by phillipw | Aug 24, 2024 | BO, DA, FR, JU, PE, PS, TH, Uncategorized
Three Caskets of Dreams “Who chooseth me must give and hazard all he hath.” ~ The Merchant of Venice The mind stores every memory at least Three times. You do not have to speculate. You know exactly why. Collapsed and creased Deep down in brain...
by phillipw | Jul 16, 2024 | DA, FL, GA, OR, PO, SA, SN, SU
Weird Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem How strange these bright orbs seem beneath the snow Of Florida. The rarity should be The flakes heaped up on an orange van Gogh Might...
by phillipw | Jul 11, 2024 | DA, MO, SA, SU
Do Not Be Silly about Dalí or French Alexandrines no room for dream and its inexact flower ~ Lorca, “Ode to Salvador Dalí,” (Oda a Savador Dalí) We still have room for dreams as well as flowers. Uncertain blooms? They fail to exist, no Approximate lilies. His signal...
by phillipw | Feb 4, 2022 | DA, DR, FA, HA, HE, PE, SE, VA
Dreaming of the Coming Spring Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem They blossom, and then We gaze, and then the blooms Scatter, and then… ~ Onitsura The tightness of the winter now is...
by phillipw | Dec 5, 2021 | CH, DA, PL, Uncategorized
Blackness Stained to White and Pink Each dawn will come now From the white plum blossoms on Branches of black trees. ~ December 4 2021 Where dawns derive from has been falsified By scientists. They say it’s from the sun Arising. Is...
by phillipw | Oct 11, 2021 | DA, DO, ET, SA
“Something Evermore to Be” Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Yes, something evermore to be awaits, Or we await it. It is promise or Recurring prophecy. Sublimest gates Are opening. This truth is at the...
by phillipw | Aug 22, 2021 | DA, SU
The Sun Sets Out Its Triumphs Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem The sun sets out across the coast. The mist And sea entice it. Morning sun is caught In haar and depths. The noon-time’s...
by phillipw | Aug 9, 2021 | DA, DR, SA, UN
Dreams are Dreams in Dali’s World Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem I dreamed of you last night, the dream set in And unknown city. Accidentally met We walked together, both avoiding sin. We went to your...
by phillipw | Jul 29, 2021 | BI, DA
Serenade, Intensive Intermission, Concert The birds begin their songs before the light Begins to tinge the sky and hide the stars. These early voices start to banish night: They are the dawn’s commanding feathered czars. They carry on their chorus till the day...
by phillipw | Jul 14, 2021 | DA, FA, LO, PA
Penumbra around the Male Heart Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem The father picks it up, the doll, and grins. He thinks of her, his daughter. She will love It, he decides. His happy moment spins Around...
by phillipw | May 4, 2021 | AR, DA, FA, FE, GE, GR, MA, SE, SO, SP, UN
Armpit and Genital Hair on the Masculine Anima Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem The armpit hair of spirits is too dark For women. Females do not like to think Of it or get a glance of it as stark As...
by phillipw | May 1, 2021 | AE, BE, DA, ES, FE, MI, PL, ST
The Data of Beauty Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem I met Miss Universe when I was just A boy of seventeen. I’ve never quite Recovered from that moment. I was thrust By accident to grasp...
by phillipw | Apr 29, 2021 | CH, DA, MI, SA, SI
Occult Messaging on Holy Saturday [If you are reading this sonnet on a mobile phone, it will look best if you read it in landscape view, but maybe you should turn it to portrait view to see the painting by Salvador Dali at the end.] Modern poetry modern verse ...
by phillipw | Apr 25, 2021 | DA, EL, HE, RO, SE, SP, ST
Repeat PerforMANce Repeat PerforMANce Repeat PerforMANce Repeat PerfoMANce…. Robert Sparks They danced in discos. That was not the point. The one was just a usual kind of bloke, Not gorgeous and not plain. He had the joint For humping in...
by phillipw | Apr 15, 2021 | DA, DR, ME, NI
Strata Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Our memories bring us home to more than just Ourselves, or rather to those selves that we Once were and later. Souvenirs are trussed Up in...
by phillipw | Mar 22, 2021 | DA, DR, PO, SP
Whack Humor Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem When he is at his gayest, you can know That he hulks earnest in designs. To take Him at his surface meaning is to go Awry the way a moth in...
by phillipw | Jan 30, 2021 | DA, JA, MO
Phases Fading Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem The passing rain is Drying on the day-glory Which will die tonight. ~ Shiki The rain takes little care while dropping on The blossoms of the...
by phillipw | Jan 30, 2021 | DA, JA, MU
January Daffodils The daffodils are shouting up above Midwinter snow. They shout Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha! HA! And Happy! Happy! HAPPY! All in love With yelling yellow, filling snow with awe Of promises of spring, blooms feel quite smug That they have sprung up there...
by phillipw | Jan 16, 2021 | AE, BE, DA, EN, ES, MI, PE, SA
Unfathomable in Meditation Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem The peony made Him measure it with his fan, The daimyo’s fan. ~ Issa [A haiku expanded by Phillip Whidden] Some things are large. Some things...
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 6, 2020 | AC, DA, GO, Ho, MO, SH, TE, TH, VO
Curly Top and Dimples Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem You might want to watch this before reading this sonnet: Shirley Temple – On The Good Ship Lollipop.avi – YouTube I never ...
by phillipw | Nov 9, 2020 | DA, FL, SE
Stomps to Completion “dragging my arms upward and into a circle” ~ Jaime Mathis, It Rises and Falls The resonating hole he wants is down Below, guitar hole waiting for his touch Above it. It is never like a frown Except he tortures it. It wants to clutch Him...
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 13, 2020 | AU, CO, DA, EM, FA, HE, Ho, MA, NE, RA, TH, TR
Mystics of Concord Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem New England thinkers mixed autumnal views With leaves from Homer, also Dante’s leaves. That blinded poet managed to suffuse The thoughts...
by phillipw | Oct 4, 2020 | CO, DA, EM, GR, OS, PU, WI
Who Cares about Mere Language? “Every word was once a poem.” ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson in “The Poet.” Greek graffitos put the letter V and the letter M on walls during Greece’s occupation by Nazis. V = Vinceremo (we will win). M = Mussolini Merde. Any graffitos...
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 | Aug 10, 2020 | BU, DA, IN, MI
Danaus plexippus Flocks Remember a Prehistoric Everest The butterflies recall an ancient slope. The Monarchs flew for eons past a peak Too high for them. Those insects had no hope Of scaling it, this black and orange clique, So huge and gorgeous that the angel cloud...
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 6, 2020 | AC, DA, GA, HE, Ho, MA
David and Jonathan, Achilles and Patroclus, Alexander and Hephaestion Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse Hephaestion, lover of Alexander the Great We heroize male anger, all the way From David’s chopped Goliath to the...
by phillipw | May 22, 2020 | CH, DA, JA, NI
Heaven’s Gate That moment when my uncle fell beneath The rearing horse, was crushed beneath its weight, Destroyed Thanksgiving and the Christmas wreath— That wrecked. Cracked bone horrors can dislocate Time, times, and the dividing of time, swell Time...
by phillipw | May 22, 2020 | AM, BI, DA, GA, SH, TH
Sonnets Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem ……. A friend of Constable said Virgil’s sense He gained from culture drove him to presume That prime boys were “the...
by phillipw | May 20, 2020 | AL, DA, IN, PA, PU
A Gay Ole Time in Daisy-Circle Hell “Why does your vision linger there below Among those lost and mutilated shades?” He asked. I stared at him. Was he so slow? “It’s obvious. None living in the glades Of heaven or in Purgatory now Is nearly so...
by phillipw | May 19, 2020 | AD, DA, JO
Banjul…We Are Very Far Apart I’m at the margin of your universe. In fact, I’m banished past the boundaries of It, out in outer darkness. I am worse Than lines sans meaning, meter, rhyme or love, So far as your concerned. The galaxy That forms the center of your...
by phillipw | May 18, 2020 | AD, DA, JE
The Pygmy Despair The other John was in there first or you Were in him first. (That’s what I suspect.) I Was not the first and that’s the point. Your true Loves, firstly, are for one who made you cry, Who hurt you awfully, pepper sprayed your heart, And then for...
by phillipw | May 18, 2020 | AD, DA, JO, LO, RO
On Waves of Song Relief comes in as slowly as a tide On gentle coasts but feels as urgent as The tidal bore up Severn. Hope had died Until you spoke and now I feel like jazz Is jiving in my bones. The slowness came Because my heart was made of numbness, so My...
by phillipw | May 17, 2020 | DA, ME, RE, WH, WO
Antechambers My father’s residence was memories As if a chambered nautilus turned back To find in older shapes a lustrous ease As snug in paradox, as neat in tack As any yacht that sails against the wind. He found his comfort in a smaller place When he, an...
by phillipw | May 17, 2020 | AD, DA, LO, RE
A Plea from Sodom and Gomorrah Please return to pain and bruising, not scars With numbness in the tissue. Trauma gives A certainty at least. Those dense armoires Of pale cicatrice commemoratives Might be, you think, better than current harms That sting, then ache,...
by phillipw | May 17, 2020 | AD, DA, JO
Secondhand Frank John handed me a jacket of the sort They call a fleece in England, made of mild Beige man-made fiber looking like a short And curly lambskin. Then perhaps he smiled Though what that meant I would not know. I tried it on because it was a...
by phillipw | May 16, 2020 | CA, DA, KO, LE, LO, RO, SE
Only Lovers Cannot See Ahead Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem All kinds of lovers? Do we mean the sort Who love because of hot testosterone? Then maybe that is true. Such hormones thwart. The kind of...
by phillipw | May 12, 2020 | DA, Ho, OP, SP, Uncategorized
Benison Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem The first of our own daffodils spread out Today and maybe that bright yellow will Reach wider since the sun is now about And shining on the...
by phillipw | May 7, 2020 | AN, BE, DA, IN, KI, UZ
God Hardened the Heart of Pharaoh Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem The goodness of their God in which He hid The death of men awaits believers. They Will still believe. Their doubt has truly slid To...
by phillipw | May 6, 2020 | CO, DA, GE, LE, MA, OR, PE, VI
The Heart is Never Central Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem The heart is never central. It is to The left and far too far above the base. The heart is not positioned for the true. It loves too much the...
by phillipw | May 3, 2020 | AN, DA, GR, MY
Icarus: When Cleanest Beauty Flies https://dd28.deviantart.com/art/Mourning-for-Icarus-294532709 When young men make mistakes, they still get all The glory. Here he is with nothing wrong About his body. It’s as if the fall Has killed him theoretically. This strong One...
by phillipw | May 2, 2020 | AR, DA, NA, PR
Appearances I go to choral evensong and sit In regal beauty in the queen’s own free Saint George’s Chapel. I have used my spit To cut the pain a corn has caused to me When I put on my snakeskin shoes, the blue ………. Ones, Hugo Boss. ...
by phillipw | Apr 19, 2020 | AC, AL, AN, DA, HE, JO
David and Jonathan, Achilles and Patroclus, Alexander and Hephaestion Modern poetry modern verse contemporary poetry contemporary verse modern poem contemporary poem Hephaestion, lover of Alexander the Great We heroize male anger, all the way From David’s...
by phillipw | Apr 14, 2020 | DA, HE, WH
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 squares placed on the spines, each Restrained and heavy volume, glossy...
by phillipw | Mar 3, 2020 | CO, DA, DI, LO, RO
eatrice Portinari In fear consume my heart. The flames you cause Inside it and around it should spark fright Because their fierceness ought to give you pause. Be brave, though. Let your mouth and heart find might To overcome the flame-shaped, tongue-shaped dread....
by phillipw | Feb 9, 2020 | AD, DA, JO, LO, RO, UN
When I Wake Up, I am Absent from Thee ‘As ye are partakers of the sufferings, so shall ye be also of the consolation.’ 2 Corinthians 1:7 Two continents and long tides far away You live alone now and we sleep apart. The beauties of my high spec life hold sway,...
by phillipw | Feb 6, 2020 | AD, DA, JO, LO, RO, UN
The Rest is Silence A vacuum-like presence fills my veins, My arteries, my heart, yes, mostly in My chest. These vessels for my blood have stains Still where pulse used to course. Each ulta-thin Tattoo that love has mottled on their walls Is ugliness made up...
by phillipw | Jan 26, 2020 | DA
To Be as One He plunges in again, again, again. He plunges deep and long, a stretching time, Then pulls himself out, ready for the pain That isn’t pain, involving thrust and climb Towards the best. Withdrawing is a part Of it, but not the beauty. It is...
by phillipw | Dec 14, 2019 | DA
Letter to Gurdjieff I’m sorry. Daydreaming is good. In fact, It is the most important part, the nth Of self-awareness. Dreaming’s not the bract Of consciousness, but the root; not the plinth Invented for the brain- and heart-filled bust...
by phillipw | Oct 8, 2019 | DA, DR, MA, RE
I Wake and Find my Life Was Dreaming My dreaming makes reality unreal— The dreaming makes my daily life more dream Than actuality. Then daydreams feel More vibrant than my life and make it seem A vanishing mirage, pastel and pale, Like watercolors spread...
by phillipw | Oct 4, 2019 | AT, DA
Soundless Hymns of Dawkins Hmmm. Even if there is no God, is that A truth that needs a celebration? Should Huzzahs of glee erupt if faith goes splat? Is triumph fitting if eternal good And Love are shown to be a sigh, no more? If godlessness is proved, do humans...
by phillipw | Sep 24, 2019 | AD, DA, JO
Darwin, Sickness, and Venice My recollections made from you and of Our time together are too much like ghosts Of gondolas. They move in fogs of love And far too fast in haze between the posts On either side of grand canals. There black Gesticulations of the water...
by phillipw | Sep 24, 2019 | DA, JO, SI
Yawn No messages (or meaninglessly brief Ones) make romantic oceans dry to salt. The tree that first proclaimed a heart-shaped leaf Withers. The swift-hoofed race comes to a halt, The red stallion stumbling, breaking a leg. The killing isn’t murder,...
by phillipw | Sep 18, 2019 | DA
We Never Notice Suffering o For Artie 0 We never notice suffering when we see Olympic diving. Beauty is the sole Sweep that we watch, that we think of as free, That leap more solemn than a cabriole, More graceful, too, perhaps precisely since The arc desires the...
by phillipw | Aug 20, 2019 | DA, IN
and with the music pasted in HERE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPca88LPARI Evensong in Edinburgh: the Cauld Alliance I trudge to the cathedral to contend With flu. I’ve taken drugs, of course, before I started out. I’m hoping that the blend...
by phillipw | Jul 24, 2019 | DA
Annie Darwin and Arthur Hallam One Charles Darwin doubted God because The daughter of the scientist had died. Or maybe it was more than that. The claws Of scarlet snarling nature would have dyed Pure certainty about a loving force Behind the curtains of the...