by phillipw | Oct 18, 2019 | PO, PO
On the Literature Shelves A poem rests upon the page. That rest Is calmer than the calmest man. The lines Have no desire. They are not like a chest With nipples, hair, or heartbeat that defines Hard ribcage yearnings. Poems do not want A reader or his...
by phillipw | Oct 18, 2019 | CE, UN
Certainty and Uncertainty “Avoid it.” “Help me.” “Lift a little. Come And help me.” “Take the chance.” “Be good with me.” “Be better.” “We are better than this.” “Some.” “No, you are.” “You have understood with me.” “Fulfill your mission.” “In the world.” “Our...
by phillipw | Oct 18, 2019 | AL
Religion Meets the Nagasaki Force of Profiled Nostrils How feebly glacier strengths of faith resist The megatons of fire released by you, Your hair. Christ evanesces in a mist Of sweat and hankering. The ice, so blue Before I saw you, is transparent now. No, not...
by phillipw | Oct 18, 2019 | AN
Birth from Below the Dead Nine thousand, five hundred, and fifty years This tree has grown, or grown and waited, till Allowed to grow again, still more. It clears Millennia with patience. Seasons spill Across it with destructive powers. The cold...
by phillipw | Oct 17, 2019 | MA
Immortal Anthems of the Holy Ones In raw solemnity the angels voice A rush. They sing of all the martyrs who Have suffered darkest pain. Pearl souls rejoice, The souls of seraphs with their wings grown two By two above their heads, behind their backs,...
by phillipw | Oct 17, 2019 | FR, ST
Tutti Do not just speak. Be what you want to say. Make living out your life your message as You sing along with others. Every day Is meant to be a holy one that’s made of jazz And other happy tunes or sad ones when That inspiration comes. Keep ear...
by phillipw | Oct 17, 2019 | Z
The Missing Piece There was this missing piece in us. Let’s not Refer to it by any of its names, The normal or poetic ones. They clot Clear thinking and they make too many claims. Let’s only say that there was this one hole. It didn’t matter much to you and...
by phillipw | Oct 17, 2019 | RI, VE
Three Septembers September 1871, September 1872 Septembers are the fateful months for falls. Septembers, not quite autumn yet, will start The way. They do not mean to hear the calls Of destiny, but there it is. They part The summer from its certain leaves and oaths...
