by phillipw | Dec 21, 2024 | LO, SE
Brown and Pink Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Bracken. Public domain. The bracken, just like life, turns back to rust. They make their way up through it, rustling through The brown. They...
by phillipw | Dec 20, 2024 | Uncategorized
Nosebleeds in a Coffeehouse Might Help “I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked” Howlers annoy. The “poets” speak their lines In limping prose and then expect the rest Of us to call it verse. There should be...
by phillipw | Dec 18, 2024 | Uncategorized
Spitting Cobras Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Spitting Cobra | The Toxic Sprayer The darkest planets are the ones you taught Me I should fear. Pink holes of blackness are Their realms. ...
by phillipw | Dec 18, 2024 | ST
Interior Forever Regrettably Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Remembering her nakedness with black Triangle patch there at her center, he Recoils these decades later, patch myth black Now, more like...
by phillipw | Dec 18, 2024 | Uncategorized
Missed Less than Non-existent Mist Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Though raised in 1950s fear of war, Atomic war, and 1960s threat Of it, I almost never think of it, no more Than thinking of an early...
by phillipw | Dec 17, 2024 | Uncategorized
Planets for Poets In days, millennia, in centuries, nights To come, will poets think of you beside The widened oceans? In rock coves and bights Will writers sing of your inflowing tide? Will poets sing in depths, in time Much deeper yet because in coasts...
by phillipw | Dec 17, 2024 | Uncategorized
Blue and Lavender Might If rain were lavender or blue, our ways Might take us back or forward in our space/ Time. I might learn to dance sand merengues MERENGUE DANCE BASI Y DEISY Along a Caribbean blue-fringed grace Of waves. If lavender, the rain might make...
by phillipw | Dec 15, 2024 | Uncategorized
My Brother Ivan Gave Me a Large Chunk of Petrified (Crystallized) Wood Decades Ago As eons pass, some things become serene In death and nearly everlasting in Their beauty. Logs condemned to mud come clean In loveliness. The minerals that win Inside their cells...
by phillipw | Dec 15, 2024 | Uncategorized
Maine Morning Message Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem We think of Maine, New England and the snow, The snow that comes so soon in winter or Fall, even, locked as hard as Allah’s No Until the power...
by phillipw | Dec 15, 2024 | Uncategorized
Cute Kitten in a Dream Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem You know how dreams are. Hallmark isn’t what They aim for. Roses and perfume? Forget That stuff. Their nightmare purpose is to glut...
by phillipw | Dec 15, 2024 | PE
The Salvation of Royal Coffee Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem There’s nothing wrong with coffee that you can’t Improve by changing it completely in Its taste and lusciousness and smell. Decant...
by phillipw | Dec 15, 2024 | Uncategorized
Elijah Translated in a Blazing Chariot Becomes Undying Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem We spend our days translating English from Trash phrases into tongues of fire and flame. We save...
by phillipw | Dec 14, 2024 | AN, BA, EP, LE, LO, PO, RO
The Loss of the Louvre Imagine that the world of pictures died And words alone were left. The Instagram And TikTok types would all want suicide. Then poetry would rule; this oriflamme Of language would replace nought one, nought one Of photographs and...
by phillipw | Dec 13, 2024 | IM, JU
Bluegrass Reverie in the Spirit of the Ages Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem I want the hurricane to quit its hate And turn to Caribbean breeze in palm And orchid blooms. I dream a winter’s skate On ice...
by phillipw | Dec 10, 2024 | SE, TR, Uncategorized
“As all the Heavens were a [Hollow] Bell” the music of the spheres If I could fall forever through a space We can’t imagine, through the space where spheres Are less than spirit, where mere physics’ place Is less than we can see, through...
by phillipw | Dec 10, 2024 | Uncategorized
Transfusion not Transmigration I need transfusion of your blood from you, Inserted needle in my veins, the flow Of red and white cells from your heart and through My person and my spirit. Help love grow Throughout my body, giving what you can Inside my being, giving...
by phillipw | Dec 9, 2024 | ST
“Take the Current When It Serves” It’s not my business to confirm or not Existence of some worlds to come, or world Forbidden from creation, or the dot We call right now, or fates to be unfurled. It’s not my business to affirm the soul, Its...
by phillipw | Dec 9, 2024 | Uncategorized
Unkindly Stopped Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem A hearse draws up. Though it is black, its team Of horses is electric lavender. I know therefore that it has come to scheme Against me. I must be...
by phillipw | Dec 9, 2024 | Uncategorized
Margaret Redux Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem The dreams of her are coming fast and thin. She fills my bed with foreign images Quite unrelated to her, more a twin Of monstrousness. ...
by phillipw | Dec 9, 2024 | TE
Wrecknology Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem When practicality as focus of Our education trounces fictive things Like symphonies, we just may turn to love Of poetry and painting, what has...
by phillipw | Dec 8, 2024 | BR, DO, FR, WH
Physics Trounced by 24-carat Gold For Donald who is dead these many nights and days I see that in this photo I am blond But I have never noticed until now That Donald, too, is yellow-haired beyond The age of others who went brown. The wow In this is that while...
by phillipw | Dec 7, 2024 | Uncategorized
Two For A. Y. Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem We always knew, or felt we knew, that love Is not just heart, that it was mind as well, Some kind of mind at least, perhaps above The...
by phillipw | Dec 7, 2024 | DE, FA, LO, RO
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Reflecting_cavern_lake.jpg Combination Subterranean Fates Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Your blood cells taste of tight infinities When swallowed by my...
by phillipw | Dec 7, 2024 | RO
Breastbone and Thigh with Color of a Manly Love The ivory letters I would set in bones Of love would nearly be invisible Since ivory is too close in paler tones To thigh and breast bone. Indivisible Those colors are in love from me to you. The ivory would be deep,...
by phillipw | Nov 25, 2024 | GI, LE, PL
Giacomo da Lentini Mentioned in the Purgatory of Dante Conductor and Alighieri slight The soul of Giacomo. One notes that he Like others had not seen the change to might That Dante started, offering the key To wider, deeper understanding of The realm of passion for a...
by phillipw | Nov 24, 2024 | Uncategorized
No Conversion Therapy His eyes hold blacks that Jesus wished to be When he loomed next to Lucifer, the blacks That oceans hold beneath each night-time sea, Not surfaces but depths that only lax Hearts know. His eyes hold feelings blacker than Unfallen angels...
by phillipw | Nov 24, 2024 | AB, LO, RO, SE, YA
Lush Blackness Outside and Inside “with false compare” ~ Shakespeare, Sonnet 130 The eyes wait black, the eyebrows, too. The hair On top waves black, thick black. These blacks all teach That black is lovelier than yellow. Swear By black since it is...
by phillipw | Nov 24, 2024 | LO, PA, RO
Roberto Far, far in Costa Rica, far away My friend reads sonnets/villanelles by me. He reads so closely what these poems say That, apprehending, he reveals that he Reads deeply like a CT scan, or like An X-ray — or electron microscopes. If lines...
by phillipw | Nov 21, 2024 | EP, LY, PO, SH, SO
Less is More: A Sonnet Sequence about Profoundly Paunchy Poetry as Opposed to Perfect Poetry Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem “Flower in the Crannied Wall” ~ Alfred, Lord Tennyson...
by phillipw | Nov 18, 2024 | DI, EM, GL, IN, SP
Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem the music of the spheres (160) ‘The Last Transit of Venus’ for Glass Armonica – YouTube If I could fall forever through a space We can’t imagine,...
by phillipw | Nov 18, 2024 | Uncategorized
A Wombless Vacuum Lacuna Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem It seems I yell out nothings, nothings, not One thing the universe desires. My clouds Are chocked with ambiguities, more clot Than what most...
by phillipw | Nov 18, 2024 | Uncategorized
Cat Lustre How long does glow upon a black cat’s fur Last once his steps are gone? He disappears In night without a moon. Does gloss turn blur, Or worse? If fur goes where there are no spheres, Does it then sublimate to nothing through...
by phillipw | Nov 18, 2024 | Uncategorized
All-embracing Ideas that come from wombs which give them ears Because these thoughts have listened well before They speak, these hear the screaming in your tears Before you feel them. If ideas have more Than auricle and cartilage, the nerves...
by phillipw | Nov 12, 2024 | CA, SA
The Coquina Walls of Castillo San Marcos in Saint Augustine, Florida, Swallowed Cannon Balls Deeply, No Escape Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary...
by phillipw | Nov 11, 2024 | Uncategorized
Claire Austin Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Some snow is sifting down, white snow, not quite As white as winter snow, an orangey pink Where snowflakes joined their stems. The...
by phillipw | Nov 11, 2024 | FA, WH, WO
Look at His Eyes First Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Try looking at the brother on the right, Far right. What wisdom do you see in eyes Above his winsome smile? A photo’s blight Is that it...
by phillipw | Nov 11, 2024 | Uncategorized
Haumaea, Hawai’ian Goddess of Fertility Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem File:Haumea Rotation.gif – Wikimedia Commons If you were making worlds, the spheroid ones, Those almost perfect spheres like...
by phillipw | Nov 10, 2024 | FA, IV
The People Who Are Too Easily Bored Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem The people who too easily are bored Have boring minds, my brother Ivan says. When brains were given out, too many scored At low IQs. ...
by phillipw | Nov 9, 2024 | BI, DE, ME, ST
Dark Lead or Scarlet Glass Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem The others go around as mopes since stress, Depression, or gray weather makes them think about Gun trigger, feeling they might even press...
by phillipw | Nov 5, 2024 | LO, UN
The Featherless Singing Phoenix Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem If he were tall and baritone, perhaps Your heart would grow the ears to hear his soul, But as things are he hears your interest...
by phillipw | Nov 4, 2024 | DO, FA, HE, IV, PH, WH
Big Eyes, Bigger Insight Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem I dare you all to tell me what you see In eyes the farthest to the photo’s right. Clairvoyants alone might hold the key To fathom out...
by phillipw | Nov 4, 2024 | Uncategorized
Encoded Uncertainty Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem The tiny poet sits up on the lap Of Mama, neither clueing what the years Ahead will hold. A family never has a map Of futures, no...
by phillipw | Nov 4, 2024 | DO, FA, HE, IV, PH, WH, WO
The Tidy Family Composition Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem We see him in his 1950s suit. Beside him sits the alien he wed; Her hairstyle would turn E.T. dumb and mute. Of course, this...
by phillipw | Oct 30, 2024 | Uncategorized
Advice from the Cavern at Delphi Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Let feathers of God’s silence lift your ears Above the blare, the skirl near you, the sound Of Thursday prose. Await the...
by phillipw | Oct 29, 2024 | BI, CH, CL, DE
Ever Sere Depression: Blank Eyes, Lips, Ears Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem The place is dark. Its tenses, all, are stark. Its tense today is black as ebony As God imagined it before His spark...
by phillipw | Oct 27, 2024 | Uncategorized
Fire Inside His Will His eyes have Titan clouds inside them, clouds (Prometheus in color) long before He met the beak. His pupils have white shrouds Like cataracts to hide from him the war Between all gods and men. This means his hope Lacks clarity...
by phillipw | Oct 26, 2024 | MY, PA, SA
Absolute Whole Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Illusion and Enlightenment are one. Illusion and Enlightenment are two. Both dream and firefly fluttering each shun Full grasp, but floating,...
by phillipw | Oct 25, 2024 | FI, IN, MA, OB
Visibly Loud Emotion Recollected in Hostility Your thoughts (on seeing me) expand so proud Inside your skull that I can nearly see Their force despite the bone encasement, loud Enough for irises to file. Your spree Of ploys about me now revealed include A purple...
by phillipw | Oct 25, 2024 | CA, SA
Dam Sluice Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Acts 9: 18 Some people, many maybe, think it hard To cause a poem (or a painting just As much). They think the challenge is a sard Too...
by phillipw | Oct 24, 2024 | IN, RI
Apprehension Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem You think that you are seeing him because You see his face and hair. Of course you know That other parts are hidden like the laws Of physics...
by phillipw | Oct 23, 2024 | AN, MA, RO, SE
Antelope Canyon, Valentine Cavern Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem The caves of love, romantic love, each old Like stone they carve through, wait inside the chests Of boys and men. Each curving...
by phillipw | Oct 22, 2024 | Uncategorized
Adolescent Philosophy Is Wet Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem When hair on chest is not quite new or old Long after armpits make announcements, too, Young males are dragged along in being bold In...
by phillipw | Oct 22, 2024 | Uncategorized
The Purpose of Preying Plumes Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Do fledging on your heart and feathers on Your mind. Your eyes might need some feathers, too. The point is flight beyond yourself, a swan...
by phillipw | Oct 21, 2024 | Uncategorized
Whoever Heard of Surging Love in Holland? Can deep romance occur in boring, flat Terrain? Not even in Italian fields With cypress trees, tight shapes, can hearts combat The boredom of a sort that never yields The passion that romance requires. No notes Of music can...
by phillipw | Oct 19, 2024 | BO, BR, CH, FL, GL, IN, TI
A Glass Bubble Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem His childhood, calm, unlike a corrida Entirely, (much more like a mountain lake), Was like lagoon waves lapping Florida Marina shores. The...
by phillipw | Oct 18, 2024 | AR, ES
Venus by Botticelli, Diadoumenos, Johann Sebastian Bach Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Perfection has its drawbacks. It destroys Descendants in their hopes to make an art That breathes new beauty. ...
by phillipw | Oct 17, 2024 | Uncategorized
Similar Sense Twin Sonnets: Paired Sonnets A Fair Lot with Bucephalus “How fair a lot to fill Is left to each man still.” ~ Matthew Arnold “Sohrab and...
by phillipw | Oct 16, 2024 | AL
Sunrise and Evening Star and Clearest Calls The Virgin Birth, Divinity of Christ, Existence or the non-existence of One God or more, no matter how spliced, sliced Are symbols we should nurture, even love Them if they prove as fruitful as the tree That Jesus cursed was...
by phillipw | Oct 16, 2024 | AC, PA
Joy in Sameness, Difference, Acetyline Smokelessness Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem The poetries of life, the poetries In life (if such things do exist) remain Forever, even, much the same. Degrees Of...
by phillipw | Oct 14, 2024 | BU, CH, MY, UN
Absolute Whole Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Illusion and Enlightenment are one. Illusion and Enlightenment are two. Both dream and firefly fluttering each shun Full grasp, but floating...
by phillipw | Oct 14, 2024 | AN, DY, GE, MA, SC
Gold and Copper Living Gaul Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Here armored, gilt and copper, copper breast And gilt of knee with shin guard shaped in gold, He rests with dots upon his hairless chest....
by phillipw | Oct 13, 2024 | PE
~ Phillip Whidden Apotheosis We want incisors on the skull of hate To bite it till it gives up music, art And epic thoughts, yes, all of loving’s freight Desired. We want those teeth to gnaw the heart Until it yields the mathematics of Our highest beauties,...
by phillipw | Oct 13, 2024 | PA
Farther Than an Undetected Star, but . . . Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem We know that nothing can be further from Us, further than the past. The past is gone Much farther than orations from the dumb....
by phillipw | Oct 8, 2024 | SQ, TR
Truer than True Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Those things inside our throats are waiting for Their meaning. Music sung begins as notes Which once inside the mouth might want to soar...
by phillipw | Oct 7, 2024 | BL, WI
Universalist Units Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem If grains of sands hold universes, then The cosmoses are grains of sand. The sense Is clear, the logic locked, and so the...
by phillipw | Oct 7, 2024 | IM
God’s in This World, All’s Pyrite in Heaven “God’s in His heaven– All’s right with the world!” ~ Robert Browning When poets enter other people’s brains, Especially the made up ones, the threat Is like paradisal tree that...
by phillipw | Oct 7, 2024 | Uncategorized
Over Millennia The autumn, with tall steppings like giraffes, Brings colors taller, taller than the rest Of seasons. Graceful, slim months come like laughs Of palettes, legs and necks in step and blessed Like warmer spots, a million autumn leaves Upon...
by phillipw | Oct 7, 2024 | LO, ME, PH
Pinioned Prescriptions: Two Sonnets Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Ornithological Therapy If birds obliged, they might resolve to aid Us in disorders of the heart and mind. The robin might...
by phillipw | Oct 7, 2024 | AR, FU, WO
Recessional Marche Triumphale ~ Sigfrid Karg-Elert Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Throughout the chancel and the nave fall flowers In colors edged the space with petals, form And shape. Despite the...
by phillipw | Oct 7, 2024 | AR, FU, WO
“while unending ages run”. . . and the Obscure Poet Joshua 10:12-14 The printed program had those words within It from a hymn. An irony was caused. The service was about as long as sin Has ruled the Church. Apparently time paused. The service stretched and...
by phillipw | Oct 7, 2024 | BE, FU, GE, JE, LU, PY, SP
Retort to an Unthinking Funeral Ceremony “Daur ye say Mass in my lug? ~ Jenny Geddes Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem The priestess said that God loves everything He made. I kept my seat. I did...
by phillipw | Oct 7, 2024 | AR, FU, RO, WO
“Nor the moon by night” ~ Psalm 121 Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Please never interfere at night, God. Let The moon strike any time it wants. I need It. Keep the sun away, but, please, God get The...
by phillipw | Oct 6, 2024 | LO
The Interpretation of a Cherry Tree Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem If I were like a tree limb, I would sleep As if in blossom like a cherry tree, Not just a branch. My secrets I would keep Inside me...
by phillipw | Oct 2, 2024 | MO
Mockingbird’s Song as Colors Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Northern Mockingbird singing. (yNorthern Mockingbird singing. (youtube.c The mockingbird sings lavishly, and less Like mist of rainbows,...
by phillipw | Oct 2, 2024 | Uncategorized
Loveliest of Trees — an Antidote to Autumn Foliage Imagine drinking saké underneath The cherry blossoms. Saké and the food Are not about our deaths and joys — a wreath Of loss and life. This day is for the brewed Sak-ura-flavored drinks, the pink of blooms, The...
by phillipw | Oct 1, 2024 | Uncategorized
No Matter Where You Bathed Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem No matter where you bathed, the water would Have turned to gold, a liquid gold that gods Would know. Your black dream hair was like a hood,...
by phillipw | Oct 1, 2024 | CH, RO, ST, WE
All Muddled Up as if a Nightmare, Us Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem In dreamland you returned to me from death. Because our dreams are strange, strange, strange without Compassion, colorless as Arctic...
by phillipw | Sep 29, 2024 | Uncategorized
Things Fall Apart When We Fail to See Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Some poets aren’t the prophets of the world. At times these poets come too small. When Yeats Pronounced a dissolution deeply swirled...
by phillipw | Sep 29, 2024 | Uncategorized
Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem The purity escapes, is hard to grasp Unless you do it with your handless soul. The purity escapes. No latch or hasp Can hold it since you know the unseen whole Is...
by phillipw | Sep 29, 2024 | Uncategorized
Silence is Only Silence Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem The moon has never made a pond grow dark Or deep, or punched a hole in it, nor made A poem underneath the wet, or shark To lunge. If...
by phillipw | Sep 29, 2024 | Uncategorized
Out of Joint with Petty Time Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem If you are filled with contradictions, you Have hope and not despair alone. You may Not be a Hamlet with a prince’s view Of kings and...
by phillipw | Sep 27, 2024 | CE, DE, LA, MA
November Calm Forgets Them Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem We want to sleep as pears and apples lined Up in the autumn thinking not of graves. Our cemeteries are too much refined. New England’s basements...
by phillipw | Sep 26, 2024 | BL, CR, SA
Cosmic Regurgitation Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Black holes are darker than the darkest spheres Of planets. You might fear them if you saw Them. Even more the darkest holes cause smears...
by phillipw | Sep 25, 2024 | Uncategorized
“Ready to be anything, in the ecstasy of being forever” ~ Sir Thomas Browne, Hydriotaphia If we exist forever, well past time, Mere time, our lives will be much fuller than Our slim imaginations. We will climb Past Alpine heights, more star-like, than a man On...
by phillipw | Sep 25, 2024 | Uncategorized
Ghost Sharks Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Ghost sharks are sharks and not. These sharks, these fish Pre-dated sharks and rays for eons. Ghosts In their appearance they look...
by phillipw | Sep 25, 2024 | DE
Brevity as Gasps Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Too seldom women feel themselves like dew And men less seldom even. Life cut short Like lightning is a thought we seldom view Though close...
by phillipw | Sep 25, 2024 | Uncategorized
“And Man Became a Living Soul” Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem ~ Genesis 2:7 Consider what your soul wants most of all, The bhumisparsha not required. The palm Holds fingers pointing out to...
by phillipw | Sep 24, 2024 | RE
Back Garden Universal Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem The dew upon the petal of the rose Remains undyed, a purity of red, A purity of crimson drops transpose To brightness held up in a flowerbed Like...
by phillipw | Sep 24, 2024 | Uncategorized
Heaven and Earth “Eternity is in love with the productions of time.” ~ William Blake When gods get bored, they leave eternity And step through gauze-like curtains into time. While being trapped in their supernity, They yearn for thrills on earth and...
by phillipw | Sep 24, 2024 | Uncategorized
My Hermitage Where I Sit in Isolation Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Perhaps I’ll build a hut just off a trail In Appalachian mountains far away From everyone and everything, derail The rush, block out...
by phillipw | Sep 23, 2024 | Uncategorized
The Garden of Moksha, Fragrant Orchids and Night-blooming Cereus Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem The petals of eternity will bloom, Or never will, because of you and me. The good that we create will...
by phillipw | Sep 23, 2024 | Uncategorized
Words Do Not Have to be Gilded on Ivory Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem The tatters down below the lines he writes Take on a meaning. There the smudgy stains Incurred inside his shopping bag are...
by phillipw | Sep 23, 2024 | Uncategorized
Transcendent Escape from Silliness Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Why are people called Buddhas After they die? Because they don’t grumble anymore, Because they don’t make a nuisance Of themselves...
by phillipw | Sep 23, 2024 | Uncategorized
The Western Pure Land Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Amida made a vow to save us all, All creatures in their incarnations. Love And mercy lift us. Other saviors fall Far short of such...
by phillipw | Sep 22, 2024 | Uncategorized
Leaden Jewels “When the half-gods go, The gods arrive.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson Abandon the religion you were taught. It seemed like diamonds set in white gold rings, But now you see the truth. Some truths are not Religion if they lack...
by phillipw | Sep 22, 2024 | Uncategorized
Like Us and Not Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem The moon becomes its crescent shape, then full, Then phases back to crescent. In the day It disappears. The ocean feels its pull. The...
by phillipw | Sep 22, 2024 | Uncategorized
The Women Trapped in a Convex Volcanic Mirror Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Obsidian, a lump of ancient black, Is held against a woman’s palm. She grips Its roughness in her hand, its flesh quite...
by phillipw | Sep 21, 2024 | Uncategorized
Adoration Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem I want the night to lose its blindness, take Its blindfold off for angels’ searing sight. I want a fissure caused by earth’s crust’s quake To...
by phillipw | Sep 21, 2024 | CH, ST, UN
Unconcern Separated by the Thickness of Hot Skin Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Your blood was always free of light for me. You kept your secrets utter in between The women. Bleeding like a maple tree...
by phillipw | Sep 20, 2024 | Uncategorized
“A Man of Original Inactivity” ~ Ikkyū A nothingness is where we come from, writes A poet, and we go to nothing, then Insists we’re like a bird, in that, in mead flights Through Viking halls goes out the window, men Not noticing. It flies from night to night, From...