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 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 | Jul 16, 2024 | AM, AN, DE, HA, PO, PR
Delphi Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem To die while the dew Is yet undried, that would have Meaningless meaning. ~ Kōyō [Englished and twisted by Phillip Whidden; the more correct...
by phillipw | Jun 14, 2024 | AN, BE, BR, FL, GR, OL, Uncategorized
Temples, Temple Oranges Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem “Take the orange petals, Take the olive leaves” ~ Lorca, “Baladilla de los tres ríos” Some poet somewhere ought to write about The orange...
by phillipw | Apr 8, 2024 | AN, GR, JA, MO, RO
I Canali, un Pranzo, il Arsenale Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem The Romans, Japanese and Greeks once had A reverence, religious in a calm Way, quiet, for the clockwork things, the sad (The...
by phillipw | Sep 7, 2023 | AN, BR, CO, GR
Hemmed in by Their Beards The only women Greeks respected with The type of honor they accorded males Were Amazons. Though whether these were myth Or fact, or both, the sagas offered tales To teach young men that they should not forsake Ideals of manhood. When...
by phillipw | Sep 7, 2023 | AM, AN, CL, ID, PE
The Ideal Refuses Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Greeks never showed the Amazon with one Breast chopped away in marble. Beauty’s shape Flowed lacking flaws. Greek teachings all...
by phillipw | Sep 3, 2023 | AN, DI, GR, RA, RE, SE
The Ancient Gods in Perfect Geometric Shapes Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem The skyward gods (like levitating shapes Of gold) float flawless, utter in the air, The ether, far above their crimes and...
by phillipw | Aug 29, 2023 | AN, EG, EY
Caged Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Egyptian royalty wore strict strokes round Each eye—in life and death—for force. This fence In life was formed of grace. The kohl that crowned The...
by phillipw | Aug 28, 2023 | AK, AN, SO
A Glowing Untruth Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem The Christians and the Jews and Muslims, not To mention Hindus, Buddhists and the . . . rest, Have failed to tell us in exactly what Sweet...
by phillipw | Jul 12, 2023 | AN, FR, PE, PH, VA, YO
Orange Penetrates so Intense that It Throbs as Purple Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Why bother with bare beauty when deep sex Comes offered in the package? Canyons etched With liquid bearing scree...
by phillipw | Apr 23, 2023 | AN, FE, SC
Phrasikleia Kore Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem It isn’t like she doesn’t know that she Is being noticed. After all she’s put On all her finest clothes. She makes a plea For us to look at...
by phillipw | Apr 5, 2023 | AN, GH, IN
Oppositional Productivity Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Emotion is as difficult to free From poetry as cultures’ deepest faiths From superstition. It will have its spree Inside...
by phillipw | May 2, 2022 | AN, OC, SE
Unchangingly Changing Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem The sea, though always kind and cruel, both, Is never kind or cruel, but the sea. At once both kind and cruel, not, its oath Will be,...
by phillipw | Mar 24, 2022 | AN, MO, OL
Uhtceare . . . . .l He lies awake and not, awake but not In decent consciousness, more nightmarish His bed. He feels entrapped inside a slot Of evils, waking worries, angst, garish In coldest heat. This looms, sorrow before The dawn, in darkness...
by phillipw | Mar 15, 2022 | AN, BR, DE, GA, RU, SE
Stranger and Not Stranger “Youth is stranger than fiction.” ~ Rupert Brooke The two re-met two nights. Young Brooke was known To be opposed to what they were about To do. The other had been nursing overblown Emotions for the poet, years. A stout...
by phillipw | Mar 7, 2022 | AN, BR, DE, GA, RU
But What is Man’s Nature? The poet’s lofty principle about The buggering of boys’ butts was plain. When physical with guys, his only shout Was, “Follow nature.” Poets should refrain From filling holes not meant for making kids. A woman’s hairy hole was what...
by phillipw | Feb 6, 2022 | AN, PO
Who Made Gods and Constellations and Our Deaths? Amos 5:8 The poets , long before the writers, made The myths of pregnant moon, and miracles, land With Godzilla quakes, realms of hell-born shade, And ocean, sick divinity, its hand And penis moving everywhere in...
by phillipw | Jan 28, 2022 | AN, HA, ME, PO
Hesitancy Being chased The firefly Hides in the moon. ~ Ryōta When poetry is analyzed too much, It starts to lose its meaning or its force. A haiku clarified with heavy touch Becomes transparent to the mind, of course, But dies inside the heart. The...
by phillipw | Jan 13, 2022 | AN
A Symposium When singers were performing Homer in The ancient past of Greece, they sang to all And sundry. Rhapsodists were out to win The ears of not just kings but even small Men, women too, and maybe even boys And girls. The point of young men...
by phillipw | Nov 22, 2021 | AN, FR, MA, PR
Straight Road Willows Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem The friend has gone along the long straight road With willows all along on left and right. Their greenness does not...
by phillipw | Nov 21, 2021 | AN, MY
Absent Orange and Blue Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem “ ‘Why did the whole Greek world exult over the combat scenes in the Iliad?’ asks Friedrich Nietzsche. We modern readers do not even...
by phillipw | Oct 24, 2021 | AD, AN, GR, JO, KE, LA, ME, OV, SI, SU
On First Looking into Ovid’s Metamorphoses For Adam Meister and Suyash Singh His hand was heart. His heart was hand. The hand Was heart and more. This hand was soul and mind. He learned that there are more than Sabbaths, bland And filled with trifling things like...
by phillipw | Aug 8, 2021 | AN, HE, IS, SE, ST, TR
Iseut of the White Hands Slick She moves her white hands down to find his dark Disgustingness, exactly what her need Is in this darker moment. Long, and stark, And thick it promises disgusting seed If she is brave and desperate enough To take it everywhere...
by phillipw | Jul 30, 2021 | AN, GR, NU, OL, RA, RU
Wearing Only Sunlight and Beauty, the Racer on the Track at Ancient Olympia Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Dressed only in the sunshine and his skin He steps as strongly as a stallion to The line. He...
by phillipw | Jul 11, 2021 | AN, AP, AR, GR, SC
Aegean Immortality Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem The eye begins to wonder if the truth About Greek statues is that gods still sleep Within them, living, deep within their youth. The eye looks...
by phillipw | May 11, 2021 | AN, CI, GR, Ho, MA, PA
Might Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem In real man Greece the reason for the male Grown up in masculinity to be The one to be allowed to vote and rail Against opponents in a vote was...
by phillipw | May 3, 2021 | AM, AN, BI, GA, GR, ME, RA, SE, ZE
iOvid Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem What Ovid did two thousand years ago, The World Wide Web has lately caught up with. He did it many, many times. The slow Web has, at last,...
by phillipw | Apr 25, 2021 | AN, BA, BE, BO, CH, FI, MI
Michael Barham Antiques at the Top of the Portobello Road The shops are multi-coloured on their fronts, The pink ones and the gold ones and the grey (Lead blue). Yet then a true blue one confronts Your vision. [Other shoppers wander. They Don’t have a clue. ...
by phillipw | Mar 29, 2021 | AN, OB, PR
Eons Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem The centuries long committed to the sound Of silence have forgotten colors too. We cannot know these times. They are a mound, That opened, offers...
by phillipw | Mar 24, 2021 | AN, LI, PO, TE
Textually Abused It used to be that English teachers taught Us poetry by reading it aloud Or telling us that on our own we ought To memorize it. In the distant cloud Of eons past all poetry was set In memory by bards but maybe no One else. Our teachers...
by phillipw | Mar 21, 2021 | AN, CO, DE, DI, FA, FE, FU, HE, KE, PE, SE, SK
Coffin, Bed, Whatever He used to have a black nacrotic ____ But now, because of you, it swells again. It pulses and is desperate to _____ Out words and symphonies so full of pain That laughter is the only option. ____ Is there if you desire it in your throat. If...
by phillipw | Jan 19, 2021 | AE, AN, BE, ES, JE, MO, PE
Red Peony Petals Fallen on a White Windowsill The fallen red lies still as it is weak And strong. The petals lie as still as prayer By Buddha in serenity. A Greek Simplicity is called to mind. An air Of Classicism rules the scene, restrained. Yet scarlet does not...
by phillipw | Jan 18, 2021 | AE, AN, BE, GR, MO, PE, SA
Rectitude and Beauty Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Matthew 6:28 The ant, a Puritan in black, moves right Across the petal’s purity. The black One works, works,...
by phillipw | Jan 17, 2021 | AE, AN, BE, ES, MA, NA, SE
An Alternative Universe Has No Narcissus Blossoms Lingering by Ponds Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Narcissus climbed down from the edge and stepped In, lowering himself until he saw The water start...
by phillipw | Jan 15, 2021 | AN, DE, FA, FI, GR, PE
Withered Chances When just a boy, he broke the beauty, broke A peony. Then later, decades on He still remembered how he felt the choke Of anger like the pain a marathon Participant endures when he sustained His father’s wrath. It rankled still beyond...
by phillipw | Jan 13, 2021 | AE, AN, BE, ES, PE
A Calm Antarctic in May Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem The stillness matters. Quietude prevails The way a frozen king upon a frost Throne reigns across a frozen ocean, sails Of icebergs also in his...
by phillipw | Dec 25, 2020 | AL, AN, CH, FE, KI, MU
The Cambridge Christmas Choir Trinity The beauties vary. One young man whose throat Appears to have no voice box sings high Inside the chapel. Melodies devote Themselves from him like angels in the sky Above sopranos and the trebles. He Turns into miracles the...
by phillipw | Dec 23, 2020 | AC, AN, EP, Ho, IL, ME, MO, PO
Absence Forbidden by Anamnesis Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Pure absence is unknown—as long as mind Retains the memory, absence is denied. An ancient poet, wandering and blind, Can see that fact. ...
by phillipw | Dec 23, 2020 | AN, JA, ME, SA, ST, Ta
Fabulous Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem The ancient Japanese sword-makers bent Bent, coaxed their steel, more thousands of plies, than Rehearsing swordsmen slashed their blades. ...
by phillipw | Dec 19, 2020 | AN, DA, GA, HI, Ho
Viral Sentiment like Off-white Satin His glinting seed attempts to scatter in His partner. It is poison like a snake’s Injection, not like love, for it is sin. It spreads as far as semen can. It stakes Out manly claims inside the victim. Gold Is what it prospects...
by phillipw | Dec 14, 2020 | AN, CH, EG, EM, GR, MO, ST
Ritual of Something Too like Vacuum As ignorant as light that streams from rooms Where love has been, we think of you. Alone Now, more like air within the pharaohs’ tombs, We try to fill the dark with more than bone And skin of memory. Your flesh recalled In...
by phillipw | Dec 9, 2020 | AN, GO, GR, PR, RE
“The Isles of Greece, the Isles of Greece!” The icons looking over valleys down Beneath, and over hills across the way, Are placed to shine like jewels on a crown. This crown looks far to mountains where priests pray And past the harbors where boats wait before They...
by phillipw | Dec 7, 2020 | AN, AR, CA, DR, FA, GA, LU, PR
Gabriel or Lucifer? My cat is like an angel when he dreams, An angel from the furry realms of God. It is as if he more than merely seems To be archangel-like, a cat who’s awed By holy visions twitching in his paws, And lies angelic in his twitching calm. His...
by phillipw | Dec 2, 2020 | AN, BA, EU, HA, JA, LY, ME, MU, MY, OR
Lyrical Light and Annihilation The harp is not of heaven alone. Its strings Have been to Hades on the saddest trip. A gilded harp may seem to have the wings Of Hermes. It may ride an Argo ship Which has one eye to see its way to fleece And gold, to beauty’s...
by phillipw | Nov 29, 2020 | AL, AN, DE, EP, GR, HE, IS, LU, MA, PH, PL, SE
Healthy Hedonism; and, Holy Hedonism, Paired Sonnets Healthy Hedonism Tattoo upon yourself this perfect law— The sacredness of pleasure is above The other, puny principles. The awe That it deserves, like God in love, Confirms that thrills, inviolate and...
by phillipw | Oct 29, 2020 | AN, FE, HE, JO, LA, PA, PR, TH, WH, WI, WO
Presence Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem The past is never past, is more than ghost Or Undead creature. Passed away the past Is not. It lives within. Its whispered boast Inhabits mental...
by phillipw | Oct 24, 2020 | AN, EP, Ho, PA
Prime Poet “Again Sarpedon’s bright spear missed, the blade passing over Patroclus’ left shoulder, leaving the man unscathed. But Patroclus hurled his bronze, in turn, and the spear sped from his hand and not in vain, striking Sarpedon where the ribs...
by phillipw | Oct 22, 2020 | AN, CH, DA, GR, HE, IS, JU, PH, RE
Darwin and Heraclitus Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem “Homer should be turned out of the canon and whipped. He was wrong in saying : ‘Would that strife might perish from among gods and men!’ ...
by phillipw | Oct 21, 2020 | AN, EP, HE, Ho, IL, LO, PO, RO
He Lost, was Slaughtered, but Only He and She had Triumphed Prince Paris was the winner. Every day For years he woke up to his perfect love. He knew where perfect love and beauty lay Because she lay beside him. Far above All other beauty and above the race Of women,...
by phillipw | Oct 15, 2020 | AN, GA, HA, Ho, LO, PR, SA
Innocent Intentions in Love Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem He chose a love perpetual those years Ago. His kind of love has been around Since men began to fall in love with tears. He knew, but did...
by phillipw | Oct 13, 2020 | AN, AP, BE, CH, DI, JE, MA, RE
Christ vs. Apollo Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem If true Apollo’s temple has been crushed By buildings of the Vatican, the ground Of Lord Apollo’s prophecies now hushed By singing in the...
by phillipw | Oct 12, 2020 | AN, EN, FR, GO, Ho, LO
Rulers without Culture and Without a Blind Poet “When a Prince lacks a Homer, it means that he is not worthy of having one.” ~ François de Salignac de la Mothe-Fénelon “He knows the application of the book But not who wrote it; shuts it like a shot. Rather than read...
by phillipw | Oct 12, 2020 | AC, AN, Ho, PO, RA
Reeking Champ Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem “Achilles exists only through Homer.” ~ François-René de Chateaubriand in his preface to Les Natchez, 1826 “Achilles was a heel.” ~ Lapel badge...
by phillipw | Oct 10, 2020 | AN, BO, DE, HE, IS, OX, PO, SA
Dead Sea Scrolls and Caves Discovered Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem The words remain on pages and on scrolls Through centuries and millennia. On dark Cave walls the long lost paintings left by...
by phillipw | Oct 9, 2020 | AN, BU, GE, PH, RE
Our Choice of Ancestors What we think, we become. Buddha Philippians 4:8 “Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are...
by phillipw | Oct 5, 2020 | AN, BY, CO, GR, PO
Snake Intestines in the Royal College’s Library of Constantinople Inked lines of Homer quilled inside a roll, One hundred twenty feet of words along A parchment made of serpent folds, a scroll From fabled serpents’ innards, softly strong, Was laid as almost...
by phillipw | Oct 5, 2020 | AN, DR, LO, PO
Antarctica’s Dry Valley Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Extremes beyond imagining for most Are what some poets want to capture. They Want more. They strain to make their minds engrossed With...
by phillipw | Sep 17, 2020 | AN, AS, GR, HE, JE, PY, TR
Infant Mild and Astyanax, the Son of Hector, Hidden in Hector’s Tomb Our western world begins its dating with The birth of one warm glowing baby. Glow And gilding in the paintings are like myth. They make truth truer. Little foot and toe On manger straw are our...
by phillipw | Sep 16, 2020 | AN, CO, Ho, IL, PO, Ta, TR
Taironan Troy See “Mucho más que libros,” Semana, 4 June 2001, Bogatá “At the time of the conquest, the Tairona had different cultural practices than Modern Native American populations. Ethnographic sources highlight freedom to...
by phillipw | Sep 15, 2020 | AB, AN, MU, RE
Laius and Jocasta, Medea, etc. Simone de Beauvoir speaks of passion “born from love to murder love.” Does she mean women (or their men) who want Abortions after passion (or just sex Or lust)? Does she mean women born to haunt The cosmos with those listless babies,...
by phillipw | Sep 14, 2020 | AN, BR, CH, DA, DI, PI, RO, WI, WO
All’s Right with the World Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem “Nature … in the very act of labouring as a machine is also sleeping as a picture.” Canon J. B. Mozely, University Lectures, sermon on...
by phillipw | Sep 14, 2020 | AC, AN, HI
Not the Greeks Achaeans, Argives, and Danaans, not The Greeks, surrounded Troy. We simplify The facts of history and cause a blot On truth. Such dumbings down exemplify The weight of arrogance and laziness And all our slavehood in their train. We might Be...
by phillipw | Aug 2, 2020 | AN, GA, Ho, IN, KE, PR, RE
Some readers may find this piece offensive. If you think you might be offended, please do not read it. Conversion at the Cliff Edge of the Great Rift Valley Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Beyond...
by phillipw | Jul 24, 2020 | AN, IC, RE
Floating Between the Stars and the Depths Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Black unseen forces move the stars above Us and below the southern hemisphere. Some unseen forces like the wind and love,...
by phillipw | Jul 23, 2020 | AN, DO, ED, FA, PA, WA, WI
Edward Wilson’s Uncompromising Painting in the Face of Doom … It is as if the realm of ghosts and shades Were painted in a watercolour of Pale blues and soft frost blacks, or like charades Performed behind auroras from above Antarctic twilights. ...
by phillipw | Jul 23, 2020 | AN, CH, FR, GA, Ho, LO, MA, ST
Antarctic Odds The man I love . . . I carry weight along Horizons for his heart. The burdens are Not heavy and they are. A book with song, And song, and song I clutch to me as far As strides will go. The songs and book stretch out As if through snow,...
by phillipw | Jul 20, 2020 | AN, AR, DE, DO, IM, JE, MU, OL, OR, PI, PO
Πιερία Pieria Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Pieria was laid with plains and peaks, The highest one Olympus, when the gods Set forth the world. Poseidon’s seashore speaks And gives...
by phillipw | Jul 20, 2020 | AN, DA, HE, IC, PH, TH, WH, WO
With Straight Gold Bars I sat beside my mother as the sale Was made, the purchase of The World Book Encyclopedia. I loved the pale Cream, knobbled leatherette, the noble look Of deep maroon square placed on spine of each Restrained and heavy volume, glossy...
by phillipw | Jul 20, 2020 | AN, BU, FA, IL, LI, OB, SA
Where Cleanest Vaulting Beauty Flies Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem “Youths and maidens all blythe and full of glee, carried the luscious fruit in plaited baskets; and with them there went a boy who...
by phillipw | Jul 20, 2020 | AD, AN, FE, GL, HI, Ho, KY, ME
Were I to Believe in Angels’ Songs If angels, each one, had a message they Would sing to us, would each charge be the same, A Kyrie, an Adoramus te, Or Gloria? No, that would be too tame. I’m thinking every one would be unique, Each text and melody enough to...
by phillipw | Jul 20, 2020 | AN
Ugly Beauty Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem You might want to read this sarcastic version of the Greek myth http://www.shmoop.com/echo-narcissus/summary.html before you read the...
by phillipw | Jul 20, 2020 | AC, AN, HE, PA, TR
Two Men in Love in Death Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem “Hector dies, and when at last in Book XXIV his corpse is recovered, it is laid out and Andromache holds Hector’s head in her lap,...
by phillipw | Jul 20, 2020 | AE, AN, FR, GO, GR, JA, MY, PO, TH
Three Thousand Years before Apple and Three Thousand Years after the iPad I carry in my knapsack poems by The ancient Greeks, the eldest ones, the best, The best of elders. They are still as spry As dolphins’ arcs by the Argosy’s quest. Lines wait within the safety...
by phillipw | Jul 16, 2020 | AN, PH, PL, PO
Sovereignty Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem “Is it simply that people who philosophize think that people who produce, consume, or appreciate poetry (the philopoiêtai) have the wrong...
by phillipw | Jul 15, 2020 | AN, EN
Scorn Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem “Enargeîs is the technical term ‘for divine epiphany: a word that contains the dazzle of “white,” argós, which comes to designate a pure,...
by phillipw | Jul 15, 2020 | AN, BO, Ho
Scholarly Blindness “Since before 450 BC there was no prose literature, our only windows on the ancient world are the poems.” ~ Michael Schmidt, The First Poets, 8 It only goes to show that scholars love To focus narrowly. He looked so hard At Greeks that he is...
by phillipw | Jul 14, 2020 | AN, AP, DE, GR, PR
Ruined Myth and Heavy Reality Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem The pillars look more like some backbones stripped Of skin and muscle than Apollo’s space In Delphi and are squat and stodgy, chipped And...
by phillipw | Jul 14, 2020 | AN, CE, EU, HA, IX, MY
Poetry Makes a Different Exploration of the Realm of Death No poet thinks about the path the wife Of Orpheus took down to Hades. Not One poet ever writes about how harshly rife That journey was. The poisoned bride’s death lot Was just the same as anyone’s. The path...
by phillipw | Jul 14, 2020 | AN, GR, PO
Poetry, Crime, and Government “Poets are the legislators of the world.” ~ Shelley The ancient Greeks still live. They are not dead. Their poetry from then speaks still upon Some pages on our shelves. The scholar’s head Refuses to let go that singing dawn. These...
by phillipw | Jul 13, 2020 | AE, AN, BE, CH, ES, PH, PL
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...
by phillipw | Jul 12, 2020 | AN, PO
Only the Poet Triumphed Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem The only man to live the storm through on The wind-wrecked ship was singing all the while. The singer, he survived it in the dawn. Alone he...
by phillipw | Jul 12, 2020 | AE, AN, BE, ES, HE, PO
No Room for Unholiness not Cleansed “ ‘What would a man not give,’declares Plato in the Apology, ‘to engage in conversation with Orpheus and Musaeus and Hesiod and Homer?’ Can we do something of the sort? If not to engage in conversation, then at least to glimpse...
by phillipw | Jul 12, 2020 | AN, OE, OR
Myths of Poetry The early words of poetry arose From darkness in the depths of throat and lungs In caves and mixed with burning air. The bows And arrows in the shadows gave the tongues That sang the blood and flesh which chanting needs. Or else out on a...
by phillipw | Jul 12, 2020 | AM, AN, AR, MA, MU, PO, ST
Music, Poetry, and Architecture, All from Mathematics Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem The poet Amphion rebuilt the streets And temples, houses, and the stoa of The ruined Cadmeia. His lyric beats Were...
by phillipw | Jul 12, 2020 | AN, GR, PO, SA
Murmurs/Purling Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem [“Lo! I divine through murmurs borne The subtle thread of voices old” ~ Paul Verlaine, “Je divine, a travers un...
by phillipw | Jul 12, 2020 | AN, AR, BA, WA
Metallic Heroes Did not Dare to Turn their Backs Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Bronze swords, and shields, and helmets with their crests They wore while slicing men with wounds and death....
by phillipw | Jul 9, 2020 | AN
The Primitive Polyphemus before the Strangers’ Attack But then again we do not always need The total poem. Au contraire. We guess The substance missing. Hurt lines also bleed. The rips and blots allow us to say yes To meanings we imagine. Deletions Free up the mind...
by phillipw | Jul 9, 2020 | AN
Lopped and Crippled Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem So little full-limbed poetry survives The ancient Greeks, we’re left to deal with things Grammarians have saved for us—and lives Of poets put on...
by phillipw | Jul 8, 2020 | AN, CO, HU, PO, RH, SC
I Have Looked upon the Face of Jolliness The ancient Greeks in poetry were lewd As limericks, playful, silly as a stand Up joker on a comic’s platform, rude And crude, yep, far more rude than Russell Brand. Emitted from these ancient rhythmic throats Were poems...
by phillipw | Jul 7, 2020 | AN, Ho, IL, VI
Homeric Similes “These similes serve to take the reader away from the battlefield for a brief while, into the world of pre-war peace and plenty. Often, they occur at a moment of high action or emotion, especially during a battle. In the words of Peter Jones,...
by phillipw | Jul 7, 2020 | AN, PO, PR, RH
Heroes, Victims, and Poseidon The metre of ancient Greek poetry succeeds in “achieving a length and complexity that are unusual in the heroic verse of other literatures.” ~ Michael Grant, The Rise of the Greeks, 325, as quoted in Michael Schmidt, The First Poets, 16....
by phillipw | Jul 7, 2020 | AN, ST
Farsighted “Things that inadvertantly shape us draw upon structures, forms, legends, myths, which have their origin in ancient Mediterranean cultures.” ~ Michael Schmidt, The First Poets The temples stand still, still and broken. They Refuse to be...
by phillipw | Jul 7, 2020 | AN, EP, IM
Ever Newly Old Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Each time that Homer spoke his epics, they Were new. His improvising made the old A new creation slightly. He could play With ready-made...
by phillipw | Jul 7, 2020 | AN, EU, OR
Eurydice behind Orpheus Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Do spirits dress in spirit clothes and shoes? Do spirit sandals make a sound when on The road in night or are they too diffuse Of spirit atoms? ...
by phillipw | Jul 7, 2020 | AN, ET, LI, MO
Esthetic Wistfulness as Obscenity “The two greatest poems of western man are still, in many eyes, the two oldest. And the grace and sanity of Greece are not so common in the modern world that we can afford to forget them.” ~ F. L. Lucas in Greek Poetry Does ancient...
by phillipw | Jul 7, 2020 | AN, EP, PO, PR
Epicinian: Poetry Is a Victory if We Do Not Bastardize It “The continuous efforts of English poets in every generation to rediscover a ‘language really used by men’ would have been incomprehensible to a[n ancient] Greek.’” ~ Michael Schmidt, The First Poets, 15,...
by phillipw | Jul 6, 2020 | AN, IN, MA, MI, MU
Daedalus and Icarus Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem “The natural rhythms of Greek [poetry] tend ‘downward,’ falling” ~ Michael Schmidt, The First Poets, 14 How strange it is to think that ancient...
by phillipw | Jul 5, 2020 | AN
Earliest Poetry Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poetry modern verse The sunlight, bright as gods could ever hope ….. To be, fell down on isthmus, valley, sea, On life and death, on limestone mountain slope Before...
by phillipw | Jul 5, 2020 | AN, OR
Aegean Heat We look at Orpheus, torn on the ground. We try forgiving women and his wife For tearing at his heart and body found Among the barren olives. This one’s life Is deathless in the myth of love and sounds Discarded in eternity. We seek Forever to...