Shakespeare’s Ancestors
“his feeling is that poetry is expressions of ‘moments of vision’.” ~ R. H. Blyth on Sōgi
We think that poets must have Persians through
Their blood. Persepolis and pillars high,
Though broken in those measured meters true
Too distant sounds and minds, high lines ally
With. We assume inside our bones and woes
That poets are diasporas of Jews,
Flamed Shadrachs, Meschachs and Abednegoes,
And cedar Daniels praying upright views
From raptures. We prefer to think that rhymes
And rhythms from a Shelley or a Keats
Are pure as Pharaohs soaring from our times
To levitating timelessness in streets
Of gods with jackals for their heads and eyes
Which should be frontal, staring towards dry skies.
~ Phillip Whidden