only just perceivable. Our father’s smile is not a riddle; He was a handsome, square-based man, and so The...
by phillipw | Dec 26, 2019 | DO, WH
Donald Anthony Whidden She holds me on her lap, embracing with Her arm and hand my young boy ribs and blue Pajamas. It’s become a monolith— This portrait—packed with family meaning, true Or not. My brother leans against his dad, A cheek against that dark wool...
by phillipw | Dec 26, 2019 | IV, WH
Ivan Louis Whidden Ivan is on the far left In the portrait Ivan has a distant Look, almost a simper—an artefact Of darkroom doctoring, that persistent Saccharine retouching, to hide the fact That we were human beings? And we were, Despite our mother’s...
by phillipw | Dec 26, 2019 | PH
What the Photographer Did Not See There is a certain irony within The carefully contrived composition. One face is part obscured; that bit of chin Is veiled from view. A blond apparition Of glossy hair obtrudes beneath the smile. Is that a prophecy? This partial...
